Project Usage
Monitor license consumption by project
The Project Usage feature of OpenLM enables chargeback of license usage to cost centers based on specific projects. The chargeback system makes things work better. Organizations can give the costs of using licenses to the business unit that uses them, instead of centralizing software spend.
Get accurate license usage by project
IT managers may be aware of their project expenses, but lack the data to allocate license use to particular users or groups, resulting in a single software cost applied to all users. OpenLM fills that gap by tracking license consumption and categorizing it by project. This enables for the allocation of licenses as needed by various organizational initiatives, as well as the effective monitoring of license utilization by project.
Remind users to select a project
Assigning license consumption data to a specific project is a challenge as end users tend to just launch the software they need to finish their work. OpenLM solves this problem by prompting the user to select a project he or she is working on upon launching the application. With OpenLM you capture all license utilization data, assigned to the right project and you have the ability to monitor the project’s expenses, and align it with the budget as it progresses.
Facilitate transparency
Divisions within an organization must understand the software applications they use, the costs connected with those licenss, and how those expenses affect their bottom line. Transparency in IT costs leads to more realistic talks about the true cost of delivering IT services and more effective decision making in the management of software assets across the organization.
How it Works
What do I need to monitor software usage by project?
- Install a lightweight software called the Workstation Agent on the end-user’s workstation
- Grouping license usage by the project is a feature that requires the Automation subscription.
Measure the total use of resources
The OpenLM solution was made to give organizations the right tools to measure how well they use their resources. This enables for the allocation of licenses as needed by various organizational initiatives, as well as the effective monitoring of license consumption expenses by project.
How can you monitor license utilization and time spent on projects?
- Create new projects in the EasyAdmin user interface
- Assign users and groups to the project
- Define the rules of the project monitoring, such as minimum usage duration, Workstation Agent behaviour
- Enable project creation via the Workstation Agent
- Allow users to add themselves to projects or create new projects
- When end-users are allocated to only one project in EasyAdmin, OpenLM will log their license usage and assign it to that project without the end-users having to do anything more.
- When end-users work on multiple projects at the same time, OpenLM Workstation Agent will display a dialog box on their screen requesting them to pick the current project.
- Launch the EasyAdmin interface, and enjoy the license utilization data reported by project.
The Project Usage functionality is also available in our Personal Dashboard utility. The OpenLM Personal Dashboard brings multiple benefits to the end user based on data collected by the OpenLM Agents installed on the organizations’ workstations. By integrating the Projects Usage functionality into Personal Dashboard, OpenLM facilitates the selection of a project whenever a monitored application is launched on the end-user’s workstation.
Prerequisites & System Requirements
The OpenLM Project Usages extension requires the OpenLM Agent to be installed on the end-user’s workstations and the OpenLM Server on a dedicated machine. Download these components here.
