1. Software Metering Widget

Contents

Software Metering Widget

1.1. Purpose

The purpose of this widget is to give a precise insight of the license compliance of selected programs. It allows to know if one has enough licenses according to the number of desktops having the said program installed; it assesses also if some of the licenses could be spared because the program is actually rarely used (or even not at all).

1.2. Creating widget

1.2.1. Step 1

choose the engines to use

1.2.2. Step 2

select if the results should be grouped or not. Note that if results are grouped by a category then licenses could be assigned globally or per group.

1.2.3. Step 3

enter the time period (in days)
define the programs to measure
optionally enter email addresses as recipients of alerts. If no addresses are specified then there will be no alerts.

1.2.3.1. Add program 1

enter a name to identify the program. Each name should be unique in the widget
choose how the packages will be selected, using a list or with an investigation

1.2.3.2. Add program 2

Depending on the previous step, you will
choose one or more packages in the list. Only packages used at least one time by a source are in the list.
OR enter an investigation which return packages

1.2.3.3. Add program 3

optionally add licenses for the program. It is possible to add multiple licenses for the same program.
optionally enable alerts on licenses usage or expiration and enter a threshold which will trigger the alert

Note that alerts could be used only if at least one license has been defined

1.2.3.4. Add license

enter a reference to identify the license
optionally enter the number of licenses for this program. If the field is left blank, it would be not used in statistics concerning license usage. If all licenses defined have no quantity then it would be no alerts and no statistics concerning license usage
optionally enter a description of the license
set an expiration date. By default there is no expiration
assign the license to a particular group or let it global

Note that:

if multiple licenses are defined for the same group (global included) then quantity are summed.
it is not possible to mix licenses assigned to global and assigned to groups

1.2.3.5. Add program 3

select which binaries defines the program (e.g. winword.exe is significant of the usage of Microsoft Office while setup.exe isn't)
There are three options:
- no significant binaries: the program could not be defined using binaries (e.g. Microsoft Windows). With this option there would be no statistics about usage
- based on list: enter each binary using its name (e.g. nxfinder.exe) and its version (specify only the fixed part e.g. 3.2 will match 3.2.1 and 3.2.2 and so on)
- based on investigation: enter a valid investigation which return binaries. This investigation will be performed at each compute, the resulting set of binaries could vary from one day to the next
optionally define a threshold of program's usage which trigger an alert. If both field are left blank, it would be no alerts concerning underusage but set both to 0 will trigger alerts when the program is never used

Note that the usage time of a program is the sum of its binaries.

1.3. Using Widget

The main view display, for each program, information which could trigger alerts. The bullet shows the status of license usage:

green: under the threshold
yellow: between threshold and 100%
red: higher than 100%

In this first example, licenses have been assigned globally. Since the selected view is on overall then details about licenses are displayed

In the second example, licenses have been assigned to group, the overall view has no details about licenses

If more than one program has been configured and/or results are grouped by a category, then it is possible to navigate through the result to obtain statistics for a particular program or a keyword. If both program an keyword are selected then details are displayed.

To navigate there are the lists in the footer but one can click on the icon which appears next to the program or the keyword to drill down. The selected options appears below the date and could be used to drill up.

Using the second example, when a program is selected it gives the details for each keyword of the category. In this case it is very useful since licenses have been assigned using this keyword. Now the details about the licenses are displayed

When a keyword is selected, the details for all programs for this particular keyword are displayed.

1.3.2. Details

Details can also be displayed directly by clicking on the "info" button that appears next to the number when the mouse cursor is hovering over the "Installed" value or the "Nb sources in underusage" value. Both display the same information but for respecting list.

There are two mode in details dialog. First the list of sources corresponding to the clicked column with their usage statistics

The second mode displays the binary usage. It shows which of the significant binaries have been used.

1.4. Alerts

Two types of alert could be configured. The first one is about compliance and the second about expirations. The alerts are checked once in a day.

1.4.1. Compliance

The compliance check that enough licenses have been purchased for the sources. An alert could be configured to warn if the number of licenses is not sufficient for sources.

If the alert is enabled, a threshold should be given (in percent).

When the number of sources divided by the number of licenses reaches the threshold an alert is sent to configured recipients. This alert is sent only one time during the ratio is higher than the threshold. If the ratio goes below the threshold then the status is reseted and a new alert will be sent if the threshold is reached.

Another alert is sent when the number of sources having the program installed reaches the number of licenses. Then this alert is sent each 7 days as a remainder that there is not enough licenses.

The chart below gives a summary of how alerts are sent

To stop the alert, some sources should uninstall the program or another licenses should be purchased.

1.4.2. Expiration

Licenses could be associated to an expiration date. An alert could be configured to warn when this expiration date is imminent.

If the alert is enabled, a threshold should be given.

When the threshold is reached an alert is sent.

Then when the expiration date is reached another alert is sent and after this date, a remainder is sent each 7 days.