Skip Navigation Links
Home
Products
Support
Community
Company
Skip Navigation LinksHome : Software Licensing 101 : Lesson 7

Lesson 7: Ongoing Protection

Now that your licensing is up-to-date, you need to stay that way. This can be fast and easy or it can be time consuming. With your software being managed by a single person, the person can add new clients and link them to their software needs as they are hired or new equipment is ordered, and removing the clients when they leave or old equipment is retired. When doing this in DGard Software Compliance Manager, you can immediately see any shortages it might cause in your software licensing. Further, you can see any excess, and won't make the mistake of ordering more licensing that you already have.

Auditing your software installation should be done at least once a year. At my former employer, I found that performing my software audit about a month before the following year's budget was created helped eliminate any surprises. At the same time, double check the software needs, and ensure you don't have any software allocated to retired equipment or former users. You might be surprised at the money you can save!

When budgeting for the following year, be sure to include any licensing shortages at the beginning of the budget, and try to get them pushed through ahead of schedule anyway. You don't want to be illegal! Also in the budget be sure to include licensing for any projected new users or computers that will be purchased. In DGard Software Compliance Manager you can add a new client type called "Projections" under the Users client type and the same under Computers. You can then add in any projected new users here and link them to the software they will need. With this in place the compliance reports will show you what you need in full. When a new user is hired or a new computer purchased, you can quickly move the client from Projections to the standard folder.

Conclusion

This concludes our course on Software Licensing for Small Businesses. I hope it is helpful in getting your company started on the road to software compliance. Keep in mind there are many steps you can take to get your company into compliance, and maintain that status. With the right tools and a little organization though, this process can remain easy and affordable.

If you would like to discuss software licensing for small businesses further, please visit our community forums.

Quick Notes

  • Centrally manage your software licenses to make maintaining compliance fast and easy.
  • Use a software management tool like DGard Software Compliance Manager to keep up-to-date with your current licensing needs.
  • Annually audit the software installed on each computer to keep it in line with licensing.
  • Perform the annual audit about a month before writing the budget to avoid surprises the following year.
  • Add projected new users and computers to your management software to make it easy to project your new licensing needs.