Currrently in DSS SAM you can enter contract information into the system and tie it to the Software Title. For some applications this is not valid since their may be several versions of the software and different license counts for each version. Additionally, if we can a tie a license to a version, we can report back any version that is not the current standard. Is there a way / can a way be added to tie a license count to a version?
Also, can one see what day and how long one has been in violation - when did the count go over the maximum?
Each contract in DSS SAM specifies a single Software Title Version (examples: Microsoft Office 2003 Professional; Adobe Acrobat 9 Standard; VMware Workstation 6). Each STV has one or more applications under it, which also specify versions. The applications are typically “dot” versions of the major version specified by the STV, e.g.
-STV: Acrobat 9
Application: Acrobat 9.0
Application: Acrobat 9.1
Application: Acrobat 9.2
But there is no fixed rule that prevents you from creating different major version apps under a single STV, e.g.
STV: All Acrobats
Application: Acrobat 7.0
Application: Acrobat 7.1
Application: Acrobat 8.0
Application: Acrobat 8.1
Application: Acrobat 9.0
etc…
You can add items and/or reorganize the Software Catalog to suit the needs of your license terms. For example, you can create a new STV called Microsoft Office Professional All and move or link all versions of the Office Pro suite into your new STV. Then you create a contract for that new STV and it will aggregate all the installs of all versions of Office Pro for you.
Here’s an example for VMware Workstation:
Under software title VMware Workstation, create a new software title version called VMware Workstation All Versions
Click, drag, and drop one or more applications from the other VMware Workstation STVs into your new STV. You can expand as many you want and shift or ctrl click to select multiple.
When you drop the items on to the new STV, you get a choice to Copy or Link. If you link them, editing the original or a linked item will change all the linked items (e.g. if rename or add an .exe).
You can now create your contract for VMware Workstation All Versions and you’ll see your license delta and costs associated with the aggregate of all those versions.
Also, can one see what day and how long one has been in violation - when did the count go over the maximum?
You can do this by looking at the First Used date in a contract report. In your contract report settings, you can allocate licenses by certain rules and “by first used” is one choice (Control Panel > Contract Report Options). If you look at the unlicensed computers tab on the contract report and sort by first used, you will see the date on which the tracked applications were first used. Presumably the item at the top when sorting in ascending chronological order will show the date on which you became out of compliance – the first computer to first use the application after you ran out of licenses.
If First Used is not accurate enough, you could create an analysis property on your BES server to report a specific application’s install date, and then use this property in your reports for sorting or filtering.
Any way the “All Versions” STV could be incorporated into the catalog in the future?
Technically, the parent of the STVs – the Software Title – is the “All Versions” entity you’re looking for. But there is no way to create a contract for an ST in the current product.
We’ve discussed more flexible selection for contracts, including the ability to create a contract for a ST and the ability to create a contract that includes multiple STs or multiple STVs. Both of these would address your use case. These features are not scoped or committed on the roadmap yet, but they are on the wishlist.