One of the reports I suspect few people know about is the Activity Log.  It’s actually one of the oldest reports found within Express Software Manager, dating back to version 3.0, when it was still a pure software metering tool!  Little known to many of our customers, the Activity Log is a fantastic troubleshooting tool that can be used in any number of situations (some of which are described below). 

The Activity Log summarizes application usage based on license unit(s), machine(s), user(s) or server(s), with a level of detail that you won’t find in any other of Express Software Manager IT asset management reports.  This can be used to pinpoint applications being launched on specific machines or by specific users, as well as what remote devices and/or users are accessing applications on your Citrix or terminal server.  With usage data such as start and end time, idle time, and total time launched, you can zero in on all kinds of activities taking place on your network that are extremely useful from a troubleshooting standpoint. 

Here are some ways our customers have used the Activity Log report.

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Our featured Express Software Manager report this month is the “Suite Application” report.  At its highest level, this report helps you determine what components of suite products are actually being utilized, so you can ensure your software budget is being wisely spent.

Here’s a real-life example of how this information can be useful.  Let’s say that your company has 1000 employees, each of whom has a license for Microsoft Office 2007 Professional Plus.  The Professional Plus version of the 2007 Office suite is comprised of eight individual components.  We know that most people take advantage of Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.  But what about the other four components:  Access, Publisher, InfoPath, and Office Communicator?  (Based on what we hear from customers, a majority of most organization’s users don’t use any of these components – and come on, do you know anyone who uses Communicator?) 

Now, let’s assume that half of your users licensed for 2007 Professional Plus are not using Access, Publisher, InfoPath, and Communicator–meaning they could get by just fine with the Standard edition.  The delta between the MSRP of the Professional Plus and Standard editions of Office is around $100, which means you could save something to the tune of $50,000 by renegotiating your software contract.  Not a trivial amount when your boss is telling you there’s no budget for the Windows OS upgrade.

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The following article was authored by Grant Brierley, Express Metrix’s VP of EMEA Sales & Marketing, for GovToday, the UK’s premier online resource for the public sector.  The column relates to the UK National Health System’s (NHS) recent decision to abandon its massive Microsoft Enterprise License Agreement in favor of decentralized purchasing among individual agencies.  Mr. Brierley outlines five practical steps for the NHS to optimize its license agreements, and will be delivering a master class on this topic jointly with FAST Ltd at an NHS event on 15 February in Westminster.  We believe his advice can be applied to any organization looking to “right-size” its volume software purchases and implement an effective software asset management program.  Enjoy!

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I’m pretty sure everyone can agree that tracking software usage is an important element of any software asset management program.   However, end-user organizations considering software metering solutions are often unaware of the full scope of benefits that can be delivered by tracking application usage.  In addition, few realize that vendors tackle software metering in a variety of ways that may or may not match their specific environments and/or goals.

Join Jeff Kelsey, Express Metrix’s VP of Products, on Tuesday December 8 at 11am (Pacific) / 2pm (Eastern) for a special webinar discussing the ins and outs of application metering. 

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We’re always interested in hearing different ways our customers use Express Software Manager’s computer inventory and software metering reports to make their jobs easier. And believe me, over the last couple of years as budgets have been stretched thin, our end-users have been especially creative in identifying alternative uses.  The one we most commonly hear is to aid in the process of troubleshooting issues on remote PCs. While we certainly don’t claim to be a dedicated help desk tool, customers often provide access to Express Software Manager’s reports to their technical support staff.  Here are a couple of common issues our users are able to identify and tackle using Express Software Manager’s IT asset reporting.

Application Conflicts

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