Managing Quest Software Licenses
Quest Software has an aggressive compliance program. Properly managing your Quest Software licenses will save your organization millions of dollars in cost savings and audit findings.
The keys to successfully managing Quest licenses are mastering contractual governance, keeping an efficient and robust document repository, maintaining a strong working relationship between product and application owners, effectively monitoring consumption and demand, counting licenses periodically and accurately, and proactively managing your technical environment.
Quest Software Audits
Quest Software, while not a high priority software publisher to most of its customer base, offers a vast range of products that underpin productivity and efficiency. However, with such a broad spectrum of products and licensing metrics comes significant complexity and risk. Coupled with that, Quest is one of the more aggressive publishers when it comes to software compliance and is currently holding a place in Anglepoint Tier 1 Compliance Publisher Listing.
Quest Software looks to their compliance program as a key revenue generator, rather than an education and IP protection initiative. Members of the Quest compliance team are incentivized by audit results, and therefore operate in a manner that is all too often focused on the dollars and far less on the customer relationship.
When you marry this approach from the publisher with a general shortfall in licensing expertise that is prevalent within most licensee organizations, it can and often does lead to very expensive audit settlements and a huge cost in terms of man-hours to coordinate and manage an audit from start to finish.
See also our article “How to Prepare for a Quest Software Audit”.
Common Challenges & Risk Factors of a Quest Software Audit:
– License metric variations and understanding consumption
– Pirated License Keys (Compliance & Security Risks inherent)
– Server & virtual environments
– Limited expertise on licensee teams to understand and manage the product portfolio
– Significant resource efforts required to manage an audit
– Limited awareness of entitlements and ambiguous contractual terms
– Decentralized environments & procurement procedures
– Aggressive and punitive compliance program
The 6 Pillars of Quest Software License Management
It is critical that organizations are proactive when it comes to managing their Quest software licenses. If your organization has not gone through a Quest audit in the last 2-3 years, it is highly likely that you will soon be audited. Taking the following steps will help your organization prepare for a Quest audit.
If you have recently gone through a Quest audit, then following these steps will ensure that the next one runs as smoothly as possible.
Contractual Governance | 14:27 – 24:40
As with most software, governing terms are the cornerstone of management and coordination. Over the years, Quest licensing terms have changed, and they change regularly. When facing a Quest audit, the compliance team may prefer to rely on the current terms and conditions even though licenses purchased under transactional agreements are governed by the terms of the year and month they were purchased. This is just one reason why it’s critical to know your usage terms and conditions.
Additionally, if your organization needed to access key documentation, how quickly could you get it, and would it be complete? We find that this is a challenge for many organizations today.
Points covered, in detail, in the webinar:
– Document Access
– TPA/STA Purchases
– Know your usage terms
– Product Owners
– M&A Impacts
– Manage Change
Document Repository | 24:41 – 31:25
The ability to have intelligent documentation cataloging is greatly lacking in organizations today. The limitation in coordination and structure of how information is maintained cannot be underestimated. Having robust systems and structure around your organization’s document repository is crucial in being able to face an audit efficiently – be that Quest or any other publisher.
Points covered in the webinar:
– Intelligent Cataloguing
– Coverage
– Source of Truth
Product & Application Owners | 31:26 – 35:50
Working across an organization is where ITAM/SAM can have the most significant impact. A Quest audit impacts so many different teams and lines of business within an organization, creating a strong working relationship between product and application owners is crucial to succeeding with Quest Software license management.
– Procurement
– Technical
– Control the Publisher Interaction
– Accountable & In Control
Monitor Consumption & Demand | 35:51 – 43:15
Tracking software downloads is a common problem for organizations that deploy Quest products.
Details that are covered in the webinar:
– Download Management & Monitoring
– Decentralized Environments
– Contractual Obligations
Count Periodically & Accurately | 43:16 – 54:10
While Quest is probably not a major software publisher for your organization, it does have an aggressive audit program. That is why it is so important to be proactive. You don’t want the first time that you evaluate your Quest software footprint to be when one of its auditors comes knocking. And if you have been audited recently, don’t let things slip – stay prepared.
Points covered in the webinar:
– Internal Health Check
– SAM Tool Governance
– Licensing Metrics
– License Keys
– Server Installs
Manage Proactively | 54:11 – 58:35
Managing your technical environment and software footprint is another key pillar to managing your Quest software portfolio.
Points covered in the webinar:
– Active Directory Maintenance
– Managing the Product Portfolio
– Duplicate Products
Anglepoint Experts Can Help Manage Quest Software Licenses
Anglepoint’s Quest licensing practice group are staffed with ex-Quest compliance experts, who know the Quest compliance program, understand the methodology & technical practices as well as having in-depth awareness of Quest’s commercial strategies. We are here to help your organization enter any engagement with the publisher with confidence and the knowledge that your organization is supported by experts who have operated on behalf of the publisher.
If Quest or any other software publisher is engaging your organization with a Compliance or License Review, contact Anglepoint and talk to our Core or Specialty License Practice Leaders to get the support you need to streamline your efforts and know that you are in safe hands.
