Software Asset Management 

Data Integrity

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        Terry Green

        ASAMA

Data integrity of the Software Asset Management information that is gathered through automatic and/or manual methods is paramount in understanding the software licensing position. Data integrity is achieved through the rigorous application of data controls and the verification through auditing activities of the completeness and quality of the data. Data integrity is fundamental in ensuring that Software Asset Management decisions are well informed through the availability of correct and informative data. Data integrity will lower the risk profile for Software Asset Management , which will lead to the safeguarding of the organisations assets and reputation.

The software licensing entitlements data needs to be accurate and accessible for cross referencing to the installation and/or usage data. Processes and procedures should be established and maintained to ensure that software licensing entitlements data is accurate, maintained and stored. Discovered data through manual record keeping or through the deployment of an automatic toolset needs to be mapped to the software licensing entitlement data to determine the software licence position.

Select a random sample of devices to manually audit for software installations and/or usage. Compare the audit findings and extrapolate that across the entire platform that the software is installed. Verify that the discrepancies percentage is within tolerance of your software licensing entitlements.

Validate that the correct identifiers are being used, pay particular attention to software versions and bundled software. When purchasing software request the unique identifiers that identify the software.

Establish a testing environment where you can test your software identification and reconciliation processes and procedures prior to implementing them in the production environment. The test environment should have the same software installed, it will just be fewer in number. This will protect the larger production data being affected if the testing failed.

In conclusion, it is critical that there is data integrity to enable the SAM team to make informed decisions based on the accurate information on licensing entitlements and the level of compliance.

 

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