Understanding Reconciliation Results

The Application Licenses Assessed… page helps you investigate the possible links between:

• What —Installed applications

• Where —The inventory devices where the applications are installed

• Who —The users who may be accessing applications (when relevant to licensing)

• Which —The licenses currently authorizing those installations or use.

The what, where, and who are all factual inputs to the process, typically coming from imported inventory. Then the license reconciliation calculations are responsible for assessing which license is the best fit to authorize the software. This page shows all the relevant licenses assessed in the most recent reconciliation, the outcome of each assessment, and the reason for that outcome.

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This page gives insight into how and why a license was selected (or not selected) to authorize an installation. For straight device (or user) licenses, this also help to understand the consumption from the license, since each installation consumes one entitlement. However, more complex license types need further insights to understand the consumption side of the calculations.

Information about understanding reconciliation results is described in the following sections:

• Access and Appearance

• Example Scenarios

• Available Properties

• Assessment Reasons

Access and Appearance

This page is not available through the navigation menus. It can only be accessed through one of the following paths – and it presents a slightly different appearance, depending on whether you started from the properties of license, inventory device, or user:

• From the Consumption tab of the properties of any license (call this the starting license), you can click the Show assessment details button. From this path:

  • The page title displays Application Licenses Assessed

  • Included in the listing are all the licenses linked to the same application(s) as are linked to the starting license

  • Devices or users (depending on the license type) are only included if they are linked to the starting license, to keep the amount of data manageable.

• From the Licenses tab of the properties of any inventory device, you can click the Show licenses assessed button. From this path:

  • The page title displays Application Licenses Assessed for Device deviceName, to help you stay focused on the device you are currently investigating

  • Included in the listing are all the licensed applications shown in inventory as installed on this device (notice that an installation of an application that is not linked to any license cannot be included)

  • For each such installation, the listing includes all the licenses that could have been assessed for authorizing the installation.

• From the Licenses tab of the properties of any user, you can click the Show licenses assessed button. From this path:

  • The page title displays Application Licenses Assessed for User userName, to help you stay focused on the user you are currently investigating

  • Included in the listing are all the licensed applications installed on any inventory device where this user is either the assigned user or calculated user (or, for licenses that do not track local installations on the device, where there are usage or access records that require license consumption outcomes)

  • For each such installation (or usage/access record), the listing includes all the licenses that could have been assessed for authorizing the installation/usage/access.

The properties for each license named on this page are accessible through the hyperlink – using Ctrl+Shift+click on the license name hyperlink, as always, opens the new license properties in a new browser tab, which can be helpful for switching backwards and forwards for comparisons during your investigation.

Clicking the Close button on this page returns you to the first tab of the property sheet you started from (license, inventory device, or user).

Example Scenarios

Example 1

Device D, on its Application tab, shows an installed application A that has a blank (no value) in its License name column. Why is this installation unlicensed?

• First the basics: does application A need a license? On the same Applications tab of the inventory device properties, drag Classification from the column chooser into the listing. If application A is classified as Freeware, you may not need to link it to a license. However, assuming it's Commercial...

• Prove there's one or more license(s) available for application A. Still in the same Applications tab for the inventory device, right-click the hyperlinked name in the Product column to open the application properties (in another browser tab is suggested), where you can check the application's Licenses tab. If no linked licenses are listed there, the mystery is solved and you need to create an appropriate license. But assuming that there is license L shown there, why is our installation on device D not consuming from it?

• Go back to the device properties, switch to the Licenses tab, and Ctrl+Shift+click on Show licenses assessed. (This access path limits the data in the new page to show only rows with the matching Device name.) The Application Licenses Assessed for Device D page shows one row for each application/license pair considered in the last license reconciliation. Since we are focused on license L, we can scroll, or search, or filter, until we have identified the row containing license L and application A (both for device D). The Assessment result value for this row likely shows Rejected, with the Assessment reason giving more detail. For example, the reason may be:

  The number of processors, required for calculating consumption from this license type, is missing for this device. 

  • Switch back to the inventory device properties, and check the Hardware tab. You can either solve the inventory problem (perhaps you need to install Inventory Agent, which is capable of including the process count in inventory), or manually enter an override value for the time being. Remember that you then need to wait for, or run, the next license reconciliation process for the data change to affect the outcomes.

Example 2

Application A is linked to two possible licenses, L1 and L2. You were expecting device D to consume from license L1, but instead it is consuming from L2. You want to investigate why.

• You may consider starting from license L1; but remember that data is limited when you start from a license, and device D would never be visible in those results, because it is not linked to (or consuming from) license L1.

• Instead navigate through the inventory device properties for device D. Now the Application Licenses Assessed for Device D page shows a row for both licenses considered. The row for L2, of course, shows a result of Consumed and a reason of License entitlement or points consumed as expected. Looking at the row for L1, may see something like Not assessed with the reason The license was not assessed, because the device has consumed from a higher priority license. So why was L2 a higher priority license for this installation?

• Navigate away to the properties for the application, and check its Licenses tab. There you find the licenses listed in reverse numerical order (L2 first, then L1), so that L2 is indeed a higher priority license. But wait, why did other devices consume from L1 (the lower priority), as you also expected for device D? Recall the workings of prioritization during the reconcile – for single-product licenses:

1. Allocations have top priority;
2. Group assignments are processed as second priority;
3. For licenses that still have entitlements available, their priority order only comes into play after the above. (If a high-priority license has no entitlements left, it is skipped; and lower-priority licenses are then examined for available entitlements. If all relevant licenses run out of entitlements, the process returns to the highest priority license, and consumes from that, putting the license at risk of breach for consuming more entitlements than were purchased – unless, for example, you have more purchases to link up.)
   • So priorities 1 and 2 above mean you should first check for any allocations or group assignments – in particular, what settings are missing from device D that are present on the other devices consuming from license L1?

License reconciliation is complex. This page can give some helpful insights; but there is no substitute for a broad technical understanding.

Available Properties

The following properties are available for this list. Some are displayed by default in the list, and others are available in the column chooser.

Property	Description
Access mode	The method used to access a software application. Depending on the device- or user- based license type, the access may have been recorded against an inventory device, or against the assigned (or calculated) user of a device. This field can have one of the following values: Blank —When there is an allocation without any supportive installation record from the imported inventory. App-V —For a virtualized application delivered through Microsoft App-V Local —The application has been installed locally on the inventory device. XenApp (now known as Citrix Virtual Apps )—The application has been accessed remotely via a Citrix XenApp server. XenDesktop (now known as Virtual Desktops) —The application has been installed on a virtual machine in your VDI infrastructure, and associated with this inventory device because the primary end-user has accessed the software through this inventory device. If your virtual machine image includes the Inventory Agent, this inventory device may have been identified as the end-point from which the end user accessed the VDI. In other circumstances, the end-user may have used a remote device such as a home computer or mobile device that cannot be inventoried; but as the end-user is associated with this inventory device, the application use can be recorded here for license consumption calculations. The Access mode is also available through the license properties, as well as through the properties of the inventory device.
Allocation type	Indicates the type of allocation, which can be: Allocated —The device/user may consume only from this license, and has top priority for consumption here; but the consumption count depends on there being a matching installation/usage record (depending on license type). Awaiting inventory —As above, plus when the first matching inventory record is received, this type is automatically converted to Allocated . Permanent —The device/user may consume only from this license, and has top priority for consumption here; and the allocation is always counted as consumption, regardless of what does or does not appear in inventory. The Allocation type is visible in the Consumption tab of the license properties, and in the Licenses tabs of either user or device properties, depending on license type. It is not available for CAL Legacy , IBM UVU , or Microsoft Server Processor license types.
Application name	The name of the application found on this inventory device. Multiple applications may have been installed on this inventory device.
Assessment reason	A brief explanation for the result when the device named in this row, with its installation of the named application, was assessed for linking with the license named in this same row. For more details about each reason, see the separate table at the bottom of this topic.
Assessment result	The summary outcome of the assessment about linking the installation of the named application on the device to the license in this row. The result may be one of the following: Consumed —This installation of the application was linked to the license, and therefore consumed a license entitlement Rejected —The license was not appropriate for this installation of the application, and you can see why in the Assessment reason column Not assessed —This license was not considered for linking to this installation of the application, typically because another license has already been linked, and the installation is no longer available for consideration (but see the Assessment reason column for more).
Device name	The name of the inventory device. The compliance calculation updates this field with the machine name returned in inventory (matched by several properties, including serial number). The name displays as Flexera SaaS Manager if this is a dummy device record created for imports from your SaaS Management connector.
Edition	The edition of an application. These editions, for example, Lite or Pro, describe different levels or groupings of functionality.
Entitlement limits	Shows how the license entitlements are assessed, and whether the license can beover-utilized. It may be one of the following, as set in the Compliance tab of the license properties: As purchased —Terms of the license set the number of entitlements purchased as the cap for consumption. The license is flagged as At risk when consumption exceeds purchased entitlements. Subject to true-up —Terms of the license allow consumption to exceed purchased entitlements as long as additional licenses are purchased at the end of the true-up period (as defined in the relevant purchasing agreement). The license remains Compliant when consumption exceeds purchased entitlements. Unlimited —Terms of the license allow for unlimited entitlements. Consumption can exceed the recorded number of purchased entitlements. Unlike Subject to true-up licenses, with Unlimited licenses you do not need to purchase additional entitlements to rectify overages because the license allows for unlimited entitlements. The license remains Compliant when consumption exceeds purchased entitlements. Because in this case there is no relationship between the purchased entitlements and the consumption, Shortfall/ Availability is not reported for unlimited licenses.
Exemption reason	The reason why the individual computer or user is exempt from consuming an entitlement under this license, even though the application is in use. When this column is blank, application use on this computer, or by this user, can count towards consumption of the license. This is set in the Consumption tab of the license properties, and for details about the possible values, see Exemption Reason.
Installed	Displays Yes if any of the following is true, as shown in the last compliance calculation: The application is installed on the device (for device- or points-based licenses) The application was used by the end-user, or is installed on any of this user's devices (for user-based licenses) The application was accessed through Citrix Virtual Apps (when access mode is Citrix ). Displays No when no installation has been identified on the device. Consumption of a license without an installation may happen because: There is a Permanent allocation that forces consumption even when no installation can be found There is consumption based on application access, such as for a Microsoft CAL device or user license.
License duration	The time-based nature of the license, whether it is a Perpetual , Subscription , or Time limited license.
License name	The license name may be: Copied from the first-linked software product Derived from the License Name field of the SKU in the first-linked purchase (or if there is no SKU, from the purchase Description field) Created manually.
License status	The progress of this license from acquisition to decommissioning. Values (in life-cycle order) are: Purchased Received In stock Active (default for newly-created licenses) Retired (ignored in license consumption calculations).
License type	The kind of license, which determines what properties are available for the license, and how compliance is calculated for the license. For details of an individual license type, please see the appropriate entry in Terminology.
Priority	The priority order of the different licenses that may cover installation/use of the same application. The base ordering is visible in the Licenses tab of application properties. Allocation of a license entitlement to an inventory device or a user (depending on license type) overrides this priority order, and also prevents the installation of the application from consuming from any other license. There are other influences on the order in which licenses are assessed for coverage of a particular installation of an application – for more details, see How Does License Consumption Order Work? If you are working with multi-product licenses that can cover software bundles, also see License Compliance Calculations (Especially for Bundles).
Product (primary)	The basic name of the application, excluding the publisher and references to versions or editions. If the license in this row is a multi-product license (covering a software bundle), this product is the primary one, and not one of the supplementary products that may be automatically covered by the license for the primary installation. This means that: If the Supplementary column displays No , it is easy to map the product name to the Application name , because this row is for the primary product, and the product name and application name are two naming conventions for the same software. If the Supplementary column displays Yes, this column is more helpful for your investigation. In this case, the Application name is showing the supplementary product, and this column shows the primary product for the same license (which may save you navigating away to the license properties).
Publisher	The name of the software publisher (responsible for its development and distribution), as shown in the license properties. Publisher values are recorded in the General tab of the application properties. They are not directly editable in the license properties, but are linked through the latest version of the application linked to the license.
Shortfall/Availability	Displays the result of Entitlements from purchases plus Extra entitlements minus Consumed fields shown in license properties. The result is positive when you have surplus entitlements (according to the last license consumption calculation), and negative when you are under-purchased. For points-based licenses (such as Core Points or Processor Points licenses), the value is the number of points, rather than entitlements. Used and Allocated quantities are not taken into account here.
Supplementary	Displays either of: No either when the license in this row is a single-product license; or for a multi- product license, when the application listed in the Application name column is a version- and edition-specific case of the Product (primary) on the license. Yes when both the license is a multi-product license (covering a software bundle), and the application in this row is not an instance of the primary product, but instead a supplementary product. Check your license terms for certainty; but generally a supplementary product is covered by the licensing of the primary product, at no additional cost.
Used	Displays whether the latest compliance calculation found evidence of use (by default, within the last three months) of the application linked to the license listed in this row.
User name	This column is available only when you have navigated here from either: User properties License properties for a user-based license. In other words, it is not available for device-based licenses, or when you navigated here from the inventory device properties. It displays the Full name property from the user's record, which often combines the person's first, middle (when available), and last names. This person is the end-user associated with the inventory device on the same row, and is visible in the Ownership tab of the inventory device properties. If the device has an Assigned user, this is the name shown here; and if not, the Calculated user (the most frequent user in the last 10 logins) is given.
Version	The release number (or release identifier) of an application. Keep in mind that a single license may authorize installation of multiple versions of an application across different inventory devices, if the use rights include either upgrade or downgrade rights (or both). Similarly, a right of second use may cover installation on both a desktop computer and a laptop.

Assessment Reasons

The following messages may appear in the Assessment reason column:

Message	Description
Access to the application is counted as consumption for this license type	Most often this applies to a Microsoft CAL (either user-based or device based), and explains why consumption occurred for this row of the assessment.
Allocation of a license entitlement to this device triggers automatic consumption	While a standard allocation by default acts like a reservation and must be confirmed through inventory results before consumption occurs, there are three alternatives where allocation immediately consumes from the license, regardless of inventory: If the kind of allocation chosen is a Permanent one If the Use rights & rules tab in the license properties, in the L icense consumption rules section, has the Allocations consume license entitlements check box selected If the license is a Microsoft CAL. One of these conditions applied in this row of the assessment result. To investigate further, you may need to examine the license properties.
Application is supplementary on this license, and consumption needs either the missing primary product installation, or an allocation	This rejection reason applies only to multi-product licenses (those that license a software bundle). Many such licenses authorize the primary product (as shown in the license properties), and then cover one or more supplementary products as part of the same installation, at no extra cost. In this case, a supplementary product was found in inventory for the device, but no primary product. A few such licenses allow 'split' installations, where the primary and supplementary products may be installed on separate servers; but to provide for this, you must allocate a license entitlement to the separately- installed supplementary product. Since neither the primary product nor an allocation was found in this case, the installation could not be authorized by the multi-product license. (There may be a separate row in the assessment results showing that the installation was later successfully linked to a different, single product license; or this installation may now be unlicensed.)
No consumption calculated, possibly because processor, core, or thread counts are missing from device inventory	Not all inventory sources can report all data required for license calculations. Check the license type's requirements, and validate that the necessary data points are available in the inventory device properties. Remember that you can override the [lack of] values for these properties by manually editing the device properties in the Hardware tab.
Covered by right of second use	The installation on this device is covered by the second use right shown in the license properties, on the Use rights & rules tab. Although two rows show the Assessment result as Consumed from this license for the desktop and laptop (owned by the same user), this Assessment reason means that the two rows together consume only one entitlement. If you inspect the Consumption tab of the license properties, this second device shows a Consumed value of 0 (zero).
The operating system on the device does not match the OS restriction (desktop or server) set on the license	Some license types (such as Microsoft SCCM Client Device and Microsoft SCCM Client User), on the Restrictions tab of their license properties, have a Restrict to OS control that limits the kind of operating system on which the installed application must be running before it can consume from the license. For the current device, the operating system did not match the restriction currently set on the license. For example, if the license is restricted to Windows Server, but this device is running a version of Windows for desktop devices, this assessment result must be Rejected. The device must find another license to consume.
License entitlement or points consumed as expected	Standard procedure. For points-based licenses, the appropriate points are consumed; and for licenses based on separate entitlements (such as a Device license matching installations against purchases), an entitlement is consumed (or as some colloquially say, "A license is consumed").
No licensable Oracle database instance is known for this device	This license was rejected for covering the software shown (typically, an Oracle option or related application), because the license conditions require a licensed Oracle database instance installed on the same server. It may be that the database instance(s) on this server have been marked as not licensable, in which case this rejection is entirely expected and correct. If, instead, no database instance is visible in the inventory from this device, you may need to install Inventory Agent locally on that server to identify, and inventory, the instances of Oracle Database running there.
The installation was outside the restricted enterprise group	The Restrictions tab of the license properties limits consumption to a specific enterprise group (such as a location, a business unit, or a cost center); and the current inventory device is not known to belong to the same enterprise group, and therefore cannot consume from this license. The enterprise group(s) for the device are available in the Ownership tab of the inventory device properties. Do not confuse these restrictions with group assignment. Group assignments are only a priority setting, whereas the settings on the Restrictions tab are binding.
The license was not assessed, because the device or user has consumed from a higher priority license, or has an allocation from another license	This is a good outcome. Although the application on this row does relate to this license, this particular installation has already been covered somewhere else and so this license did not need to be considered. To understand more about the priority order for consumption, see How Does License Consumption Order Work? If you are working with multi-product licenses that can cover software bundles, also see License Compliance Calculations (Especially for Bundles).
The number of cores, required for calculating consumption for this license type,is missing for this device	This license type calculates points consumed based on the number of cores (either the total number of cores available on the host server, or the cores assigned to the guest virtual machine, based on the terms in the license agreement). However, the inventory returned for the device did not include the core count. You may need to install Inventory Agent locally on the device. As a temporary work-around, you can manually enter the number of cores on the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties.
The number of cores (or processors) on this device is more than the maximum allowed for this license	Check the terms of the license agreement for the maximum number of cores allowed on a licensed device; and validate the core count returned in inventory (or manually specified on the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties). If the core count is missing from the inventory for the device, IT Asset Management uses the number of processors (when available) as a backstop measure. It is best practice to correct the incoming inventory data, or at least to use the override facilities on the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties.
The number of processors, required for calculating consumption from this license type, is missing for this device	This license type calculates points consumed based on the number of processors (either the total number of processors available on the host server, or the processors assigned to the guest virtual machine, based on the terms in the license agreement). However, the inventory returned for the device did not include the processor count. You may need to install Inventory Agent locally on the device. As a temporary work-around, you can manually enter the number of processors on the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties.
The number of processors for this device is fewer than the minimum required for this license	The terms of the license agreement specify a minimum number of processors that must be available before this license is applicable. Inventory returned for this device does not meet that condition, and the license must therefore be rejected. Validate (or override) the processor count on the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties.
The number of processors for this device is more than the maximum allowed for this license.	The terms of the license agreement specify a maximum number of available processors, beyond which this license is not applicable. Inventory returned for this device shows an excess processor count, and the license must therefore be rejected. Validate (or override) the processor count on the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties.
The number of sockets, required to calculate consumption, is missing for this device.	This license type calculates points consumed based on the number of processor sockets (whether populated with processors or not), as described in the license agreement. However, the inventory returned for the device did not include the socket count – which is not surprising, since very few inventory tools can collect this. You can manually enter the number of sockets on the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties.
The number of sockets for this device is more than the maximum allowed for this license.	The terms of the license agreement specify a maximum number of available sockets (whether populated with processors or not), beyond which this license is not applicable. The Hardware tab of the properties for this inventory device shows an excess socket count, and the license must therefore be rejected. Since an operator likely inserted the socket count manually, check, and if need be correct, the value on the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties. Otherwise, find an alternative license (remembering that the reconciliation process may have already redirected this installation to a more appropriate license).
There are not enough entitlements available on this license to cover this device.	Generally means that you need to link more purchase records to the license (or find the alternative license where this installation is consuming).
This license type requires allocation, but no license entitlement was allocated to the device/user.	If this application installation has not consumed from any other license (elsewhere in the listing), you can cause the next license reconciliation to link the installation to this license by making an individual allocation of a license entitlement to the device (or the user, depending on license type), using the Consumption tab of the license properties.
Access logs are missing the usage date/period needed for a CAL.	Microsoft User CAL license type has a setting on the Use rights & rules tab which may be configured to consume based on Access or Usage . If this license type is configured to consume based on usage and there is no CAL usage data collected indicating that the application has been used by the user within the configured time frame, the assignment will fail. See information about the Consume entitlements based on control in License Consumption Rules.
The installation has no user defined and is therefore out of scope of the user based restrictions.	If you are using restrictions on a license where users consume (such as the User license type) and there is an installation on a device which does not have a calculated or assigned user, then assignment will fail. For more information, see License Properties / Restrictions Tab.
The installation was outside the scope defined by report restrictions.	If you are using a restriction which uses a report to restrict assignment to a license and the user or device is not part of that report, the assignment will fail. See the section “Link a report to a license to only allow inventory devices or users in that report to consume from that license” in License Properties / Restrictions Tab.