LMS FAQ

Maintaining license compliance is important because it protects you, the customer, from financial, operational, and reputational risks. It also helps ensure that software is used within the terms of the agreement(s), helping your organization avoid costly penalties or interruptions to critical business systems. Beyond risk mitigation, compliance also promotes transparency, budget predictability, and trust between you and your software vendors, allowing IT and procurement teams to focus on optimizing value rather than reacting to compliance issues.

Noncompliance results from a lack of insight into a customer’s software, hardware, and business application environments. There are many contributing factors that can lead to this situation, including the following:

• Increase in workforce size—through recruitment, acquisitions, or mergers—that results in increased usage volumes
• Installation of unlicensed software
• Misinterpretation or lack of understanding of Oracle's licensing policies, contractual entitlements, and license agreements
• Changes to the IT hardware environment, such as the incorporation of additional servers, processors, or technologies
• Implementation of new software products or new business applications

In addition, businesses operating with an assortment of license metrics (both obsolete and current) are at additional risk of being licensed incorrectly. New technologies may not suit older license metrics, and this can impact licensing status and potentially create a compliance risk.

During an Oracle LMS audit, consultants work with customers and partners to report Oracle software usage and compare it with contractual entitlements. The findings can help identify license compliance gaps and opportunities to improve license management controls.

During an audit, your organization will work with an LMS consultant who has expertise in Oracle licensing and architecture configurations. The consultant will guide you through the audit process and discuss the findings.

Like other IT vendors in the IT marketplace, Oracle is concerned with intellectual property rights, copyright infringement, and piracy.

To combat these risks, Oracle has defined contractual requirements and licensing policies that explain its intellectual property rights. Licensing rules, requirements, and supplemental educational material can be found in your Oracle agreements, in product documentation, and in policies available on Oracle.com.

Oracle LMS is the only group within Oracle authorized to review and confirm your compliance status. In doing so, Oracle LMS will provide guidance and education to assist you in managing your Oracle IT assets and maintaining compliance.

Ultimately, when a business is noncompliant, it has a direct impact on Oracle’s license and support revenue and therefore affects the level of investment the company can make in research and development. As these activities are essential for the continued innovation and evolution of Oracle's products and solutions, noncompliance of Oracle IT assets ultimately impacts both customers and the marketplace.

1. Understand your contractual entitlements.
   • Your rights for using Oracle programs are incorporated into your contractual entitlements and license agreement. If you’re unable to locate your contractual entitlements and license agreement, please seek assistance from Oracle or the Oracle partner who sold your licenses to you.
   • Review your Oracle contractual entitlements and license agreement to understand the specifics of the terms and conditions. Please contact Oracle if you need help with this process.
   • If you’re an Oracle partner, ensure your membership is up to date and regularly review the Oracle PartnerNetwork website for updates, news, training, and events.
   • Stay up to date with Oracle's policies and business practices by regularly checking Oracle’s Global Pricing and Licensing page. Oracle provides many resources on the website that will be of assistance to you, including information on specialty licensing–related topics and the latest price lists
2. Understand your Oracle IT asset usage
   • Document and maintain a complete list of all applications and programs in use as well as details of your hardware environment throughout your organization. Changes to your hardware environment could impact your licensing levels, so it’s essential to keep track of these.
   • Develop a user management process that accurately tracks the lifecycle of Oracle users, from the time they’re first provided access to Oracle-based systems to when they leave the organization. Maintaining an accurate count of Oracle users and what Oracle systems they have access to is a key component in successfully managing your Oracle deployment.
   • Perform regular usage measurement across the company and develop procedures where individual Oracle users are required to report usage statistics. These usage statistics should then be consolidated.
3. Implement IT asset tracking and review processes
   • Define IT asset access and deployment tracking procedures.
   • Designate a single point of contact in the company who is responsible for understanding contractual entitlements and comparing actual usage to the rights granted through your contractual entitlements.
   • Communicate and educate Oracle users on licensed rights and limitations as defined in the contractual and license entitlements.
   • Perform active and regular reviews of your Oracle IT asset deployment.

No. The Oracle LMS Audit Service is complimentary and is initiated by Oracle LMS through a formal process.

Oracle LMS uses two primary tools: the Oracle Collection Tool and the Global Deployment Matrix. Designed and built by Oracle, these tools are completely complimentary to use and can provide you with a detailed assessment of your Oracle software deployments.

You may also be able to use your own SAM tool. Oracle’s partnerships with third-party tool vendors include verification that their tools provide accurate Oracle usage data, so customers can have confidence that any verified tools they’re using will accurately collect software deployment information related to Oracle products.

Visit the Tooling page to learn more.

A license compliance shortfall may be corrected in one of the following ways:

1. Through the purchase of sufficient licenses and associated support to cover the compliance shortfall. Backdated support may also be assessed for the period of unlicensed usage. Your account team will work with you to determine the optimal path forward.
2. If you remove the Oracle software or reconfigure your hardware environment, a term license and associated support can be purchased to cover the period of unlicensed usage. Again, your account team will work with you to explore options for the optimal path forward.

Oracle LMS will send an official audit letter on Oracle letterhead, signed by an LMS consultant. This letter could be received via email PDF, fax, and/or mail.

We work collaboratively with customers to outline our process and agree on the appropriate steps required for each engagement. However, a number of factors can impact the time needed to complete the process. For example, engagement timelines can be impacted by the complexity of the corporate structure and/or IT environment. We’re committed to completing all engagements as efficiently as possible while taking care that the outcomes meet the needs of both the customer and Oracle.

The Oracle LMS process has four steps: Kickoff, assessment, reporting, and close. Please see the Process section on the Overview page to learn more details about the deliverables required in each phase.

Oracle LMS uses these primary tools: the Oracle Collection Tool and the Global Deployment Matrix. These complimentary tools are designed and built by Oracle to provide you with a detailed assessment of your Oracle software deployments. See the Tooling page for more detailed information.

A license compliance shortfall may occur, which could result in the need to resolve the license compliance violations. Oracle endeavors to resolve license compliance violations in a fair and accurate manner. If a business resolution cannot be obtained, the resolution will be escalated to the appropriate authority through Oracle’s legal department. Remedies open to Oracle include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Charging full list price for any additional software licenses required to correct the license violation
• Charging technical support fees for the period of unlicensed use of the software
• Suspension of technical support service and software updates, where applicable
• Termination of the license agreement and associated licenses
• Cancellation of Oracle PartnerNetwork status and sublicense rights

Oracle LMS aims to use the most constructive methods to reach compliance and will support customers in their resolution process. Ultimately, unresolved license compliance is expected to be resolved. Oracle will explore all options to engage with customers to resolve these matters.