Oracle License Management Services—FAQs

Oracle LMS operates to a three-step "customer first" engagement process: initiate, investigate, inform. During each phase our interactions with customers and partners are open, transparent, and fully collaborative. We do this to minimize any disruption caused by a software audit, to help promote greater awareness of industry best practice, and to encourage ongoing engagement.

Oracle LMS works collaboratively with customers to outline our process and agree on the appropriate steps required for each engagement. However, the length of the engagement is influenced by a number of factors that can impact the time needed to complete the process. For example, longer engagements can be attributed to the complexity of the corporate structure, of the system environment, and of the contractual arrangements in place. Oracle LMS is committed to completing all engagements as efficiently as possible while also ensuring we produce outcomes that meet the needs of both the customer and Oracle.

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:

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

In addition, businesses operating with an assortment of license metrics (both obsolete and current metrics) 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.

Oracle LMS consultants are able to work closely with customers and partners to accurately report usage levels across an extended business operation and to compare these to existing contractual entitlements. In addition, Oracle LMS can assess the controls in place for managing Oracle license provisioning and identify any vulnerability. These findings are then passed on to the customer or partner along with recommendations for addressing any known concerns.

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 a licensing policy that maintains both its contractual and intellectual property rights. These can be accessed at oracle.com/corporate/license-management-services/compliance.html.

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

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

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