Current consumption field helps manage IBM PVU licenses

An extra column is available in the column chooser on license listings, specifically to enrich the overview of IBM PVU licenses.

As background, for all other license types, the Consumed column shows the result of the most recent license consumption calculations (typically from the overnight reconciliation). However, for IBM PVU licenses, the Consumed column shows the peak consumption in the entire reporting period to date, because this peak value (summed across the three mandatory IBM regions) is the measure of license consumption for IBM PVU licenses. This is the same as the Peak consumed shown in the Compliance tab of the IBM PVU license properties.

This can make it harder than necessary to monitor whether your PVU points are trending up (so that the peak might also be the current calculated consumption) or trending down (so that your current consumption might be less than the peak). In previous releases, to monitor this trend, you needed to open the license properties of each IBM PVU license in turn and check the Current consumption field on the Compliance tab.

Now, license listings include a Current consumption column, which echoes that value from the Compliance tab of IBM PVU licenses. For all other license types, it's not very interesting, because it shows the same value as the Consumed column, as you might expect (since the Consumed column already shows the most recent calculation results). But if you are closely monitoring your PVU points, you can filter the appropriate listing to show only IBM PVU licenses, and display the peak Consumed column next to the Current consumption column, seeing what trends emerge.

The extra column is available in the column chooser on these pages:

• All Licenses
• Licenses At Risk
• Under-Consumed Licenses
• License Contract Expiry.