Processing a Perpetual License Purchase

FlexNet Manager Suite 2020 R2 (On-Premises)

The 'purchase processing wizard' refers to the blue pop-up work area of the Unprocessed Purchases page. The appearance and behavior of this wizard varies depending on all aspects of the purchase. To simplify description, this topic addresses only one case:

Processing purchases of new entitlements for a perpetual license (with or without accompanying maintenance).

Start this procedure from the Unprocessed Purchases page.

To process purchases of new perpetual license entitlements:

1. Select the appropriate row(s) from the list of unprocessed purchases.
   You may select multiple purchases, as long as they all have a Purchase type of either Not set or Software. (If your selection includes other types, the Process button remains disabled. Try selecting fewer purchases.) Keep in mind that when you process multiple purchases, they are all updated with the same maintenance settings that you configure through the wizard, including identical maintenance dates; so only select multiple purchases when you know you want them all to end up being much the same.

   Tip: Try grouping your results by the Action column (available in the column chooser). This lets you focus on a subset of purchases that need similar processing.
2. Click Process.
   A new processing area opens above the list. The Max. available field shows the total number of entitlements still available through this purchase (more details available below).
3. Choose one of the following, depending on whether you are processing one purchase or multiple purchases:
   • For a single purchase: If required, adjust the Quantity to process field, either by typing in a value or using the spinner controls, to set the number to assign to the license you will identify shortly.

     By default, this quantity to process is the same as the Max. available field, meaning that if you make no change to the value, you assign all available entitlements to the one license. If you set the Quantity to process field to a lower value, you are splitting the purchase across multiple licenses, and can make another pass through this wizard later to assign the remaining entitlements.

   • For multiple purchases: The list of selected purchases includes a column labeled To be processed, and you can separately adjust the quantity to assign to the one license from each of the listed purchases. If, for any purchase, you set the To be processed field to a lower value than its Max. available, you are splitting the purchase across multiple licenses, and can make another pass through this wizard later to assign the remaining quantity. When you are satisfied with the settings (described in the following table) for this pass, click Apply entitlements.
     While you are processing multiple purchases, the list of selected purchases includes these columns:

     Purchase order no.

     The identifying code of the purchase order authorizing the purchase.

     Description

     Details of the item purchased.

     Purchase type

     The nature of this purchase, such as software, hardware, maintenance and so on. Determines whether automated processing of the purchase can occur, and whether the purchase can contribute to license entitlements.

     Tip: At purchase processing time, when the purchase is linked to a license, the purchase type from a recognized SKU is given priority over this Purchase type set in the purchase properties. It is best practice to keep these two values aligned.

     For a new perpetual license, only the values Not set or Software should be displayed (and the Purchase type of the SKU, if applicable, should be Full version).

     Effective quantity

     Total number of units acquired with this purchase. Depending on purchase type, these 'units' may be license entitlements, or maintenance coverage for this number of license entitlements.

     If this software purchase includes maintenance coverage, then the quantity is the same for both the entitlements and the maintenance coverage.

     Max. available

     When no entitlements have previously been assigned from this purchase, the Max. available is the same as the Effective quantity. However, if you have previously assigned some entitlements to another license, this shows the remainder, which is the most that you can assign from this purchase to a different license.

     To be processed

     By default, this shows the same as the Max. available column, and you cannot increase it past that maximum value. However, you can use the spinner controls (or type directly into the field) to adjust the number to a lesser value if you want to assign fewer entitlements from this purchase to your target license. Mix and match the quantities from your multiple purchases as you require.

4. Choose an option from the Apply to drop-down list:

   a recommended license

   This option is selected by default when the system suggests suitable licenses in the list below. The list of suggested licenses displays:

   • Priority, as determined through the internal recommendation process
   • License, displaying the Name from the license properties
   • Reason, being a note of explanation about why this license appears. For example, a license may be recommended because the purchase Matches an application version lower than the highest available (meaning that the only match is against an earlier version of the application).

   To choose a license from this list of suggestions, select that row of the list.

   an existing license (search)

   Choose this when you know that an appropriate license exists, but it has not been selected by the automated process (when no license is recommended, this choice is the default). With this choice, a new Licenses control is shown below the drop-down list: click in the field to activate the Search control. Optionally, enter a few characters from the license name or publisher to focus the returned set of licenses; and click Search (details of the search result fields are in Fields Available in License Search Results). Select one license from the search results, and click Add license.

   a new license (create)

   Use when there is no relevant license previously recorded in FlexNet Manager Suite, or when you need a new license with a different set of use rights. The new license is prepared based on the properties of the purchase. (You may need to modify these defaults in the license properties thereafter.) If a known SKU is recognized in the purchase, the new license is based on the appropriate template from the Product Use Rights Libraries. Otherwise, later pages will let you provide more details, after setting the maintenance provisions.
   When the license question is settled, the Set maintenance button is enabled.
5. Click Set maintenance.
   Tip: Ideally, the maintenance details should be set in the General tab of the purchase properties, and if present there, they are copied into the recommendation. However, the maintenance options are still offered here for those purchases where the maintenance settings were not completed in the purchase properties. Any change you make in this panel will be written back into the purchase record. (If you are processing multiple purchases, identical maintenance details will be written into all the selected purchases.)
6. From the Maintenance type drop-down list, choose one of:
   • None when the purchase does not involve any support or maintenance options
   • Contract when the purchase is covered by an existing contract. Then choose to Use settings from either a recommended contract (choose one from the list of recommendations displayed), or search for a contract (use the search controls as usual).
   • Fixed when a fixed period of maintenance is included in this purchase. The system proposes an end date for the fixed maintenance period by inferring a start date and adding a proposed duration. The start date (not displayed here) is taken from the first available of:
     • Maintenance Effective date on the General tab of the purchase properties
     • The Invoice date on the Financial tab of the purchase properties
     • The Purchase date on the General tab of the purchase properties.
     The suggested end date is calculated by the first available of these methods:
     • If a recognized SKU is attached to the purchase, and the standard SKU definition includes a maintenance period, then this period is added to the start date to give an end date
     • If an Expiry date is shown in Maintenance section of the General tab of the purchase properties, this date is used as the end date
     • One year is added to the start date to give the end date.
     You may use the date picker to set a different expiry date in the Until field, but should do so with care!
     Warning: This control adjusts only the end date of the maintenance period, and does not adjust its start date. This means, for example, that if you move an end date forward by three months, you are effectively converting a 12-month maintenance purchase to 15 months. If you have done this in error and want to correct it, edit the purchase properties outside the wizard to ensure that the Effective date and Expiry date for maintenance are defining the correct period for the maintenance purchase.
     If the destination license is linked to a product for which the Application Recognition Library defines multiple versions, another control appears for To version. If the maintenance ends after a particular release, pick the last covered version from this drop-down list, and make sure that the associated check box is selected.
     Tip: You cannot process the purchase with Fixed maintenance until at least one check box is set for Until or To version. (When only the Until control is visible, ensure that the check box remains selected.)
   • Unlimited, which, although unusual, means there is no end date for the maintenance. The start date (not displayed) is determined by the same process as for Fixed, described above; but no end date is set.
7. Process the recommendation as you have amended it. (The button says Process when the target license exists, or Process and create a license when you chose the option for a new license.)
   The next actions depend on the license you chose:

   • For an existing license with complete details, the wizard area closes. See the results described at the end of this topic.
   • Where the license is to be created, and it can be sufficiently defined from the purchase record (for example, through a recognized SKU), its properties appear, and you can continue with step 8.
   • Where a new license is required, but insufficient information is available (for example, when no SKU has been recognized, and the purchase description does not exactly match a previously created license), the Create a License page appears. Your purchase is already listed for the new license (and does not need to be selected or further processed). Continue with these sub-steps.
   1. In the Application to license section, use the Search control to identify the application covered by this purchase.
      For details, see To Use a Fly-Down. When you have selected the Application, the controls in the next section are enabled and populated with options and defaults.
   2. Complete the details in the Purchase overview section:

      Purchase type

      The method or process used for this purchase.

      • OEM — A purchase from an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) that included the software license, such as the operating system license supplied when you buy or lease hardware.
      • Retail — A purchase direct from a retailer, generally without influence by other agreements (purchasing agreements, maintenance agreements).

        Microsoft calls this a Fully Packaged Product (FPP) purchase.

      • Subscription — A purchase that requires regular payments to maintain the subscription.
      • Volume — A purchase subject to a volume purchasing agreement.

      In some cases, this list defaults to All. With this setting, the Purchase type does not affect the choice of License model (further down the page).

      Purchasing program

      Only enabled when you select Volume (or All) as the Purchase type. You may only select from the options in the drop-down list (you cannot type new values into the field).

      The purchasing program offered by the software publisher.

      Available only for major vendors.

      Maintenance

      Only enabled when you select Volume (or All) as the Purchase type.

      Choose Yes or No if you are clear about whether the purchase includes software maintenance, and otherwise accept the default Any.

      License type

      The kind of license, which determines what properties are available for the license, and how compliance is calculated for the license.

      For summary information about each license type, see the Glossary entries (expand the table of contents in the left-hand panel).

      License name

      If the license is created automatically, the license is given a default name. You may edit the name, although this may make later update purchases more complicated. The defaults may be derived in the following ways:

      • When the license is created from a license model, the default name is derived from the licensed software product (the application name, without any reference to a specific version).
      • When the license is created by importing a Microsoft License Statement (MLS) in a spreadsheet, the license name combines the Publisher, Product, and Edition values listed in the MLS record.
      • When the license is created while processing a purchase order line, and that purchase order line used a recognized SKU, the Description from the SKU is used as the default license name. This typically includes the publisher, product name, version, license type, and language.
      • On the other hand, if a purchase order line does not use a recognized SKU, the default license name is copied from the PO line Description.

      As you make changes to these values, the suggestions for a License model may be updated.

   3. If a suitable license model displays in the list, select it.
      Tip: Try clearing the check box for Show only recommended license models to see more models, but choose carefully.

      A license model is a faster way to configure the new license you are creating, but it is not mandatory. Even if you cannot find a suitable license model, you can still proceed.
   4. When you have the best possible settings, click Create.
      After a short time, the properties page for your new license appears. (The related purchase is already linked, and visible in the Purchases tab.)
8. You may edit the license properties as required, and when finished, click Save.
9. Click Close to exit from the license properties and return to Unprocessed Purchases.

The wizard area closes. For purchases where the entire Effective quantity has now been assigned, the processed purchase has disappeared from the Unprocessed Purchases page (it has moved to the Processed Purchases page). If the purchase still has some entitlements to process (for example, part way through splitting it across multiple licenses), it remains in the Unprocessed Purchases page, displaying the remaining quantity of entitlements in the Available quantity field.