Quick Start With Cloud License Management
Prerequisites
Before you start using Cloud License Management functions, make sure the following conditions are met:
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Your organization has access to the following logical capabilities in Flexera One. Access to these capabilities is enabled by Flexera One administrators. |
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Cloud License Management |
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IT Assets (IT Asset Management) |
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In your organization, the ITAM team, FinOps team, Cloud Excellence team, CIO, CTO, and other relevant functional units have collaborated to determine who is responsible for managing the cloud bills from cloud providers. |
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You have the credentials for your organization’s cloud accounts. Your organization might have several accounts for each cloud provider. |
Initial Configurations
To start using Cloud License Management, complete the following configurations:
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Bill Data Connections
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Configure Flexera One to read your billing data.
Note:Once a billing data connection is successfully created, it will take up to 24 hours for the data to be available in your Cloud License Management reports.
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Bill Processing Status
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Verify the status of your bill data.
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Rule-Based Dimensions
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Use rule-based dimensions to view your cloud costs categorized in groups meaningful to your business.
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Use Cases
Check out the following typical use cases to quickly start realizing the value of Cloud Cost Management.
For a complete description about how to utilize the Cloud Cost Management functionality, see Cloud License Management Reports.
Use case: Discovering savings opportunities for PAYG spend of Windows Server
To discover savings opportunities for your PAYG Windows Server:
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Go to Cloud License Management > Software Insights and Spend Optimization. |
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On the Spend Insights tab, review the Last 30 Days Potential Savings tile. |
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Go to the By Product tab, in the Operating Systems section, find the tile for Windows Server, and review the Last 30 Days Potential Savings value. |
This value indicates the potential savings over the last 30 days if all your PAYG Windows Server instances had been replaced with eligible BYOL licenses, based on your IT Asset Management license entitlements.
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Right-click on the Windows Server tile and select Drill through > Product Details. |
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Go to the Licenses tab, and review the PAYG Eligible for BYOL value. This is the number of your PAYG Windows Server instances that are eligible for bringing your own licenses. |
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Go to the Resources tab. In the Resources List table, you can review detailed information of each Windows server instance, including License Model, Price /hr, Purchase Option, Cost Center, and so on. From here, you can locate the instances that could be replaced with your BYOL licenses. |
Use case: Identifying audit risks with BYOL licenses
To identify audit risks with the use of BYOL software in cloud:
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Go to Cloud License Management > Software Insights and Spend Optimization. |
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Go to the By Product tab, right-click on a software product tile and select Drill through > Product Details. |
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Go to the Licenses tab, and review the PAYG Eligible for BYOL value. If this value is negative, it indicates that you have exceeded your BYOL license entitlements for this product in cloud and need to take action to mitigate audit risk. |
Use case: Forecasting overall spend for cloud providers
To forecast overall spend for a cloud provider:
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Go to Cloud License Management > Software Insights and Spend Optimization. |
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Go to the Spend Insights tab. |
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Review the Software Spend by Date chart. This chart shows the PAYG software spend history and the forecasted future trend for all cloud providers. You can adjust the date range for the chart by using the date filters. |
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To view the spend trend for a specific cloud provider, select that cloud provider from the Cloud Vendor filter. The Software Spend by Date chart will automatically refresh to only display data for the selected cloud provider. |
Tip:For more information about how to use the filters, see Viewing the Software Insights and Spend Optimization Report.