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SaaS User License Type, redux

Following up on the below thread, what is the considered "best practice" for purchased SaaS software where our implementation does not include the SaaS Manager module?  Should we opt instead for "Custom Metric" and steer clear entirely of the use of the SaaS User license type?

We are doing due diligence to research the software/service that is purchased to verify it is cloud-based, and check for any local installations - even for "helper" applications - before we use the SaaS User license type.  The discussion on the earlier thread makes me think, perhaps, I should go back to those licenses and flip them all to Custom Metric instead.

On prem, 2019 R1

Thoughts?

https://community.flexera.com/t5/FlexNet-Manager-Forum/Tableau-local-installs-covered-by-SaaS-User-license/td-p/166870

David Mathias

NTT DATA Services

(1) Solution
ChrisG
By Community Manager Community Manager
Community Manager

There's no general right or wrong answer here. A general principle to apply for choosing the license type to use for a particular entitlement is to choose a type with the behavior that most closely matches how the entitlement works, or how you want to model and track the entitlement.

The match in behavior or modelling won't necessarily be exact, and there may be pros and cons for each choice when considering a particular entitlement.

I don't recall exactly if or how consumption on a license of type "SaaS User" is automatically calculated - if you don't have Flexera One ITAM SaaS Management functionality I think it may generally operate like a "User" or "Named User" license type, and count consumption based on the number of users identified for installations of applications that are linked to the license, or users that are explicitly allocated to the license. Given that most SaaS applications don't have locally installed components that are recognized as installed, and without SaaS Management functionality enabled to create explicit allocations, in practice that may means no consumption will be calculated.

Licenses with a type of "Custom Metric" won't have consumption calculated and can't have users explicitly allocated. But you do have the ability to manually record a consumption number based on your own assessment/analysis of consumption.

(Did my reply solve the question? Click "ACCEPT AS SOLUTION" to help others find answers faster. Liked something? Click "KUDO". Anything expressed here is my own view and not necessarily that of my employer, Flexera.)

View solution in original post

(2) Replies
ChrisG
By Community Manager Community Manager
Community Manager

There's no general right or wrong answer here. A general principle to apply for choosing the license type to use for a particular entitlement is to choose a type with the behavior that most closely matches how the entitlement works, or how you want to model and track the entitlement.

The match in behavior or modelling won't necessarily be exact, and there may be pros and cons for each choice when considering a particular entitlement.

I don't recall exactly if or how consumption on a license of type "SaaS User" is automatically calculated - if you don't have Flexera One ITAM SaaS Management functionality I think it may generally operate like a "User" or "Named User" license type, and count consumption based on the number of users identified for installations of applications that are linked to the license, or users that are explicitly allocated to the license. Given that most SaaS applications don't have locally installed components that are recognized as installed, and without SaaS Management functionality enabled to create explicit allocations, in practice that may means no consumption will be calculated.

Licenses with a type of "Custom Metric" won't have consumption calculated and can't have users explicitly allocated. But you do have the ability to manually record a consumption number based on your own assessment/analysis of consumption.

(Did my reply solve the question? Click "ACCEPT AS SOLUTION" to help others find answers faster. Liked something? Click "KUDO". Anything expressed here is my own view and not necessarily that of my employer, Flexera.)

Thanks, @ChrisG .  That's a helpful summary.  I think I will take your conclusion into consideration in that Custom Metric would likely be more helpful for SaaS products where the customer wishes us to track some - even imprecise - metric against their cloud licenses versus creating the licenses and, effectively, deferring them or placing them out of scope for our service.  I still hold out hope for one day getting FNMEA and SaaS Manager for this customer, but I don't hold my breath.  😉

David