Technology Asset Management Glossary
Welcome to our comprehensive glossary covering terms in the Technology Asset Management landscape. This resource is designed to provide you with a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of the key terms and concepts involved in Software Asset Management, IT Asset Management, and FinOps—including the many acronyms out there!
A
- Audit
- A process of reviewing and analyzing software usage to ensure compliance with licensing agreements and regulations.
- Asset Inventory
- The process of identifying the software installation and hardware configuration details of discovered devices, necessary to accurately determine License Consumption.
B
- Baseline
- A snapshot of the current state of software assets, used as a reference point for tracking changes and identifying discrepancies.
- BOM (Bill of Materials)
- All of the applications in scope for a renewal with volumes and types.
C
- Compliance
- The state of conforming to licensing agreements and regulatory requirements for software usage.
- Composable Business
- Refers to an organization that has adopted a modular approach to building and running its business processes and IT infrastructure, using APIs and microservices architecture to create flexible and agile systems that can be easily connected and combined.
- Contractual Use Rights (Use Rights)
- The set of legally-binding conditions, technical or otherwise, whereby a Publisher stipulates how a third party is authorized to use a Discretely Licensable Software Product within a granted License Entitlement.
- CMDB (Configuration Management Database)
- A database that contains detailed information about an organization's IT assets, including hardware and software configurations, relationships between assets, and other relevant data.
- CSP (Cloud Solution Provider)
- A company that offers cloud-based services and solutions to businesses and other organizations.
D
- Deployment
- The process of installing software on computers or other devices.
- Device Discovery
- The process of uniquely identifying networks and the IP-aware devices on those networks, both physical and virtual.
- Discretely Licensable Software Product (Licensable Software)
- A distinct computer program, of which a third party's right to use would require or consume a license as defined and granted by its Publisher.
E
- EA
- Enterprise Agreement
- Effective Consumption Position (ECP)
- A materially complete and accurate determination at an approximated point in time of a given scope of License Consumption.
- Effective Entitlement Position (EEP)
- A materially complete and accurate determination at an approximated point in time of a given scope of License Entitlement.
- Effective License Position (ELP)
- A materially complete and accurate determination at an approximated point in time of the net difference between License Entitlement and License Consumption for each Discretely Licensable Software Product of a given Publisher, including the optimal allocation of downgrade rights, cross-edition rights, existing entitlements of bundled product, etc., and the estimated value of any under- or over-licensing.
- End of Life (EOL)
- The point at which a software product is no longer supported by thePublisher, meaning that no new updates or security patches will be released.
- EULA (End-User License Agreement)
- A legal contract between a softwarePublisher and the end-user that outlines the terms and conditions under which the software can be used.
F
- Financial Management
- The process of tracking and managing the financial aspects of software assets, including procurement, licensing, and usage costs.
- FinOps
- A public cloud management discipline that enables organizations to get maximum business value from cloud by helping technology, finance, and business teams to collaborate on data-driven spending decisions.
G
- Governance
- The policies, procedures, and controls that govern the management of technology assets.
H
- Hardware Inventory
- The process of tracking and managing hardware assets, including computers, servers, and mobile devices.
I
- Inventory
- The process of tracking and managing software assets, including licenses, installations, and usage.
- Inventory Normalization
- The categorization/mapping of inventoried hardware and/or software data into/to discrete aggregated groups, which may include the enrichment of such data with other known characteristics relevant to the discrete aggregated group.
- ITAM (Information Technology Asset Management)
- The practice of managing and optimizing the purchase, deployment, utilization, and maintenance of all IT assets (hardware, software, networks, etc.) within an organization.
- ITAM Program Transformation
- This is an Anglepoint service designed for large and complex organizations looking to mature ITAM and deliver on executive requirements, and balance quick efficient access to the right technology for users, with optimized spend in challenging economic times.
- ITSM (Information Technology Service Management)
- The activities that are performed by an organization to design, build, deliver, operate and control information technology services offered to customers.
- ISO 19770-1
- The Global Standards Organization’s defined certification specifically for ITAM. The standards are significant in that they are a means to benchmark the industry, establish a proscribed level of maturity the ITAM function should meet and a best practice guide. The standards help organizations understand the key concepts that should be considered when running an effective ITAM program.
K
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Metrics used to measure the effectiveness of software asset management practices, such as compliance rates and cost savings.
L
- License
- A legal agreement that governs the use of software.
- License Consumption (Consumption)
- A quantity of licenses that a third party’s use of a given Discretely Licensable Software Product of a given Publisher requires, per Contractual Use Rights.
- License Entitlement (Entitlement)
- A quantity of licenses a third party has been granted the right to consume of a given Discretely Licensable Software Product of a given Publisher, per Contractual Use Rights.
M
- Mergers, Acquisitions and Divestments (MAD)
- When two companies and joined together in their entirety, when a company is purchased or when part of a company is separated from the main entity and run separately.
- Maintenance
- The ongoing support and updates provided by vendors for software products.
- Mobile Device Management (MDM)
- The practice of managing and securing mobile devices within an organization, including smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
- Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP)
- A suite of tools and technologies offered by Microsoft to help IT professionals manage and optimize Windows desktops.
N
- Negotiation
- The process of negotiating licensing agreements with software vendors.
- North Star Metric
- The overall business goals.
O
- Optimization
- The process of maximizing the value of software assets by optimizing license usage and minimizing waste.
- Operating System Instance (OSI)
- A single installation of an operating system, including on a non-virtualized physical device, a virtual machine, or a virtual desktop environment.
P
- Procurement
- The process of acquiring software licenses, either through purchase or lease.
- Proof of Entitlement (PoE)
- The documents that a given Publisher accepts as evidence of the nature, scope, and quantity of license rights to Software that a given third party has been granted entitlement to under a legally binding license agreement. Such documents specifically include executed software license agreements (and associated contracts or amendments) and paid Vendor invoices, but may include executed Vendor quotes, and Publisher product Use Rights and support terms and conditions to the extent such documents contain legally binding terms that are incorporated by reference in executed contracts. However, as a practical matter on account of their greater availability, customer purchase order documents and associated Vendor (including reseller) purchase transaction records can serve as a proxy for a paid Vendor invoice, subject to a given Publisher’s generally accepted practices / tacit approval.
- Publisher Runbook (Runbook)
- A living document that serves as a record of
- the data collection processes and procedures used,
- the underlying licensing rules applied, and
- the calculations and associated assumptions employed in producing a given ELP.
Q
- QA (Quality Assurance)
- The process of ensuring that software is functioning as intended and meets the needs of users.
R
- Reporting
- The process of generating reports to provide insight into software usage, compliance, and cost.
- Request for Proposal (RFP)
- A document used in the procurement process to solicit bids from potential Vendors or service providers. It typically outlines the scope of work, project requirements, timeline, and evaluation criteria, and asks Vendors to submit a proposal that details how they will meet the needs of the organization. The proposals are evaluated based on various factors, such as pricing, experience, expertise, and past performance, and a vendor is selected based on the evaluation results. The use of an RFP process can help ensure that the organization receives competitive bids and selects the vendor that best meets its needs.
- Request for information (RFI)
- The formal process for gathering information from potential Vendors.
- Risk and Opportunity Assessment Report (ROAR)
- A detailed summary of observations and interpretations of a given ELP that suggests remediation options and cost savings opportunities, identifies potential root causes of issues, and recommends associated actions.
S
- Software Asset Management (SAM)
- The practice of managing software assets to optimize value, ensure compliance, and minimize risk.
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
- A software delivery model in which software is hosted and provided by a third-party vendor over the internet, rather than installed and run locally on a user's device.
- SaaS governance
- The policies, processes, and controls implemented by an organization to manage and ensure the effective and secure use of SaaS applications.
- Service Level Agreement (SLA)
- A contract between a service provider and the customer that outlines the level of service that will be provided, as well as the metrics that will be used to measure service quality. They typically define service level targets for various aspects of the service, such as availability, performance, and response time, and specify the consequences if the targets are not met.
- Software Publisher (Publisher)
- The entity that owns the source code of and intellectual property rights to Discretely Licensable Software Products it publishes and makes available for a Vendor (which may be the self-same entity) to License Entitlement to use such Licensable Software by a third party, subject to Contractual Use Rights.
- Software Vendor (Vendor)
- The entity that sells or resells License Entitlement to use a given Publisher's Licensable Software to a third party, subject to Contractual Use Rights.
T
- Training
- The process of providing education and training to users to ensure that they can effectively use software products.
- Total Cost of Acquisition (TCA)
- The total cost of acquiring an asset, including purchase price, shipping, taxes, and other associated costs.
- Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
- The total cost of owning and operating an asset over its entire lifecycle, including acquisition, maintenance, support, and disposal costs.
U
- Usage
- The amount and manner in which software is being used by an organization.
V
- Vendor Management
- The process of managing relationships with Software Vendors to ensure that licensing agreements are adhered to and support is provided.
W
- Workflow
- The process of managing software assets throughout their lifecycle, from procurement to retirement.
X
- XML (eXtensible Markup Language)
- A format used for exchanging data between software applications.
Y
- Yield
- The value obtained from software assets, including financial, operational, and strategic benefits.
Z
- Zero-day
- A vulnerability or exploit that is discovered and exploited by hackers before the vendor has had a chance to release a patch or update.