Track Software Licenses, Vendors and Renewals

Software license tracking is keeping a current record of the software you pay for, who uses it and when each contract renews. It covers subscriptions, cloud apps and installed software across every department.

Licenses stay assigned when people leave or stop using a product, and many subscriptions renew automatically at the same seat count. Without a regular check, the gap between seats bought and seats used grows each year.

Compare assigned licenses with sign-in and usage data from each product. Seats with no use over a set period, such as 90 days, are candidates to reclaim, cancel or move to a lower plan.

Microsoft’s usage reports documentation says the admin center reports show who uses a service fully and who barely uses it and might not need a license. The reports are generally available for the last 7, 30, 90 and 180 days and do not include perpetual licenses (bought once, with no subscription).

At least the product, vendor, seats bought, seats assigned, cost, contract owner, renewal date and notice period. Proof of purchase and contract terms help in a vendor audit.

Far enough to decide before the notice period ends, which depends on the contract. A reminder a few weeks before the notice date gives the owner time to check use and negotiate.

Match what you bought with what is installed and who is assigned, for that vendor first. Keep proof of purchase with each license record, so you can answer the audit from the register.

When you have many vendors, installed software to match against purchases, or a vendor audit coming. For a few subscription vendors, the admin and usage reports you already have can supply much of the data.

A leaver who keeps a license ties up a paid seat until someone removes it. Adding license removal to the leaver checklist, alongside access removal, releases the seat for a new joiner or for removal at renewal. Our Automate Employee Onboarding and Offboarding use case covers the wider process.

Check the register before any new software purchase, and bring software bought on company cards into the register. Teams can then share existing seats instead of buying new ones.

Yes. SaaS (software as a service) apps, the cloud subscriptions billed per user, can be a large part of software spend, and many are bought outside IT. Our SaaS guide explains how these subscriptions work.

License tracking covers software, seats and contracts. Asset tracking covers devices. The two link when software is installed on devices. Our Track IT Assets Across Your Organization use case covers the device side.

Software is one part of IT spend. Our Control IT Spending and Assign Cost Ownership use case covers budgets, cost owners and spend reporting across all of IT.

Cloud infrastructure, such as servers and storage billed by use, needs its own cost checks. Our Reduce Cloud Costs use case covers that side.

The business owner who uses the software, supported by IT and finance. A named owner for each contract gives one person the job of checking use and terms before the notice period ends.

It depends on the number of vendors and contracts and on where the records are kept. The largest contracts and upcoming renewals can go first, with smaller vendors added in stages.

We work with Microsoft as a Technology Partner, including Microsoft 365 licensing and usage reports. We also work with the admin and usage reports from the other software you already use.

The Software License Review compares your largest software contracts with sign-in and usage data, and lists the renewals due in the next year with their notice dates. It needs your list of software contracts, read access to admin and usage reports, and recent software invoices. We walk you through the findings on a call. Signisys is based in Noida and works with businesses in Delhi NCR and across India; book through this page or call +91 7669 966 966. A Signisys specialist responds within 1 business day, and there is no obligation to go further.