The Software module tracks the part of your inventory you cannot put a barcode on: the licenses your organization pays for, the versions they cover, and the people and devices actually using them. Where the inventory module answers where is this laptop, the Software module answers how many licenses did we buy, how many are in use, and can we prove it.
This article explains what you get out of the module and the order to set it up in. Each step links to a detailed guide.
What the module gives you
Owned against used, per version
Once purchases and assignments are recorded, the Software Portfolio report gives you, for every version of every software: the publisher, the license model, the number of licenses you own, and the number in use. That single comparison is what a publisher asks for during a true-up, and what tells you whether you are over-deployed before someone else points it out.
Two companion reports, Users By Title and Users By Version, break the same data down by person and department, so you can see who holds a seat rather than only how many are held.
Renewals you see coming
Versions carry an expiration date and, for subscriptions, a renewal calendar. Hector turns that into two software alert tiles on your dashboard, each with its own lead time, so you can watch both a long and a short horizon at once. It can also email a summary of upcoming version expirations on a schedule, to the departments and groups you choose.
A renewal you knew about a quarter ahead is a negotiation. A renewal you find out about from an invoice is not.
Seats you are paying for and nobody is using
A dashboard tile lists inactive users who still hold software licenses. Every name on it is a seat still being paid for, attached to someone who has left. This is usually the fastest saving the module pays for itself with, because the list is generally longer than anyone expects the first time they look at it.
An inventory that maintains itself
If you use Microsoft Intune, Hector can import the applications installed on each device, create the corresponding licenses, and retire them when an application stops being reported — after a delay you set. You choose which software matters enough to track, and Hector keeps the per-device picture current from then on, without anyone maintaining a spreadsheet.
A number attached to all of it
Price sits on both the version and each purchase, in the currency you actually bought in, so the module reports cost as well as count. Combined with department and group assignment, that lets you answer what a given team’s software costs, not just what the organization spends in total.
How the pieces fit together
The module has four levels, and understanding them up front saves the most time. Each one exists because licensing terms and quantities do not live at the same level as the product itself.
| Level | What it holds | Why it is separate |
|---|---|---|
| Software | Publisher, title, description, the departments and groups that use it | The product, recorded once |
| Version | The edition and its licensing terms: model, scope, period, renewal calendar, keys, price | Terms belong to an edition, not to the product — Office 2016 and Office 365 are licensed differently |
| Purchase | Date, quantity, price, vendor, approval and purchase order numbers, invoice | Adds seats to the pool, and records what you can show an auditor |
| License | The seat itself, and the user, asset, stockroom or place it sits on | Consumes a seat from the pool |
The license pool for a version is simply the seats purchased less the seats assigned. That one relationship is what makes every report in the module possible, and it is why a version is required before a purchase, and a purchase before a meaningful assignment. A purchase recorded with a quantity of 0 marks the pool as unlimited, which is how you record a site license.
If a software has only one edition, you still need one version. Name it main and move on.
Setting it up, in order
- Turn the module on and decide who gets in. Enable Software in Settings > Modules, then grant the rights role by role. See Management of Software module permissions.
- Create your software and versions. Start with the titles that cost the most or carry the most audit risk, not with everything you own. See Process for adding software and versions.
- Record what you bought. This is what fills the pool, so it is the step that makes the reports mean something. See Process for purchasing software licenses.
- Assign the seats. To users, assets, stockrooms or places, depending on how the license is actually used. See Process for assigning software licenses.
- Let your integration take over the assignment step. Optional, and the biggest time saver if it applies to you. See Importing software licenses with Microsoft Intune.
- Turn on the expiration notifications. Do not skip this one. Everything above records what you own; this is the step that makes Hector tell you when something needs attention. See Software expiration and assignment notifications.
You do not need to complete the whole catalogue before the module is useful. One publisher, fully recorded, already answers a compliance question. Ten publishers half-recorded answer nothing.
What else to turn on
- Dashboard tiles. Add the software alert tiles and the inactive-users-with-licenses tile to your dashboard so the module surfaces work rather than waiting to be visited. The alert tiles use the same two delays you set above.
- My Software. Enable the workspace option so end users can see their own licenses without access to the module.
- Custom attributes and columns. Software, versions, purchases and licenses all accept custom attributes, and the grid columns for each are configurable in Settings > Software.
What you need
The Software module is available on the Shield, Armor and Castle plans. Importing applications from Microsoft Intune requires the Castle plan; everything else described here works on any of the three.
If you would like to discuss which plan fits your organization, or see the module against your own data, reach out to our team.