Due Diligence - Software Asset Inventory

A major communications company announced a divestiture of major division.  The deal was still pending stock holder and regulatory approval, but the writing was on the wall.  At the time, I was asked what we could do to get prepared.

Many of the milestones and objectives will eventually be set within the sales agreements.  I cannot remember what I suggested at the time, probably begin tidying up the active directory domains.  I was wrong.  If you are the seller, then get your licenses, contracts and support agreements in order.

Once the deal is signed this will be one of the last things that you will want to address.  You will have mandatory milestones in the contract, and many people think it is not particularly sexy.  So, do yourself a favor and get this information together.

The buyer will want to know the installed count, licensed count and difference (over licensed or under licensed) for the major applications.  Your goal is to identify any licensing pitfalls that might be material for the deal.  If you have licensing gaps for major applications such as Microsoft, Oracle, etc., then the seller could have a large liability to make the deal whole.

The impulse is to run a SCCM report (or something similar) on all PCs based on the Add/Remove programs.  While it does provide the information you want, it provides too much and should be considered an approach of last resort.  Often you could use this report to verify information.

You should have a software asset inventory that includes server and PC software.  Most companies has a respectable SAM program (Software Asset Management).  But often the effort is fragmented and balkenized.  If you do not have an good global inventory, then use the due diligence period to get one together.  A really good place to start from is your budget.