intellifest 2012 international conference on reasoning technologies intelligence in the cloud using...

IntelliFest 2012International Conference on Reasoning Technologies

INTELLIGENCE IN THE CLOUD

Using Niyum to Select Software Licensing Agreements Paul SnowSourcePulse

Paul van den BergCoander

About the Speaker

Paul SnowRules Management Chief Architect, [email protected]

In 2001, Paul implemented his first Decision Table based Rules Engines using English like Domain Specific Language for the Texas TIERS project. He went on to implement a similar Rules Engine for AMS (now CGI) in Ohio. His third implementation became the basis for DTRules, an Open Source project. DTRules is used by Maximus Inc. in production systems in New York, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. DTRules forms the foundation for Niyum, an Enterprise Rules Engine licensed and supported by SourcePulse.

Paul started his professional career as driller at Neddrill an oil and gas exploration contracting company in the Netherlands. There he moved into IT, and has developed into a senior consultant with 25 years of interfacing with Executive Management Teams. He has worked with energy, finance, consumer products, manufacturing, and other industries.

Since 2007, Paul has been focusing on IT procurement and IT vendor management issues which appeared to be common on the projects across industries. His work on licensing on average saves clients more than 40%

Paul van den BergIT Sourcing Strategist, Technology architect

[email protected]

Case Study: Dutch Court System11500 users, nationwide distributed over 25+ locations

Case Study: Dutch Court System

Project was the First in the Netherlands:

Large scale Windows 7 Deployment

Large Scale Deployment of Solid State Technology

47% Reduction in Energy Consumption


14 Million Dollars Saved using Rules Based Analysis

Savings of 60% on Microsoft Licences Fees

The Rules Based Analysis Implementation was completed on Time, and on Budget

Program “Health” continuously checked by KPMG


First Step: Large Account Resellers/Microsoft

Microsoft proposed 22.4 Million to get Started $1,947 per user!

Plus Development and Support

Funding at this Level was Not Possible!

There was no Clear Understanding by Anyone on how to Assemble the Software Products

Satisfy the Business Requirements

Assets and Roadmaps

Track your EA over all your Assets

EA and Asset Management

Deployment Planning and Timing

Matching the EA with your Roadmap

Additional Products? Select Agreement?

Steps to Solving the Problem…

Assets and Roadmaps







Client’s Canlendar


Assets and Roadmaps

You cannot negotiate without goals and data• Asset management inventory• Complete purchasing records with history• Matched to the hardware it is running on• Know the invisible: Client Access Licenses (CALs),

entitlements

You must know what you use• With an EA, you could be buying Office for every device• Whether the user ever writes a memo, populates a

spreadsheet, builds a PowerPoint deck, or not

You must be able to quantify running servers• Only running servers require licenses• What is the maximum # of Windows Server instances that

you will run simultaneously?• Inventory tools may discover backups, multiple images,

unused server applications that don't need licenses





Desktop software is the most difficult to track• The EA is all about desktops: Windows,

Office, the rights of clients to access servers

Any device or user can use any version of any product covered by the EA

• No requisition required for every PC• New, replacement desktops are covered

immediately• No need to individually track the software.

Just track the device or the user

The Risk• If you can't track who is using what on which

device and how it got there, you cannot NOT renew your EA

• No negotiating leverage

Assets and Roadmaps






You don't need licenses until you deploy

• On the release date?

• After SP1 and 6 months evaluation and testing?

• Don't deploy and wait for the following version?

Ask yourself:

• When did we stop using Windows XP?

• Released in Oct. 2001. How long did you use

it?

• When did we stop using Office 2003?

• Released in Nov. 2003. How long did you use

it?

• When did we start retrofitting Windows 7?

• How long after the Aug. 2009 release date?

• When did we start retrofitting Office 2010?

• Released in May 2010

Assets and Roadmaps









Your qualified desktop/user count is based on

the count on the anniversary date. Are some

anniversary dates better than others?

• Tax dates

• Seasonal employment

• Summer students and interns

• Fiscal year

• Push true-up costs into the next

fiscal year with agreements that

coincide with the fiscal year

Assets and Roadmaps


Assets and Roadmaps







For new agreements

• How important is it for everyone to have standard desktop licensing?

• The bank: 90% of our employees will use Windows and at least

part of Office

• The engineering firm: a small number of clerical, marketing,

planning staff need Office; a large number of engineers don't

• Are we ready to do a companywide, retrofit deployment of the latest

software now?

For renewals

• How does Microsoft's product release roadmap compare with our

product deployment roadmap?

• You don't get your money back if you don't deploy the upgrade

within 3 years

• But not committing now can mean higher costs later


Assets and Roadmaps





Additional product discounts are

not always best

• Not a problem with a

Platform EA and >15,000

seats

• You'll always get Select D

Organizations with <15,000 seats

may do better with Select

• 2,000 PCs earns only a

Select A discount on

Additional Products

• Through Select, buying 20

Windows servers, 20

Exchange servers and 2,000

CALs with SA may earn B or

C discount


Approach TakenMicrosoft uses > 50,000 License Options!

We had to build decision trees to unravel the license rules

We hired an IT advisory specialist from KMPG to validate our approach

We had to negotiate with Microsoft for three months !

It helped that 4500 of our users were judges !

What we want to do:

• Collect Information about an Organization through a series of Questions over the Web

• Apply our rules, and pick the licensing options that fit

• Look up the prices on those options• Display a report

QuestionSever

Rules Server

The Idea is to have a separate Question Server from theRules Server

The Rules should beAvailable from the Cloud

via a Browser or an Application

Question Server

Question XML

Niyum Rules Server

Web Service

Browser

http

ApplicationsApplicationsApplications

Rule Set XMLs

Web Service

Niyum Workstation: Leverages Eclipse, Excel, and Java • Use of Excel to Edit Decision Tables• Use of Excel to Define the Structured Data

that the Decision Tables process• Java/Eclipse to Compile the Tables into XML• Provides for Validation, Testing, and Analysis

of Rule Sets

Question Server

Question XML

Niyum Rules Server

Web Services

Niyum Workstation

http

Rule Set XMLs

NiyumManagement

Server

Rule Sets, Question Sets, and other artifacts are deployed to Niyum Server using a Browser

How Does Information Flow through the Microsoft License Application?

Niyum Rules Server

Browser

1Questions

Question Server

Browser

Niyum Rules ServerQuestion Server

Answers

2

Browser

3

Answers


Browser

Process Rules4


Look up Prices

Browser

Process Rules

5


Browser

6

ResultsNiyum Rules ServerQuestion Server

Browser

7Report


Niyum: A Good Fit for this Application

• Decision Tables represent complex tests well• English like syntax makes the rules easy to

understand• Small foot print, and easy integration• XML deployment of Questions and Rules• Great support for testing/debugging Rule Sets• Rules Authoring (Workstation and Cloud based)• Flexible licensing

A Decision Table

suggestSA == true

orgProfile == "Agressive"

orgProfile == "Stable"

orgProfile == "Current"

orgProfile == "Growing"

userCount > 250

Otherwise

N Y

Y Y

Y

Y Y

Y

Y Y Y Y Y Y

*

X X X X X X XX X X

set suggestSelectPlus = true;set suggestEA = true;set suggestOtherPrograms = true;

Actions

Conditions ConditionTable

ActionTable

A Decision Table

suggestSA == true

orgProfile == "Agressive"

orgProfile == "Stable"

orgProfile == "Current"

orgProfile == "Growing"

userCount > 250

Otherwise

N Y

Y Y

Y

N Y

Y

Y Y Y Y Y Y

*

X X X X X X XX X X

set suggestSelectPlus = true;set suggestEA = true;set suggestOtherPrograms = true;

ContextFor all OrganizationsFor all results where the Recommended Program == EAOrganization

Organization

Organization

Organization

ResultResultResult

[Invoice][Invoice]Result

[Invoice]Result

The Context Section Queues the Objects to

Test and manage

Decision Tables Specify the Evaluation of other Tables

in their Actions.

Niyum Provides a Mechanism for Harvesting Submitted Data

• Upon an error the Data can captured to debug Rule Sets

• A percentage of captured Data can be used for impact analysis

• Captured Data can be used for performance testing

Question Server Niyum Rules Server

Browser

Answers

Data Set

Niyum Workstation

Niyum Provides a Mechanism for Harvesting Submitted Data

Niyum Test Generation:

• Niyum Rules operate against typed, structured data

• Test Generation uses English like constraints on data elements

• Test Generation solves those constraints and produces Test Cases that fits those constraints

Niyum Testing:

• Execution of entire Test Suites are Supported• Execution of groups of Tests within Niyum

Workstation provides Coverage Reports• Test Suites can contain:

– Captured Tests, Generated Tests, and Hand created Tests

Getting the Job Done

• Automatic Test Generation allowed us to test the License Rule Set with a wide range of inputs outside of the application

• Test Capture allowed us to debug odd results and errors outside of the application

• Test Suites and coverage reports allowed us to identify corner cases that had not been tested

• A Business Case which got Funded!• Green IT - lower CO2 with a 47% Energy Saving• Standard, Stable, and Flexible IT infrastructure• Support for Remote Access• New! Multimedia, Video Conferencing• Foundation for:

• Compliance with Dutch Government Standards• Digital Accessibility (a more Effective Judiciary)• Digital court

Results

Results

The Rules Set for the Niyum Rules Engine presented today allowing us to quickly

assess the License needs of an organization and achieve a 30% to 60% reduction on

their Microsoft Licensing costs

Demo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb7INuRwbqQ

You can watch a video of the use of the Microsoft License Advisor at the following link:



The Next Stage: Monitoring Licenses in Real Time

Coander Consulting or SourcePulse do not not speak for Microsoft, nor do we guarantee that our interpretations of Microsoft's licensing rules, policies, and related data are those of Microsoft. We are not responsible for harm resulting from any actions you take. You should get the applicable rules, interpretations, and prices from Microsoft before beginning any project or purchase.

Fine Print

Questions?

Demo Result Screenshot

intellifest 2012 international conference on reasoning technologies intelligence in the cloud using...

Documents

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kpmg case study

locations case study

dutch court system14

dutch court systemproject

rules engines

consumer products