Original Date: 05/01/2000
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

Currently at Northrop Grumman Defensive Systems Division (DSD), software license records are maintained by individual organizations. This approach is time consuming, potentially inaccurate, uses manual auditing to verify license compliance, and lacks consistent traceability to primary company records. To reduce the potential for liability under the current system, Northrop Grumman DSD is developing a Software License Verification process.

The Software License Verification process will use a centralized automated system to provide an effective method for controlling licensed software. Unique validation criteria (e.g., purchase order, software/hardware keys, certificate) will be used per product family. A database will maintain the verified software licenses, and be linked to the specific assets on which they are installed. License information will be entered into the database. The System Management Server will audit systems and provide a snapshot of software installed on each computer. The data collected will be compared to the software license database for discrepancies. Exception reports will then be generated and sent to the using organization’s management for resolution.

The Software License Verification process should reduce the risk of license violation and liability. The central database will also provide license traceability to primary company records. Northrop Grumman DSD anticipates a savings of $62,000 per year by eliminating manual audits of computers to verify license compliance.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.