<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Raynet One > 2026.2 > User Guide > Technical overview  Entitlement Governance

Introduction to Entitlement Governance

Entitlement Governance is the system-guided process by which Raynet One connects license contracts, entitlement records, discovered software usage, demand calculation, compliance evaluation, and Effective License Position (ELP) results.

 

License Management uses contract-derived entitlements and calculated demand from inventory data to produce the ELP. Reliable compliance results depend on complete contract data, correct entitlement data, accurate catalog product matching, and up-to-date inventory information.

 

Conceptual workflow

The following high-level workflow describes how Entitlement Governance works:

 

1.License contract data is created or imported into the system.

2.SAM AI may extract contract header information, contract item data, products, license models, metrics, quantities, invoice data, cost data, and validity dates.

3.You verify the extracted contract data and catalog product matching and correct the data where required.

4.Entitlement data is created or derived from the verified contract items.

5.Demand is calculated from discovered software usage, inventory data, and applicable licensing rules.

6.Available entitlement quantities are compared with calculated demand.

7.Compliance status and ELP results are calculated and displayed in the Compliances overview.

 

This chapter explains the core concepts, supported scope, known limitations, and background behavior that you need to understand before working with contracts, entitlements, demand, compliance, and ELP results. For step-by-step procedures, refer to the dedicated UI chapters under Workspaces in the sidebar menu > License Management.

 

Supported Scope: Products, vendors, and metrics

The availability of automated demand and compliance calculation depends on the selected product, vendor, license model, license metric, available inventory data, catalog product matching, and supported licensing rules.

 

Known Limitations and data dependencies

 

•Automated demand and compliance calculation depends on supported product data, correct catalog product matching, valid entitlement data, current inventory data, and applicable licensing rules.

•If a contract item is not matched to the correct catalog product, Raynet One may not be able to apply the correct licensing rules, demand calculation logic, downgrade logic, upgrade logic, or compliance calculation for that item.

•If discovered hardware or software inventory data is incomplete or outdated, calculated demand may not reflect the actual installation state. This can lead to incorrect ELP and compliance results.

•Incorrect license model or license metric assignments can affect entitlement generation, entitlement identity, allocation behavior, demand comparison, and compliance calculation.

•Manual Override should be used only when automatic calculation or version relationship handling cannot be applied reliably. When Manual Override is enabled, downgrade and upgrade adjustments must be maintained manually.

•Some product, vendor, metric, or licensing scenarios may require manual review or manual adjustment if the required licensing rules or product relationships cannot be determined automatically.

 

Contract processing and background behavior

A license contract represents the commercial source record, such as an invoice, quote, or purchase order. An entitlement represents the structured usage right derived from that contract. It defines the product, license model, license metric, quantity, validity period, and any applicable rights that are required for downstream license processing.

 

Background flow

When a license contract is created or imported, the following background flow takes place:

 

1.You create or import a license contract using one of the available input methods: manual entry, file import, or the Enter text method.

2.SAM AI may extract contract header data, contract item data, products, license models, metrics, quantities, invoice data, cost data, and validity dates from the provided input.

3.You verify the extracted contract data, contract items, and catalog product matching.

4.The contract is saved.

5.Entitlements are generated or derived from the verified contract item data.

6.Lifecycle and calendar events may be created automatically from contract and entitlement data. For example purchase-related events or expiration-related events.

7.Entitlement data becomes the input for allocation, demand comparison, ELP calculation, and compliance evaluation.

 

 

 

 

For detailed procedures on creating and managing license contracts, refer to the Contracts section.

 

Entitlements basics

An entitlement is the operational record of a licensed usage right in Raynet One. It defines the product scope, license model, license metric, quantity, validity period, and allocation context used for reconciliation, ELP calculation, and compliance reporting.

 

Entitlements are usually derived from license contracts. The license contract provides the commercial source data, while the entitlement is the structured license object used by the platform for downstream license processing. Contract-driven entitlement creation is the preferred approach because it preserves source traceability and supports consistent lifecycle processing.

 

Key concepts

 

•Entitlements connect commercial purchase information with technical usage and demand data.

•Entitlement data is used for allocation, demand comparison, ELP calculation, and compliance reporting.

•Incomplete or incorrect entitlement data can lead to unreliable allocation results, ELP values, and compliance evaluations.

•Allocation and responsibility settings influence how licenses are applied across the environment.

 

License model and metric

The license model and license metric fields are mandatory for correct entitlement generation and identification. These fields determine how an entitlement is created or linked and how entitlement quantities are used in compliance calculation. Changing the license model or license metric after an entitlement has been created may change the entitlement identity. This can affect allocation behavior and downstream compliance results. This is especially relevant when switching between models such as Perpetual, Subscription, and Maintenance. Some products require a dedicated Maintenance entitlement, while for others a Perpetual entitlement is sufficient.

 

The accuracy of an entitlement also depends on the correctness of these values:

 

•License model

•License metric

•Quantity

•License start

•License end

 

Incorrect values in these fields can affect entitlement identity, allocation behavior, ELP calculation, event generation, and compliance reporting. These values control both the entitlement record shown in the UI and the downstream calculation logic used for compliance evaluation.

 

For detailed procedures, you can refer to the Entitlements section.

 

Demand and demand calculation

Demand is the required license quantity derived from discovered software usage in the environment. It is used to compare actual software usage with available entitlement quantities.

 

Demand depends on the following factors:

 

•Inventory data from discovered devices and software installations

•Product recognition and catalog product matching

•License model and license metric assigned to the entitlement

•Applicable licensing rules provided by Codex, Raynet's built-in licensing knowledge service

 

Core-based demand calculation

For Core-based products, the platform identifies the relevant software installations from the inventory and evaluates the required number of cores from the discovered hardware inventory. Minimum core requirements and applicable licensing rules are provided by Codex. For example, for Microsoft Windows Server 2025 Standard, the platform reads the physical CPU cores for each covered server and applies the minimum core requirement per server as defined by the applicable licensing rules.

 

 

 

 

Demand can be recalculated when inventory data changes, for example when new devices are discovered or hardware specifications are updated. The calculated demand is compared with the available entitlement quantity to produce the ELP. If inventory data is incomplete or if the catalog product match is incorrect, the calculated demand will may not accurately reflect the actual installation state, and the resulting ELP may be unreliable.

 

Compliance and Effective License Position (ELP)

Compliance in Raynet One compares the effective entitlement quantity with the calculated license demand to produce the Effective License Position (ELP) for each product. The result is expressed as a balance value and a compliance status.

 

ELP formula

Balance = Entitled + Downgrade + Upgrade − Demand

 

 

 

Factors that affect compliance accuracy

Compliance and ELP results depend on the quality of the underlying data. The following factors directly affect accuracy:

•Completeness and accuracy of contract data and entitlement records

•Correctness of catalog product matching

•Accuracy and currency of discovered inventory data

•Correct assignment of license model and license metric

•Correctness of demand calculation results

 

 

Entitlement validity and expiration

The License end date also controls expiration-related event handling, including the License Expiration Warning and the License End Event. On the last valid day, the entitlement reaches its final expiration state. After that point, the entitlement is no longer considered valid for further license coverage and is excluded from the Entitled quantity used in the ELP calculation.

 

 

 

 

For detailed procedures on working with the Compliances view, refer to the Compliances section.

 

Downgrade, Upgrade, and Manual Override

Downgrade and upgrade rights allow entitlements for one product version to partially or fully cover the license demand of a different version of the same product, where the applicable licensing rules permit this coverage.

 

Downgrade rights

Downgrade rights allow a newer-version entitlement to cover demand for an older product version. During a compliance calculation, the platform groups entitlements that belong to the same product family and share the same license model and metric. It then orders the product versions by release date and compares their balances. If a newer version has a surplus and an older version has a deficit, the platform transfers the available surplus to cover the older version's demand, up to the required amount. The transfer is reflected in the Downgrade column: a negative value indicates quantity transferred out from the current product; a positive value indicates quantity received from a newer version.

 

Upgrade rights

Upgrade rights work in the opposite direction: an older-version entitlement can cover demand for a newer product version. For Windows Server, this typically requires an active Maintenance entitlement on the source entitlement. If the platform detects that maintenance is required and no maintenance entitlement exists, the upgrade transfer is not applied. In the Compliance overview, a positive Upgrade value indicates licenses received from an older version; a negative Upgrade value indicates licenses donated to a newer version.

 

Scope of automatic downgrade and upgrade support

Automatic downgrade and upgrade rights are currently supported for Windows Server and SQL Server products. The version relationships for these product families are identified automatically by Codex when the contract is processed. For all other products, version coverage is not automatically calculated.

 

Manual Override

When a compliance record is created with Manual Override enabled, the platform does not automatically calculate downgrade or upgrade adjustments. In such cases, the transfer quantities must be entered manually in the Add/Edit compliance dialog. Positive values indicate received licenses; negative values indicate donated licenses.

 

For contract-sourced entitlements where the version relationship was not recognized automatically, open the compliance record, enable Manual Override, and enter the downgrade or upgrade adjustment directly. Manual Override must be used for any product outside the confirmed automatic downgrade and upgrade scope.