<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Raynet One > 2026.4 > User Guide > Technical overview  License compliance calculation

Introduction to license compliance calculation

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

 

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

 

Conceptual workflow

The following high-level workflow describes how license compliance calculation works:

 

1.Purchase data is created or imported, and you verify the extracted data and the catalog product matching.

2.Entitlement data is created or derived from the verified purchase items.

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

4.Available entitlement quantities are compared with calculated demand.

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

 

This chapter explains the core concepts, supported scope, known limitations, and background behavior that users need to understand before working with purchases, entitlements, demand, compliance, and ELP results. For step-by-step procedures, refer to the dedicated UI chapters under 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.

 

The following table shows which scenarios are currently calculated automatically. The list of products and vendors is not limited by this table: a product is calculated automatically when it is matched to a catalog product and uses a supported license metric and license model. Vendor and product coverage is not listed separately.

 

 

Custom metric

 

The license metric Custom is intended for licensing terms that Raynet One cannot calculate automatically yet. With this metric, you can still track the entitlement and get a compliance result, because you maintain the demand and the other compliance values yourself.

 

•How the metric is set: You can select Custom manually as the license metric of a purchase item. When a purchase is created from a document or text, SAM AI sets Custom for a purchase item if the license metric is not stated or not supported and cannot be determined for the matched product. Agreements have no license metric. See SAM Cloud Connection.

•Effect on the entitlement: No calculation rule is created for an entitlement with the metric Custom, and no demand is calculated automatically.

•Compliance: In the compliance record of such an entitlement, Manual Override is always enabled and cannot be disabled. Enter the demand and the other values manually. See Adding compliance.

•Change to a supported metric: If a supported metric applies to the product, change the license metric of the purchase item. Because the license metric is part of the entitlement identity, this creates or links an entitlement with the new metric, which is then calculated automatically. The existing entitlement with the metric Custom is not deleted. See Entitlements.

 

Known limitations and data dependencies

 

•Automated demand and compliance calculation is not available for entitlements with the license metrics User-based, Floating, PVU, VPC, Terabyte-based, or Custom, or with the license model Maintenance on its own. For these entitlements, enter the compliance record manually with Manual Override.

•Automated calculation depends on correct catalog product matching, valid entitlement data, current inventory data, and applicable licensing rules. Some scenarios may require manual review or adjustment if the licensing rules or product relationships cannot be determined automatically.

•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.

 

Purchase processing and background behavior

A purchase represents the commercial source record, such as an invoice, quote, or purchase order. An entitlement represents the structured usage right derived from that purchase. 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 purchase is created or imported, the following background flow takes place:

 

1.The user creates or imports a purchase using one of the available input methods: manual entry, file import, or the Enter text method.

2.SAM AI (for files) or the AI Chat connection (for entered text) may extract purchase header data, purchase item data, products, license models, metrics, quantities, invoice data, cost data, and validity dates from the provided input.

3.The user verifies the extracted purchase data, purchase items, and catalog product matching.

4.The purchase is saved.

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

6.Lifecycle and calendar events may be created automatically from purchase 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 purchases, refer to the Purchases 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 purchases. The purchase provides the commercial source data, while the entitlement is the structured license object used by the platform for downstream license processing. Purchase-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, 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, a licensing knowledge service, which are applied through the calculation rule of the entitlement (see Calculation Rule)

 

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.

 

 

 

 

Device-based demand calculation

For Device-based products, each device on which the product is installed creates a demand of 1, regardless of its hardware.

 

CPU-based demand calculation

For CPU-based products, the demand of a device is the number of physical CPUs (sockets) discovered on it, independent of the number of cores.

 

RAM-based products

For RAM-based entitlements, no demand is calculated automatically yet. Maintain the demand manually in the compliance record, see Adding compliance.

 

Company-based demand calculation

For Company-based entitlements, demand is not counted per device. In the allocation compliance, the demand of an allocation is 1 as soon as the allocation has any demand, regardless of the number of devices.

 

Maintenance at resource group level

The maintenance downgrade and upgrade logic is applied per resource group as well. Each allocation to a resource group has its own maintenance quantity, set with Maintenance licenses to use in the license allocation. Maintenance downgrade and upgrade are transferred between the products of a product family in the same way as at product level, based on the maintenance quantity allocated to each resource group.

 

The Maintenance balance of a resource group is calculated as Maintenance entitled + Maintenance downgrade + Maintenance upgrade − Required maintenance. Required maintenance is the higher value of the maintenance demand of virtual machines in the resource group and the lower value of the demand and the available maintenance (Maintenance entitled + Maintenance downgrade + Maintenance upgrade). A resource group is shown as Under-licensed when required maintenance is not covered.

 

Demand is recalculated when inventory data changes, for example when new devices are discovered or hardware specifications are updated, and by a scheduled job for entitlements that have not been refreshed within the last 12 hours. 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 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

 

The compliance threshold is a percentage of the entitled quantity. The default is 5 %. You can change it in the License Management settings.

 

 

 

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 purchase 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 Compliance view, refer to the Compliance 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. Entitlements that can share licenses with each other belong to the same cover group. 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 products where the licensing rules require it, for example Windows Server, this 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 purchase is processed. For all other products, downgrade and upgrade rights are not calculated automatically and are not supported yet. Use Manual Override for these products.

 

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 purchase-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.