In one of our previous articles, we addressed the fact that Oracle’s Global License Advisory Services (GLAS) team developed its own tool to identify where products are being installed and used – the LMS Collection Tool. In this article we will explain under which terms and conditions you are entitled to use the LMS Collection tool. Are there any specific terms you need to comply with? Can you analyze the output of this tool yourself to understand your license requirements and resulting license compliance position? Read on to find the answers.
The moment you start making use of the LMS Collection Tool you are required to accept the license agreement that is part of the tool. If you don’t accept it, the tool won’t work. But what does this agreement actually say? Let’s have a closer look by analyzing the most important and relevant sections of the agreement.
By making use of the LMS Collection Tool, you are required to accept the included license agreement which is legally binding between yourself and Oracle America Inc.
The agreement is governed by the substantive and procedural laws of the State of California, USA. In case of any disputes, you need to submit your complaints to the courts of either the San Francisco or Santa Clara counties in California.
You receive the right to make use of the LMS Collection Tool for the limited purpose of measuring, monitoring and/or managing your usage of the programs. You may allow your agents and contractors (including outsourcers) to use the LMS Collection Tool for this purpose. You may not use the LMS Collection Tool for your own internal data processing or for any commercial or production purposes or for any other purpose.
Oracle does not guarantee that the LMS Collection Tool will perform error-free or uninterrupted. To the extent not prohibited by law, the LMS Collection Tool is provided “as-is” without warranty of any kind.
Oracle’s technical support organization will not provide you with technical support during the installation, configuration and/or use of the LMS Collection Tool.
In no event shall Oracle be liable for any indirect, incidental, special punitive or consequential damages or any loss of profits, revenue, data or data use incurred by you or any third party. Oracle’s entire liability for damages arising out of or related to this agreement, whether in contract or tort or otherwise, shall in no event exceed greater than $1,000 or the license fees that you have paid to Oracle for programs pursuant to an Oracle license agreement.
In order to assist you with the measurement, monitoring or management of your usage of the programs, Oracle may have access to and collect your information, which may include personal information, and data residing on Oracle, customer or third-party systems on which the software is used and/or to which Oracle is provided access to perform any associated services. Oracle treats such information and data in accordance with the terms of the Oracle Services Privacy Policy and the Oracle Corporate Security Practices, which are available here, and treats such data as confidential in accordance with the terms of the Oracle License Agreement applicable to the programs. The Oracle Services Privacy Policy and the Oracle Corporate Security Practices are subject to change at Oracle’s discretion; however, Oracle will not materially reduce the level of protection specified in the Oracle Services Privacy Policy or the Oracle Corporate Security Practices in effect at the time the information was collected during the period that Oracle retains such information.
The answer on this question is simple. No, you can’t. The LMS Collection Tool collects a large amount of raw data in different output logfiles that cannot be understood or read if you don’t have in-depth knowledge of what the information means, how it should be analyzed and what logic should be applied to understand your license requirements. To give some examples:
Due to Oracle’s change in its standard audit clause, you will be required to run Oracle’s LMS Collection Tool on your servers and share the resulting output logfiles. The terms and conditions of the accompanied license agreement are non-negotiable. Oracle does not guarantee that the LMS Collection Tool will perform error-free or uninterrupted and Oracle Support does not provide any technical support during the installation configuration and/or usage of the tool. Should there be any damages as a result of making use of this tool (e.g.: performance issues, systems outage), Oracle will pay you a maximum of $1,000 as compensation, if applicable.
You are not allowed to make use of the LMS Collection Tool for your own internal data processing. In other words: you are not allowed to make use of the tool for any other purpose than measuring, monitoring and/or managing your usage of the programs. This means that you can continue to use the LMS Collection Tool for your own internal regular audits as well.
There is a high chance that you will not understand the resulting output logfiles of the LMS Collection Tool in order to fully understand what your license requirements are. You need in depth knowledge and analysis skills, and that’s where SoftwareONE can help. Sharing the raw data collected by the Oracle LMS Collection Tool without understanding the implications (from a licensing and from a commercial perspective) is never a good idea. Especially since it is common knowledge that almost any end user that is going through an Oracle audit is found to be non-compliant.
The best way to properly manage your Oracle compliance position is by performing regular internal software license audits. In addition to detecting any compliance issues at an early stage, this will also allow you to optimize your available licenses, monitor your software spend, reduce your financial risk and ultimately save costs. How do you do this? By engaging licensing experts who use measurement tools and methodologies similar to the ones Oracle uses. SoftwareONE’s Oracle Advisory Services are developed to address this specific need, with or without making use of the LMS Collection Tool.
Engage licensing experts to optimize your available licenses, monitor your software spend, reduce your financial risk and save costs.
Engage licensing experts to optimize your available licenses, monitor your software spend, reduce your financial risk and save costs.
