In Snow License Manager 8.1.0., we released a new pane that shows what Snow refers to as user activity for Microsoft Office 365 subscription plans. Given the customer feedback we have received, it seems we may have over complicated the way we presented this information, so for the latest release of Snow License Manager - version 8.2.5 - we have updated the pane so that it provides clear starting points for license re-harvesting and subscription plan optimization. This post explains the changes we have made, and how to best use the information provided.
Figure 1: Microsoft Office 365 - Total users
As I mentioned in a previous post Understanding the Office 365 user activity view, the purpose of the user activity view is to identify opportunities for harvesting and optimizing Microsoft Office 365 subscriptions based on the usage information provided by the Office portal for your organization - and that still holds. But, we hope that both the information we have chosen to present and the way it is displayed in the updated version will help you to identify cost saving opportunities more readily.
One of the first changes we made was to the data shown under total users, which as you might expect reflects the total number of unique users assigned with an Office-365 subscription - not the total number of subscriptions.
Changes in terminology
Figure 2: Microsoft Office 365 - Total users for E3 plan
The biggest change, however, is to our terminology, which we have been able to improve by digging deeper into the information provided by the Microsoft portal. We have categorized users into either: no activity or active within the last n number of days, where n = 7, 30, 90, 180, or 365. The definition of no activity remains the same, meaning that a license has been assigned to a user who has never opened any of the applications included in their subscription plan. Note that users that are not linked will show up in a separate list.
We have also modified the definition of activity to mean use of any application within the user’s subscription plan.
The number of days parameter is based on the most recent import of Microsoft Office 365 data. Users shown as active in the last 7 days, means users that have opened at least one of the applications included in their subscription within the 7 days prior to the most recent import. To ensure this information is clear, the timestamp of the most recent data import is shown in the bottom right-hand corner of the main Microsoft Office 365 menu.
What counts as Active?
Activity depends on the applications included in the subscription plan. For example, E3 includes Skype for Business, Exchange Online, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneDrive for Business, OneNote, Publisher (PC only), and Access (PC only). So, those users assigned to an E3 plan, who open any of these applications within the last 7 days (of the most recent data import) will count as active.
Figure 3: Microsoft Office 365 - Application Usage
Activity depends on the applications included in the subscription plan. For example, E3 includes Skype for Business, Exchange Online, and the ProPlus Suite, which includes installed versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneDrive for Business, OneNote, Publisher (PC only), and Access (PC only). So, those users assigned to an E3 plan, who open any of these applications within the last 7 days (of the most recent data import) will count as active.
Total users - all users
As shown in Figure 1, we have simplified the total users overview tab so that it provides a visual summary of Microsoft Office plans showing the name of the Microsoft Office-365 subscription purchased, how many users have been assigned a license, and a bar-graph representing the activity of these users, grouped into last 7, 30, 90, 180, and 365 days, as well as no activity (shown in gray).
The purpose of this view is to highlight potential starting points for subscription re-harvesting and optimization. A well-optimized estate will show most users as active within the last 7-30 days (indicated by the first two bars of the graph - reading left-to-right).
For most volume licensing agreements, a subscription can be re-harvested (assigned to another user) after 90 days of last assignment, although there are some exceptions to this rule-of-thumb. The other bars of the activity graph show the potential for re-harvesting.
For subscription plans where activity data is either not available or doesn’t make sense, the Activity column shows Not Applicable N/A. Primarily, this applies to subscriptions that do not include the applications for which usage information is available, Mobility & Security E3. Exchange online archive can be added to an E3, and PSTN calling, for example, currently tracking information is unavailable.
To reduce the amount of information, content can be filtered on the Active last column. For example, to identify candidates for re-harvesting, filtering on More than 365 days ago will show the users that have not used their subscription in over a year.
Total users - application usage
To dig deeper, you can view application usage for users - shown in Figure 3. This view shows more granular information about a user’s activity at the application level, with the aim of enabling subscription optimization. What is shown on this view depends on the subscription plan. For E1, for example, usage is shown for Skype for Business and Exchange Online. In addition to these two applications, activity on any application in the ProPlus Suite is also shown for E3 and E5 plans. We have chosen to show this information, as it is the data that is available, plus it provides a good indication of how active a user is, which is a good point to start deeper investigation.
For example, an E3 user who is showing activity for Skype for Business but not for the installed applications in the ProPlus Suite may be a candidate for optimization to an E1 plan.
Total users - not linked users
For Snow License Manager (SLM) to show information about subscription assignments, what plan users are on, and how much they have used their Office-365 applications, a connection needs to be made between a user’s identity in Office-365 and in SLM. This connection cannot always be made automatically by SLM because of the way the systems involved identify users.
When the connection cannot be made automatically, the user shows up in SLM in the Not linked users list. More details are available in one of my previous posts: What is user linking for Office-365 and how to manually link users in SLM.
We have also added links to linked users, so that when you have identified a user who may be a candidate for subscription harvesting or optimization, you can click the link directly to the view for that user, where you can investigate further. As indicated in Figure 2, linked users are identified by their domain\username pair which has the visual appearance of a weblink.
Try it out
To summarize, I would advise you to first ensure that your users are linked, and then just play around with the information, filter it, and get a feeling for user activity and the potential candidates for re-harvesting. Start with some of the obvious users, like those who are showing no activity and those who haven’t been active for more than a year.
Was this helpful?
0/255
Upload Attachment
File Upload
Maximum file
size allowed is 3 MB.
Supported file types:
Documents (.txt, .doc, .docx, .pdf), Images (.jpg, .png), Comma Separated Files
(.csv) Speadsheets (.xlsx, .xls)
Are you sure you want to cancel the case creation?
Case closed successfully
File Upload
Maximum file size allowed is 3 MB.
Supported file types:
Documents (.txt, .doc, .docx, .pdf), Images (.jpg, .png), Comma Separated Files
(.csv) Speadsheets (.xlsx, .xls)
Are you sure you want to close this case
| Products | Region | Phone Numbers |
|---|---|---|
| FlexNet Operations FlexNet Embedded FlexNet Publisher FlexNet Connect FlexNet Code Insight InstallAnywhere InstallShield |
North America * |
+1 630-332-2513 (toll) +1 877-279-2853 (toll-free in North America) |
| Europe * |
+44 1925 944367 (toll) +44 800 047 8642 (toll-free in Europe) |
|
| Japan * | +81 3-4540-5335 (select option 2) | |
| Australia * |
+61 3 9895 2177 +61 1800 560 603 (toll-free in Australia) |
|
|
Usage Intelligence (formerly
Revulytics) Compliance Intelligence |
Please use the Case Portal to submit your support ticket or reach out to your Revenera contact. | |
File Upload
Maximum file
size allowed is 3 MB.
Supported file types:
Documents (.txt, .doc, .docx, .pdf), Images (.jpg, .png), Comma Separated Files
(.csv) Speadsheets (.xlsx, .xls)
Case id: 00001065
Activity: Status change: 2 hours ago