The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) is a unitary council in Berkshire, England.
We first started working with Xynomix in 2017. At the time we were looking to partner with a specialist Oracle support and consultancy business, “Xynomix were very knowledgeable and had a team of dedicated technical and commercial staff who knew Oracle extremely well”.
Xynomix had supported us for one year when they suggested conducting an Oracle Estate Review, where they would look at the council’s usage of Oracle Databases and Oracle Middleware. This would include the usage of any management packs as the council is an Enterprise Edition customer for Oracle Databases. This would allow us to ensure we are compliant from an audit perspective, but also possibly allow us to consolidate and reduce our overall Oracle spend on any unused Oracle products and consolidation of licences.
“Xynomix were very knowledgeable and had a team of dedicated technical and commercial staff who knew Oracle extremely well”
The project started with an initial call to gather all relevant information, including license grants and any special dispensations the council held. Xynomix provided a detailed report of their findings and followed up with various calls so we could fully understand the Oracle estate. They also advised us on how we could possibly save money as there were certain Oracle products that were being paid for but the council were not utilising.
The Challenge;
Later on in 2018, we were approached by the Oracle LMS (License Management Services) team about conducting an official audit of our estate. We felt it was prudent to use Xynomix to assist with representing us with the Oracle LMS team. The independent advice was invaluable in allowing us to navigate a difficult and challenging process quickly and effectively.
The Solution;
Xynomix worked tirelessly with our internal teams and the Oracle LMS to assist in navigating us through this complex process which took a number of months to complete and would have taken much longer had we completed it on our own.
Xynomix Tasks;
- Explained the general LMS process
- Attended initial calls with LMS and us to ascertain the scope and timescales
- Provided assistance to gather all the data required by LMS
- Interpret and understand license grant
- Detailed analysis of LMS scripts ran by Oracle
- Liaising with ISV’s to gain Application Specific Full Use (ASFU) License confirmation
- Advice on management packs and unused products
- Assisted in negotiations and clarification calls with Oracle
- Detailed analysis of Oracle estate usage and non usage
Xynomix Tasks;
- Explained the general LMS process
- Attended initial calls with LMS and us to ascertain the scope and timescales
- Provided assistance to gather all the data required by LMS
- Interpret and understand license grant
- Detailed analysis of LMS scripts ran by Oracle
- Liaising with ISV’s to gain Application Specific Full Use (ASFU) License confirmation
- Advice on management packs and unused products
- Assisted in negotiations and clarification calls with Oracle
- Detailed analysis of Oracle estate usage and non usage
We were able to greatly reduce the risk of being non compliant which gave us a strong position for our negotiations with Oracle.
Xynomix were also able to identify the usage of one database which was covered by an ASFU license meaning we were fully compliant.
Xynomix technical and sales staff were all extremely knowledgeable about Oracle licensing, they gave us confidence that they would ensure we were compliant as an authority. While the process was long, they helped us shorten it greatly and gave us a well documented understanding of our licences and the overall Oracle Estate.
The guidance and advice they have provided as our support partner for Oracle not only allowed us to be compliant but also reduced support costs through optimisation.
You may be at greater risk of an LMS audit if any of the following apply to you;
- Support being dropped
- Mixed or old metrics
- Hardware refresh
- Business growth or Changes in structure
- Mergers & Acquisitions
If you would like to know more about Xynomix Oracle Estate Reviews ior the LMS Audit Services we provide, then please get in touch with [email protected]
