Licensing Concerns

[Gibson335]

Does anyone here raise licensing issues with SLT only to have them ignored? If so, what do you do to protect yourself from any comebacks if audited?

[AIT]

Does anyone here raise licensing issues with SLT only to have them ignored? If so, what do you do to protect yourself from any comebacks if audited?

 

stand your ground. if you are in charge of licensing then you have to say no.

[garethEds]

Out of interest - has anyone ever been audited?

 

GJE

[Gibson335]

stand your ground. if you are in charge of licensing then you have to say no.

 

Not possible. I can only advise and make recommendations.

[AIT]

Not possible. I can only advise and make recommendations.

 

Then you would not be held to blame.

 

And yes we have been audited. Hence why I stand my ground on every occasion.

[garethEds]

Then you would not be held to blame.

 

And yes we have been audited. Hence why I stand my ground on every occasion.

 

Who audited you?

 

Gareth

[Gibson335]

Then you would not be held to blame.

 

And yes we have been audited. Hence why I stand my ground on every occasion.

 

I guess what I'm saying is how would people 'prove' they have raised concerns and made recommendations. I was wondering whether anyone goes as far as having a 'get out of jail free' document signed by SLT or just keep all relevant e-mails.

[AIT]

Basically a student sold the license keys from the side of the pcs on ebay.

 

 

so we got audited. by:

 

Business Software Alliance.

[john]

The LEA audited us, they asked how we control it, log it, register it and know whats occuring, I had to show a folder of licences and they checked that I had core stuff such as MSFT stuff (so we just showed them the order for the 12 month Schools Agreement Sub) which they were satisfied with but we were told this was probably the start of a more in-depth style, think how they audit your Finance Department and check there stuff over.

[Gibson335]

The LEA audited us, they asked how we control it, log it, register it and know whats occuring, I had to show a folder of licences and they checked that I had core stuff such as MSFT stuff (so we just showed them the order for the 12 month Schools Agreement Sub) which they were satisfied with but we were told this was probably the start of a more in-depth style, think how they audit your Finance Department and check there stuff over.

 

Was that just your generic software or all faculty-based software as well?

 

Cheers.

[KeithMPhoenix]

The auditing side of things within schools does seem to be on the up - it used to be that the BSA or LEA's would be looking to do audits however currently there are some vendors themselves out there asking schools to declare their estates.

[featured_spectre]

We have been audited twice in 4 years.

 

Once by the LEA and once by The Business Software Alliance.

 

Both times, a few teachers got screwed because unbeknown to me, a few teachers had been installing limewire / kazaa / utorrent and had a MASSIVE amount of films, software etc (this was no more than a month after getting a new laptop). I could not take responsibility as I was given a document by the head asking for me to allow the staff to install what they wanted to make the laptops "feel like there own" for the duration they were at the school.

 

The machines now come locked down as much as possible to prevent any software installs, and the machines themselves come with Windows 7, Office 2007, Smartboard, McAfee Antivirus (provided free by the LEA), Malware bytes, Adobe Acrobat Reader and Filezilla (for SFTP access).

 

They get NOTHING beyond that unless they come to me with a written request to install software, a copy of the licence and proof of purchase. If they have those, then I will install the software.

[john]

Was that just your generic software or all faculty-based software as well?

 

Cheers.

As this seemed to be a skimming over it just looked at the core stuff IE the Microsoft stuff, but I insist that I hold all software and licences for all departments, fine if they need the CD they can hold it / a copy of it (if that's permitted to do under the agreement) but I must have a photocopy of the Licence Agreement if they need to keep hold of it physically then I have the proof if we get a stronger audit.

[theriver]

What a stressful situation.

 

Although you say that you can only advise and make recommendations, are you sure that's how it would be seen if there was an audit/investigation? What does your job description say, for example?

 

As a minimum, make sure your concerns are expressed in writing and can be verified (e.g. official email) so that if bad things happen you can point to it and say: "Look, I TOLD you."

[Gibson335]

What a stressful situation.

 

Although you say that you can only advise and make recommendations, are you sure that's how it would be seen if there was an audit/investigation? What does your job description say, for example?

 

As a minimum, make sure your concerns are expressed in writing and can be verified (e.g. official email) so that if bad things happen you can point to it and say: "Look, I TOLD you."

 

Fortunately, nothing in my job description covers licensing - it's just an accepted part of my job. I have covered myself so far with reports in which I explain the situation, provide a variety of options, and make recommendations. After mailing them I then insisted on obtaining a reply stating it had been read and contents noted. I was just wondering if I'd covered myself enough and what other people did.

 

Cheers.

[Spitfire]

Ultimately if you run the network you will be deemed the responsible person for the licenses, you should give your management the following warning to safeguard yourself, you will be removing all unlicensed software asap. If you are caught it runs into thousands of pounds in fines and you will lose your job.

[Gibson335]

Ultimately if you run the network you will be deemed the responsible person for the licenses, you should give your management the following warning to safeguard yourself, you will be removing all unlicensed software asap. If you are caught it runs into thousands of pounds in fines and you will lose your job.

 

Thanks for that. But do you know that for a fact or is that just an opinion? Surely the fact that I have reported on this with recommendations makes it my line manager's problem? After all, whilst I am the NM, final authority goes with SLT. I have no authority to either remove software or purchase any if they don't want to give me that authority.

[Spitfire]

No that is fact, it has happened to several Educational establishments over the last few years, check out the BSA or the FAST web sites. The advice is to cover yourself with everything in writing and tell the Head Teacher / Principal what actions you are going to take i.e. removal of all illegal software.

[Gibson335]

No that is fact, it has happened to several Educational establishments over the last few years, check out the BSA or the FAST web sites. The advice is to cover yourself with everything in writing and tell the Head Teacher / Principal what actions you are going to take i.e. removal of all illegal software.

 

I'll look into those sites you mention. If so, then I guess I'll have to react accordingly.

 

Many thanks.

[localzuk]

No that is fact, it has happened to several Educational establishments over the last few years, check out the BSA or the FAST web sites. The advice is to cover yourself with everything in writing and tell the Head Teacher / Principal what actions you are going to take i.e. removal of all illegal software.

 

I wouldn't believe any word on either the BSA or FAST websites I'm afraid - they're single purpose is getting companies to pay for licenses... So, they are of course going to use threats like that. Much like the TV License people.

 

Have you got any independent source for that?

[KeithMPhoenix]

Of course I am prehaps not totally impartial being sat here at a reseller however I from our side we are seeing an increase in vender activity within schools. Its always a touchy subject though and much work is done under non-disclosure etc

I must also say that from experience I have not come across a school that is intentially underlicensed. Licensing is a dark art at the best of times and I like to think that it is more a case that there a confusion and once sorted out it will actually provide a school with a position to work from which can of course actually lead to more informed purchasing and the opportunity to save money.

[Hightower]

When I worked in a primary school I was in charge of the licensing and all that. Firstly, I filed every licence in alphabetic order (dividers and everything ) with an alphabetic list at the very front showing an overview.

 

When we were audited by the LEA they just had to check the front which might have said "Office 2003 Pro x 50" and then flip to the section to actually see the licensing documentation.

 

This was then further verified by having spiceworks on a server, so they could see we had 50 licenses (paperwork) and only 45 copies installed (Spiceworks) etc.

 

They didn't check much as once they saw my system they knew it was done properly. Got commended really well on that - but took me a while to sort out when I first started.

 

Anyhow, any recommendations I made were only ever verbal - but I had a policy where because I was reponsible if we didn't have licences the school would have a couple of days to buy them, and if they didn't buy them the software came off.

 

When I first started they had Office 2003 installed everywhere, but only had licenses for Office 2000. The previous tech had upgraded the software thinking he was covered. School weren't happy when a note landed on the heads desk saying "need these, £1500".

[kaphc]

Has anyone ever been auditted by FMSiS? They are supposed to be coming into our school sometime after the Easter holidays, and one of the things they ask for is proof of regular software audits and to see original licences etc.

 

I have a similar system to Hightower - physical licences in a folder arranged alphabetically, plus the details inputted onto Spiceworks to check installations against licence numbers. Then I run a report to show any non-compliance and uninstall the software, then re-run the report to show compliance.

 

Just wondering whether that'll satisfy the FMSiS people?

[glennda]

I assume so. FMSIS came into my last school and no1 actually asked us anything about the software - was all handled by the business manager who i know for a fact didn't have a clue about licensing (as she was my mother!) i gave them an almost up to date list of hardware and that was about it

 

Toby

[tmcd35]

Has anyone ever been auditted by FMSiS?

 

I think they are the guys that just audited us. If they are the same they were here for 2.5 days and the closest they got to IT was checking a printer I'd ordered in January was correctly listed on the asset database (it wasn't ). They spent the entire time stressing out our admin team.