4 Reasons Why Oracle-Verified Tools Are More Effective Than You Think

For anyone struggling to understand their Oracle licenses, there’s a possibility to turn to an asset management tool that is “certified” or “verified” by Oracle.

To be clear, there is no tool certification from Oracle. But Oracle does have a verification process for the data collection used by Software Asset Management (SAM) tools.

Earning that verification is no cakewalk. It takes knowledge and grit. However, going through the process brings advantages that go beyond taking an inventory of your Oracle products, and ultimately, it improves SAM effectiveness.

Let’s look at four reasons why verification is powerful for your Oracle license management and optimization.

But first, what does Oracle “verified” mean?

Oracle’s verification certifies the completeness of data collected by the technology solution. It also certifies the data is accepted during an audit as an alternative to running Oracle’s measurement tools. This verified data relates to the installation and usage of the Oracle product, plus hardware and virtualization configuration of your servers.

Currently, verification is possible for Oracle Database, Oracle Database Options, and Oracle Fusion Middleware, though a limited number of SAM vendors cover all three product families. We are proud to say that USU has all three, and those database and DB options are 80% of our customers’ compliance issues.

Using a verified tool does not prevent an Oracle audit. But verification does guarantee the accuracy and completeness of the data collected by the tool, which helps you strategically prepare and respond to an audit. It addresses comprehensive and complete data collection – the first crucial step for effective SAM.

Now, let’s talk about how this helps you.

Want more-acle for Oracle? USU is verified as a “triple threat” for Middleware, Database, and DB Options

Reason 1: Verification means the data is trustworthy

Getting verified is like Oracle Boot Camp. It is a rigorous process that certifies a discovery tool’s reliability and mastery of Oracle’s attributes. We know this because USU went through it.

And that verification happens again every year, so you can trust the data collection is always reliable. Every year, our USU Software Asset Management solution is audited. Its capacity to generate the data required by Oracle is subjected to continuous evaluation. This rigor allows us to improve our tools, refine our analytical abilities, and keep pace with Oracle’s own developments.

How does the process work? To earn and maintain verification, Oracle provides us with technical requirements, specifications to integrate, and a schedule for returning results. From these specifications, we develop the USU solution’s inventory block, gaining in-depth knowledge of how Oracle interprets collected data relative to its installation and use. The results are sent, analyzed, and verification is confirmed or rejected by Oracle.

Reason 2: Verification improves your Oracle license optimization

Verification is more than capturing raw data. It’s the mark of deep knowledge of Oracle’s metrics and license management practices that cut the margin for error. Unverified players with no access to Oracle’s specifications identify all the raw data and interpret it with a larger margin for error.

This is because verification focuses on a tool’s ability to relay comprehensive, accurate raw data to Oracle in place of using Oracle’s measurement tools. Collecting raw data is crucial for earning verification and submitting data to Oracle, but it isn’t enough to manage your Oracle licenses.

That raw data must be interpreted to show your compliance for product and options usage. Data interpretation also determines the actions necessary for optimizing your licenses and reducing your risk of non-compliance with Oracle.

During our Oracle verification process, the initial specifications given by Oracle were critical to understanding their license management vision and their interpretation of raw data. This knowledge has helped us improve the Oracle license optimization for our customers.

Also, the ability to effectively interpret data lets us insist on a different interpretation when Oracle takes an unfavorable position with a customer.

A French healthcare institution did successful Oracle compliance & ULA contract analysis with USU

Reason 3: A verified tool is confidential and secure

Oracle doesn’t offer any guarantees in the event of a data or systems breach, making it difficult to reconcile Oracle’s audit requirement and your security concerns.

But! You don’t have to run Oracle scripts in your system since the data collected by a verified tool is accepted by Oracle. With the USU Software Asset Management solution, you have access to all your raw and interpreted data, and only the data required by Oracle is extracted and sent to them.

Reason 4: Going through verification builds expertise

Being Oracle verified is just the first step for Oracle license management. The ultimate differentiator between verified SAM tools is the quality of interpreting your raw data. That is where professional expertise comes into play.

The expertise a SAM vendor develops from earning verification can make them more effective at determining compliance and Oracle license optimization with an Oracle-verified tool.

For example, our consultants use the USU solution to compare Oracle’s interpretation of raw data with their own understanding of data. This gives us the ability to spot false positives (product activation traces that Oracle counts as usage) versus proven usage (activation traces that are actual usage), which is a big issue in the Oracle license management world.

Another big issue is the activation of some packs in the Oracle Enterprise Manager by ticking a box. This activation requires the purchase of an additional license, but if there’s no verified usage, then the box can be unticked. You can use our Oracle license management solution to find these, but then how do you decide on the next steps?

Expertise informs where to look in the raw data we collect. It’s essential to have the knowledge to account for all the intricacies and eccentricities of Oracle’s metrics.

Verification is only half the story for Oracle license management

Verified raw data can only go so far. A verified tool can inform you on your compliance and license position, but it can’t recognize opportunities to optimize your licenses.

When looking for an Oracle license management partner, the Oracle verification shouldn’t be your only consideration. On paper, verification allows Oracle users to bypass the Oracle measurement tools to submit their data. In practice, recruiting Oracle license specialists and investing in research and development all contribute to the effectiveness of an Oracle optimization solution.

A better measure of a SAM partner is a Proof of Concept, which allows you to work with them and see what they can unearth. A simpler measure, without any commitment, would be a product demo.

What’s important is that you find a SAM tool that fits your needs, not the other way around.

Control your costs with Oracle license optimization for Middleware, Database, and DB Options