11 things to do when you gets an email or a letter for software compliance.

11 things to do when you gets an email or a letter for software compliance.

First of all don’t reply the e-mail. Normally, Software vendors are sending bulk e-mails. Who so ever reply their e-mail, they catch that company.  So, wait for the reminder and e-mail addressed to only your company mail id.

 

1. READ CAREFULLY

Read the contents of the email or letter carefully and verify whether it is written by an authorised person of the software vendor. Consult your preferred software dealer and your legal team.

2. INTERNAL SOFTWARE AUDIT

Do an internal software audit for the exact usage of the software vendors product (and other software products as well) in the computers and systems within your organisation.

3. REMOVE EXTRA OR UNUSED SOFTWARE

If there are multiple installations of different versions of the same software in any computer or if there is any inadvertent installation of the software product which has never been used, you should uninstall these software products under the licence terms.

4. MAKE LIST OF EXISTING LICENCES AND CHECK FOR SHORTFALL

Make a list of all the software licences in your organisation and check if all the installed software from the internal software audit can be covered the existing licences. If there is any shortfall, make a proper bill of materials.

5. PLACE ORDERS TO YOUR PREFERRED SOFTWARE PARTNER FOR ANY SHORTFALL

If there is any shortfall in software licensing, place orders to your preferred software partner.

As per the ethics standards that all major international companies follow, the employees of the software vendor or the employees of the software auditor cannot recommend any particular name or names of software partners to purchase the software. These employee/s would lose their jobs in case they try to favour any particular software partner/s.

6. REPLY TO SOFTWARE AUDIT LETTER OR EMAIL.

Send the reply to the software vendor with your software compliance report. If they agree with your software compliance report, the matter is closed.

If the software vendor are not convinced of your software compliance, they may insist on a software audit by an reputed independent auditor under the license terms.

The Software license terms normally only specifies for an internal audit and self-declaration of software usage and does not allow for an external audit unless ordered by court (after due legal process).

7. PREPARE FOR THE SOFTWARE AUDIT

Check the software license terms of the software vendor for the terms of the software audit under the license agreement.

The Software license terms normally only specifies for an internal audit and self-declaration of software usage and does not allow for an external audit unless ordered by court (after due legal process).

Ask for the software vendor's authorization letter to the Audit firm to conduct software audits for the software vendor.

Request for the names, photographs and profiles of the person/s authorized by the software vendor to conduct the software audit. Also instruct the software vendor and auditor to ensure that the software auditor should not have any active interest, direct or indirect investment in your business profile.

8. NON DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT FOR THE AUDITORS

Send the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) to the authorized auditors to agree and sign. The NDA should specify that the information gathered during the software audit will be used specifically for purpose of the software audit report to be sent to the software vendor. No information gathered during the software audit can be passed to any competitor/s or be used for any commercial or non-commercial purpose.

9. THE SOFTWARE AUDIT

After the NDA has been signed by the auditors, you should allow the auditors to physically check for the software vendor's products installed in the computers in your organization. You should disallow the use of any software audit tool unless the source code of the software tool has been provided to you in advance. You should insist on an independent software test report for the software audit tool and an indemnity bond from the software auditor for any damages that may be caused by the use of the software audit tool.

10. PLACE ORDERS TO YOUR PREFERRED SOFTWARE PARTNER FOR ANY SHORTFALL

If there is any shortfall found during the software audit, place orders to your preferred software partner.

As per the ethics standards that all major international companies follow, the employees of the software vendor or the employees of the software auditor cannot recommend any particular name or names of software partners to purchase the software. These employee/s would lose their jobs in case they try to favor any particular software partner/s.

11. DO INTERNAL SOFTWARE AUDITS EVERY MONTH

Do monthly internal software audits for the exact usage of the all the software products in the computers and systems within your organization. If there is any shortfall found during these monthly software audits, place orders to your preferred software partner.