Context

When calculating the costs for a hardware upgrade, it is imperative that software costs are analyzed since they continue to rise much faster than hardware costs. The goal is to obtain a list of software that could be impacted by the upgrade and associated costs.

Description

Steps	Process and Activity	Roles	Work products	Tools
Obtain a list of software that is installed on the machine to be upgraded and its associated usage.	Asset Management Ready and Control Asset	Asset Analyst	Configuration Information	ITLMz – Ready and Control Asset ITLM – Ready and Control Asset
Investigate and analyze product usage.	Asset Management Ready and Control Asset	Asset Analyst	Asset Information	TCCM – Ready and Control Asset
For the low usage products, gain approval from the users that the product is no longer required.	Asset Management Ready and Control Asset	Asset Analyst	Asset Information
Review license costs of software products.	Asset Management Report Asset Information	Asset Controller	Items	TCCM – Report Asset Information
Verify compliance.	Asset Management Report Asset Information	Asset Analyst	Asset Information	TCCM – Monitor Audit and Reconcile Asset Records
Verify costs with the vendor or review contract financials.	Supplier Management  Manage Supplier Contracts	Asset Analyst	Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Operational Level Agreements (OLAs), and Underpinning Contracts (UCs)	TCCM – Manage Supplier Contracts
Keep track of vendor contact events.	Supplier Management Manage Portfolio of Suppliers	Asset Analyst	Supplier Service and Product Information	TCCM – Manage Portfolio of Suppliers
Record the software costs for the upgrade.	Supplier Management  Manage Supplier Contracts	Asset Analyst	Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Operational Level Agreements (OLAs), and Underpinning Contracts (UCs)	TCCM – Manage Supplier Contracts
Report software financial impact and recommendations.	Asset Management Monitor Audit and Reconcile Asset Records	Asset Analyst	Asset Reconciliation Data
Determine vendor and product actions to take.	Portfolio Management Make IT Portfolio Decisions and Commitments	IT Portfolio Manager	IT Portfolio

Obtaining more information

To get more information, talk to a representative, purchase IBM® Service Management tools, or visit the IBM Service Management page.