Context

Tool mentors explain how a tool can perform tasks, which are part of ITUP processes and activities. The tasks are listed as Related Elements in the Relationships section.

You can see the details of how processes and activities are supported by this tool mentor, by clicking the links next to the icons:

•   Asset Management
  •   Ready and Control Asset

Details

The IBM® Tivoli® Contract Compliance Manager (TCCM) is used to analyze software inventory, hardware inventory, contract, license and financial software information to make business decisions involving cost savings. Identifying low usage products and renegotiating your maintenance contracts are methods to reduce your software costs. Inventory information is automatically imported from Tivoli License Compliance Manager for z/OS for mainframe data and Tivoli License Manager for distributed data. Contract, License and financial data must be imported or entered into TCCM before this activity is executed. Combining the inventory with the agreement, licensing and financial information allows you to be cost effective in managing your assets.

TCCM comes with a set of predefined views categorized by mainframe, distributed, agreement, and financial information. For example, to view software usage on a specific hardware item the Software Usage by Hardware view can be used.

Information on the locations of the software on the hardware and associated usage such as when the product was first encountered can all be seen on one view. You can also drill down to the partition level.

In addition, TCCM contains views on the terms and conditions of agreements. For example, the Agreements by Vendors view displays all your software and hardware agreements and associated costs, sorted by vendor, along with the assets associated with each. This helps you manage your assets by staying on top of licensing fees and recurring charges. You can view and compare the terms and conditions of your agreements, such as MIPS capacity and the number of concurrent users.

The real power of TCCM is realized when the inventory is linked with the associated licenses that are covered by agreements. This information is invaluable when renegotiating software contracts since you can see if you are using the products that you are paying for. For example, The Software Agreements by Vendor with Usage view shows agreements listed by vendor and the usage of the mainframe products covered under the agreement.

For More Information

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