Allocating licenses and chargeback costs to a computer group

Use software license monitoring (SLM) to track the costs of providing IT support to groups across your organization. Track costs by allocating product licenses at the computer-group level and then defining a chargeback price per license for those groups. For more information, see Viewing license allocation status.

Setting up allocation units

Before you can allocate product licenses to a computer group, you need to define that group as an allocation unit. Either select an existing computer group or define a new one that represents a department, locale, or office within your organization. Remember, when you define a group in the SLM console, you're simply choosing a name to associate with an existing device group or query previously created in the Endpoint Manager network view. For more information, see Defining a computer group.

To select an existing computer group as an allocation unit
  1. Click Administration > Computer Groups.
  2. Select a group in the list. On the toolbar, click Edit.
  3. Select Use as allocation unit. Click Save.
To define a new computer group as an allocation unit
  1. Click Administration > Computer Groups.
  2. On the toolbar, click New > Computer Group.
  3. In the Name box, give the computer group a distinctive, meaningful name.
  4. Select Use as allocation unit.
  5. In the Source selection box, select the defined query or devices that are included in this computer group.
  6. Click Save.

Allocating licenses and chargeback costs to a computer group

After you define a computer group as an allocation unit, you can begin to allocate licenses and chargeback costs.

NOTE: If you’re using the French-language version of SLM, Microsoft has a bug in their regional settings that affects French-language digit groupings. For numbers of one thousand and over, Microsoft has a default setting of a space character instead of a period for the digit-grouping symbol (for example, 1 234 567,00). Because of this bug, when entering numbers in the French-language version, SLM will not allow the period character to be used.

To fix this problem, you must change the setting in the Control Panel > Region and Language applet. Click the Additional settings button, and change the Digit grouping symbol from a space to a period (or whatever other character you want).

To allocate licenses and chargeback costs to a computer group
  1. Click Products > Monitored.
  2. In the list, select a product for which you want to allocate licenses and set chargeback costs. On the toolbar, click Edit.
  3. Click Allocations. Under the Computer Group column are the groups you have defined as allocation units.
  4. In the Allocated box for a group, select the number of product licenses you want to allocate to that group. This number should represent the number of licenses you plan on charging a group for IT support. Repeat this step for each computer group listed. The Installed column lists the number of devices with the product installed in that group. The Licenses column lists the number of licenses available for use as purchased by that group.
  5. In the Chargeback Unit Price box, enter the price per license that you want to charge a group for the IT support of this product. This price will vary by group, depending on the extent of the support you provide.
  6. Click Save.

NOTE: Before you can view an accurate printable report about this allocation data, you must save your changes. After clicking Save, return to this dialog, and click the print icon to view the changes in report form.