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Big Picture

License Compliance and Audits

An organization purchases software licenses for desktop applications. Periodically, vendors conduct audits to verify that the organization is using only the licenses they purchased. The organization must demonstrate compliance by showing accurate records of license usage.

Traditional license key systems make this difficult. Keys are distributed manually, usage is tracked inconsistently, and audit trails are incomplete. When an audit arrives, organizations spend weeks gathering evidence from multiple systems, spreadsheets, and manual records.

Big Picture’s lease-based licensing system creates natural audit trails. Every license activation, renewal, and revocation is recorded with timestamps and context. When an audit arrives, the organization can produce accurate, verifiable reports showing exactly how licenses were used.

The Problem

Section titled “The Problem”

License compliance requires accurate tracking of:

  • Which licenses are active
  • When licenses were activated and deactivated
  • Which users or machines are using licenses
  • How concurrent licenses are being used
  • Historical usage patterns over time

Traditional license key systems fail at this because:

  • Keys are distributed manually, making tracking difficult
  • Usage data is scattered across multiple systems
  • Audit trails are incomplete or missing
  • Reports require manual compilation from multiple sources
  • There’s no single source of truth for license usage

When vendors conduct audits, organizations struggle to produce accurate evidence. This creates risk: organizations may be found non-compliant even when they believe they are following license terms.

When This Use Case Applies

Section titled “When This Use Case Applies”

This use case applies when:

  • You purchase software licenses that require compliance tracking
  • Vendors conduct periodic audits of license usage
  • You need to demonstrate compliance with license terms
  • You manage concurrent or floating licenses that require usage monitoring
  • You need historical records of license usage for capacity planning
  • Regulatory requirements mandate accurate license tracking

How Big Picture Addresses This

Section titled “How Big Picture Addresses This”

Big Picture’s lease-based licensing system creates audit trails automatically. Instead of distributing static license keys, Big Picture issues short-lived lease tokens that are validated against a license server. Every lease issuance, renewal, and revocation is recorded with full context.

The system tracks:

  • License activations and deactivations with timestamps
  • User or machine associations for each license
  • Concurrent license utilization over time
  • Lease renewal patterns and expiration events
  • License revocation events and reasons

This data is stored in a structured format that can be queried and reported. When an audit arrives, organizations can produce accurate reports showing license usage over any time period. The reports are verifiable because they’re based on cryptographic signatures and immutable records.

Big Picture also provides visibility into license usage patterns. Organizations can see which licenses are underutilized, which are overutilized, and how usage changes over time. This supports capacity planning and helps organizations optimize license purchases.

High-Level Flow

Section titled “High-Level Flow”
  1. Organization purchases licenses and imports them into Big Picture
  2. Client applications request license leases from the license server
  3. License server validates requests against purchased entitlements and issues leases
  4. Every lease operation is recorded with full context and timestamps
  5. Organizations query license usage data through Big Picture’s reporting interface
  6. When audits occur, organizations export verifiable reports showing license usage
  7. Historical data supports capacity planning and license optimization

Next Steps

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To implement this use case: