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ITAM is included from Business on.
We record a contract with one position, assign the paid units to users and read off in the cost analysis how much of it stays unused. Prerequisite: assets that units can be assigned to—from the scan or created manually—and write access in the ITAM area.

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Starting point

Docusnap Sports GmbH runs Microsoft 365 E3: 512 licenses, billed yearly. The contract exists as a PDF, and the invoice goes through accounting. Nobody knows how many licenses are occupied.

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1. Record the contract

Under ITAM › Manage Costs, Costs opens the Record Costs wizard: Basics, Type, Details, Additional Info, Summary.
1

Fill in the basics

Name: Microsoft 365 E3—Annual License. We leave Contract Number and Responsible empty.
2

Choose the type

Cost type Subscription, category Software. Only this combination lets us choose the unit in the next step.
3

Fill in the details

Unit Per User—licenses hang on people. Quantity 512, Unit Price per year, Start Date, Billing Cycle Yearly, Term 12 months. The summary works out the end date.
4

Check the summary

The note reads here: “12 monthly billing periods will be created in advance, 1 of them with an amount (due yearly). Asset assignment happens separately.” Record Costs creates the entry and opens it as a tab.
Unit, quantity and billing cycle cannot be changed after recording; the term can only be extended. We check them in the summary.
The billing periods result from the term: one period per month, also with yearly billing. Each period can be assigned and evaluated individually.

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2. Assign the licenses

1

Open the billing period

Tab Billing Periods. We open the current period with status Open.
2

Select the position

The position has type Assignable and a utilization of zero. At the end of the row: Assign.
3

Select users

In the Assign Units dialog, the category selection is set to people because of Per User. We select the users through search and checkboxes. The capacity bar shows the free slots.
4

Assign

The footer names the new occupancy and the number of assignments. After assigning, the Assignments side panel opens with the new assignments. Assigned rises, Free falls, and Unused Budget shows the amount for the free slots.
An assignment applies to all future, not yet finalized periods, until it is removed. Users who leave must be removed actively.

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3. Read the result in the cost analysis

1

Open the cost analysis

ITAM › Cost Analysis. Period 12M.
2

Tab Optimization

3

Table Unused Costs

The contract stands with Utilization, Unused / Month and Unused / Year—the amount for unoccupied licenses.
4

Optimization recommendations

Below that the optimization recommendations: tiles with a heading, a problem text and a figure; the icon shows the kind of potential. A tile with a button jumps to the affected assets or costs.
Without an assignable position, the figures of Optimization show no values. The assignment is the precondition for the evaluation.

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Result

  • What are we paying for? The contract stands in the system with position, quantity, term and billing cycle. The cost analysis carries it under Current Monthly Cost and Yearly Cost (Projected).
  • Where are we paying for the unused? Unused Budget, Unused Licenses and Avg Utilization quantify the free slots per contract.
At the next contract renewal, the quantity is substantiated, not estimated. Capturing Costs · Assigning Costs to Assets