DOD's enterprise license best practices
In 1999, the Defense Department looked at best practices for enterprise software agreements within DOD. The report identified a number of best practices:
When providing a selection of standards-compliant software:
* Conduct research, evaluate and test to identify the best products.
* Base standards on commercial offerings.
* Determine what degree of choice will be permitted.
* Keep up with evolving standards, products and delivery methods.
When funding enterprise agreements:
* Determine the necessity of up-front funding or if it will significantly improve discounts.
* Consider using revolving funds to acquire licenses.
* Use only the alternative financing plans that make sense.
When reducing acquisition and support costs, including software asset management:
* Identify high payback targets and focus your energy on those opportunities.
* Assign responsibility to negotiate enterprise software agree- ments only to offices that have demonstrated specialized knowledge and expertise.
* Benchmark, benchmark, benchmark.
* Be demanding.
* Consider the acquisition life cycle when crafting enterprise agreements for licenses neces- sary to operate software and keep it current.
* Keep it simple.
* Standardize terms and conditions of agreements.
* Understand and leverage market forces.
* Convince industry that the deal is real and that you control the buyers and the number of contracts.
* Establish a partnership with the supplier.
* Manage and track software as an asset.
To get people to use enterprise agreements:
* Emphasize ease of use.
* Communicate to obtain better buy-in.
* Demand compliance.
* Develop both top-down and bottom-up incentives to control and ensure use of the enterprise agreements.
* Identify and remove impediments to using enterprise software agreements.