Preparing for a software vendor audit

A software audit letter usually gives you a few weeks to show what you've installed and what you're licensed for. AssetTrove is built to make that quick and defensible.

1. Check your data is complete

• Discovery is up to date. On the Discovery page, check every source ran recently. Look at assets not reporting and update or retire devices that have gone quiet. See Stale devices.
• Software is recognised. Clear the top of the unrecognised software queue, especially anything from the auditing vendor. See Unrecognised software and title rules.
• Contracts are complete. Every relevant contract and entitlement should be on the Licences page, with downgrade and edition rights set correctly.

2. Run your position as of the audit date

Vendors usually audit as of a specific date. Run a reconciliation as of that date on the Licence position page. AssetTrove uses exactly what was installed, allocated and entitled on that day. See How your licence position is calculated.

3. Review the findings

Look for:

• Under-licensed and unlicensed products, with their estimated exposure;
• leavers still using licences and expired licences in use;
• unknown core counts and virtualisation reviews for core-licensed server software, which auditors examine closely.

See Reconciliation findings explained.

4. Fix what you can, and keep the evidence

• Remove software that shouldn't be there, or buy what's missing.
• Reclaim duplicate and unused licences.
• Every change you make is in the audit log, with dates, so you can show what was fixed and when.

5. Share the results

• Download Excel from the Licence position page. Every product shows which licence covered which device or person, so you can explain the figures line by line.
• If the auditor asks how a figure was reached, AssetTrove's records show the reason for every assignment.
• Give your auditor or adviser the Auditor role if they need to look around themselves: they can see everything but change nothing.