How licence reclamation works

Reclamation finds licences that aren't being used and gives them back to the pool, so you can hand them to someone else or stop paying for them. It's polite by design: people are asked before anything is taken away.

Why a licence is flagged

AssetTrove checks every night, and straight away when someone leaves. A licence is flagged for one of these reasons, checked in this order:

AssetTrove only flags Inactive and Not installed when it has evidence: a last-used date from usage data, or a recent report from the person's devices. It never flags a licence just because it was handed out a long time ago.

Who is never flagged

• People in a group the policy excludes, for example Board or Seasonal staff.
• Licences someone chose to keep, until their exemption ends.
• People on legal hold.
• New allocations, for 30 days by default, so a new starter who hasn't opened the app yet isn't flagged.

The steps

Detected ──► Person notified ──► Grace period ends ──► Waiting for approval ──► Reclaimed
                │                                        (or automatic)
                ├── "I still need this" ──► Kept (exempt for a while)
                └── Used again ──────────► Resolved, nothing changes

1. Detected. The licence is flagged with its reason and evidence.
2. Person notified. For Inactive, Not installed and Duplicate, the person gets an email asking if they still need it. See Do you still need this licence?.
3. Grace period. Usually 7 days. If they use the software again, the case closes by itself.
4. Approval. If your organisation or the policy requires it, a licence manager approves or rejects. Otherwise it continues automatically.
5. Reclaimed. The allocation is revoked and the seat goes back to the pool, or is held for a reduction at renewal. See Approving reclaims and true-down.

Safety checks

• Checked again at the last moment. Right before a licence is reclaimed, AssetTrove checks activity again. If the person used the software this morning, the licence stays.
• One case per licence. A licence can only be in one open case at a time, however many times detection runs.
• Group rules don't hand it back. When a reclaimed seat came from a group rule, the rule stops giving that person the seat again.
• Reactivated people keep their licences: open cases are cancelled.