License metric utilization

The primary source of information about license metric utilization is the All Metrics report. For every product, you can specify a metric threshold to verify whether metric utilization is above or below your expectations. You can also create a snapshot of the report, and store it for audit purposes.

Report overview

Predefined report views

Predefined report views give you quick access to filtered information. You can schedule these reports to be sent and set them as default views. However, you cannot modify them.

Thresholds and Custom Fields

Custom fields allow you to extend information that is related to software products by adding details pertinent to your organization. You can then use the information to filter and sort the reports as well as group products based on flexible criteria. A value that is specified in a custom field applies to the selected product with the particular license metric. It also applies only within the computer group to which you are assigned. For more information, see: Adding custom information to license metric reports.

The menu can also be used to set license metric thresholds in the same way as in the Threshold column.

Product Name

Name of the licensed product. When you click the link for a product that uses the PVU or RVU MAPC metric, the next level of the report shows servers on which the product was installed when the metric quantity was the highest.

When you click the link for any other product, the next level shows all instances of product components, including historical instances that are no longer installed. To view the list of component instances that were installed when the metric quantity was the highest, generate the audit snapshot.

Metric

License metric that is assigned to the product. The metrics fall into three categories:

Metrics for which utilization is calculated, including:
- Install Instances
- Processor Value Unit (PVU)
- Resource Value Unit (RVU MAPC)
- Virtual Processor Core (VPC)
Metrics for which calculating utilization is not yet supported.
Metric is unknown

For more information about the license metrics, see: Reported license metrics.

Tip: If you want to display only products for which metric utilization is calculated, hover over the Manage Report View icon

, and click Configure View. Then, set the following filter: Metric Quantity,

greater than or equal
                    to

, 0.

Cloud Pak or FlexPoint Bundle

Cloud Pak or FlexPoint Bundle to which the product and its components are assigned. For more information, see:

Metric Quantity

The highest number of metric units that the product used during the specified period. The value <n/a> indicates that the quantity is not calculated for this metric.

The following icons indicate that further actions are required to ensure that the metric quantity is up-to-date:

Red square () indicates that the metric quantity for the product needs to be updated because an action that influences the value was performed. For example, a component was assigned to this product. To update the metric quantity, click Recalculate. The progress of recalculation is displayed below the top menu bar.
Exclamation mark () indicates that metric quantity might not be calculated correctly because inventory data from at least one VM manager is not reported properly. To solve the problem, ensure that all VM managers are configured. For more information, see: Adding VM managers in central mode or Adding VM managers in distributed mode.

If you create a custom signature for IBM software, you must assign a correct IBM license metric to this product on Products & Metrics panel and then bundle the component instances to this product and IBM metric. Software from custom catalog content is assigned to Install Seats metric by default. IBM metrics is calculated automatically for IBM software and non-IBM metrics is calculated for non-IBM software.

Threshold

The maximum number of metric units that the product can use within the computer group. The value is set manually. For more information, see: Setting license metric threshold.

Threshold Delta

The difference between the threshold and the metric quantity. It indicates whether the metric utilization is above or below the manually set threshold. The following values indicate that the delta cannot be calculated:

The value <no data> indicates that the threshold is not set.
The value <n/a> indicates that the threshold was set for a product for which metric quantity is not calculated.

Imported Part Numbers

Part numbers that represents products that you purchased. For more information, see: Part numbers.

Metric Quantity History

History of changes in the metric utilization over the specified period. The history is not available for products for which metric quantity is not calculated.

Note: A product with a metric is displayed on All Metrics panel if all of the following conditions are met:

There are component instances bundled to the product and the metric, discovered in the selected reporting period, and not suppressed.
The relation between the component instances and the product and the metric is charged.
If the metric is one of IBM metrics, such as PVU, RVU, VPC, and Install Instances, the product's vendor must be IBM. For example, metric calculation for these metrics will be applicable only for IBM products.
Recalculation is not pending, which means that the Recalculate button is disabled.
The given computer group has metric calculations enabled.

To bundle components to a product and metric, make sure that the metric and product are related (Products & Metrics panel). To check if the proposed relation between a component instance bundled to a product and a metric is charged, check the "Charged" column under the "Software Classification" panel. Metric quantity is not available if the metric is not automatically calculated by BigFix Inventory. In that a case, products with the metric are listed under the "All Metrics" panel with quantity as "<n/a>". You can manually update the quantity.