Championing the professional management of software
and protecting members rights

Summary

Licence Dashboard approaches the SAM task with a difference. It has been designed to integrate and form a reporting umbrella over other SAM products in the market. Using this approach ensures that the Licence Dashboard can be of benefit to users of other SAM products where an investment has already been made. More so; it allows large organisations, where multiple SAM products may be in use, to consolidate the reporting at a corporate level and introduce a formal approval process for additional software licences.

The Dashboard Discovery product is weaker out of the box than some of the other solutions on the market. It appears that there has been a deliberate and strategic decision to offer a simple solution here and focus on the interoperability functionality of Licence Dashboard to other SAM solutions. It does get the job done though and the agent payload is lighter than a lot of the competition.

In summary, Licence Dashboard holds a rather unique position by offering extremely powerful reporting functionality with the ability to interface to many other SAM products on the market. The company is working on enhancing its own discovery component with the forthcoming version and this will see more flexible deployment options as part of the upgrade. Licence Dashboard offers a true one stop shop for licence management and reporting with no equals when it comes to its 3rd party data feed capability. Larger organisations should seriously consider this capability when searching for a solution to their multi-site software management processes.

Installation Narration

The products are delivered via packaged installers. (The Licence Dashboard installer was not available for use in the review ). The installers for both Licence Dashboard and Dashboard Discovery detect the presence of .NET and other components required for the installation and will install them as part of the process if needed. Both components installed easily and the machine used was an Intel Q6600 based server running Windows 2003 server.

Running the Program

The product is delivered in two parts, Licence Dashboard and Dashboard Discovery. Uniquely to Licence Dashboard, users can opt to use the Dashboard Discovery software or connect to many of the other SAM products available on the market today. More on this later and in the review summary.

Setting up the System

As with most other products on the market, if using the Dashboard Discovery software, a small client is required. This comes in the form of a lightweight MSI installer weighing in at less than 1MB including configuration files. The Discovery UI component is web browser based and simple in nature. It allows for deployment across a domain using Active Directory Group Policy software deployment, or via its own push deployment integrated with Active Directory. Alternatively users of the system can use third party deployment solutions, login or startup scripts to automate the client installation process. The Licence Dashboard interface is a software client and uses proprietary interface.

Ongoing Administration

As devices with the agent software running start to report back to the database the schema begins to populate. The Dashboard Discovery tool is simple in design when compared to other products. This is mainly due to the fact that the product is pitched slightly differently to others. The developer has made significant investment into the interoperability functionality of the Licence Dashboard so that it can easily interface to other SAM solutions such as Frontrange Discovery, Tivoli suite and many others. Using the Licence Dashboard itself is easy and intuitive and it provides a very impressive summary screen that can show how good, or bad, the current licencing situation is for a company, or sub group within a company.

The interface has a simple navigation pane to the left of the screen that includes the summary page, licence information, software usage and reporting to name a few. Clicking on the menu item changes the right hand pane, with the information presented in a column based format for the majority of the time. Details can then be clicked on to drill down for more granular information, such as specific software package information for example.

OS/Device/Software Support

The strength of the product is its ability to interface to many of the other SAM products on the market. For this reason it probably attracts the accolade of supporting the most operating systems. Its own Dashboard Discovery software will cater for the Microsoft Windows environment, and for most, that may be enough.

Auditing and Reporting

Licence Dashboard is developed around a comprehensive reporting system. The ability to compare audit runs is a feature not seen in most other products on the market. This powerful reporting mechanism allows the operator to view changes in licence usage across sub divisions or indeed the whole company. Changes across all software licences and products can be seen between any two audits that have taken place. This provides a powerful historical view on the change process for the business and any shortfalls (or indeed spare capacity) in licences that need addressing.

Support and Pricing

LICENCE DASHBOARD STANDARD EDITION
1 User £995
Additional Users add £500 per user
Support per Annum 15% of total licence RRP 2nd year onwards

Example
Customer A has 250 seats and requires 3–user access to Standard Edition. Total licence cost would be £1,995.
Support costs per annum would total £299.25.

LICENCE DASHBOARD PROFESSIONAL EDITION
Base licence – 1,000 seats £12,500
1,001 – 2,000 seats £13,500
2,001 – 3,000 seats £14,500
3,001 – 4,000 seats £15,500
4,001 – 5,000 seats £16,500
Support per Annum 15% of total licence RRP 2nd year onwards

Example
Customer B has 5,000 seats. Total licence cost would be £16,500.
Support costs 2nd year onwards would total £2,475 per annum.

LICENCE DASHBOARD ENTERPRISE EDITION
Base licence – 5,000 seats £25,000
5,001 + seats £5 per seat
Support per Annum 15% 2nd year onwards

Example
Customer C has 20,000 seats. Total licence cost would be £100,000 (£5 x 20,000 seats).
Support costs 2nd year onwards would total £15,000 per annum.

Customer D has 4,000 seats. Total licence cost would be £25,000 (base licence covers maximum 5,000 seats). Support costs 2nd year onwards would total £3,750 per annum. Support includes upgrades to new releases and telephone support. Support must be taken out on total quantity of users.

LICENCE DASHBOARD SMALL BUSINESS EDITION (includes Dashboard Discovery)
Up to 300 seats £3,000 (no onsite visits included)
301 – 500 seats £5,000 (includes 1 onsite visit)
501–600 seats £6,000 (includes 1 onsite visit)
601–700 seats £7,000 (includes 2 onsite visits)
701–800 seats £8,000 (includes 2 onsite visits)
801–900 seats £9,000 (includes 3 onsite visits)
901–1,000 seats £10,000 (includes 4 onsite visits)

DASHBOARD DISCOVERY
Base licence – 1,000 seats £4,000
1,001 + seats £4 per seat
Support per Annum 15% of total licence RRP 2nd year onwards

Support includes upgrades to new releases, telephone support and access to online product forums.
Support must be taken out on total quantity of users.

Key Strengths – Technical

• Licence Dashboard integration with other SAM discovery components
• Simple interface to the Licence Dashboard

Key Weaknesses – Technical

• Dashboard Discovery product less flexible than some

Key Strengths – Commercial

• Licence Dashboard provides powerful augmentation of SAM data across vendor platforms/solutions
• Licence Dashboard provides a single interface to all of an organisations licensing management requirements
• Licence Dashboard has powerful comparing and reporting functionality

Key Weaknesses – Commercial

• Licence Dashboard is pitched as a very strong augmenter of data and requires a separate product for discovery

How the tests are conducted:

The tool evaluations have been conducted using Windows 2000, Windows 2003 or Windows XP for the management console element. The vendor preferred OS for the database and backend server is also selected for the review. Functional testing has been conducted across the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems and where Linux is supported OpenSUSE has been used for testing. The testing takes place on a dedicated hardware environment and where VMWARE or Microsoft Virtual Terminal functionality is supported this is tested if time permits.

Note:

Licence Dashboard and Dashboard Discovery are two separate yet complementary products provided by Licence Dashboard Limited. Licence Dashboard is a complete licence management solution capable of managing the licence compliance of all organisations from the smallest of companies up to the largest multi-national corporations. Dashboard Discovery is an inventory solution for the Microsoft Windows environment. Licence Dashboard is designed to integrate with third party software inventory and metering solutions without the need to use Dashboard Discovery. Dashboard Discovery it a tactical solution to plug in where there are gaps in the currently deployed software inventory solution, or where no reliable solution is currently in place for the Microsoft Windows environment.

This review covers both Licence Dashboard and Dashboard Discovery used in combination. Licence Dashboard Small Business Edition includes both the Dashboard and the Discovery components.

Installation Requirements
Operating System	Licence Dashboard™ Microsoft .NET Framework v3.5 Service Pack 1 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 / 2008 or SQL Server 2005 / 2008 Express Dashboard Discovery™ Server Windows Server 2003 running Internet Information Server v6 (IIS 6) Microsoft .NET Framework v2.0 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 / 2008 or SQL Server 2005 / 2008 Express Client Microsoft .NET Framework v2.0
Processor	INTEL / AMD
Memory	512MB upwards
Storage	1GB Minimum
Display	1024x768
Network	Ethernet card
Database Required	YES, MS SQL (2005 or above)
Administration Client	YES
Local Client	YES

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Product review – Testing Schedule – Licence Dashboard / Discovery V4.2 Vendor claimed functionality
	YES or NO (..notes)
Software Discovery The software will discover all installed software	YES Software discovery could be just Add/Remove programs information, or recognition by files against a dictionary. Dashboard Discovery with Licence Dashboard does both. The dictionary based recognition also categorises software as licensable or not.
Software Usage Metering The tool can measure software usage at either machine or user level	YES Dashboard Discovery does not perform Software Usage Metering. Licence Dashboard can utilise data from third party metering tools to measure usage in any metric.
Hardware Discovery The software will discover hardware information	YES Provided by Dashboard Discovery
Network Device discovery The tool can discover all networked devices including routers, printers, laptops, workstations, servers etc	YES Dashboard Discovery integrates with Active Directory, pulling in computer accounts from the domain.
Smartphone / PDA support Can the tool automatically manage smart devices	NO Licence Dashboard Data Cleanse can recognise software installed on a Smartphone or PDA when the data is provided from third party inventory tools.
Asset Management The product will hold an asset register on all hardware and software.	YES
Network Management The software can complete network functions such as the remote install and uninstall of other software products	NO Provided by LIcence Dashboard
Licence Management The software can store software licence information.	YES Provded by LIcence Dashboard
Reconciliation Management The software can reconcile installed software to licences.	YES Provded by LIcence Dashboard

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Documentation/Evaluation	Answer	Notes
Is there an evaluation download, user manual, document available?	YES	There is an evaluation request form on the Web site: www.licencedashboard.co.uk
How is the solution shipped?	CD/ONLINE	Evaluations are shipped out on CD, and trial keys are sent via email.
Did you have to read to documentation at any point?	YES	Installing the two products and requirements for each.
If so, what did you use it for, and did it meet your needs satisfactorily	YES	Installation details and setup details were sent via email.

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Installation Experience	Answer	Notes
How long did it take to install Control Center / Server (combined time if separate components)?	1 Hour	The review version of Licence Dashboard, which was pre-release, was a manual installation, but will be installer based for production.
What are the SW & HW requirements (server, Microsoft components like .net)?	Windows 2K servers and upwards	Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 for Licence Dashboard and Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 for Dashboard Discovery.
Ease of install - intuitive, wizards etc.	EASY
Were there any 3rd party components installed?	YES	Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition. Simple, automated process.
Are there any restrictions on hardware / OS etc?	YES	See requirements for minimum specifications.
What is the total install time?	2.5 Hours	For both products and including one Dashboard Discovery client agent.
Was there anything unusual / unexpected about the installation?	NO	Used a manual installation of the Dashboard Discovery client agent, running the client MSI file.

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Agent deployment	Answer	Notes
What are the methods for agent deployment (push (direct connect), email, others etc)?	Push/Script	The Dashboard Discovery client agent can be deployed using Active Directory Group Policy software deployment, with third party deployment tools that can deploy MSIs such as Novell ZAM, from the Discovery Console as a push install, using scripts or manually.
What other platforms is there an agent for (e.g. NT4, 2000, 2003, XP non NT based etc.)?	MS	The Dashboard Discovery client agent supports Microsoft Windows OS’s only, while Licence Dashboard, through integration with third party inventory and metering tools can support all platforms including Microsoft, Macintosh, Linux, UNIX, Midrange and Mainframe.
Time to deploy to 1, 10 and 50 PCs?	Approx 5 minutes per PC	Using Active Directory Group Policy Deployment devices can be installed concurrently.
Size of initial deployment per PC (and extrapolated to assess bandwidth overhead for 500 PC network)	< 1MB	Good, small deployment payload
Any interruption to user experience?	NO	Optional, can be wizard based installer.
Requires reboot before full functionality is achieved?	NO	The agent can be installed, uninstalled and reinstalled without a reboot.
Installation status report, so you can be re-assured that all PCs are covered?	YES	This can be checked via Discovery console which shows agent and agentless devices
Information Collection capabilities What media is supported?	Network / Removable media	Uses network for data gathering

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Creating User Groups	Answer	Notes
How easy is it to select users from existing AD / NT Domains?	Users can be extracted from the AD	The Discovery component can interface to the AD store and pull back machine information.
Does solution support local users (not in Group, only registered on local machine)?	YES	For Dashboard Discovery IIS and SQL security, the server does not need to be in a domain. Licence Dashboard requires domain accounts unless client and database are installed on the same machine, such as a standalone laptop installation.
Does solution support NDS or LDAP work stations?	YES
Overall experience	GOOD	Easily integrates with MS domain services. Workgroups are not supported other than as single machines
Does solution allow you to control policy based on user and a specific machine?	NO	Machine level operation only

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Defining a policy/Setup/Usage	Answer	Notes
Time to create simple one user / AD user group policy	N/A
Does the product incorporate software metering?	NO	Dashboard Discovery does not provide software metering. Licence Dashboard can use data from third party software metering tools, and it allows for passive monitoring and movement of licences as and when required.
Does the product track the use of applications?	YES	The Licence Dashboard does allow tracking of application usage.
Does the product track the use of executables?	YES	Dashboard Discovery collects executable file data, and this can be used with Licence Dashboard and its extensive product recognition dictionary.
Does the product track the use of other files?	YES	Dashboard Discovery only collects information on .EXE files, while the Licence Dashboard Data Cleanse function can track any file type.
Can overuse of licenses be prevented?	NO	Passive reporting is the bias of the system; a real-time over-use system is not presently part of the functionality. The licence entitlement data within the Licence Dashboard which clearly shows what software you are entitled to use would aid in defining policies for third party software usage management tools.
Can users be asked to quit an unused application?	NO
Policy creation experience	GOOD
Can policy changes be instantly applied?	YES
Is policy update automated or manual?	YES	The Dashboard Discovery client agent checks for updates to the policy configuration at regular intervals.
Policy status report? Do all PCs have the latest policy?	YES	Dashboard Discovery can advise on machines not running the client agent when integrated with Active Directory.

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Administration / Inventory	Answer	Notes
Are policy updates distributed automatically to PCs (check different OS and network setups)?	YES	Dashboard Discovery schedules and file exclusions are configurable in the interface and are distributed automatically to the clients.
If yes, is there an update schedule and is it configurable?	YES	Dashboard Discovery default is every 1440 minutes (24 hours). This is configurable but only by editing the database directly.
What is the typical size of a policy update per PC?	2-8k	Dashboard Discovery has a small payload for the client(s). Delta files are used, minimising the bandwidth required for connection to the Dashboard Discovery server.
Can solution support offline user exemptions or non networked devices? If yes how?	NO	Dashboard Discovery has this penned for the next version – a standalone scanner run from removable media such as a memory stick.
Does the product maintain itself, i.e. Auto update Agents?	YES	Dashboard Discovery will upgrade all clients automatically when a new server version is installed.
SNMP MIB browsing support?	NO
Does the tool leave client files on the devices?	YES	Dashboard Discovery has small payload agent software.
Can the tool audit a single device on demand?	NO
Can the tool audit a defined group of devices on demand?	NO	Dashboard Discovery updates devices as part of the regular schedule only.
Can the tool do delta audits (changes only)?	YES	Licence Dashboard reporting tracks changes to usage and installations. Powerful delta reporting between audits is also available.

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Licensing & Reconciliation	Answer	Notes
Can the tool hold licence information?	YES	Data is stored in Licence Dashboard and can be entered manually or imported.
Can the tool hold licence cost information?	YES	Licence Dashboard has very comprehensive functionality in this area.
Can the tool hold Client Access Licence information?	YES	Licence Dashboard can allocate changes to licence numbers across the company or sub divisions
Can the tool hold invoice information?	YES	Another strong area for Licence Dashboard. Full invoice/contract information is held within the system.
Can the tool hold contract information?	YES	Provided by Licence Dashboard.
Can the tool reconcile licenses to discovered software?	YES	Provided by Licence Dashboard.

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Security	Answer	Notes
If user has local admin rights, can agent be modified / deleted / de-activated? (is it easy to identify the service in task mgr)	Not easily	But with admin rights can uninstall the software.
Does the agent appear in add remove programs dialog?	YES
Does the admin console have Username and Password protection?	YES	Dashboard Discovery uses IIS authentication, the default is anonymous access, but this can be changed to Integrated Authentication to limit access. Licence Dashboard uses SQL Authentication, so only users granted login rights to SQL Server and permissions to the database can access it.
Does the admin console have user profiling; i.e. Only specific people can amend policies, but everyone can view logs?	NO	Access and operation can be managed via the OS/Domain rights
Can the client process be killed to bypass policy security?	N/A

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Hardware Inventory	Answer	Notes
Does the tool utilise WMI information?	YES	Dashboard Discovery has excellent, clear reporting on this information
Does the tool utilise SM Bios information?	NO
Does the tool utilise DMI information?	NO
Does the tool collect Manufacturer detail?	YES	Dashboard Discovery provides excellent granular information for machines running the client software
Does the tool collect the model number?	YES	Provided by Dashboard Discovery.
Can the tool identify the processor?	YES	Provided by Dashboard Discovery.
Can the tool identify the processor speed?	YES	Provided by Dashboard Discovery.
Can the tool identify the hard drive capacity?	YES	Provided by Dashboard Discovery.
Can the tool identify the remaining hard drive capacity?	YES	Provided by Dashboard Discovery.
Can the tool identify installed cards?	YES	Provided by Dashboard Discovery.
Can the tool identify devices connected via the serial port?	NO
Can the tool identify devices connected via the USB port?	YES	Dashboard Discovery reports on USB connected hard disk drives for example.
Can the tool identify devices connected via the parallel port?	NO
Can the tool identify devices connected via a firewire?	YES	Dashboard Discovery reports on firewire connected hard disk drives for example.
Can the tool identify the LAN address?	YES	Provided by Dashboard Discovery.
Can the tool identify the IP address?	YES	Provided by Dashboard Discovery.

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Software Identification	Answer	Notes
Does the tool have an internal software recognition library?	YES	Licence Dashboard provides software recognition and categorises the Licensable status.
Can the library be updated by the end user?	Yes	Provided by Licence Dashboard.
Does the publisher/reseller supply updates to the library?	YES
Does the tool supply paths for discovered files?	YES
Does the tool discover unrecognised executables?	YES
Does the tool identify software suites?	YES	Licence Dashboard’s Data Cleanse Function has application suite recognition.
Does the tool scan MSI packages for recognition purposes?	NO
Does the tool collect Product ID or GUID ID for installed applications?	YES	Dashboard Discovery collects Microsoft Product IDs.
Can it determine parent/child relationships within suites?	YES	Licence Dashboard’s Data Cleanse function has application suite recognition.
Can the tool discover renamed executables?	YES	Dashboard Discovery will collect information on all .EXE files.
Can the tool discover hidden executables?	YES	The agent runs as Local System and if users deny the SYSTEM account access to files or folders, the agent cannot access the files so they are excluded from the results. Discovery will report any files or folders it was unable to scan due to permissions or encryption, enabling admins to investigate, and preventing users from hiding software and files.
Can the tool discover compressed executables (e.g. Zipped)?	NO
Does the tool report on unrecognised executables?	YES	Licence Dashboard Data Cleanse provides this functionality.
Can the tool show when a file was last accessed?	NO
What files types are identified out of the box?	ALL	Licence Dashboard can utilise data on all file types. Dashboard Discovery collects information on .EXE files.
Is File Size reported for all file types?	NO	Dashboard Discovery collects file size only on .EXE files.
Is the full path for all file types reported?	NO	Dashboard Discovery collects the file path only for .EXE files.

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Audit/Reporting	Answer	Notes
Are policy changes logged?	YES	Changes are logged in Licence Dashboard.
Are deployment changes logged?	YES	Changes are logged in Licence Discovery.
Are temporary exceptions logged?	N/A
Does solution report on unauthorized connections?	N/A	There is DHCP tracking so that MAC addresses can be tracked but this does not provide the functionality fully.
Does solution log file transfer movements?	NO	All Discovery components produce detailed log files. The client reports sending the files and the server reports receiving the files.
Is there a reporting function?	YES	Reporting is built in to Licence Dashboard. Dashboard Discovery reporting is done though the SQL interface, though the next version will have built in reporting also.
Does the reporting function contain sample reports?	YES
Are these reports customisable?	NO	Out of the box reports only, though utilising filters and column selections, each of the standard views can act as customisable reports. Dashboard Discovery provides an open database with views that are used for reporting and exporting of data using third party tools.
Can additional reports be created?	NO	Discovery reporting is generally SQL based, where you can use products such as Crystal Reports or Excel to produce any type of report.
Can asset information be imported?	YES	Provided by Licence Dashboard.
Can asset information be exported?	YES
Can license information be imported automatically	YES	One of the Licence Dashboard strong points, interfacing with the majority of SAM/Discovery management products on the market.
Can consumption reports be imported automatically (Microsoft Claret report)	YES	A Licence Dashboard tool is available to import the Microsoft MLS spreadsheets; the next version of the tool will also support the Claret spreadsheet.
Does the tool use a third party reporting tool	NO

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Pricing	Answer	Notes
What are the pricing bands for the product?	YES	LICENCE DASHBOARD STANDARD EDITION 1 User £995 Additional Users add £500 per user Support per Annum 15% of total licence RRP 2nd year onwards. Example Customer A has 250 seats and requires 3-user access to Standard Edition. Total licence cost would be £1,995. Support costs per annum would total £299.25. LICENCE DASHBOARD PROFESSIONAL EDITION Base licence - 1,000 seats £12,500 1,001 – 2,000 seats £13,500 2,001 – 3,000 seats £14,500 3,001 – 4,000 seats £15,500 4,001 – 5,000 seats £16,500 Support per Annum 15% of total licence RRP 2nd year onwards. Example Customer B has 5,000 seats. Total licence cost would be £16,500. Support costs 2nd year onwards would total £2,475 per annum. LICENCE DASHBOARD ENTERPRISE EDITION Base licence – 5,000 seats £25,000 5,001 + seats £5 per seat Support per Annum 15% of total Licence RRP 2nd year onwards. Example Customer C has 20,000 seats. Total licence cost would be £100,000 (£5 x 20,000 seats). Support costs 2nd year onwards would total £15,000 per annum. Customer D has 4,000 seats. Total licence cost would be £25,000 (base licence covers maximum 5,000 seats). Support costs 2nd year onwards would total £3750 per annum. DASHBOARD DISCOVERY Base Licence – 1,000 seats £4,000 1,001 + seats £4 per seat Support per Annum 15% of total licence RRP 2nd year onwards. PLEASE NOTE Support includes upgrades to new releases and telephone support. Support must be taken out on total quantity of users.
How much does it cost to include maintenance/support?	First year included in full license purchase, 2nd year onward is 33% for full maintenance and upgrade protection	15% of total licence RRP 2nd year onwards.
Are there educational price bands?	YES	HE/FE SECTOR Eduserv deal promoted at: www.eduserv.org.uk/licencenegotiationagree ments/software/Dashboard Pricing for the three years of the agreement is £3,000 per annum. If Eduserv and Phoenix do not renew this agreement, then site licences will still be available to enrolled Institutions for subsequent years at the following rate per annum: Years 4 and 5 - £3,500 Years 6 and 7 - £3,500 + a maximum of 5% increase per annum SCHOOLS SECTOR This Autumn, a new Schools Agreement will be announced offering Licence Dashboard Schools Edition to primary and secondary schools across the UK. This will also include levels of licensing support bundled with the product. Pricing TBA.
Is there a bundling price with other products?	YES	LICENCE DASHBOARD SMALL BUSINESS EDITION is suitable for organisations that have less than 1,000 devices. THE COST Up to 300 seats £3,000 (no onsite visits included) 301 - 500 seats £5,000 (includes 1 onsite visit) 501-600 seats £6,000 (includes 1 onsite visit) 601-700 seats £7,000 (includes 2 onsite visits) 701-800 seats £8,000 (includes 2 onsite visits) 801-900 seats £9,000 (includes 3 onsite visits) 901-1,000 seats £10,000 (includes 4 onsite visits) This bundled solution includes Dashboard Discovery, a comprehensive software and hardware inventory tool.

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Support	Answer	Notes
Is the product supported directly or via a channel?	BOTH	Product support is through the channel if it is bought through a reseller, or direct if bought through Phoenix.
Are there escalation procedures?	YES	First and second line support via channel with engineering support provided via Phoenix What does it cost?
What does it cost?		Support includes upgrades to new releases and telephone support. Support must be taken out on total quantity of users.
Is it included with the software maintenance fees?		Support includes upgrades to new releases and telephone support. Support must be taken out on total quantity of users.