Published by ISO (International Organization for
Standardization) and IEC (International Electrotechnical
Commission), ISO/IEC 19770-1:2006, Information technology –
Software asset management - Part 1: Processes will enable
organisations to benchmark their capability in delivering managed
services, measuring service levels and assessing performance.
The standard is in two parts. Part one describes the processes
involved in SAM:
- Control Environment:
covers the processes and procedures, policies, roles and
responsibilities, statements of all requirements and communications
as well as ongoing assessment for the Sam process.
- Planning and
Implementation: maps out the activities needed, resources
required, reporting structure, measurement and verification plus a
continual improvement process.
- Inventory: defines
the scope selection and confirmation of assets included in Software
Asset Management and the auditable monitoring of the existence,
access to, usage and storage of them.
- Verification and
compliance: covers the process to identify and record
assets and match inventory to licences and associated processes
like authorisation and calculating effective licence from
underlying licences (upgrades)
- Operations
Management: Covers security policy and documentary
evidence of implementation, the management of relationship with
suppliers and the contracts that relate to them including customer
(user) relationships and maintenance of SLA’s for both the
management and maintenance of contractual documents / budgets.
- Life Cycle: Covers
the life cycle of software assets from change management and
selection of assets, acquisition and development (including new
releases) incident management, problem management through to
retirement, transfer and disposals.
Part two, which has not been published
yet, will define a product identification that aims to simplify the
software inventory process.
Investors in Software, a group that
exists to advance professionalism in SAM, said the Standard will
help organisations that follow it.
"Good practice in SAM brings
significant benefits in the areas of risk management, cost control,
and competitive advantage," said Chairman Shaun Fröhlich. "We
welcome the ISO Standard as a very significant development for the
software industry that brings huge benefits for software users,
vendors and resellers. It enables organisations, for the first
time, to benchmark their SAM processes against internationally
approved guidelines."
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