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The Add a Purchase wizard is opened when you right-click in the Purchases window and select New Purchase..., when you select New Purchase... from the Tasks menu, or when you drag a Product into the Purchases window (not ON a purchase). The Wizard is designed to aid in the creation of a purchase record that correctly documents a purchased entitlement. You can also add a Purchase to an existing PO, where normally using the wizard prevents putting in a duplicate PO for a Purchase. To do this, open an existing Purchase Detail, expand the left hand pane, and right click in the Purchases pane to create a new purchase linked to the original PO.
The various screens in the Wizard are arranged to guide data entry in a logical progression. But if instead, you want to enter the information directly in the Purchase Details Window, you can click the wizard's "Finish" button at any point - then the Purchase Details window will open showing the data entered so far. You can complete data entry and correct any errors before saving the record. Depending on how you start the wizard, some information will be automatically populated, as in adding a purchase to a PO, or dragging in a Product.
Software Purchase Records
In order to support compliance and reconciliation reports for software licensing, the data fields representing entitlement rights must be complete and accurate. To support Liability, Overspend, and other financial widgets hosted by Key Reporter, purchase cost data must also be complete and accurately recorded.
Typically, much of the raw data needed by the TDX ITAM Server Platform for entitlement tracking is already available elsewhere in a dedicated procurement system. Often this data can be imported directly (as explained here) rather than being re-entered in the Purchase Wizard or Purchase Details window. But in any case, reading through this documentation may help in pointing out what data is important and how it is used. Often, the entitlement rights and dependencies for software purchases may not be adequately represented in procurement systems so it will always be prudent to double check the essential information:
- Licensed Product - major product versions must be distinguished. Suites must not be confused with point products or bundles
- Licensed Rights - device based license metric must be distinguished from site, concurrent use, lease, user, etc.
- Special Conditions - who/where/when/ along with virtualization rights etc. must be recorded and honored
- License Term - perpetual vs. subscription rights for both software and support must be carefully documented
- Dependencies - upgrades, cross grades, etc. are dependent on the prior version entitlements that they replace
- Entitlement Count - usually obvious, but in some cases such as 'site license' there may be hidden entitlement limit
- Cost per Entitlement - again obvious, except possibly for the 'site license' case
A complete historical record of software purchases, upgrades, subscriptions, etc. will provide the basis for your TDX ITAM Server to compute the "current entitlement position" for each product – but it may be impractical and unnecessary to enter or import the entire historical record. If you already know how the maze of historical purchases for a product sums up to a bottom line, the wizard will let you create a "synthetic" record that asserts this number. The synthetic record serves as a baseline for calculating "current license position" when going forward with new purchases. In the synthetic case, you can invent your own PO# – or leave the field blank and let the final screen of the wizard make up a value.
Example
The simpler purchase types (e.g. Tech Support, Media Only, and Other) are self explanatory so this example will focus on recording a license entitlement for FileMaker Pro 11. Each screen shown below is dependent on the choice made in the previous screen, so when you enter a specific purchase, you may see a different sequence. Below we illustrate screens for an upgrade purchase as well as a subscription purchase.
Basic Information
Product Selection
Entries from the prior screen are shown in the gray area at the top. In this screen, choose the Product (including major version identifier). Compliance, entitlement, liability, overspend, and other reports all depend on referencing the correct Product record from among those listed in your Products Window.
License Metric
A software purchase is an entitlement to use the software subject to various Rights and Conditions. This screen lets you choose among several "Metrics" that broadly define these rights. Note: sometimes there may also be further conditions – e.g. a concurrent license may be restricted to a certain subset such as 'student lab computers'. Any such "Special Conditions" that modify the basic metric chosen here must be documented at the end of the wizard in the Purchase Details window.
Dependency
The purchase of entitlements for a specific product version may depend on owning entitlements for a prior version or entitlements for some other product.
Dependency Type
For a purchase marked "Dependent" in the previous screen, you must choose from the four common cases listed.
Upgrade from Prior Product(s)
As an example, suppose FileMaker Pro 14 Win is being purchased as an upgrade to an existing entitlement. In this screen, the eligible prior product version(s) must be specified. Note: there is no requirement that entitlements for the prior version(s) were procured in a single purchase but there must be a sufficient number (in this example, at least 150) to support the upgrade entitlements. Without a sufficient number, some of the newly purchased upgrades would be unsupported and therefore not yield a valid entitlement.
Purchase Term
In this screen, the top gray area shows an example purchase of "FileMaker Pro 14, License Metric: Node, Original purchase", and at the bottom, the Subscription choice displays fields for entering dates.
Finish
This final page in the wizard gives you an opportunity to review the details of your purchase before going to the Purchase Details Window. Data entries can be corrected on this screen and the Back button will let you review previous screens and perhaps pick a different path through the wizard. The Finish button will exit the wizard and show all the fields of the resulting purchase record.
Purchase Details Window
Clicking Finish from any wizard screen will bring up the purchase record ready to be saved. Additional information can be entered or values changed. Other panes in the Purchase Details Window (not revealed in the example screen shot below) will let you record install codes, embed (or reference) original purchase documents, record special notes, and examine dependencies (if any). Note: using the wizard to step your way through creation of a purchase record is purely a convenience. The same result can be achieved by immediately jumping out of the wizard using the Finish button and then entering all field values into the Purchase Details window, or by importing a csv file that represents purchase data.
