Ending the Novell Site License

The site license is an agreement to legally use software for a discounted annual fee. It is not a purchase, but a rental of the right to use Novell products.

The site license begins with an audit that produces a baseline inventory of product currently in use. The beginning inventory is provided by each department at the time they register their LAN environment with CNS. When the ALA is discontinued another audit occurs producing an ending inventory.

The difference between the beginning and ending inventories is referred to as growth items. Growth items represent licenses that were leased from Novell and need to be accounted for when the ALA is discontinued. Licenses in force at the time of the baseline inventory remain the property of the department at the current revision level at the time the site license is discontinued.

Each year of the site license, 30% of the ALA fee is accrued in an account by Novell. The accrued of funds can be only applied to the purchase of these growth item licenses at the discontinuation of the ALA.

Departmental audits will be used to determine annual contributions by departments. Accrued funds will be distributed to departments based on the percentage their contribution represents (over time) towards the ALA. Unused portions of the accrued funds will be returned to central administration for dispersal as they are not usable in any other fashion.

Each departmental will be fiscally responsible for licenses not covered under the baseline inventory or by accrued funds at the time of the ending inventory. These licenses must be purchased or the department must cease using the licenses. All products covered by the site license are to be inventoried and have licensing resolved. Some products have less of a fiscal impact depending on how they are deployed. LAN Technologies is available for consulting with departments seeking guidance.

At the end of the site license each department will return to server based licensing. Node based licensing is available for departments preferring that method. Maintenance on existing licenses can then be resumed under the normal Master License Agreement with the State of Kansas.

Novell requires notification 90 days prior to the contract renewal that the university wishes to discontinue the site license. This notification must be received on or before April 1. The decision to discontinue the ALA will be annually reviewed by Computing and Network Services and university administration.