Remend will maximize and defend to acceptance the certification letter and supporting evidence required at the end of an Oracle Unlimited License Agreement (ULA).
Schedule Free ConsultationWhen managed properly an Oracle ULA can result in enough software to support your Oracle technology environment for many years to come without requiring additional software. Conversely, poor planning and tracking, or treating a ULA certification as an audit, leads many customers to extend or re-enroll rather than exit the ULA with maximized quantities.
Oracle pioneered the contractual model of pre-negotiated license and support fees in exchange for unlimited deployment rights with no true-up at the end. ULAs are pitched by Oracle as an opportunity to gain the highest possible discounts on large volumes of software. To capitalize on this opportunity requires planning, timing, and confidence to construct a defensible certification, including supporting evidence.
Claim as much Oracle software as defensibly possible.
Eliminate the audit risks associated with ULA certification.
Minimize if not eliminate requirements to license more software.
Plan to optimize ULA support costs following certification.
Remend can help you plan for certification as opposed to amending or extending. One issue associated with ULAs that Remend advises on is how to optimize the pre-negotiated support fees associated with a ULA. Unbundling these fees becomes difficult but is not impossible. Re-architecting and re-interpreting policy to the customer’s benefit creates opportunities to reduce cost. Maximizing the certification is the first step in any case.
Discover and summarize software installations included in the ULA.
Advise on opportunities to deploy more software as well as mitigate risks that may surface within the certification process.
Finalize certification letter and evidence, including an Oracle Server Worksheet (OSW).
Engage Oracle (directly or indirectly) to gain acceptance of the certification letter.
Oracle’s treatment of ULA certifications as an audit often leads to an extension, including additional fees, rather than a maximized agreement. Certifications are not audits, however. Any customer with a ULA should plan to deploy in a manner that eliminates the need for incremental purchases of the same software for years to come.