Continuous support through SAM Managed Service Support

TIMETOACT creates transparency and compliance in licensing and license requirements at FUNKE

Note: This reference dates from before the merger and was created by TIMETOACT – now part of ATVANTAGE. Our experience remains the same – only our name has changed. You can find more information about the merger here.

Professional license management is required to ensure software compliance. TIMETOACT supports and supervises FUNKE Mediengruppe within the scope of a SAM Managed Service for Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle and IBM (incl. ILMT). Monthly license reporting with Power BI and internal audit checks now enable full transparency, continuous compliance and avoidance of unnecessary costs.

Initial Situation:

Diverse and extensive licensing models, low internal resources
No point of contact for licensing issues
Poor reporting options, risk of negative audits

Solution:

Managed Service Support by TIMETOACT for optimal license management, transparency and compliance

Added value:

Permanent overview of license and user inventory, semi-annual recommendations for action by experts
Simple and intuitive overview of the history of all license and user data to plan license management based on data
Cost optimization by avoiding unnecessary license purchases and early detection of unused license expenses

We decided in favor of TIMETOACT because the experts convinced us with their expertise and suitable services. We are very happy with this decision, because everything is running as we hoped.

Sven Degenhardt Head of IT Governance & Services FUNKE

Professional license management with the help of TIMETOACT Experts

Extensive license models, different terms of use and a multitude of license agreements make it difficult to keep track of software and licenses in use. Since the media group's internal resources were not sufficient to optimally support license management, FUNKE decided to call on the support of TIMETOACT. Among other things, this was to reduce the risk of negative audits. After an open and independent tender, the choice fell on TIMETOACT, which convinced with the best price-performance ratio.

The core requirement for SAM Managed Service Support was to use appropriate tools to continuously monitor the licenses and obtain more transparency about their use. This should avoid unnecessary costs and ensure compliance at all times. In addition, the media group needed better reporting options and a point of contact for licensing issues.

Continuous SAM Managed Service for Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle and IBM (including ILMT)

After a short onboarding phase of four weeks, regular operation of the SAM Managed Service started at the end of 2022. This comprises two core elements

Insight into the Power BI dashboard (demo data)

Monthly dashboards on license status using Power BI:

Power BI is a tool from Microsoft for data visualization. It provides FUNKE with detailed reporting on license and user data, which highlights gaps in licensing in particular. The great advantage is that Power BI can be used to record historical data in order to observe the development of licenses over time. This gives FUNKE a precise overview of its license requirements, which provides an optimal basis for subsequent license negotiations.

Effective License Position (ELP) twice a year

With the semi-annual ELP, FUNKE receives a comparative report between the license inventory (purchased licenses) and the user inventory (used licenses). The SAM experts summarize this license inventory and provide recommendations for action on how to optimize licenses and resolve incompliance.

Insight into the presentation of license usage in Power BI (demo data)

The media group receives these reports for the manufacturers defined in the scope: Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle and IBM. In addition to this regular operation, the SAM experts also take care of operational SAM by being available to FUNKE as contact persons for questions and problems. The SAM helpdesk communicates primarily via tickets, but exchanges can also take place in person.

We regularly receive an overview of our license balances and are thus much more flexible in our license design. Everything works great - and even outside the line, questions are always answered on time and in full.

Katharina Müller IT License Managerin FUNKE

Operation of the IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT)

One of the vendors defined in the scope is IBM. In order to provide the best possible continuous support for IBM licenses, the TIMETOACT experts put the IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) into operation at FUNKE. FUNKE receives a monthly license status report and quarterly compliance snapshots.

With the monthly reports, FUNKE has full transparency about the licenses used and user numbers, as desired. This ensures that the media group only buys the licenses that are actually needed. License compliance is ensured at all times with the semi-annual internal audit procedures or ELP, which avoids potential costs in the event of audits. FUNKE Mediengruppe also benefits from the SAM helpdesk, which always has experts on hand to answer questions about SAM.

The consulting provided by TIMETOACT is good all around and we exchange ideas regularly - also on extra topics. We are very satisfied.

Sven Degenhardt Head of IT Governance & Services FUNKE

It is great to exchange ideas with our friendly and always reliable partners at FUNKE. We work together in a collegial manner and are in regular contact

Simon Pletschacher Team Lead Licensemanagement Consulting TIMETOACT

FUNKE is one of the leading employers in the media industry. From online portals to newspapers and magazines to radio and podcasts - the diversity of its titles, brands and genres is unique in the German media landscape. FUNKE employs around 700 journalists and 3,800 media professionals.

Feel free to contact me!

Simon Pletschacher

Team Lead SAM, ITAM & FinOps TIMETOACT Software & Consulting GmbH

Contact

Referenz 6/1/23

Managed service support for central platform stability

To ensure the quality, availability and performance of the platform at all times, TIMETOACT supports N-ERGIE as a managed service partner.

Referenz 11/3/21

Mix of IASP & ILMT support for optimal license management

UTA resorts to proactive management of the license inventory (IASP) by TIMETOACT. In this way, TIMETOACT will ensure compliance-compliant use of the ILMT as part of license management.

Referenz 10/4/21

Support for IBM software licenses and ILMT for GLS

TIMETOACT takes over the support of the ILMT for GLS IT Service GmbH, assists with the compliance of license requirements and advises on questions regarding licensing and license acquisition.

Referenz

HOCHBAHN Managed Services

The IT specialists of TIMETOACT GROUP take over the managed services for the entire IBM WebSphere platform of Hamburger Hochbahn AG.

Referenz 10/29/21

Standardized data management creates basis for reporting

TIMETOACT implements a higher-level data model in a data warehouse for TRUMPF Photonic Components and provides the necessary data integration connection with Talend.

Referenz 6/1/21

Continuous license support pays off

TIMETOACT supports the city of Herne in the correct use of the License Metric Tool in order to be optimally prepared for license audits.

Referenz

Central Capacity Management for Sunrise

Know what's coming: TIMETOACT simplifies and centralizes Sunrise's network capacity management.

Service

Managed Services & Managed Support

Our Managed Service Team of specialists will relieve your IT department. We ensure that you can work more efficiently, reliably and quickly

Referenz 10/25/22

Interactive online portal identifies suitable employees

TIMETOACT digitizes several test procedures for KI.TEST to determine professional intelligence and personality.

Branche

Digital transformation in public administration

The digital transformation will massively change the world of work, especially in public administration. We support federal, state and local authorities in the strategic and technical implementation of their administrative modernisation projects.

Referenz 8/4/25

Flexibility in the data evaluation of a theme park

With the support of TIMETOACT, an theme park in Germany has been using TM1 for many years in different areas of the company to carry out reporting, analysis and planning processes easily and flexibly.

Referenz 3/28/22

24/7 support guarantees stable operation of the intranet

The experts took over the operation of HCL Connections in the fall of 2020 and have since ensured the fail-safe stability of the platform.

Referenz 1/27/22

Talend migration in record time

TIMETOACT migrated the Talend Data Integration Suite, including all workflows and processes within a very short period of time and will provide support as a support partner.

Schild als Symbol für innere und äußere Sicherheit

Branche

Internal and external security

Defense forces and police must protect citizens and the state from ever new threats. Modern IT & software solutions support them in this task.

Referenz 5/11/23

N-ERGIE bypasses costly IBM audits with IASP program

The management of IBM licenses poses challenges for companies. By participating in the IASP program, N-ERGIE Aktiengesellschaft avoids time-consuming IBM license audits.

Referenz 3/30/22

License and software consulting from a single source

TIMETOACT has been supporting the sports retailer for more than two years - for the support of the ILMT and for consulting on IBM Cognos, which was part of the IBM audit, among other things.