#1: Relax
The general terms of an Oracle licensing contract specify that, upon 45 days written notice, Oracle may audit your use of their programs. You agree to cooperate with Oracle's audit and provide reasonable assistance and access to information. Any such audit shall not unreasonably interfere with your normal business operations. So, you should take the time to prepare yourself for the audit.
#2: Find Your Oracle License and Services Agreement
The second step to take in an Oracle audit is to find your Oracle License and Services Agreement or your OLSAs. Your Oracle contract governs not only what licenses you have purchased but the terms of usage, including things like failover, testing, and named user minimums. It is critical to have this document; otherwise, you should assume that you have the least rights available under Oracle's most current agreement.
#3: Do an Internal Inventory
Verify your compliance by conducting an internal inventory first. If you have a Software Asset Management (SAM) system in place, you can validate your deployment of Oracle workloads. If not, consider getting one or using a third party, like LicenseFortress, to conduct an internal assessment to verify compliance.
#4: Don't Show Your Cards
Do not run Oracle's automated reporting and send it to Oracle without knowing exactly what the results mean because that will lock in your audit. This is crucial: if you are out of compliance, the reporting will show it, and it's incredibly hard to negotiate after that point. Even if you've already conducted an internal audit and believe your deployment is in compliance, it pays for you, or a third-party specialist, to carefully review your results before presenting anything to Oracle.
#5: Consider Professional Assistance
Lastly, the fifth step to take in an Oracle audit is to consider contacting an expert. There are many firms out there that can assist with an Oracle audit. LicenseFortress has become the industry's leading expert when it comes to licensing Oracle technology. As the first and only Oracle software license audit protection service with a guarantee, we are eliminating all of the risk surrounding Oracle audits. Even if you have already received an audit notice, LicenseFortress can still be put in place to protect you from audit liabilities.
