Software suites inference

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of Software Suites Inference

    Suite inference is a process that determines whether software is part of a suite and identifies the most efficient suite for licensing. It consists of two main stages: building the suite structure and inferring the best suite based on installation or subscription records.

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    Key Features

    • Suite Structure Building: The suite structure is established using entitlements, software models, and suite relationships.
    • Inference Process: The inferred suite column in installation and subscription records is updated with a reference to the optimal suite parent.
    • Role-Specific Access: Users with the modelmanager role can view software models but have limited administrative capabilities.
    • System Property Settings: Default settings for Microsoft license metrics allow both suite component and suite parent licenses to be utilized.
    • Inference Percent & Mandatory Fields: Specify the required percentage of components installed and enforce component installation requirements to infer suite installation.

    Key Outcomes

    Implementing suite inference allows customers to optimize licensing compliance by determining the best licensing options based on installed software components. The suite engine prioritizes subscription models, ensuring that the most advantageous licensing strategy is applied, particularly in environments with Microsoft licenses. By setting inference percentages and mandatory requirements, customers can ensure that they are compliant and leveraging their software assets effectively.

    Suite inference is used to determine whether the software is part of a suite and to infer the best or efficient suite to use when licensing.

    Suite inference flow

    The process of suite inference is divided into two stages:
    • Building the suite structure.
    • Inferring the best suite for the software installation or subscription records.

    After the suite structure is built based on the entitlements, software models, and suite relationships, the installs and subscription records are processed.

    After the suite engine runs, the Inferred suite column of all install and subscription records that are part of a suite is stamped with a reference to the software model of the most optimal suite parent. For more information about the rules ranking, see the Suite inference rules. Entitlements for this software model license each stamped record.

    The suite engine prioritizes subscription suite models and inferences on software subscription records. Next, on-premises suite models and software installation records are inferred.

    When a suite parent licensing is used, the individual child components licensing isn't used.
    Note:
    Users with the model_manager role can navigate to Product Catalog > Product Model > Software Models, but can’t administer all aspects of software models.

    The system property Use component licenses to optimize compliance when suite licenses run out is set by default to false for Microsoft license metrics, which enables you to use both suite component and suite parent licenses. This property only applies to Microsoft license metrics.

    Use the Inference percent and Mandatory fields when the suite parent isn’t defined in the install table.
    • Inference percent: Specifies what percentage of the components must be installed for the suite. If the system property Use component licenses to optimize compliance when suite licenses run out is set to true, Inference percent specifies a threshold to determine whether the suite or component licensing is optimal. For example, Microsoft Core Infrastructure Suites(CIS) has two components such as Windows Server and System Center with an inference percent of 50%. This inference percent suggests using the Microsoft CIS license when more than 50% of the individual components are installed. When less than 50% of the individual components are installed, using the component licenses is optimal.
    • Mandatory: Enforces whether a component must be installed to infer that the suite is installed. Choices are Optional, Always Mandatory, and Mandatory Group.
      Note:
      If two or more software components are part of a Mandatory Group, then at least one of them must be present so that all the software components are considered a suite, which assumes that the inference percent and other requirements are also fulfilled.

    Suite inference rules

    The rules of suite inference ranking are as follows:
    1. If one of the software installations belongs to the suite software model, the suite is inferred directly without the need to meet the Inference percentage.
    2. If the first rule isn’t met, then any suite that meets the Inference percentage on that device can be considered an Inferred suite candidate.
    3. The candidate with the highest number of installed components is chosen.
    4. If there’s still a tie, the suite with the lower downgrade is chosen. For example, Office 2016 and Office 2013 are both candidates and have the same number of installed components. However, since Office 2013 is the downgrade of Office 2016, Office 2013 is chosen.
    5. If there’s still a tie, the one with the highest percentage of installed components is chosen.

    Suite inference rules for Microsoft license metrics

    Based on the system property Use component licenses to optimize compliance when suite licenses run out, the Software Asset Management application uses suite or component licenses. For example, if you have both Core Infrastructure Server (CIS) suites and Windows Server installations, both have their individual licenses. If Windows Server installations are discovered, then the Software Asset Management application will first license using the available Windows Server licenses. Following the utilization of all the Windows Server licenses, the CIS licenses will be used.

    When the system property Use component licenses to optimize compliance when suite licenses run out is set to true, the rules ranking for Microsoft license metrics are as follows:
    1. If there are multiple suites that can be inferred for the component, then the suite which meets the inference percent is preferred.
    2. The suite candidate with the highest number of installed components is preferred.
    3. If there’s still a tie, the suite with the lower downgrade rights is chosen. For example, CIS 2019 and CIS 2016 are both candidates and have the same number of installed components. However, since CIS 2016 is the downgrade of CIS 2019 and it will have less downgrade rights, CIS 2016 is chosen.
    4. The parent suite that meets the inference percent is preferred over the child suites. If the parent suite doesn't meet the inference percent, the child suite is preferred.
    5. If there’s still a tie, the one with the highest percentage of installed components is preferred.

    Use case for suite inference

    As an example, let's say you specify the Inference percent as 75% and set the Mandatory field to Always Mandatory on Microsoft Access. These settings specify that Microsoft Access must be installed, along with three out of four other products (Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Outlook), to infer that Microsoft Office Professional is installed on a device.