.. _intro-license-management: Introduction to License Management ------------------------------------ .. _24.2-PB2|VOSS-1493: .. _25.4|VOSS-1622: .. tip:: :ref:`use-action-search-to-navigate-automate` Overview ......... In Microsoft 365 environments, user licenses are typically available at the tenant level and shared across the entire organization. VOSS extends this model by enabling organizations to allocate and manage Microsoft 365 licenses across internal business units and departments, represented in VOSS as hierarchies. Through the License Management capabilities in VOSS, administrators can: * Distribute Microsoft 365 licenses from a global tenant pool to individual hierarchies * Monitor license availability, allocation, and consumption at each hierarchy * Enforce license availability rules and thresholds to prevent overallocation .. important:: The **License Management** module must be enabled in the *Global Settings* before license management features and functionality are exposed in the system. For example, the availability and display of license allocation widgets on the dashboards, such as **License Allocation - E5 License Consumption Trend - Weekly**, which requires the following macro to resolve to *True* in order to have the widget display on a dashboard: ``{{ macro.is_microsoft_license_enforcement_enabled }}``. License allocation at the hierarchy level is managed from the **License Management** dashboard. .. image:: /src/images/microsoft-license-management-dashboard.png In addition, administrators have access to multiple Microsoft license summary charts, tables, and counters that provide visibility into: * License allocation per hierarchy * Available and consumed licenses * Overall license usage trends .. rubric:: Related topics * :ref:`microsoft-license-allocation` * :ref:`microsoft-license-inventory` * :ref:`email-setup` * :ref:`global-settings` * :ref:`concepts-ms-licenses` * :ref:`automate-microsoft-license-management` * :ref:`automate-microsoft-license-management-analysis` * :ref:`insights-microsoft-user-&-license-usage-analysis` Automatic Teams user activity syncs .................................... When the License Management solution is enabled for a Microsoft tenant, VOSS automatically provisions the data ingestion required to support license optimization insights. Enabling License Management triggers the creation of the following resources per tenant: * **Data collection**: A **Microsoft Teams User Activity Data Collection** (``data/DataCollection``) is created to ingest Teams usage data from Microsoft Graph. The collection includes the following MS Graph device model types: * ``device/msgraph/UserActivityCount`` * ``device/msgraph/UserActivityUserCount`` * ``device/msgraph/UserActivityUserDetail`` * **Schedule**: A schedule (``data/Schedule``) is automatically created to run the Teams user activity data collection every 7 days (weekly). .. rubric:: How the syncs are provisioned The automatic setup occurs as follows: 1. Enable **License Management** solution in **Global Settings**. .. image:: /src/images/enable-license-management-solution.png 2. Enable **License Management** when configuring the Microsoft tenant. .. image:: /src/images/enable-license-management-in-ms-tenant.png 3. The system creates the **MS Graph Data Collection Defender** sync (*Microsoft Teams User Activity Data Collection*). 4. A weekly schedule is created and associated with the collection. No user action is required beyond enabling the License Management solution. .. rubric:: Dashboard insights and license optimization The weekly sync of Teams user activity data enables: * Trend analysis across Microsoft Graph reporting periods * Filtering of active and inactive users in dashboards * Identification of underutilized licenses for optimization and reclamation By ensuring consistent and up-to-date user activity data, License Management dashboards can provide actionable insights without requiring manual data sync configuration. License Enforcement and Threshold Management .............................................. VOSS extends license management by allowing administrators to define license enforcement rules and usage thresholds at the hierarchy level. Key capabilities include: * Enforcing license availability when assigning licenses to subscribers * Preventing license assignment if no licenses are available at the hierarchy * Configuring threshold availability percentages per hierarchy * Triggering scheduled email alerts when license usage thresholds are reached These alerts are sent to configured email groups, enabling administrators to take timely action before licenses are exhausted. .. rubric:: Related topics * :ref:`microsoft-license-allocation` * :ref:`microsoft-license-inventory` * :ref:`email-setup` * :ref:`microsoft-license-alerting` * :ref:`concepts-ms-licenses` Requirements and Initial Configuration ........................................... For license enforcement, threshold configuration, and alerting features to function correctly, the following prerequisites must be met: * Microsoft licenses must be available in the tenant. * License data must be synced from devices to the organization hierarchy level The **Microsoft License Inventory** link on the **Microsoft License Management** dashboard displays a list view of the global license pool, showing: * Active licenses * Consumed licenses * Available licenses (incl. percentage) per hierarchy * License data syncs must be configured. The License Management feature provides: * Microsoft License Data Syncs * Microsoft License Model Type Lists * Microsoft License Schedules These include default sync setups and schedules, which can be customized and applied at the hierarchy level to manage ongoing license synchronization. .. note:: An alerting schedule named ``MicrosoftLicenseAlert`` is available and can be further configured to control alert timing when license alerting is enabled. Quick Import is enabled by default for syncs related to ``data/MSGraph``. These syncs retrieve Microsoft license data directly from Microsoft Graph. * Configure the following **Global Settings** as needed: * **Enable Microsoft User License Enforcement**: * Default value: No / Inherit * When enabled, license allocation per hierarchy is enforced. * **Microsoft License Alerting**: * When enabled, alerts are sent when configured license usage thresholds are reached for a hierarchy. * This setting requires that **Enable Microsoft User License Enforcement** is enabled. .. note:: For setup instructions, see *Microsoft License Alerting Setup*. For related configuration details, see *Global Settings*. * Configure mappings: To ensure accurate license identification and cost tracking, administrators must configure the following mappings: * **Microsoft License Name Mappings**: For each Microsoft license, map the SKU part number to License ID, License name, and Cost per user per month. * **Microsoft Service Plan Name Mappings**: For each service plan, map the service plan ID to a corresponding service plan name. For additional details, see *Microsoft License Name Mapping*, and *Global Settings*. .. rubric:: Related topics * :ref:`global-settings` * :ref:`microsoft-license-alerting` * :ref:`microsoft-license-name-mapping` * :ref:`microsoft-service-plan-name-mappings` * .. raw:: latex Introduction to data sync in the User Guide .. raw:: html Introduction to data sync License Management Dashboards ............................... The License Management dashboards represent centralized license reporting within the License Management feature and support Microsoft Teams usage data, charts/visualizations showing user and license usage trends over time, cost calculation per SKU/user, and trending and historical analysis. .. note:: Dashboards appear only when the License Management module is enabled. The following License Management dashboards are available: * **License Management**: Provides a centralized view of Microsoft 365 license inventory, allocation, and usage within VOSS. It allows users to access license setup, allocation, alerting, mappings, and assignment functions, while visual charts and tables show license usage, availability, and user assignments across organizational hierarchies. * **License Analysis**: Provides focused insights into Microsoft 365 license consumption and allocation trends. It highlights licensed and unlicensed users, E5 license usage, weekly consumption and allocation trends, and identifies licenses nearing exhaustion through charts, counters, and tables that surface low-availability inventory across hierarchies. * **License Usage Analysis**: Provides visibility into Microsoft Teams user activity and license utilization. It shows user activity distribution, identifies active and inactive licensed users, and presents detailed per-user usage data, including meetings, calls, and messaging, to help assess whether assigned licenses are being effectively used. For example, to identify misaligned or underused licenses. The License Management dashboards include the following additional features: * Drill-down capabilities: On drill-down-enabled widgets, users can click in the widget to access more detailed views and related dashboards to inspect the underlying data. * Refresh capabilities: Refresh data on demand to ensure you're viewing the most up-to-date license information. * Filtering capabilities: Apply filters to charts and tables to focus on specific hierarchies, time periods, or license types for more targeted analysis. * Date range selection: Select specific date ranges to analyze license consumption and usage trends over time. .. rubric:: Related topics * :ref:`automate-microsoft-license-management` * :ref:`automate-microsoft-license-management-analysis` * :ref:`insights-microsoft-user-&-license-usage-analysis`