Creating a Well-Stocked, Well-Managed Enterprise App Store

Transcription

1 WHITE PAPER Creating a Well-Stocked, Well-Managed Enterprise App Store Unifying Software Request, Application Packaging, Deployment and License Management Processes

2 Creating a Well-Stocked, Well-Managed Enterprise App Store Unifying Software Request, Application Packaging, Deployment and License Management Processes Executive Summary Today, organizations in just about all industries rely on business applications for many if not all of their business processes. As a result, information technology (IT) is under intense pressure to deliver new applications, keep existing applications up to date and make applications easily accessible to end users. At the same time, IT continues to application management processes. To meet the challenge, IT has to effectively manage application usage through the entire application lifecycle. This means addressing three major issues: keeping applications in a state of readiness for deployment into a variety of environments; making applications easily and immediately available to users; and effectively managing software licenses to ensure continuing license compliance while optimizing usage and minimizing spend. Flexera Software offers three industry-leading products that enable enterprises to address these issues. AdminStudio Suite helps IT maintain application readiness. App Portal provides an enterprise app store that empowers users with convenient self-service access to applications. FlexNet Manager Suite helps IT and the business optimize software licenses. Now, Flexera Software has integrated these three products to enable a comprehensive approach to managing applications throughout their lifecycle Application Usage and centralized approach to optimizing application usage and maximizing software value across the entire application lifecycle. It employs processes and technology to manage software assets and ensure continuous license compliance for on-premise, virtual and cloud-based applications. This strategic approach helps enterprises gain optimum value from their applications, and drive down costs through license optimization and increased IT staff productivity. An important component of an effective Application Usage Management strategy is the implementation of an enterprise app store that gives employees a consumer-like, self-service experience in gaining fast, reliable access to the applications they need to do their jobs. An enterprise app store boosts employee productivity by enabling users to serve themselves. It also helps drive down IT costs by taking a huge load off the IT staff by automating the process of employees requests for applications. enterprises are striving to implement enterprise app stores. Gartner lists enterprise app stores as one of the top 10 strategic technology trends for If your organization is among the many that are launching app store initiatives, this paper offers guidance and presents factors that you need to consider to help ensure the success of your project. It also describes how the Flexera Software Application Usage Management approach can for managing applications. Employees can have a rich selection of approved applications from which to choose and management can rest assured that the right controls are in place to minimize risk and optimize software spend. 1 The Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2013, David W. Cearley, Carl Claunch, Gartner, 12 February

3 An Important Strategic Move If your organization is like most, you have a lot of money invested in your application portfolio. But are you getting the maximum return on this investment? You re probably not processes. These processes are usually quite cumbersome request forms which may have to be routed to managers for their approval. Service desk agents and administrators then manually, so they are slow, inconsistent and error prone. Users may wait days or weeks to get critical applications that would make them more productive and help drive enterprise success. Moreover, processing a constant barrage of one-off application requests consumes valuable IT staff time. What s worse, checking for license availability is not always done, and that exposes the organization to the risk of over-buying licenses. Conversely, when software request users sometimes install software themselves, circumventing the IT process. In this case, the organization is at risk of noncompliance with license agreements. This can lead to unbudgeted true-up expenses as a result of a software audit. Compare this to how people obtain applications in their personal lives. They have convenient and immediate access to hundreds of thousands of apps through online app stores such as the Apple App Store and Google Play. They simply select the apps they need from a catalog and take delivery immediately to their computers, smartphones or other devices. Not surprisingly, employees are demanding this same level of convenience and immediacy in accessing business applications in the workplace, a trend known as the consumerization of IT. If organizations try to buck this trend, they may lose control of their application portfolios as employees bypass IT and purchase and/or install the applications they need on their own. This circumventing of IT can expose organizations to serious risk that includes overspending on some software, noncompliance for other software, and loss or theft of corporate data due the introduction of malware into corporate systems. Enterprises can respond to user demands and eliminate the motivation for going around IT by creating an enterprise app store that delivers a consumer-style shopping experience. Users get full visibility into and fast delivery of all the business applications available to them, so they are no longer put off by onerous request procedures and long delivery times. At the same time, IT remains in control of software assets and enjoys the cost savings that result from user self-service. Factors to Consider The enterprise app store presents IT with an opportunity to provide substantial business value. With some upfront planning, you can ensure that you realize maximum return on your investment in your app store initiative. In planning, from their counterparts in the consumer marketplace. Here are some of the important factors that should be addressed in planning, selecting and installing an enterprise app store: High Licensing Costs Unlike the majority of consumer apps, enterprise business applications can cost hundreds, even thousands of dollars per user. Consequently, IT cannot allow users to indiscriminately download applications. Some app requests may require manager approval and IT may need to track costs to individuals or business units for purposes of chargeback or showback. To maintain control of your application portfolio, your enterprise app store has to employ effective checks and balances. In establishing control and tracking processes, however, be sure you don t put off users with overly complex requesting procedures or long delays in IT Environment Diversity Consumer app stores typically deal with only a single operating system such as IOS or Android. The business environment, however, is much more diverse and may encompass Windows, UNIX and Linux platforms, virtualized infrastructures, private and public clouds, software as a service (SaaS) and more. Consequently, enterprise app stores have to be far more sophisticated so they can deal with the diversity and heterogeneity found in most enterprises. In addition, apps ordered from consumer app stores downloading and running them, such as iphones. If you apps from the app store listed on your phone. Enterprise users, on the other hand, need to download business apps to a variety of devices, ranging from servers and desktops to laptops and mobile devices. Your enterprise app store has to accommodate all these different device types. Additionally, it has to be sophisticated enough to determine the appropriate operating environment and device type for each application requested. That s the only way to ensure delivery of the right app, in the right way, for the right operating environment and for the right device, so the app works properly. 3

4 Complexity of Licensing Terms License complexity is an additional factor organizations have to contend with in implementing a successful enterprise app store. With an eye toward containing software costs, enterprises purchase licenses in bulk for large groups of users through volume purchase agreements. The terms of these licenses are complex and vary widely from one vendor to another. If you don t comply with license terms, noncompliance and you may face costly, unanticipated true-up costs at audit time. To avoid these unplanned and unnecessary expenses, you need to ensure that your IT and procurement staff have access to the details of license terms and product use rights for each application, and that the organization handles all application deployments in compliance with these terms and rights. Additionally, you need to maintain an audit trail to demonstrate compliance to software vendors when it comes time for an audit or true-up. Software License Optimization much as 35 percent in some cases. Consequently, you must actively engage in efforts to avoid overbuying of licenses and ensure that you fully utilize the licenses you have so you can keep costs in check and minimize risk. That means operating your app store in the broader context of software license optimization. That requires the ability to optimally balance license purchases with license usage rights and by reclaiming and reassigning licenses for applications that are installed but are no longer being used. Achieving this balance requires integrating the app of integration. As Gartner, Inc. notes, Where a new app store is required, integrate it with internal software asset management and IT procurement systems. 2 Selection of Deployment-ready Applications If you want to attract users to the enterprise app store, it s essential to provide them with a rich selection of applications ready for immediate deployment. According to Gartner, the application selection is as important as the store mechanism itself. 3 One way to ensure a wide selection of deployment-ready applications is to integrate the enterprise app store with an application readiness system that provides automated application compatibility testing and packaging for a wide range of deployment scenarios. This integration is especially useful when you want to move applications to new operating systems such as Windows 7 and Windows 8, or to new technologies such as desktop and application virtualization. The application readiness solution will enable you to minimize the time and effort required to repackage and manage the applications so they will operate reliably in the new environments. The Flexera Software Solution Flexera Software has been a recognized industry leader in Portal product. Now, Flexera Software has integrated App Portal with two of its other best-of-breed products FlexNet Manager Platform (the foundation of FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises) and AdminStudio. This integration packaging, deployment, and license management processes to enable a holistic and centralized approach to managing applications throughout their entire lifecycles, an approach called Application Usage Management. that encompass the multiple functional areas of application readiness, application access and software license optimization, regardless of organizational structure or existing processes. Automation frees the IT staff from manual and repetitive tasks, increasing IT staff productivity and eliminating a major source of delay in getting applications to users. consistency in the publishing of new applications to the Employees will get the Apple itunes like experience they want when requesting business applications. IT can keep store shelves stocked with apps that are ready for immediate and reliable delivery to the users operating environments and devices of choice. At the same time, IT cost effectively. The three products provide a strong foundation on which to build a comprehensive Application Usage Management approach. Each product independently delivers leadingedge functionality. App Portal Flexera Software App Portal is a self-service app store that permits employees to request the applications, services, devices, and other items they may need from an easy-tounderstand catalog using a Web browser. The catalog displays only the items each user is authorized to use, they want. The consumer-like shopping experience presents catalog items in local languages and local currencies, and apps are organized by category to simplify navigation. 2 Enterprise App Stores Reduce Risk and Improve Business results, Ian Finley, Gartner,1 February ibid 4

5 users don t have to wait weeks to get the items they need to do their jobs. App Portal gathers approvals when which requests require approval, who can approve requests and what approval routing structure to use. You can base conditional approval routing on a variety of factors, including cost, license availability, security groups and organizational unit. App Portal maintains a detailed audit trail of all pertinent activities and keeps the user informed of the request status. App Portal tightly integrates with Microsoft System Center deployment capability of SCCM for reliable delivery of software to users. It taps into the wealth of data maintained evaluate user identity, application dependencies, device type and network connection, enabling delivery of each application in the most appropriate way. You can also connect App Portal to other enterprise systems to implement a higher level of processes. By integrating with IT service management systems such as BMC Remedy, ServiceNow or Microsoft Service Manager, you can incorporate the app store into your service management processes to ensure that software delivery complies with corporate policies and external regulations. With App Portal, users get the consumer-style experience they want and IT retains complete control of request, approval and deployment. FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises is a next-generation hardware and software asset management, contract management and Software License Optimization solution. It maintains the asset data that provides insight not only into license availability, but also into software usage and usage trends, allowing organizations to optimize licensing and better forecast future software needs. This advanced suite automates purchased versus installed license reconciliation, applies license entitlements to optimize license consumption and reduces software audit risk by maintaining continuous license compliance. FlexNet Manager Suite products are used by hundreds of organizations worldwide to gain control of software licensing, reduce risk and optimize software spend across the enterprise. AdminStudio Suite AdminStudio Suite offers extensive support for application readiness. The suite includes a complete set of automated MSI packaging, customization, testing and management reporting capabilities to facilitate packaging operations. It automates application compatibility testing and remediation to accelerate migration to Windows 7 and 8 as well as to Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server Additionally, it tests and reports on Web application compatibility with Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10. The suite also provides a complete set of virtualization compatibility testing, automated conversion, validation, editing and management reporting capabilities that help accelerate the preparation of both desktop and server applications for reliable deployment and use in physical and virtual platforms. Application packagers can quickly prepare applications for deployment in the leading virtual formats, including Microsoft App-V, VMware ThinApp and Citrix XenApp. The suite automates the conversion of MSIs and legacy installers to these formats, ensuring a consistent approach that is up to nine times faster than using native or sequencing tools and reducing the cost and duration of migration projects. AdminStudio Suite hands off application packages to today s leading enterprise deployment systems for fast and reliable deployment. The Power of Integration The integration of App Portal, FlexNet Manager Platform and AdminStudio enables these three foundational products enhanced functionality. FlexNet Manager Platform delivers two key data libraries: Application Recognition Library. Contains comprehensive, detailed publisher/application/ version/edition data on more than 110,000 applications from 14,000 vendors. Flexera Software updates the library every month to ensure its accuracy. SKU Library. Provides information for normalizing and rationalizing purchase orders, helps automate purchase order processing, and allows automated reconciliation between license entitlements and software installations. FlexNet Manager Platform also imports a wide variety of external data that includes hardware and software inventory and usage data, purchase order and contract data, and HR and Active Directory data (for user, computer and organizational information). 5

6 Based on its comprehensive aggregation of data, FlexNet Manager Platform calculates optimized license positions license entitlements, purchased quantities, installations, usage and contract terms and conditions. It maintains the license positions in an asset management repository along with application usage data and other relevant information for application and license records. In addition, AdminStudio maintains application metadata that augments the information in FlexNet Manager Platform. This metadata includes both product information such as product name, company name, version, product description and application icon, and deployment server name. The ability of the three products to operate in concert and share data brings a whole new level of intelligent the lifecycle of enterprise applications. Here are some of the new capabilities enabled by the integration. Automated Creation of App Store Catalog Items When your packaging staff packages an application in AdminStudio and hands it off to a system management Manager, AdminStudio can automatically trigger the publication of a corresponding catalog item in App Portal. you can instruct App Portal to add to the store catalog all applications currently published in AdminStudio. As a result, all published applications are quickly made available for request by employees through the app store catalog, eliminating the delays that are caused when the IT staff must manually create app store catalog entries. Automated License Management When a user requests an application from App Portal, the product immediately accesses asset data for that application from FlexNet Manager Platform. The data includes the licensing position of the requested application (the number of licenses owned, how many copies of the software are installed and how many licenses are currently available). If the license position information indicates that a license is available for the requested applications, App Portal instructs FlexNet Manager Platform to reserve a license for the user. This immediate check for license availability and subsequent license reservation ensures continuing license compliance, eliminating the risk of unplanned and expensive audit true-ups. Automated License Reclamation Your enterprise can t afford to waste money on software licenses that sit idle because users no longer need the capabilities that software provides. App Portal s license reclamation functionality eliminates this wasteful spending by ferreting out licenses that are installed but have not been App Portal periodically executes a license reclamation process that queries FlexNet Manager Platform to determine if there are licenses that are installed but administrator, such as more than 90 days. When App Portal uncovers installed but unused licenses, it can initiate them the option of surrendering the unused application or keeping it. It can then trigger the system management solution to uninstall surrendered applications. If a user Portal can trigger an automatic uninstall. Alternatively, it can unconditionally trigger the reclamation of unused Software leasing is another way that the ability of the integrated products to reclaim and reassign software licenses can help ensure that license usage is optimized. period of time, after which the license is reclaimed and made available for other users. Leasing is especially useful in project-based environments in which application needs change as employees move from one project to another. The continual reclamation and reassignment of unused, underused and leased licenses drives up license utilization, thereby optimizing license spend. Putting It All Together You can combine the new automation capabilities provided by the integration to automate higher-level, end-to-end areas involved in application publishing, and application 6

7 3 Requests App from App Store 1 Import app into packaging solution 2a Create app listing in app store App Store 4 Check for license availability Reserve license App Packaging 5 Routed for Approval Approval Granted End User 2b Push app to deployment system Deployment System 6 App is deployed to user device 1. An application packager imports an application into AdminStudio. 2. AdminStudio automatically accesses the imported application s unique identity (Flexera ID) from FlexNet Manager Platform. The Flexera ID links the imported application with its associated data in the Application Recognition Library. 3a. The packager creates the deployment package and publishes the application to the system management solution. 3b. AdminStudio triggers the addition of the application to the App Portal catalog and delivers the application s associated metadata to App Portal. 4. When a user requests an application, App Portal automatically references the asset data in FlexNet Manager Platform to see if a license is available for that application. If so, it requests FlexNet Manager Platform to reserve a license. (If a license is not available, the automated request to the purchasing department to procure additional licenses for the application.) 5. App Portal then determines whether approval is necessary for that application. If so, it routes the request to the appropriate approvers according to 6. When all necessary approvals have been gathered, App Portal triggers SCCM to deploy the application to the requesting user s device. This high level of automation frees the IT staff from manual and repetitive tasks, increasing staff productivity and eliminating a major source of delay in getting applications to users. What s more, automation enforces the use of best-practice processes, minimizing the risk such as noncompliance with license contract terms. 7

8 Fast Time to Value Integrating the three foundation products App Portal, AdminStudio and FlexNet Manager Platform is straightforward and requires no programming. So you ll be up and running and delivering value quickly. As Figure 2 illustrates, the products integrate through the Flexera Software Service Gateway, a fast, lightweight Enterprise Service Bus implementation that runs on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 or later. The Gateway supports message routing, inter-mediation, transformation, logging, load balancing, failover routing and task scheduling. If you choose, you can begin by implementing the product or products that address your most pressing problems Application Usage Management maturity. You ll add value every step of the way. If you already have one or more of the products installed, it s easy to add the others. Communication among the products is based on the Manager Platform. The Flexera ID links application deployment and licensing information across App Portal, FlexNet Management Platform and AdminStudio. Flexera Service Gateway Flexera ID Stored in the Application Recognition Library (ARL) App 01 MSG-APP App 01 App 02 MSG-APP App 02 App 03 MSG-APP App 03 8

9 The Flexera ID brings together, in a meaningful, way two different environments the application installation environment and the application purchasing environment. This intersection gives you broad and deep insight into the entire application lifecycle, from purchase to retirement. Conclusion Flexera Software has led the way in the enterprise app store market with App Portal. Continuing in this leadership role, the company has integrated App Portal with the license optimization capabilities of FlexNet Manager Platform and the application readiness capabilities of AdminStudio. The result is faster availability of applications in the app store, faster delivery of applications to users and optimized software spend. About Flexera Software Flexera Software is the leading provider of strategic solutions for Application Usage Management; solutions delivering continuous license compliance, optimized usage and maximized value to application producers and enterprises. Flexera Software is trusted by more than 80,000 customers that depend on our comprehensive solutions - from installation and licensing, entitlement and compliance management to application readiness and software license optimization - to strategically manage application usage and achieve breakthrough results realized only through the systems-level approach we provide. For more information, please go to: This combination of three best-of-breed products brings new automation and data sharing capabilities to enable a broader Application Usage Management approach. With this approach you can implement and automate processes that transcend the multiple functional areas of application readiness, application access and software license optimization. This strategic approach helps you gain optimum value from your applications, ensure continual license compliance, drive down software spend through license optimization and reduce operational costs through increased IT staff productivity. 9

10 Suite 400 Schaumburg, IL USA Schaumburg (Global Headquarters): United Kingdom (Europe, Middle East Headquarters): Australia (Asia, Copyright 2013 Flexera Software LLC. All other brand and product names mentioned herein may be the trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. AP_WP_Integration_Apr13