Entitlement Management Enhancements in 2024.03
The following enhancements to entitlement management were added in the 2024.03 release:
| • | New Configuration Option Allowing Entitlement Emails To Be Sent Only For Deployed Entitlements |
| • | Feature Count Aggregation Support |
New Configuration Option Allowing Entitlement Emails To Be Sent Only For Deployed Entitlements
A new configuration option Send entitlement email only for deployed entitlements (under System > Configure > FlexNet Operations > General Options) has been introduced which enables producers to specify that entitlement emails are only sent if the entitlement and its line item(s) are in a Deployed state. If a deployed entitlement has line items in any other state (Inactive, Draft, Obsolete, or Test), only the deployed line items are included in the entitlement email.
By default, the new configuration option is disabled, preserving the existing functionality.
Feature Count Aggregation Support
This release introduces an enhancement which enables producers to aggregate feature counts to support various business models.
The aggregation types SUM and MAX are supported:
| • | SUM—The sum of all feature counts captured over the aggregation interval. |
| • | MAX—The largest feature count captured over the aggregation interval. |
Use Case Example for Feature Count Aggregation
Assume that a producer offers the following product packages:
|
Product Package |
Features |
||||||
|
Premium |
|
||||||
|
Volume |
|
Customers can purchase the Premium package and later add a Volume package. The resulting feature counts differ depending on the selected aggregation type:
|
Feature |
Aggregation Type |
Feature Count |
|
FeatureA |
SUM |
201,000 |
|
MAX |
200,000 |
|
|
FeatureB |
SUM |
6,000 |
|
MAX |
5,000 |
Prerequisites for Feature Count Aggregation
The configuration option Enable feature count aggregation must be selected and features to be aggregated must have an aggregation type set.
FlexNet Operations aggregates feature counts only if the following conditions are met:
| • | All license model attributes are identical |
| • | All of the following entities have identical values: |
| • | Name |
| • | Version |
| • | Start Date Option |
| • | Start Date |
| • | Expiration Date |
| • | Add-On Expiration Date |
| • | Grace Period |
| • | Aggregation Type |
Activating Feature Count Aggregation
The feature aggregation functionality can be enabled and disabled using the new configuration option Enable feature count aggregation (under System > Configure > FlexNet Operations > Embedded Device Settings). By default, the configuration option is unselected.
If the functionality is enabled, producers define the feature aggregation type when they add a new feature on the Package Products | Create a Feature page (under Products > Feature > Add new Feature) by setting the Aggregation Type field. Available values are NONE, SUM, and MAX.
SOAP Support for Feature Count Aggregation
The ProductPackagingService web service, version 2, includes a new optional parameter AggregationType for the createFeatureRequest operation. Producers can use this parameter to specify a feature count aggregation type. Valid values are NONE, SUM, and MAX.
Important Note about Disabling Feature Count Aggregation
The configuration option Enable feature count aggregation merely shows or hides the Aggregation Type field. It does not enable or disable the feature count aggregation functionality itself.
Therefore, if you specified aggregation types for certain features but then decide not to use the feature count aggregation functionality, you must set the Aggregation Type field to NONE for each feature. If the Aggregation Type field remains set to SUM or MAX, FlexNet Operations will continue to aggregate feature counts, even if you disable the configuration option Enable feature count aggregation.
Feature Count Aggregation Vs. License Consolidation
Publishers are advised not to enable the configuration options Consolidate Licenses (under System > Configure > Embedded Devices > Host Options) and Enable feature count aggregation at the same time. Consolidate Licenses only applies to standalone devices and local license servers, whereas the feature count aggregation functionality is available for standalone devices, local license servers and Cloud License Server instances. Enabling Consolidate Licenses and Enable feature count aggregation may result in unexpected behavior.
Known Issue
A known issue exists in relation to this functionality. For details, see SWM-19052: Feature Count Aggregation Not Working As Expected.
Changed SOAP Web Services Files
For a list of files that have been changed for this functionality, see Change Log for 2024.03.