SAM Boot Camp - TWO SAM Credentials for the Price of One - March 2017

The Institute for Technology Asset Management will be holding a SAM Boot Camp during the week of March 20-24th, 2017 on the Virginia Beach, VA/USA campus of Infotech/ECPI University.  This program delivers both the SAM Core Competency AND the SAM Advanced Enterprise Infrastructure credentials in a single week-long live delivery - at ~50% off the standard price – certification exam included.

Use code 1016 when you register at TAMInstitute.org.

Institute / Infotech SAM Boot Camp Coverage:

SAM Core Competencies:

• Extended Copyright Compliance Q&A
• Core License Compliance Issues
• Stepping Through a Punitive Audit
• Detailing & Mitigating the Right to Audit Clause
• Foundation Audit-Related License Clauses
• Compliance Assurance Tools – Discovery and Uninstall
• Developing the Proactive/Reactive Software Audit Team
• Detailing Proofs of Possession
• Foundation Document Management System
• Establishing the Internal Whistle-Blower Program
• The Hidden Threats of License Activation
• Internal Compliance Assurance Wall of Due Diligence
• Calculating Actual Punitive Audit Costs
• Software & Copyright Compliance Enforcement Players
• Developing Effective Basic SAM Policies
• Conducting the SAM Initiative GAP Analysis
• Copyright-Related Laws, Acts, & Regulations
• Risk Management & Mitigation – Level I

SAM Advanced Enterprise Infrastructure:

• Detailing 42+ Critical Software License Types
• Detailing 36+ Critical Software Agreement Clauses
• Chartering the SAM Initiative
• Cloud & SaaS Services
• IT Cost Reduction Opportunities
• Effective Acquisition Process Framework
• Vendor Management Framework I
• Gaining & Retaining Executive Buy-In
• Basic SAM Negotiations Methodologies
• Stakeholder Analysis & Management for SAM
• Human & Organizational Change Management for SAM
• Project & Initiative Success Factors for SAM
• Core Leadership & Motivation Framework for SAM

It’s the Knowledge You Need to Succeed!

TAMInstitute.org

SAM & ITAM Certifications Are WAY Below Standards!

At what point in our history did we determine that an individual with less than 12 hours of training is a fully qualified software asset manager? At what point does an individual with little or no experience in the industry become fully qualified to manage the entire IT asset management portfolio with fewer than 16 hours of training?

We need to change the framework under which we qualify professionals in our fields. The software asset management certification started with the CSM (offered by the Software & Information Industry Association). The program was a good "start" but tended to focus more on SIIA's perspective of software compliance management than on life cycle management. Other SAM-related programs have literally exploded on the scene since 2003 - many of these are no more than a new extension of the classic software industry efforts to shape & control our management of software goods, services, & contractual relationships.

When I developed the original SAM & ITAM certification programs in 2000, the plan was to evolve the programs according to the needs of practitioners & to keep pace with global industry changes. The certifications - massively unique at the time - were intended to build the profession as a "standard" for asset management (whether SAM or ITAM). We also committed to keeping the price reasonable so that practitioners around the world could "afford" to attend. Unfortunately, the SAM / ITAM training industry remains well behind the times in terms of the sophistication of their programming.

So? Let's change the model. Through the Institute for Technology Asset Management we have re-sculpted the traditional certification into a significantly more progressive program of credentialing - one that meets & most frequently exceeds such generic standards as ISO 19770 & ITIL. While we "do" continue to train asset managers in the traditional basics of the industry, we also recognize that "basic" no longer translates into "professional."  The asset managers trained in the typical overnight programs developed in 2000 simply do not have the competencies necessary to compete in today's (2013+) technology environments.

Examples: Fewer than 1 in 6 SAM certification programs provide any degree of training regarding "cloud" licensing techniques, risks, & methodologies. Only Institute programs help asset management professionals understand such management tools as business case analysis, cost/benefit, business process management and other methodologies critical to gaining & maintaining effective business controls over the software, hardware, & over-all IT portfolio. Only the Institute delivers core competencies in over 42 common software license types, along with license terms & conditions detailing necessary to clearly understanding your rights & responsibilities.

It's time for change. It's time to evolve to the next level. It's time to look seriously at The Institute for Technology Asset Management credentialing programs.. Look over the Institute program roadmaps (yet another first in the industry) HERE. You may also want to scroll down the page to watch / listen to a sample series of our online training SAM & ITAM sessions.

Fiscal Cliff + NDAA = Software Asset Management (SAM)

Short Summary: The federal government of the United States has clearly stated that, by law, DOD Departments need to get their software asset management (SAM) infrastructure/framework in order. Key success factor targets:

• Establish & pursue a FORMAL PLAN for managing software assets
• Conduct (& document) a formal software asset inventory
• Gain & maintain control over software inventories
• Reduce existing spend & establish control over future software-related spending
• Optimize use of existing software inventory
• Optimize ROI
• Brief Congressional Committee of results on a yearly basis

The Story - Many Americans observed the fiscal cliff activities in Washington, D.C. during December 2012 and into the first week of January 2013. All that politically charged action resulted in Congress passing the 700 page, National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) covering budgeting and authorizing spending for the Department of Defense (DOD). NDAA was signed it into law by President Obama on January 2, 2013.
 
What's in it for You? Why would this Federal Act be important to software asset managers, or the IT asset management community at large?  The answer is simple: Section 937 (pp. 256-257)  requires–by law—that the Department of Defense (DOD) establish, or enhance, its framework for Optimizing the Software License Portfolio Management. Effective Software Asset Management--optimizing value while minimizing risk--"should" be absolutely vital services for ANY practicing software or information technology asset manager (SAM / ITAM).

Setting the Stage for Software Asset Management - Much of the ground work for Section 937 could conceivably have been established (and essentially ignored?) by President Clinton’s Executive Order 13103, issued on September 30th, 1998. Clinton’s Order, while specifically attempting to ensure that governmental departments monitor their environments to eliminate potential “Software Piracy” issues, essentially clarified the critical need to establish, and maintain, a comprehensive as well as effective software asset management framework within those governmental departments. (Click HERE to read &/or download Executive Order 13103)

The Cold Hard Facts of the National Defense Authorization Act:
Take a brief look through Section 937 of the NDAA. We’ve added underlining and color to highlight many of the critical issues that software asset managers (SAM) as well as IT asset managers (ITAM) need to consider.

SEC. 937. SOFTWARE LICENSES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.
(a) PLAN FOR INVENTORY OF LICENSES.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Chief Information Officer
of the Department of the Defense shall, in consultation with
the chief information officers of the military departments and
the Defense Agencies, issue a plan for the inventory of selected
software licenses of the Department of Defense, including a
comparison of licenses purchased with licenses installed.
(2) SELECTED SOFTWARE LICENSES.—The Chief Information
Officer shall determine the software licenses to be treated as
selected software licenses of the Department for purposes of
this section. The licenses shall be determined so as to maximize
the return on investment in the inventory conducted pursuant
to the plan required by paragraph (1).
H. R. 4310—257
(3) PLAN ELEMENTS.—The plan under paragraph (1) shall
include the following:
(A) An identification and explanation of the software
licenses determined by the Chief Information Officer under
paragraph (2) to be selected software licenses for purposes
of this section, and a summary outline of the software
licenses determined not to be selected software licensesfor such purposes.
(B) Means to assess the needs of the Department and
the components of the Department for selected softwarelicenses during the two fiscal years following the date of
the issuance of the plan.
(C) Means by which the Department can achieve the
greatest possible economies of scale and cost savings in
the procurement, use, and optimization of selected softwarelicenses.
(b) PERFORMANCE PLAN.—If the Chief Information Officer determines
through the inventory conducted pursuant to the plan
required by subsection (a) that the number of selected software
licenses of the Department and the components of the Departmentexceeds the needs of the Department for such software licenses,
the Secretary of Defense shall implement a plan to bring the number of such software licenses into balance with the needs of the Department.

While you may not work for the federal government, or even in the United States, the requirements defined by this act represent the absolute minimum of infrastructure that software asset managers (SAM) and IT asset managers (ITAM) need to put in place—and maintain—for their enterprises. 

Are you genuinely covering these issues in your technology portfolio management (TPM) services?

Of equal importance, it’s time for business leadership to recognize that the infrastructure we put in place to manage costly software assets is precisely the same infrastructure that we expand to cover the entire IT portfolio of goods, services, and contractual relationships. When we build this infrastructure—this asset management framework—from the bottom up, we establish a significantly more powerful foundation for gaining and maintaining optimal ROI value (while reducing risk) within the IT portfolio.
 
And, please, don't forget, the only effective method for identifying software is contingent up our abilities to actively and accurately discover hardware. Software and hardware asset management are part and parcel to the same basket of services—and competencies—delivered to the enterprise by the effective IT asset management professional. 
 
Want more? The Institute for Technology Asset Management (ITAM) is your primary source for competency-based professional development. Only the Institute provides you with the key knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques necessary to succeed in the field. Take a look at a selection of overviews for our ground-breaking online—on-demand—professional development programs HERE.

Put a Stop to Standards & Best Practices for Profit!

I must be really missing the boat on all the so-called standards and best practices relating to software asset management, copyright compliance / anti piracy, and technology asset management. I was under the (evidently mistaken) impression that standards were designed by people who actually DO the work to help other people become more effective at doing the work. (Wow... Now, there's a serious disconnect.)

Recently I've been reviewing standards and best practice programs as references to a series of professional development seminars, and (once again) I discovered that a majority of  these "aids" are NOT what we would expect them to be. Here's my list:

1. Many standards are apparently being developed by representatives of the technology industries as not so subtle pressure to "buy our products" or "buy our services" instead of helping practitioners gain competencies.
2. In many cases, standards and best practices have very little resemblance to what real people do in the real world. Rather, the standards development teams represent massive corporations that can afford to apply large well-qualified teams to implement highly complex and lengthy solutions.
3. Instead of being based on the experience of practitioners, many standards or best practices are being blatantly developed to provide a proprietary income to a specific group or organization. This severely limits competition as well as locks practitioners into the proprietary programs.
4. Along with the proprietary perspectives are the incredibly unrealistic costs being applied to standards and best practices - costs that the majority of enterprises simply cannot afford to pay.
5. I've also seen multiple standards and best practices that, rather than being based on genuine practitioner experiences, have simply taken advantage of openly posted materials downloaded from the Internet and merely re-written by the standards or best practices editors into their own proprietary packages.
6. And, finally, all too many asset management standards and best practices are attempting to shoe-horn asset management into the technology, services, or other enterprise functions to add to the responsibility realm of technicians rather than building the profession itself.

It's time to put a stop to this kind of activity in the SCCA, SAM, ITAM, and IT Portfolio Management fields. The Institute for Technology Asset Management invites you to become part of its unique open source standards, best practices, and professional development programs - programs that real people and real enterprises can actually afford. As usual, the Institute was the first in the industry to put the power of standards and best practices into the hands of actual front line practitioners, rather than merely convert the agendas of the software industry into a revenue stream version of pseudo-training coupled to over-night certifications.

The Institute does not take money from the software industry players - either via corporate memberships or sponsorship. Instead, we work directly with individual practitioners to build the asset management professions, standards, and practices. Our Guide to the Technology Asset Management Body of Knowledge (TAMBOK) is based on the competencies needed to genuinely DO the work of an asset manager - and the book is freely available online at a price you can afford. (In fact, we're working on the next TAMBOK release. Want to become a reviewer? Sign up now.)

The Institute's professional development programs are the only non proprietary programs in the industry that are based directly on asset management competencies - openly available competencies that have been proven by people working the front lines of asset management - rather than what the software industry wants you to know.

Of the six training options for software asset management, the Institute is one of only two that are not being driven by the software industry, their associates, or hired guns. Of those two, we are the only non profit program that is genuinely driven by practitioner member expectations.

Maybe its time you took a look at The Institute for Technology Asset Management.

Project Failure or Project Success – How Will You Know?

Frankly, more than 70% of the project managers, software asset managers, or IT asset managers that I come into contact with have literally no framework for identifying whether their projects have succeeded or failed. The primary reason?

Project managers, software asset managers, & IT asset managers frequently fail to accurately define what failure or success look like.

Further, many of the hundreds of IT asset management or software asset management projects I've reviewed over the years have completely failed to define their deliverables. If you don't know what you are trying to accomplish, you have no way of identifying whether or not you have hit the target. Of course, for the optimists in the group, this also means that no matter what you accomplish – its right.

Control failures are not listed in the recipes for a successful professional career.

So, try these simple steps toward more successful projects:

• Always clearly identify the specific goals and objectives of the project. In their most simplistic form, these are your deliverables.
• Ensure that your deliverables meet SMART criteria – specific, measurable, achievable/accountable, realistic/relevant, and time-bound.
• Write a clear definition of “project failure.” Some people refer to the typical constraints of time, cost, quality. Others have more complex definitions (PMI has increased the old "Triple Constraint" number with the PMBOK 4^th Edition).
• Write a clear definition of “project success.” Again, the same basic constraints may come into play.

Now that you have clear goals and objectives (deliverables), begin monitoring and controlling your progress toward these deliverables from minute one of the project or SAM / ITAM initiative. When you recognize that you are deviating from expectations – fix the problem(s) immediately before everything accelerates out of control.

Example of Constraint "Controls" - Some enterprises will accept a project budget surge of up to 10%. Others expect all projects to finish precisely on budget. Some may even expect you to finish below budget. Whatever the parameters - get them documented so you can control to that degree of performance.

If you do nothing more than take these four very basic steps, you will improve the odds of successful projects. As usual with The Institute for Technology Asset Management deliverables, these common sense adjustments will cost you nothing to implement, yet they have the potential for enormous enterprise project management, software asset management, and IT asset management improvements.

For a simplified online self-paced session on SMART goals & objectives, visit www.TAMinstitute.org and look at InstituteTV under the Knowledge Center.