Oracle Audit Defense: How to Handle an Oracle License Audit

The short answer: Oracle audit defense means running an Oracle license audit on your terms instead of Oracle’s. You measure your own deployments before Oracle’s scripts do, agree the scope in writing, check every line of the findings against your contracts, and negotiate the settlement from your own figures. The audit ends with a purchase proposal from Oracle’s sales team, so its size is never fixed.

This article covers why Oracle audits you, what Oracle’s audit team does, and how to defend each stage. For the full step-by-step, read our guide to the Oracle license audit process. If an audit letter has already arrived, our Oracle audit defence consultants can take it from here.

Why Oracle audits happen

Oracle license audits are not random. Oracle chooses customers where it expects revenue. Common triggers:

1. No money spent on new Oracle licenses for two or three years.
2. A new Oracle sales representative or a change in territory.
3. Growth that is going to non-Oracle technologies and applications.
4. An audit by another software publisher.
5. A recent merger or acquisition.
6. Use of E-Business Suite.
7. New hardware in the data center.
8. VMware, Nutanix or other virtualization technologies or appliances.
9. A decision to certify, rather than renew, a ULA.
10. A support request about a product you have not bought.

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What Oracle’s audit team does

Oracle’s audits are run by Global Licensing and Advisory Services (GLAS), the team formerly called License Management Services (LMS). Its job is to establish your compliance position and, where it finds a gap, hand it to Oracle’s sales team to close with a purchase. A formal Oracle LMS audit goes through these stages:

1. A formal audit notice, or a softer request to measure your deployments.
2. A declaration of your deployments, usually in Oracle’s spreadsheet.
3. Oracle’s tools, run to collect installation and usage data.
4. Oracle’s analysis of that data.
5. A report of the gaps Oracle believes exist.
6. Where there is a gap, a commercial proposal from Oracle’s sales team.

How to defend each stage of an Oracle audit

Before any data leaves your network

Name one owner for all contact with Oracle, in writing. Measure your own deployments, options, packs and Java first, so nothing in the findings surprises you. Our Oracle license compliance guide shows where the gaps usually are.

When Oracle asks for data

Most Oracle agreements give Oracle the right to audit your use of the programs on 45 days’ written notice. They do not oblige you to run every script Oracle sends or to share data outside the audit’s scope. Agree products, entities, servers and dates in writing before you share anything.

When the findings arrive

The preliminary report is a claim, not a bill. Oracle’s scripts report options used once years ago and packs enabled by default, and its VMware policy counts every host a virtual machine could move to. Challenge every line that rests on policy rather than contract, and respond in writing before the report becomes final.

When Oracle proposes a purchase

The proposal usually starts at list price with back support, and often comes bundled with something Oracle wanted to sell anyway, such as a ULA, cloud credits or a Java subscription. Everything in it is negotiable, including the size of the gap.

What a good Oracle audit settlement includes

• No payment for licenses you do not need.
• Figures based on your data, not only Oracle’s.
• Pricing you understand for each contract involved.
• More than one proposal to compare.
• Protection against the same claim in a future audit.
• A formal letter from Oracle stating that the audit is closed.

Questions about Oracle audit defense

What is Oracle audit defense?

Managing an Oracle license audit so that the settlement rests on your contracts and your own measurement, not on Oracle’s first claim. It covers the scope, the data you share, the findings and the negotiation.

What is an Oracle LMS audit?

An audit run by Oracle’s licensing team, formerly License Management Services (LMS) and now Global Licensing and Advisory Services (GLAS). It measures your Oracle deployments against the licenses Oracle has on record.

Do we have to run Oracle’s audit scripts?

Your agreement obliges you to cooperate with an audit of your use of the programs. Agree the scope in writing and understand what each script collects before you run it. Run your own measurement first.

Read more about our Managing Partner, Sheshagiri Anegondi, who worked at Oracle from 1998 to 2015 and wrote the book Licensing Oracle. We have worked on more than 260 engagements since 2015.