Autodesk License usage Report

[srinivasNZ2CB]

Hello,

Need some assistance, we are having 4 Autocad, 4 Revit and 1 AEC collection license subscriptions.  Few days back we received a notice from Autodesk that they have received 14+ instances wherein Revit Software has been installed, but in our office we have installed Revit on only 5 PC's (as we have 4 Revits and 1 AEC Collection license).  

Is there a way for me to check where the Licenses are used and installed?  I've checked the usage reporting under accounts, but that is not of much help as it is giving only basic level of reporting where it's not showing on how many PC's the software is installed. 

Your help in this regard is greatly appreciated.

-Srinivas

[srinivasNZ2CB]

Please see we are not using any pirated versions, all Revit licenses are legit and are subscription based, wonder why it is showing 14+ instances of Revit usage when we had only installed it on 5 PCs. How do we prove our case that we are not using those 14+ instanaces? 

[mtj73RN9]

If you are an administrator inside manage.autodesk.com then you can go to the "Usage report" and dive in to who is using what - direct link: https://manage.autodesk.com/usage-report-v2

Personally I use the export function which is found on the same page, then export for last 12 months and analyze the data inside Excel - I've setup specific formulas that will give me detailed overview - but I do maintain a significant amount of users and some use tokens, so to not have an overuse of tokens I keep an eye on it.

[srinivasNZ2CB]

Thanks for the response, I do check our usage reports (see attached), but it's not showing us any information about over usage to what Autodesk notice is claiming. Is there are way to check about their claims, because we have Revit installed only on 5 pc's in our office and all are under subscription. 

[mtj73RN9]

You cannot see details on which PC it's installed on. But maybe see if you can get in contact with Autodesk and ask from where they can see that it's installed in 14 pc's and which comutername maybe som mac-address and IP address. They should also be able to give the specific user ID which have been signed in with.

Ask your users if they have installed on other devices - you may install (sign in with your user) on 3 devices (but only use one at a time).
Have any of your users had any issues requiring them to reinstall on their pc multiple times?

If you use the export function, the usage report will show each specific software and specific date it's been used - I just find it easier to look at in Excel.

[srinivasNZ2CB]

They are not providing any proof or details about this, just accusing on us that they have 14+ triggers instances of usage beyond our leal entitlement, which we are denying as we have only installed on 5 dedicated PC's and don't have any where installed.  We've asked them to visit our premises to do the audit and promised for full cooperation as well, but without providing any proof they wanted us to get in touch with the legal team to avoid penalties and damages. 

All these accusations are mere bullying and arm twisting as far as our case is considered.  

[Simon_Weel]

Is there a way for me to check where the Licenses are used and installed? 

That's a major problem with those User-based licenses. Users can install what they like and where they like without you being able to track those installations. IMO; Autodesk is making the claim so they should provide proof.

In the mean time, I think it's smart to inventory all your machines for installed Autodesk software and inventory your licenses. Then contact Autodesk and ask for an overview of machines they found using your licenses.

[srinivasNZ2CB]

Thanks will do the inventory. 

We do have 10 licenses of Archicad, where it will allows license usage on only one system, so there is no case of misuse even if a user accidentally tries to login with his credentials on another PC, but as Autodesk users can login on two machines at the same time, this issue might come, but even in such cases with 5 licenses we can work on 10 machines simultaneously not 14+ as per what they are claiming. 

[srinivasNZ2CB]

Here's the update on this, 10 days back I emailed them that I am ready for them to visit my premises and do a full audit of our systems and we will cooperate fully to show the misuse of licenses. Today their lawyer called and said that she had proofs but can't reveal to me and they can be revealed in the court of law and if I don't want to settle this internally they will send legal notice. 

[Simon_Weel]

I think it's time for you to get a lawyer?

[srinivasNZ2CB]

I will have to ask them to send the notice and respond through a lawyer, but it's all causing mental agony for doing nothing wrong. 

I even offered them that I can straight away do a video call and give access to all PC's with any screen sharing app they choose to check our systems and let me know, but they are not listening. 

The problem is after few months they will come again claiming we are using on 20 or 30 PC's and claim they have proofs. why is Autodesk licensing so screwed, we have 10 licenses of Archicad, its downloaded from cloud and only works on one system and no need to register individual user names. 

Does anyone from Autodesk ever bother to look into these issues of what the customers have to go through?  I checked with my local reseller to see if they offer network licensing to avoid user based login, it seems that it is not available, I am not sure there is away to come out of this if they fail to show me proof and threaten me with legal notice.   

[srinivasNZ2CB]

Here's the update on this, after our request to visit our premises to check for legal compliance instead of allegations, they are now saying that they can do the Audit digitally by installing a software from Autodesk without visiting our premises. Is this safe procedure and can this be trusted? Please help. 

[Simon_Weel]

We had to do that years ago. It's just an inventory program collecting any Autodesk software you have installed on your machines. Don't know if they still use the inventory program we had to use years ago, but the laughable part was - it was a piece of software you had to run in trial-mode. Like - really? So you want an audit of your software but you're too stingy to buy that inventory tool?

Anyway, it turned up hundreds of installed copies of AutoCAD - remarkable since we only have about 15 machines. I did what they asked. Sent the inventory. Never heard of them again.