For each functional feature in the product, you must select license restrictions. For one feature in different products, you can select different license restrictions. There are the following license restrictions exist:
- Licensing scheme;
- Purpose of the licensing scheme;
- Number of instances running simultaneously (network licenses) and how they are counted.
It is very important to choose the right licensing scheme. To get started, check out the basic schemes.
The basic licensing schemes are:
- No restrictions— the license is issued without a time limit.
- Time period — the license is issued for a specified period of time.
- Expiration date — the license is issued until the specified date.
- Number of days — the license is issued for a specified number of days and becomes effective from the date of the first launch of the feature.
- Number of launches — the license is issued for a specified number of launches of the feature.
There are many licensing schemes, most of them belong to the following groups:
- Trial version (demo version, trial version, full version with time limitation, full version with quantity limitation).
- Functionality limitation (module [file] limitation, function limitation).
- Time limitation (subscription or rent by days [hours, minutes, seconds]).
- Quantitative restrictions (startup counter, resource usage limitation [number of processor cores, disk space, etc.]).
- Bound license (for example, bound to computer hardware).
- Portable license (portable license, portable version of software).
- Network licenses (the number of users limitation, the number of users and time limitation, the number of users and launches limitation).
- Unlimited license (eternal with a license key, eternal without a license key).
After selecting a licensing scheme, you need to decide on its specific value. For example, specify the exact dates, number of days, etc.
If the feature is intended for use on a network or remote desktop, then select the number of its copies running simultaneously (network licenses) and the method for calculating them.
Below are examples of software products license restrictions.
Example 1
A company sells a software product designed for video surveillance. It includes one feature, the "Main Module". It is distributed by subscription for a period of one year. The client can buy an additional module, "Face Recognition", with an unlimited period of use. Thus, it turns out that in this case it is necessary to create two products:
- The "Video Surveillance" product with the "Main Module" feature. The "number of days" licensing scheme and the value "365" are selected for it.
- The "Face Recognition Module" product with the "Face Recognition" feature. The "no restrictions" licensing scheme is selected for it.
Example 2
A company sells a software product for architectural design. Users can use its free version, but in order to use the built-in "Generate Project Documentation" function, they need to buy a license. Thus, it turns out that the "number of launches" licensing scheme is selected for the "Generate Project Documentation" feature.
Example 3
A company sells a software product designed for accounting. It includes two features: "Employees" and "Salary". The "Employees" module is distributed by subscription for a period of one year. The "Salary" module is distributed with a limit on the number of users for simultaneous work and a value of 10. The company plans to organize for clients the ability to increase the number of users by 15 and the ability to renew the license. Thus, it turns out that in this case it is necessary to create three products:
- Product "Accounting" with the features: "Employees" and "Salary". For the "Employees" feature, the "number of days" licensing scheme and the value "365" are selected. For the "Salary" feature, the "no restrictions" licensing scheme is selected, and the number of network licenses is set to 10 (calculated by the number of computers).
- Product "Renewal for 12 months" with the "Employees" feature. The feature has the licensing scheme "number of days" and the value "365" selected.
- Product "Another 15 network licenses" with the feature: "Salary". The feature has the licensing scheme "no restrictions" and the number of network licenses has the value 15 (calculated by the number of computers).
What's next?
