Published: March 31, 2021

Dan Herrick poses in front of the Ralphie statue on the CU Boulder campus.

Dan Herrick

As part of a Financial Futures initiative, the Office of Information Technology (OIT) has developed a to support the campus.

One element of this critical work, led by OIT Software Asset Manager Mark Alexander and IT Asset Manager Dan Herrick, is creating an audit response and management procedure for software audits that ensure licensing compliance.

鈥淭hese audits are becoming increasingly common,鈥 says Angie Naillon, director of finance, planning and asset management. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had four in the past two years, which is noteworthy given that鈥撯搕o our knowledge鈥撯搕here were none before that in OIT history. These audits pose both financial and reputational risks to the campus if they are not managed well.鈥

The newly instituted procedure was put to its first test when a vendor recently notified multiple staff on campus in OIT and other units that it intended to conduct an audit鈥撯搕he second within a short window.

Mark Alexander

Mark Alexander

Staff quickly notified Alexander, who Naillon says deftly navigated a potentially challenging vendor relationship by confirming the campus鈥檚 compliance with the vendor鈥檚 licensing terms.

Naillon notes that, not only was the audit closed with no negative financial impact to the campus, but the vendor sent the following message praising the process Mark developed:

鈥淚 appreciate that you take compliance seriously and work to proactively maintain your licensing position. I鈥檓 sure it鈥檚 not just for [our software], but across your various software portfolios.鈥澨

Capturing complete information on the campus鈥檚 software portfolio is precisely the intent of software asset management, 鈥渁nd OIT is lucky to have Mark Alexander and Dan Herrick at the helm of this new and exciting service,鈥 Naillon says.