Essentially, you need to make sure that you have enough licenses to cover the maximum simultaneous users.
This breaks down to three basic criteria:
- How many people need to use it?
- Where are they using it? (on their own computers or a shared computer?)
- How often are they using it?
Licenses work one of two ways:
- One license = one person, –or–
- One license = one computer
Here are some basic rules of thumb:
- In a setting where individuals have their own computer, go with the ‘one license = one person’ model. e.g. if you have 5 individuals that need it, buy 5 licenses.
- In a setting with shared computers (like a lab, or computers that are checked out), go with the ‘one license = one computer’ model. e.g. if you have a 8 seat computer lab, and expect a maximum of 5 InqScribe users, buy 5 seats.
- In a mixed setting where some individuals have their own computer, and others share computers, you need a licensing scheme that incorporates both methods. e.g. if you have 5 individuals with their own computers and 5 lab computers (in an 8 computer lab), then buy 10 licenses, 5 of which are tied to the individuals, and 5 tied to the lab.
Here are some example schemes.
I. Five individuals installed on their own computers
Let’s say you have 5 people that might use InqScribe, and they need it installed at their desk. Then you need to buy 5 licenses (the ‘one license = one person’ model). With this model, the 5 people can install InqScribe at their desk at work as well as on their home computer using the same license (the license allows you to install it on up to two computers provided only one is used at a time).
II. Five computers in a 8-computer shared lab
Let’s say you have an eight seat computer lab, and you expect your InqScribe users to come to the lab to use InqScribe. You don’t expect any more than 5 people needing to use InqScribe at any one time, so you can buy a 5 seat license and install it on 5 of the computers (the ‘one license = one computer’ model). With this model, the licenses can only be installed on those 5 computers. They can’t be installed on home computers, and they should not be installed on the other 3 computers.
A variation of this would be to install it on 5 computers (laptops) that can be checked out and brought to people’s desks or out in the field. Again, 5 licenses would suffice.
III. Individual + Shared mix
Another common situation is you might have 5 full time staff that regularly use InqScribe on their own computers at their desk, but 15 temporary staff that use shared computers. The solution here involves a mix of the two licensing models:
- You would buy 5 individual licenses for each of the full time staff.
- You would then buy another n licenses for the computers used by the temporary staff. The actual number (n) depends on how many simultaneous users you expect. For example, you might have 15 temporary staff that might use InqScribe, but you don’t expect any more than 5 of them to ever need to use it at a time. In that case, you should be able to buy 5 licenses and install them on 5 shared computers.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re happy to customize a licensing scheme to fit your needs.