Licensing FAQ for BMC Helix Innovation Suite and applications

A Read license enables users to search for and display requests based on the assigned permissions. As an administrator, you can configure the BMC Helix Innovation Suite server to enable users with read licenses to submit and modify their requests. For more information, see License types for user access to AR System objects and features and Enabling submitters to modify requests in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite online documentation portal.  

A Restricted Read license enables users to search for and display requests based on the assigned permissions. As an administrator, you can configure the Innovation Suite server to enable users with Restricted Read licenses to submit requests. However, users with Restricted Read licenses cannot modify any requests, including their own. Restricted Read licenses enable the same login account to access BMC Helix Innovation Suite from multiple IP addresses simultaneously. For more information, see License types for user access to AR System objects and features in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite online documentation portal. 

A Fixed license includes all the capabilities of a Read license and based on the permissions of the groups to which they belong, enables users to modify and save requests that they did not submit. The BMC Helix Innovation Suite administrators and sub-administrators must have a Fixed license. Other BMC Helix Innovation Suite users who consistently need to modify requests must also have Fixed licenses. A Fixed license is associated with a username and is always reserved for that user. Users who have a Fixed license can access the Innovation Suite server at any time. For more information, see License types for user access to AR System objects and features in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite online documentation portal.

A Floating license includes all the capabilities of a Read license. The users can modify and save data for requests that they did not submit based on the groups to which they belong. Multiple users can use the same Floating licenses, one user at a time. These Floating licenses are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The Floating license is designed for users who occasionally need to modify and save requests. For more information, see License types for user access to AR System objects and features in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite online documentation portal. 

When a user who is assigned a Floating license logs in to BMC Helix Innovation Suite, the user gets a Read license. When the user attempts to perform a search, modify, or submit operation, BMC Helix Innovation Suite checks for an available Floating license:

• If a Floating license is available, the user is granted write access to requests. The user retains write access until the Floating license is released. For more information, Releasing floating licenses to a license pool in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite online documentation portal. 

• If no Floating licenses are available, the user is notified with an error message for a write operation and a warning message for a read operation and can continue to use the Read license until a Floating license becomes available. 

A bundled license provides access to multiple applications that are part of a bundle. A bundled license provides a way to assign a single license to a user; that license provides access to all applications assigned to each bundle. For more information, see License types for user access to AR System objects and features in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite online documentation portal. 

The following licensing models are supported: 

• 2015 Pricing Model - GA Blue bundled licensing model 

• 2023 Helix Service Management Suite licensing model 
  For more information, see Licensing overview in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite online documentation portal.

The GA Blue Bundled licensing model contains the following licenses: 

• Remedy Custom Applications – Concurrent User License 

• Remedy Custom Applications – User License 

• Remedy Service Desk – Concurrent User License 

• Remedy Service Desk – User License 

• Remedy Service Management Suite – Concurrent User License 

• Remedy Service Management Suite – User License 

• Remedy Service Optimization – Concurrent User License 

• Remedy Service Optimization – User License 

You can assign the following licenses to users:

Floating licenses are shared by all BMC Helix Innovation Suite users. However, as an administrator, you can define license pools to reserve a set of Floating licenses for a group of users. This enables you to prioritize the availability of Floating licenses. For example, you can allocate the required number of licenses to department managers to make sure that they can immediately approve essential requests. The users who do not belong to this group cannot acquire any of the reserved licenses. 

When the user attempts to perform a search, modify, or submit operation, BMC Helix Innovation Suite checks for an available Floating license. Many applications, including the BMC Helix ITSM applications, perform a search on behalf of the user when launching informational consoles. So, as a user, you may consume a Floating token even if you have not yet performed a modify or submit operation.

A Floating license is automatically released back to the pool of available licenses in the following situations: 

• (For the GA Blue bundled and Suite licensing models) When a user logs out from all applications. 

• (For Smart IT and Mid Tier only) When a user closes the browser window. If the user closes the browser window, which is displaying Smart IT or Mid Tier, then the system performs an automatic logout after a short delay. If the user is accessing Smart IT or Mid Tier on multiple browser windows, the token is released only after the user closes the last browser window associated with the current HTTP session. 

• A user does not perform an operation in any application for the period of time in the Floating license time-out interval. The default configuration is 2 hours, and the minimum value is 1 hour. For more information, see Setting timeout options in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite online documentation portal. 

As an administrator, you can also manually release a User license once in a 24-hour period. If you release a User license, the user is removed from the list of current users. However, this does not affect the user's ability to connect to the server. The next time the user accesses the server, the user obtains the licenses again and the user's license information is displayed again. 

For BMC Helix Innovation Suite server license timeout setting, when a Floating license is released to the pool, the other users can consume the licenses. 

For a Mid Tier license timeout setting, you can configure the time of releasing the Floating license when the user closes the browser window, after which the other users can consume the licenses.  

For more information, see How does license release work in AR, Midtier, Smart IT on BMC Communities. 

With the new bundled license option, you can configure license limits, assign licenses to users, and control and report on license consumption in alignment with how user licenses were purchased. You do not need to manually map the new pricing models to the old pricing models and then apply the licenses in the system. 

Yes. There is no additional charge regardless of how many BMC Helix Innovation Suite user licenses are used.

(For versions earlier than 21.x) If BMC Helix Innovation Suite server license is generated by using the host ID, each installed server needs a separate license key. This includes servers in a server group. For example, if you have 3 servers in a server group, each server will need its own license key.  

(For version 21.x or later) If the BMC Helix Innovation Suite server license is generated by using the DB ID, then 1 license key can be used for all the servers in a server group. 

Yes. We recommend that you restart the server.  

Companies are entitled to use the BMC Helix ITSM OnPrem software on non-production instances, that is, instances exclusively used for development and test purposes without additional fees. Non-production instances cannot be configured with a higher concurrent user license limit than that of the production instance with the highest concurrent user license limit. Concurrent user licenses usage is measured by adding all instances of the production peak usage capacity. 

There are a number of variables, but in general the recommendation is that you have 1 Floating license for every 2.5 users who connect to the system concurrently. This assumes a shift-oriented organization where each employee needs access to the system for 8 hours in a 24-hour day. That ratio could be increased if less time is spent on the system per user. 

No. Administrators and sub-administrators must be assigned a Fixed license.

Yes. Additionally, the user must be configured as an BMC Helix Innovation Studio administrator or sub-administrator.

The Full Text Search was licensed until version 20.x. After version 21.x, the Full Text Search license is not required.

The ratio between the Fixed and Floating license in the price list is usually 1:3.

(For the GA Blue bundled and Suite licensing models) To login to the different applications, you must have a single login name with a corresponding bundled license. You can access multiple applications at the same time with a single bundled license.

The default value is 2 hours. This value cannot be set lower than 1 hour. This is a server-side setting and applies to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and its applications. For example, Incident Management, Knowledge Management, Problem Management, and Change Management. For more information, see Setting timeout options in theBMC Helix Innovation Suite online documentation portal.

Yes. If the user does not explicitly log out from the application or close the browser window, that is, if the user leaves the browser open and idle in all applications without any activity, the server releases the license for that user after the configured value of the floating license release timeout.

The Bundled License Conversion utility helps convert your existing classic licenses to a simplified and easy-to-understand bundled licensing model. An administrator can run this utility anytime to convert the classic licenses to the bundled licensing model. For more information, see Moving to the bundled license model by using the Bundled License Conversion utility in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite online documentation portal. 

Yes. To add information to the BMC Helix Service Management Suite applications, you must have the required bundled license, which includes the platform and application licenses. Other BMC-provided applications that are developed on Innovation Suite have a similar requirement. For more information, see License types for user access to AR System objects and features in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite online documentation portal.

Yes. The following applications do not have their own application licenses: 

• BMC Service Request Management (including the Work Order module) 

• BMC Knowledge Management 

• BMC Chat 

• BMC IT Business Management (related to the BMC Helix Innovation Suite) 

• BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management (related to the Innovation Suite, non-ITSM application) 

Additionally, these applications cannot be individually tracked in the License Usage report or the Historical License Usage report. 

If you have a GA Blue bundled license or Suite license, then you automatically get the platform license. So, you do not need to purchase any additional license.  

If you do not have any bundled license or Suite license, you must purchase the required license to use the applications. 

You will need only one bundled license, regardless of the number of applications on the same server or in a server group.  

Read licenses are not available with the GA Blue bundled and the Suite licensing model. We recommend that you purchase Floating user licenses. 

Yes. A user can access the Knowledge Management application since the user needs only one bundled license.

(For the GA Blue bundled licensing model) The work order application is not controlled via the Incident Management User license. The Service Desk User license bundle includes access to the work order application in Service Request Management. 

(For the Suite licensing model) You need either the BMC Helix Service Management Advanced or the BMC Helix Service Management Standard bundled license.

Currently, a BMC-provided ITSM application does not require a Write license to use the Approval Server to approve items. However, a custom (bespoke) application or any other BMC application, that is not a BMC Helix ITSM application, requires a Write license. This is a value-added feature of utilizing BMC-provided BMC Helix ITSM applications. 

No. Because the applications share the same data in the same database, only one application license is required per server group and the user licenses that you enter are shared across the server group. Some utilities (for example, BMC Remedy Migrator) require additional licenses per server, but the primary applications such as Service Request Management, Service Level Management, Knowledge Management, and so on) do not require additional licenses. 

(For the GA Blue bundled and Suite license model) The user licenses are sold in bundles. The pre-requisite licenses are included together into one bundle, that is, each bundle contains the application user licenses and the AR System User (platform) license in the same package. For example, the Service Desk User license add-on (SKU on the price list) contains the following licenses: 

• Incident Management User license 

• Problem Management User license 

• AR System User license 

The user license SKUs also include entitlement to applications that are not controlled via the application licensing. For example, the Service Desk User license SKU entitles the user to perform the following tasks: 

• Task management (as part of implementing changes, work orders, resolving incidents, etc.) 

• Work order management 

• Responding to end user chat requests via BMC Helix Virtual Agent 

(For the GA Blue bundled license model) Since licenses are sold in bundles, enter all the licenses that are provided with that bundle. For example, if you purchased the BMC Service Desk - User Add-On License bundle (which is a fixed license), enter the following: 

• BMC:Incident Mgmt User Fixed license 

• BMC:Problem Mgmt User Fixed license 

• AR User Fixed license 

(For the Suite bundled license model) Since licenses are sold in bundles, enter all the licenses that are provided with that bundle. For example, if you purchased the BMC Helix Service Management Advanced License, enter the following: 

• BMC Helix Service Management Advanced – Concurrent User  

• BMC Helix Service Management Advanced – Named User 

• AR User Fixed license 

No. When a user attempts to perform a search, modify, or submit operation, AR System checks for an available Floating user license. If a Floating license is available, the user is granted a Floating user license and Write access to requests. If a Floating license is not available, the Ticket Console can still be used, but the modify or submit operation is not performed. This behavior is the same for other ITSM consoles and any other search or display actions that the user performs.

You can periodically generate a license usage report for your BMC Helix Innovation Suite server to make sure that your usage is in compliance with your purchased licenses. From the Add or Remove Licenses form, click Generate License Usage Report. For more information, see Generating reports to track license usage in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite online documentation portal.

The report contains the following information: 

• For the Innovation Suite and application User Fixed licenses, the maximum number of licenses allocated and assigned at the same time during the period covered by the report. 

• For the Innovation Suite and application User Floating licenses, the maximum number of licenses allocated and in use at the same time during the period covered by the report. 

• For the Innovation Suite and application User Bundled or suite named licenses, the maximum number of licenses allocated and assigned at the same time during the period covered by the report. 

• For the Innovation Suite and application User Bundled or suite concurrent licenses, the maximum number of licenses allocated and in use at the same time during the period covered by the report. 

• For the Innovation Suite and application server group licenses, the usage of licenses for the Innovation Suite server against which the report is run. 

• For each type of license, the maximum limit specified in the Add or Remove Licenses form. 

For more information, see Recording and tracking license usage in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite online documentation portal. 

A Fixed license will be displayed in the count when it is assigned to a named user. This occurs regardless of whether the user logs into the system or not. 

Yes. If a user releases a Write license when the Enable License Tracking option is on, an entry is added to the AR System Historical License Usage form. This entry contains information about the usage of that license. For more information, see Recording and tracking license usage in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite online documentation portal. You can use the data in the AR System Historical License Usage form to get the following information for the specified time periods: 

• The license usage for a specified user, including each time the user acquired or released a particular license type. 

• The number of licenses all users use for a specified application, license type, or license pool. 

The License Usage Report gets updated every 45 minutes. The Admin Manage User licenses screen displays two new options, bundled - current users and bundled - registered users, to display the consumption of bundled licenses along with the existing granular license consumption options. 

The Helix Service Management Suite licensing model includes licenses for BMC Helix Innovation Suite, AR System server-based applications, BMC Helix Innovation Studio-based applications, BMC Helix ITSM, and all Service Management applications. 

The Helix Service Management Suite licensing model includes two suite licenses: Standard and Advanced. Each of these suite licenses is further divided into the following four licenses: 

• BMC Helix Service Management Standard - Named User  

• BMC Helix Service Management Standard - Concurrent User 

• BMC Helix Service Management Advanced - Named User 

• BMC Helix Service Management Advanced - Concurrent User 

For more information, see Licensing overview in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite online documentation portal. 

For information about applications, features, and utilities are available with the purchase of BMC Helix Service Management Standard and Advanced packages, see BMC Helix Service Management service in the BMC Helix Subscriber Information online documentation portal. 

For more information, see Standard license entitlements restrictions and units of measurement in the BMC Helix Service Management Deployment online documentation portal. 

Yes. Use the Suite Licensing Opt-in Utility to convert your existing classic licenses to the Helix Service Management Suite licensing model. For more information, see Moving to the Helix Service Management Suite license model by using the Optin utility in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite online documentation portal. 

Yes, the Suite Licensing Opt-in Utility report is generated after you run the Suite Licensing Opt-in Utility. For more information, see Moving to the Helix Service Management Suite license model by using the Optin utility in the BMC Helix Innovation Suite online documentation portal.  

For more information, see Standard license entitlements restrictions and units of measurement in the BMC Helix Subscriber Information online documentation portal. 

This is an opt-in feature.