License Advisory Services

Policy & Procedure - Many organizations are unaware of the policies and procedures that are critical to a solid SAM program. B4B Solutions has the experience and skills to perform the Analysis, Development and Implementation of Software Asset Management policies and procedures.

Contract Renewal/Negotiations ֠Many vendor license agreements have renew periods. These renew periods are critical for organizations to properly renew in a timely fashion in order to receive the maximum return on investment.

Mergers and Acquisition ֠Today's business requires the competitive edge. For some organizations this is accomplished through mergers and acquisition. By knowing the companies intangible software assets or liabilities is a key factor in evaluating true asset worth. Another key factor is to properly transfer intangible software assets as part of the Mergers and Acquisition process.

SAM Consultation -Many IT departments prioritize their time by meeting the needs and requirements of their organizationӳ business units. In meeting that goal, software asset management practices become secondary. It is extremely important for organizations to know their license compliancy position in order to effectively procure software assets and renew vendor contracts.

SAM Consultation consists of:

• License Compliancy Table (comparison of installed software to purchased software licenses)
• Analysis of procurement trends
• Understand the finer points of your volume license agreements
• Policy & Procedure Analysis
• Finding and Recommendations Deliverables Report
• Software Asset Management Outsourcing
• B4B Solutions provides SAM outsourcing services allowing organizations IT
• Departments to focus on IT solutions.

Audit Response Assistance

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) or other organization may request purchase and installation records from your organization. Most companies are not prepared when such a request is made. B4B Solutions has the experience and skills to assist your organization by providing the guidance, obtaining purchase records, acquiring software and hardware inventories, and preparing audit reports.

Automated SAM Solutions

What is an automated SAM solution? An automated SAM solution is the integration of technology, processes and policies that effectively manage software and hardware assets, reduce cost, recycle software license, and free-up IT resources. B4B Solutions also has the expertise in providing automated Desktop Management Solutions and Software Asset Solutions including:

• Standard Desktop Imaging design and implementation
• Automated Application Deployment tools
• Automated license compliancy monitoring tools
• Automated licensing metering and usage tools
• Automated licensing auditing tools
• Policy and Procedure Analysis, Development and Implementation

Program Management Office (PMO)

A PMO typically is used is for high risk initiatives: merger integration, facility consolidation, software implementation such as ERP, and operational process improvement. B4B Solutions Program Management Office (PMO) service organizes and guides the delivery of multiple discrete projects, ensuring that each project supports unique as well as common enterprise objectives. We offer companies the ability to integrate a portfolio of initiatives, and provide visibility into and control of complex implementations.
B4B Solutions proven guideline and tools help ensure programs/projects are completed on schedule and within budget and scope. We minimize the risks typically found in complex initiatives such as rework, cost overruns, and organizational resistance by:

• Providing focus on critical factors
• Aligning effort and activities with the enterprise direction
• Managing timelines and dependencies across multiple projects
• Facilitating greater management involvement
• Enabling aggressive cost management
• Tracking and measuring benefit realization
• Monitoring and mitigating risk

Records Management Strategy and Technologies

B4B Solutions experienced consultants leverage external, industry and experiential research, and knowledge to help Government, Corporations and law firms define and develop records management strategy, policies, processes and procedures.
B4B Solutions works with corporate compliance and legal departments as well as corporate and law firm General Counsel and records managers to:

• Define Government/company/law firm records management needs.
• Inventory and baseline current records (physical and electronic) and growth rates
• Evaluate jurisdictional requirements.
• Identify and target philosophical and strategy issues for management evaluation.
• Define and develop actionable physical and electronic records policies.
• Evaluate and design records management organization taking into account risk mitigation, general management and staffing considerations.
• Define requirements, evaluate, select and implement appropriate records management systems.

New Business/Client Intake Strategy and Technologies

B4B Solutions has advised numerous law firms on effective ways to manage the process of new business intake and conflicts. From our experience in this area, B4B Solutions consultants have developed best practices for organization, process and technology to provide better risk control, reductions in write-offs, optimized attorney time and a more productive administrative staff. We enable our clients to take on the most business possible while still accurately measuring and effectively managing risk.

Our services will help guide you to:

• Document your current new business intake and conflicts practices and the concerns of those using the system.
• Analyze the current model to ascertain whether it supports the firmӳ stated business strategy, goals and risk tolerance.
• Evaluate your staffing model, skill and training levels, and roles and responsibilities.
• Identify high-potential improvement opportunities across all aspects of new business intake and conflicts resolution,including policies, processes, procedures, rules and triggers, existing technology and new solutions.
• Recommend solutions consistent with best practices to take advantage of the opportunities identified.
• Develop an implementation strategy for moving forward with needed changes.
• Assist in the creation of policies, processes, training programs and design specifications that are flexible to adapt to future requirements .
• Manage the implementation of improvements.

Data Environment Review

While companies may differ widely on their IT investments and priorities, there is one area that all agree is highly important: integrity of the data environment. After all, if the data can’t be trusted or accessed, what good is it?
By engaging B4B Solutions to perform a Data Environment Review at your site, you will have specific recommendations on how your environment can be improved. We will work with your team to perform a comprehensive assessment of your environment to pinpoint the location of any data quality issues, identify and define problems of data distribution and publication, highlight areas where excessive time is spent manually gathering data from multiple systems, and provide recommendations for improvement. The review can be focused on known problem areas or to proactively identify issues before they impact your organization.

B4B Solutions comprehensive approach includes

Your Data Architecture, Technical Architecture, Operations and Procedures, and Business Requirements. For each of these areas, we will gather and analyze information and propose alternative solutions, including tactical, quick-hit improvements and long-term, strategic initiatives. From there, your organization can directly initiate projects to close any gaps in your environment.

Master Data Management

Many large organizations today, especially those growing through mergers and acquisitions, have their critical data assets spread across numerous disparate source systems with no means to uniquely identify their master data dimensions. Critical business questions like, “which products are the most profitable?”, “who are our top customers?”, “which vendors do we spend the most money with?” cannot be answered because there is no cleansed and consolidated enterprise view of master data like products, customers, vendors, etc. They exist within each of their respective, sometimes redundant, source systems but there is no easy way for the business to tie this master data together with the corresponding transactions (invoices, purchase orders, inventory, orders, etc) for analysis.
The goal of B4B Solutions Master Data Management (MDM) solution is to provide immediate value to the business by combining each master dimension rollout with a corresponding reporting solution, at the same time building the underlying MDM architecture to support long term goals. The MDM architecture can be integrated with an existing Data Warehouse (DW) environment or designed to include both DW and MDM.
We begin by partnering with the business and IT to define the organization’s MDM strategy. This strategy identifies the dimensional data that is spread across multiple source systems and would provide the most business value if there was a single, enterprise-wide view. These master dimensions are then prioritized by the business and organized into a phased implementation plan. B4B Solutions vast experience in Data, ETL/EAI and Reporting Architectures ensures your MDM project will not only provide value to the business but support the long term master data needs of your organization.

Project Management Services

Our team’s emphasis on project leadership means that most every client has a dedicated project manager (PM). Each PM is responsible for developing a detailed project plan, facilitating design and status meetings, and managing the overall implementation of the project. Our project managers support and keep the client abreast of all activities through reports and updates. They also have experience

Our project management services include:

• Office moves
• Desktop deployments
• Application deployment projects
• T related projects
• Business Analyst projects