Knowing the basics of Oracle audit – what is an Oracle audit and how does it work for companies?

Let’s start by explaining to you what an Oracle Audit exactly is. If you or your company install an Oracle software program, you automatically agree with the terms and conditions of a license agreement. Many people who install Oracle software are not really aware of this and what it means. That’s probably the reason why you landed on this page. In the past, these agreements were called OLSA’s. That stands for ‘’Oracle License & Services Agreement’’. Nowadays, the OLSA is replaced by the OMA (Oracle Master Agreement). There is not much different about these two. Both agreements say under which terms you are allowed to use the Oracle software. Something you might did not know before reading this blog, is that at the same time, these licenses give Oracle the permission of performing Oracle audits. 

How does an audit looks like

The audit begins when you receive an announcement letter stating that you have been selected for a license audit or license review. The LMS consultant performing the audit or the LMS partner selected for the audit is also mentioned in the letter. As a rule, the letter indicates which legal entities and which Oracle software products are included in the scope of the audit. The letter is addressed to the CIO and / or CFO of your organization. This partly because ensure that the audit receives the greatest possible attention within your organization and is able to do so escalate if Oracle feels that the company is not cooperating with the audit.

You will be in the letter requested to appoint a contact person within the organization. This person acts as an audit coordinator within the company. This person must address several IT employees to address the requested provide information.

After receiving the letter

A kick-off meeting is scheduled at the beginning of the audit, during which the auditors will follow the process to be followed to explain. One of their goals is to discuss the timelines and fine-tune when what data requested by your organization to be delivered to Oracle The proposed methodology includes a Excel template (Oracle Server Worksheet) which you are asked to fill in with all details of your IT infrastructure. In addition, the auditor will usually ask to install and run various scripts to determine the installation and / or use of the various software components. Your internal (and outsourced) IT employees, database and business application manager (s) are usually the people who do this provide information. Once all data has been shared with Oracle, the data is analyzed.

After analysis

After the analysis, a number of additional validation and / or additional questions are asked. You are requested to answer all these questions until the total deployment and use of the Oracle software within your organization is clear. The conclusions of this analysis are then brought together in a formal report, containing your current one license compliance status. End users are not required to sign or approve this report; it is the formal announcement of all identified violations of your current license agreement (if applicable) application). Then usually another meeting is planned, in which you will be explained about the findings in the report. The final report is then handed over to your Sales account manager and is instructed to commercially resolve the identified issues within a period of thirty days, in accordance with the license agreement Oracle’s Compliance Policy.