Skip to main content

FlexLM Monitoring & Analytics

Vantage provides comprehensive license usage dashboards and analytics to help you understand FlexLM license utilization patterns across your organization. Monitor usage by users, teams, departments, and clusters to optimize license allocation and reduce costs.

Vantage License Dashboard​

Accessing the Dashboard​

  1. Navigate to License Management:

    • Log into Vantage Console
    • Go to Settings > License Management
    • Select your registered FlexLM server
    • Click View Dashboard

  2. Dashboard Overview:

    • Real-time license usage across all features
    • Historical utilization trends
    • User and group activity
    • Cost analysis and optimization recommendations

Real-time Usage Monitoring​

Current License Status:

FlexLM Server: ansys-production.vantage.com:27000
Status: ✓ Online | Last Update: 2 minutes ago

Feature Usage Summary:
┌─────────────────┬───────┬─────────┬───────────┬─────────────┐
│ Feature         │ Used  │ Total   │ Available │ % Utilized  │
├─────────────────┼───────┼─────────┼───────────┼─────────────┤
│ ANSYS           │ 45    │ 100     │ 55        │ 45%         │
│ FLUENT          │ 32    │ 50      │ 18        │ 64%         │
│ CFX             │ 8     │ 10      │ 2         │ 80%         │
│ MECHANICAL      │ 28    │ 75      │ 47        │ 37%         │
│ HFSS            │ 12    │ 25      │ 13        │ 48%         │
└─────────────────┴───────┴─────────┴───────────┴─────────────┘

Live Usage Feed:

  • Real-time checkout/checkin events
  • User session start/end notifications
  • License queue status updates
  • Server health alerts

User Analytics​

Individual User Tracking:

Top License Users (Last 30 Days):
┌──────────────────┬─────────────┬──────────────┬─────────────┐
│ User             │ Total Hours │ Features     │ Avg Session │
├──────────────────┼─────────────┼──────────────┼─────────────┤
│ john.smith       │ 847h        │ FLUENT, CFX  │ 6.2h        │
│ sarah.johnson    │ 623h        │ ANSYS, MECH  │ 4.8h        │
│ mike.chen        │ 445h        │ HFSS, ANSYS  │ 3.1h        │
│ lisa.brown       │ 389h        │ FLUENT       │ 5.7h        │
│ david.wilson     │ 312h        │ CFX          │ 2.9h        │
└──────────────────┴─────────────┴──────────────┴─────────────┘

User Behavior Insights:

  • Peak Usage Times: Identify when users are most active
  • Session Duration: Average and maximum session lengths
  • Feature Preferences: Which features each user utilizes most
  • Efficiency Metrics: License utilization vs. actual computation time

Team & Department Analytics​

Department Usage Overview:

# Access department analytics
vantage licenses analytics --scope department --timeframe 30d

Department License Utilization:
┌─────────────────────┬─────────────┬──────────────┬─────────────┐
│ Department          │ Total Hours │ Cost Center  │ % of Total  │
├─────────────────────┼─────────────┼──────────────┼─────────────┤
│ R&D Engineering     │ 2,847h      │ CC-101       │ 42%         │
│ Product Development │ 1,923h      │ CC-102       │ 28%         │
│ Consulting Services │ 1,156h      │ CC-201       │ 17%         │
│ Academic Research   │ 834h        │ CC-301       │ 12%         │
│ Training/Education  │ 89h         │ CC-401       │ 1%          │
└─────────────────────┴─────────────┴──────────────┴─────────────┘

Team Collaboration Patterns:

  • Concurrent Usage: Teams working simultaneously on projects
  • Resource Sharing: How teams share limited licenses
  • Project Alignment: License usage patterns by project timeline
  • Cross-functional Usage: Inter-department license sharing

Cluster-based Analytics​

License Usage by Cluster:

Cluster Performance & License Utilization:
┌──────────────────────┬─────────────┬──────────────┬─────────────┐
│ Cluster              │ Licenses    │ Compute Hours│ Efficiency  │
├──────────────────────┼─────────────┼──────────────┼─────────────┤
│ hpc-cluster-01       │ 234 (34%)   │ 5,847h       │ 92%         │
│ gpu-cluster-02       │ 189 (28%)   │ 3,123h       │ 87%         │
│ cloud-burst-aws      │ 156 (23%)   │ 2,456h       │ 94%         │
│ dev-test-cluster     │ 89 (13%)    │ 1,234h       │ 76%         │
│ training-cluster     │ 12 (2%)     │ 289h         │ 68%         │
└──────────────────────┴─────────────┴──────────────┴─────────────┘

Cluster Optimization Insights:

  • License Locality: How licenses are distributed across clusters
  • Queue Analysis: License bottlenecks by cluster
  • Resource Correlation: License usage vs. CPU/GPU utilization
  • Cost per Cluster: License costs attributed to each cluster

Historical Trend Analysis​

Usage Patterns Over Time​

Monthly Utilization Trends:

# Vantage Dashboard API for custom analytics
import vantage_sdk

client = vantage_sdk.Client(api_key='your-api-key')

# Get historical usage data
usage_data = client.licenses.get_usage_history(
    server='ansys-flexlm',
    timeframe='6months',
    granularity='daily'
)

# Analyze trends
for month in usage_data.by_month():
    print(f"{month.name}: {month.avg_utilization:.1f}% avg utilization")
    print(f"  Peak: {month.peak_utilization:.1f}% on {month.peak_date}")
    print(f"  Users: {month.unique_users} unique users")
    print(f"  Projects: {month.active_projects} active projects")

Seasonal Analysis:

  • Academic Calendar Impact: Usage patterns in educational environments
  • Business Cycles: Quarterly project deadlines and usage spikes
  • Holiday Effects: Reduced usage during vacation periods
  • Product Release Cycles: Increased usage during development phases

Predictive Analytics​

Usage Forecasting:

License Demand Forecast (Next 90 Days):
┌─────────────┬──────────────┬───────────────┬─────────────────┐
│ Feature     │ Current Avg  │ Predicted Avg │ Confidence      │
├─────────────┼──────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────────┤
│ FLUENT      │ 32 licenses  │ 38 licenses   │ 87% confidence  │
│ ANSYS       │ 45 licenses  │ 52 licenses   │ 91% confidence  │
│ CFX         │ 8 licenses   │ 12 licenses   │ 76% confidence  │
│ MECHANICAL  │ 28 licenses  │ 31 licenses   │ 83% confidence  │
└─────────────┴──────────────┴───────────────┴─────────────────┘

Recommendations:
• Consider adding 10 FLUENT licenses for Q4 projects
• CFX usage trending up - monitor for potential shortage
• MECHANICAL usage stable - no action needed

Cost Analysis & Optimization​

License Cost Breakdown​

Cost Attribution Dashboard:

Monthly License Cost Analysis:
┌─────────────────────┬─────────────┬──────────────┬─────────────┐
│ Cost Center         │ License Cost│ Usage Hours  │ Cost/Hour   │
├─────────────────────┼─────────────┼──────────────┼─────────────┤
│ R&D Engineering     │ $42,300     │ 2,847h       │ $14.86      │
│ Product Development │ $28,950     │ 1,923h       │ $15.05      │
│ Consulting Services │ $17,340     │ 1,156h       │ $15.00      │
│ Academic Research   │ $12,510     │ 834h         │ $15.00      │
└─────────────────────┴─────────────┴──────────────┴─────────────┘

Total Monthly Cost: $101,100
Average Cost per Hour: $14.94

ROI Analysis:

  • License Utilization ROI: Revenue generated per license hour
  • Project Profitability: License costs vs. project billing
  • Efficiency Metrics: Computational output per license dollar
  • Optimization Opportunities: Under-utilized licenses and reallocation potential

Cost Optimization Recommendations​

Automated Insights:

Vantage License Optimizer Recommendations:

💡 COST SAVINGS OPPORTUNITY
   Reduce MECHANICAL licenses from 75 to 65
   Average utilization: 37% (Target: 70-85%)
   Potential monthly savings: $3,500

💡 EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENT
   Redistribute 5 HFSS licenses to FLUENT pool
   FLUENT utilization: 64% (approaching capacity)
   HFSS utilization: 48% (underutilized)

💡 USAGE OPTIMIZATION
   Implement license reservation for R&D team
   Current wait time: 23 minutes average
   Estimated productivity gain: 8%

⚠️  CAPACITY WARNING
   CFX licenses at 80% utilization
   Projected shortage in 3 weeks
   Recommend adding 3-5 licenses

Alerting & Notifications​

Dashboard Alerts Configuration​

Usage Threshold Alerts:

# Vantage Alert Configuration
alerts:
  high_utilization:
    threshold: 85%
    features: [FLUENT, CFX, ANSYS]
    notification_channels:
      - email: license-admin@company.com
      - slack: #license-monitoring
    
  license_shortage:
    threshold: 95%
    duration: 5_minutes
    escalation:
      - immediate: license-admin@company.com
      - after_30min: engineering-leads@company.com
  
  unusual_usage:
    deviation: 50%  # 50% above normal
    timeframe: 1_hour
    actions:
      - send_notification
      - create_ticket

Department Budget Alerts:

budget_alerts:
  monthly_budget:
    departments:
      - name: "R&D Engineering"
        budget: $45000
        threshold: 90%
      - name: "Product Development"
        budget: $30000
        threshold: 85%
    
  cost_anomaly:
    detection: machine_learning
    sensitivity: medium
    actions:
      - alert_finance_team
      - flag_for_review

User Notifications​

Personal Usage Dashboard:

Your License Usage Summary (john.smith):
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ This Month: 89.5 hours across FLUENT (65h), CFX (24.5h)    │
│ Department Ranking: #2 out of 24 users                     │
│ Efficiency Score: 8.7/10 (High utilization, low idle time)│
│ Cost Attribution: $1,342.50 (Under budget: $157.50)       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Recommendations for You:
• Schedule longer sessions to reduce checkout overhead
• Consider batch processing for CFX jobs
• Your peak usage is 10-11 AM - book licenses in advance

Team Collaboration Features​

License Sharing & Coordination​

Team License Pools:

# Configure team-based license sharing via Vantage API
team_config = {
    "aerospace_team": {
        "members": ["john.smith", "sarah.johnson", "mike.chen"],
        "reserved_licenses": {
            "FLUENT": 8,
            "CFX": 3
        },
        "priority": "high",
        "project": "aerospace-2024"
    },
    "automotive_team": {
        "members": ["lisa.brown", "david.wilson", "anna.taylor"],
        "reserved_licenses": {
            "ANSYS": 5,
            "MECHANICAL": 10
        },
        "priority": "medium",
        "project": "vehicle-simulation"
    }
}

# Apply team configuration
vantage.licenses.configure_teams(team_config)

Collaboration Dashboard:

Team License Coordination:
┌─────────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────────┐
│ Team            │ Active Now  │ Queued Jobs │ Next Available  │
├─────────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────────┤
│ Aerospace       │ 6/8 FLUENT  │ 3 jobs      │ 14:30 (est.)    │
│ Automotive      │ 12/15 ANSYS │ 1 job       │ Now available   │
│ Energy Systems  │ 4/6 CFX     │ 0 jobs      │ Now available   │
│ Consulting      │ 8/20 Mixed  │ 5 jobs      │ 16:45 (est.)    │
└─────────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────────┘

Project-based Tracking​

Project License Attribution:

Project: Aerospace Vehicle Design (PRJ-2024-001)
Duration: Jan 1 - Dec 31, 2024
Budget: $25,000 license costs

Current Status:
• License spend: $18,450 (74% of budget)
• Remaining budget: $6,550
• Projected overage: $2,100 (requires approval)

Top Contributors:
1. CFD Analysis Phase: $8,900 (FLUENT, CFX)
2. Structural Analysis: $6,200 (ANSYS, MECHANICAL)
3. Electromagnetic: $3,350 (HFSS, Maxwell)

Recommendations:
• Optimize CFD mesh density to reduce computation time
• Consider academic licenses for validation studies
• Schedule remaining work during off-peak hours

Integration with Business Systems​

ERP/Billing Integration​

Automated Cost Allocation:

# Vantage integration with business systems
class LicenseCostAllocator:
    def __init__(self, vantage_client, erp_client):
        self.vantage = vantage_client
        self.erp = erp_client
    
    def monthly_allocation(self):
        # Get license usage by cost center
        usage = self.vantage.licenses.get_usage_by_cost_center()
        
        # Create billing entries
        for cost_center, usage_data in usage.items():
            billing_entry = {
                'cost_center': cost_center,
                'expense_category': 'Software Licenses',
                'subcategory': 'Engineering Software',
                'amount': usage_data['total_cost'],
                'details': usage_data['feature_breakdown'],
                'period': usage_data['billing_period']
            }
            
            # Submit to ERP system
            self.erp.create_expense_entry(billing_entry)
        
        return billing_entry

# Schedule monthly cost allocation
allocator = LicenseCostAllocator(vantage_client, erp_client)
allocator.monthly_allocation()

Reporting & Analytics API​

Custom Reports via API:

# Generate custom license analytics reports
import vantage_sdk

def generate_executive_summary():
    client = vantage_sdk.Client()
    
    # Get high-level metrics
    summary = client.licenses.get_executive_summary(
        timeframe='current_month',
        include=['utilization', 'costs', 'efficiency', 'trends']
    )
    
    # Generate executive dashboard
    report = {
        'license_efficiency': summary.utilization.average,
        'cost_trends': summary.costs.trend_analysis,
        'utilization_by_department': summary.department_breakdown,
        'optimization_opportunities': summary.recommendations,
        'risk_indicators': summary.capacity_warnings
    }
    
    return report

# Generate weekly reports
weekly_summary = generate_executive_summary()

Best Practices​

Dashboard Optimization​

  1. Set Appropriate Refresh Intervals:

    • Real-time views: 30-60 seconds
    • Historical analysis: 5-15 minutes
    • Trend reports: Hourly updates

  2. Configure Meaningful Alerts:

    • Avoid alert fatigue with appropriate thresholds
    • Use escalation policies for critical issues
    • Implement intelligent grouping for related alerts

  3. Customize Views by Role:

    • License Administrators: Server health, capacity planning
    • Department Managers: Cost attribution, team usage
    • End Users: Personal usage, queue status
    • Executives: High-level trends, ROI metrics

Data-Driven Decisions​

License Planning Workflow:

Monthly License Review Process:

1. Review Usage Trends (Week 1)
   └─ Analyze utilization patterns
   └─ Identify capacity constraints
   └─ Review cost efficiency

2. Stakeholder Input (Week 2)
   └─ Collect department projections
   └─ Review project timelines
   └─ Assess new requirements

3. Optimization Planning (Week 3)
   └─ Model different scenarios
   └─ Calculate ROI for changes
   └─ Prepare recommendations

4. Implementation (Week 4)
   └─ Execute approved changes
   └─ Monitor impact
   └─ Document lessons learned

Next Steps​

Pro Tip: Use Vantage's machine learning-powered analytics to automatically identify optimization opportunities and predict future license needs based on historical patterns and project timelines.