It is essential for an end user to keep track of the specific software entitlements obtained, independently of the software publisher. Understanding your entitlements helps you to be (better) prepared for an audit, license review, true up or future negotiation with the software publisher.
The objective of this article is to familiarise you with the documents that Oracle recognises as Proof of License.
This document includes the end user’s details, the name of the agreement that governs the purchase, the products that are purchased, the quantity, the license metrics and level, the fees that were paid for the licenses and the terms and conditions for the purchase. In addition, any non-standard terms (e.g. licenses being restricted to a specific application or type of usage) are included in the Ordering Document.
An Oracle Unlimited License Agreement (ULA) is a specific type of Ordering Document. The ULA is a time-based contract for unlimited use of a subset of Oracle products. At the end of the term, the end user may choose to renew the ULA or declare and certify usage to Oracle. If the end user chooses not to renew, licenses will be assigned based on the end user’s current usage and certification at the end date of the ULA.
An Oracle Pool of Funds (PoF) is another specific type of Ordering Document. A Pool of Funds is a non-standard deal that allows a customer to acquire licenses for a set of pre-defined programs – at fixed prices and over a limited period – by burning down a prepaid license credit. The Pool of Funds ordering document specifies the Pool of Funds period, credit and the program licenses that can be acquired, including the available license types and the net license price per individual license type.
This document explains what specific versions of Oracle software the end user is entitled to make use of. These documents include the support contract number, the products included in the support contract, the quantities, license metrics, CSI numbers, the period for which support is paid and the financial fees paid for each of the products.
This document was in the past referred to as “Software License and Services Agreement (SLSA)”, then it was called “Oracle License and Services Agreement (OLSA)” and later on it became “Oracle Master Agreement (OMA)”. These End User License Agreements specify the generic terms and conditions of the licenses that have been purchased against these agreements, including, for example, the specific license metric definitions.
OMA is defined as one single agreement created to support the different lines of business within Oracle (e.g. License Sales, Hardware Sales, Support Sales, Cloud Sales, Consulting Sales, University Sales etc.), in which the duplication of terms and conditions is minimised and the readability of the agreement increases. It includes the generic terms and conditions and the different Schedules (which are integral parts of the agreement) that specify the concepts and terms and conditions applicable to the specified product and/or service.
Schedules included in OMA:
A Framework Agreement is a non-standard end user license agreement, customised for Oracle’s end users. Next to the above listed license agreements, Oracle has a limited amount of specific license agreements for specific Oracle programs. For example, the Oracle Binary Code License Agreement for the Java SE Platform Products – the Oracle Java Standard Edition programs, and all components associated with it are licensed under the terms of the Oracle Binary Code License Agreement for the Java SE Platform Products, and not under the OLSA.
