Kurt Shintaku's Blog

This question came in today from another customer:

Q: We want to use a specific feature of the SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise CAL however while we are covered companywide for Standard CALs, we only have a limited number of Enterprise CALs?  How can we constrict the usage of Enterprise CAL features on our SharePoint Server to ensure that our Enterprise feature usage isn’t out of license compliance?

I researched this a while ago and the answer basically was, there is no facility to restrict Enterprise CAL functionality usage on a SharePoint Server 2010 with Enterprise CAL functionality “turned on”.  If Enterprise features are enabled on a SharePoint Server 2010 install, every SharePoint site on the server has access to the Enterprise features, such as Forms Services, Excel Services, etc.

This means the answer was:  Spawn a new SharePoint Server.

It turns out that the answer hasn’t changed that much today.  Brian Edwards from Microsoft Consulting Services wrote a blog post that to a marginal degree goes over some techniques on how to identify what sites are using Enterprise features & how to restrict or control those features.

This is not a panacea at all but it’s a start for some that are looking for this:

• Mixing SharePoint Standard CALs and Enterprise CALs on the same farm
  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/bedwards/archive/2011/04/23/mixing-sharepoint-standard-cals-and-enterprise-cals-on-the-same-farm.aspx

I also discovered a tool out there that does some reporting of Enterprise feature usage.  I haven’t tried it obviously but apparently it’s free so…:

ECAL Tracker
Are you paying EXACTLY what you should be for your corporate SharePoint implementation?

ECAL Tracker is the only product that allows you to monitor and report on Enterprise SharePoint Services usage. Use ECAL Tracker to verify that you are paying for the appropriate number of Enterprise Client Access Licenses (ECALs).

Features

• Reveals who is using Enterprise Features and where the features are located within the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) farm.
• Detailed reports showing every use of an Enterprise Feature by user or by Feature with detailed date and time stamp information.
  • Reports are available in HTML, Excel, and PDF formats.
  • Report parameters allow you to select the Web application and reporting timeframe.
• Capable of analyzing all Web applications within a MOSS farm to determine where MOSS Enterprise Features have been implemented.

Advantages

• Gain a detailed understanding of where Enterprise Features have been deployed and who is using them.
• Validate your license agreement with Microsoft.
• Track usage to support audit, compliance or governance of Enterprise Feature access.
• Confirm that your staff is using Enterprise Features appropriately within the organization.

Benefits

• Contains and controls costs
• Provides auditable compliance and governance information
• Reduces software maintenance costs by eliminating dead code
• Eliminates erroneous usage of Enterprise Features and decisions based on inaccurate or old data
• Report results can be integrated into your existing reporting systems and dashboards

• LINK:  RDA ECAL Tracker
  http://www.rdacorp.com/services_solutions/Solutions/ECAL%20Tracker.html