How to get the best value from NX token-based licensing

It is 2020 and the time has come to start planning how your company can benefit from the excellent new Siemens NX feature - "Value-Based Licensing". It will be available in NX12.0.2 scheduled for the end of January 2020, although it is currently available in the existing NX1872 release.

If you are unfamiliar with the new Value-Based licensing options, please read the official announcement here and Youtube explanation video.

I would also highly recommend, if you have a spare 30 minutes, you watch Paul Brown discuss Value-Based licensing in more detail in this webinar from December 2019.

Tokens become a very cost-effective way to access advanced NX functionality on an ad-hoc basis.

Sizing your pool of tokens will be critical. Siemens partners can help discuss with you the areas of the product you currently use, the numbers of users you have and the opportunities within token-based modules. The outcome will recommend an appropriately sized license pack, with multiples of the following two options:-

• NX35050 – NX Value-Based licensing 50 pack
• NX35100 – NX Value-Based licensing 100 pack

My first recommendation is to ensure you know how your users consume NX prior to the token discussions. Understanding which modules are currently used, by whom and for how long. will make sizing calculations much more accurate as it will be based on real data. For this, you can use the in-built Siemens Flexnet log analyser or purchase a fully-featured license analysis platform.

In the Saratech webinar video, Paul runs through a scenario to illustrate the token-burn rates (image below).

In this scenario, we see how the token level in the pool drops and increases with the use of advanced features. If at 10am, User 3 wanted to use Moldwizard (63 Tokens) via tokens, he will get a license denial as there are only 40 tokens left in the pool. User 3 would need User 1 or User 2 to 'check back in' their tokens to the pool. Remember that if User 3 intends to use Mold wizard regularly the company might be better off purchasing a dedicated "add-on" license rather than using tokens from the pool, which highlights my second point.

When moving to token-based licensing, get ready to ignore the token values for the first month. Why? Well providing tokens to engineers to try over 50+ different features is like giving candy to a child, they want to try all the flavours! In the first month or two, inquisitive engineers will try out all the token-based NX features to see how it fits with their own design process and if they can get efficiency savings. Be very aware of this if Siemens suggests a free month to test the tokens and then set the values based on use over that first month, it could be much too high.

I know what you are thinking now, how can I stop users from accessing the most expensive token features?

The token values reflect the cost of the modules if purchased, therefore if you had a couple of engineers exploring 'NX General Packaging', you may not have many tokens left for other users in the token pool!!

If you did want to specifically remove NX user access to the most expensive token modules, you can either customise and remove the module menus from the NX UI or use an options file to restrict access.

Conclusion

How can you get the best value from the new NX Token-based licensing?

1. Spend a month or two to understand your current NX usage profiles. Fully understand the behaviours of your top users based on data insights. Don't forget to negotiate on the cost of the new token pool modules. (Tip: Use a license analysis platform to track NX use).
2. Restrict access to the 'expensive' token modules that you know you don't want your users to consume.
3. NX35050 – NX Value-Based licensing 50 pack and NX35100 – NX Value-Based licensing 100 pack are only supplied as subscriptions. So please make sure you monitor and analyse the token use on an ongoing basis to ensure you are at the right utilisation. Using a license analysis platform to track NX users and modules, will show if you are underutilising your token packs, which will allow you to reduce your subscription cost.

As you can tell, I am a big fan of the new Token-Based licensing. Please do ensure you are tracking everything about license usage and getting the best value for money.