The difference between an Oracle Audit and Oracle Review

At first, we will explain what an Oracle Audit exactly is. In case of installing an Oracle software program, whether you are on your own or working for a company, you automatically agree with the terms and conditions of a license agreement. At first, this was called an OLSA. That stands for Oracle License & Services Agreement. These days, there is the OMA (Oracle Master Agreement). Both agreements say under which terms you can use the Oracle software. Something you might did not know is that at the same time, these licenses give Oracle the permission of performing Oracle audits.

The department of Oracle which performs the audits is LMS. This stands for Oracle License Management Services. They perform the audits commissioned by Oracle Corporation. LSM does not do the audits alone. They get help from external parties. These are LMS-partners which perform audits commissioned by Oracle LMS.

How it works

During an Oracle audit, you will be asked to fill in an Excel sheet (this is an Oracle Server Worksheet or OSW) with the details of the IT-infrastructure of your company. Besides that, it is possible that Oracle will ask you to run scripts on your Oracle servers or run scripts/fulfill tasks on different software programs. Herewith, this results in an overview and log files. This overview and these files, you must send to Oracle to analyze. After Oracle analyzing the documents, you will receive a report. Oracle will state your company’s compliance status with this report. 

Ok, but what happens if you ignore the invitation of a license review or license audit? Then Oracle can pass the case to their License Management Services department or legal department of Oracle. If you do not cooperate with an Oracle Audit, this is seen as material violation of the license contract. 

The difference between an Oracle audit and Oracle review

But what is exactly the difference between an Oracle audit and Oracle review? Well, we can tell you: there is not much different about these two. In fact, both expressions have the same meaning. The only difference is the name. The License Management Departments of Oracle calls it an Oracle License Review instead of Oracle License Audit. This is because they want to let it sound friendlier.

Oracle License Management Services (LMS) is the department within Oracle that is in charge with the protection of contractual and intellectual property rights of Oracle. The department does this by conducting license audits with customers and Oracle partners. Oracle LMS is part of the financial organization within Oracle, and is a worldwide organization with several hundred employees and located in almost every country. LMS works closely with the various Sales organizations. Despite the fact that there are other representatives of Oracle (for example, Oracle Account Managers of Compliance Optimization License Sales Representatives) performing similar review activities is Oracle

License Management Services department is the only department officially authorized to conduct license audits in Oracle Corporation.