The IBM software audit process, stage by stage.

Stage one: the notice.

An audit, or a license review, opens with a formal notice naming the products in scope and requesting deployment data. This is the moment that sets the boundary for everything that follows. The named scope is exactly that, a boundary, and the date on the notice starts the clock that matters. The instinct to cooperate fully and fast is understandable, but the first response should be measured: acknowledge, scope, and prepare, rather than hand over raw data.

Stage two: data collection.

IBM then asks you to run a deployment data collection tool and return the output. This is where exposure is most often manufactured, because the tool reports what is installed, not what you are entitled to run. Returned raw, that output becomes the baseline for every finding. The disciplined move is to validate and curate the data against your own records before anything leaves your network.

Stage three: the draft findings.

From the collected data, IBM produces a draft effective license position comparing deployments to entitlements. Drafts tend to read in the vendor's favor: full-capacity charging where sub-capacity should apply, PVU values counted against peak cores, and entitlement offsets left out. A draft is a position to be tested, not a bill to be paid.

Stage four: reconciliation and challenge.

This is where an independent position earns its keep. You rebuild the PVU and sub-capacity calculation from your own evidence, restore offsets, and challenge each finding line by line. The gap between the draft and the reconciled number is often substantial, and it is closed here, on the facts, not at the negotiating table later.

Stage five: settlement.

Finally the remaining differences are settled. With a reconciled position in hand, the conversation is about a defensible number and protective terms, rather than damage control against the opening claim. Timing matters here too, including how IBM quarter-end shapes the incentives across the table.

What this means under audit.

The audit is not one event but a sequence, and each stage hands leverage to whoever prepared for it. Contain the notice, curate the data, test the draft, reconcile the numbers, and settle from strength. That sequence mirrors our method of Contain, Reconcile, Challenge, and Settle, and it is the difference between negotiating from your numbers and reacting to theirs.