Case Study: Oracle Application and Technology Licensing Optimization – $6.5M Risk Resolved, $380K Saved

Client: Consumer Goods Company, Southern California

Client Background and Oracle Usage Overview

The Client is a fast-growing consumer goods manufacturer based in Southern California. With over 9,000 employees and a supply chain that spans North America and Asia, the company has heavily invested in Oracle applications and infrastructure to support its operations.

Core Oracle products included:

• Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) – Financials, Procurement, and Order Management
• Oracle Database Enterprise Edition – Back-end for EBS and internal tools
• Oracle Application Server – Supporting internal custom modules
• Oracle BI Publisher – Embedded within EBS reporting
• Oracle Internet Developer Suite – Used in older custom forms

Over the years, as new business units were integrated and customizations increased, the Oracle footprint had grown in ways that significantly outpaced licensing clarity. The company engaged Redress Compliance to conduct a full licensing assessment and optimization strategy for Oracle Applications and Technology.

Discovery and Licensing Baseline Review

Redress Compliance began with a joint discovery across application and infrastructure teams:

• Extracted user access data from Oracle EBS and BI Publisher
• Mapped backend databases and middleware deployments
• Collected ordering documents, Oracle Ordering Language (OOL) records, and support agreements
• Ran Oracle LMS tools across infrastructure environments
• Interviewed functional consultants and third-party support vendors

Key findings:

• EBS Named User Plus (NUP) entitlements were significantly out of sync with actual usage
• Application Server and Internet Developer Suite were deployed outside the original contract terms
• Oracle BI Publisher was embedded in custom workflows with several hundred indirect users
• Oracle Database options like Tuning Pack and Advanced Security were enabled by default
• Corresponding licensing adjustments never followed historical expansions of EBS

License Exposure and Compliance Risk

The analysis uncovered $6.5 million in potential exposure, broken down as follows:

Many of the issues were triggered by:

• Indirect access from third-party tools and warehouse systems
• User overages in test/dev environments are not formally tracked
• Use of outdated licensing metrics (e.g., Professional User) that are no longer aligned with current access patterns

Remediation and Optimization Strategy

Redress Compliance executed a cross-functional remediation roadmap covering applications, databases, and support:

1. Oracle EBS User Optimization
   • Implemented user role mapping and consolidated overlapping user accounts
   • Segmented user profiles to limit access to license-consuming modules
   • Reduced the licensed user base by over 1,500 named users
   • Result: Mitigated $2.4M in user-based risk
2. BI Publisher Access Control
   • Reconfigured workflows to limit report execution to licensed user roles
   • Introduced internal approval gates for adding new BI templates
   • Result: Cut 70% of unlicensed indirect user activity
3. Application Server Rationalization
   • Decommissioned standalone deployments are no longer in use
   • Reclassified usage under existing embedded licensing rights for EBS
   • Result: Removed $900K in unsupported application server risk
4. Database Option Cleanup
   • Disabled all unnecessary options through Oracle parameter changes
   • Retained only Advanced Security, which was tied to compliance needs (e.g., PCI)
   • Result: Avoided $1.3M in retroactive option licensing fees

Oracle Support Cost Optimization

The cleaned-up license baseline allowed the Client to:

• Drop unused application components from active support
• Consolidate fragmented CSI entries into a single managed support relationship
• Renegotiate support terms based on reduced license footprint

Annual support savings: $380,000, achieved through license reduction and optimized support coverage.

Conclusion

This engagement addressed both infrastructure and business application licensing, delivering substantial financial and compliance benefits:

With Redress Compliance’s guidance, the consumer goods company secured its Oracle estate across application and technology layers, eliminating multi-million dollar risks and establishing a foundation for future contract negotiations with Oracle on much stronger terms.

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