How a Victorian council tracks 139 software renewals in one place

Keeping track of renewals across the council

One coordinator managed licensing for the council. To check costs and renewal dates, the team had to look through separate documents and admin consoles. Purchases made by other departments added to the work: IT could be asked to fund a renewal for software they hadn't known about. The IT manager described the problem:

Every subscription in one renewal calendar

The team connected Microsoft, Zoom, Adobe and Power BI in the first two days, then added other integrations, including Freshdesk and Smartsheet. They added other tools manually. They now keep a record of all 139 subscriptions in Subble.

1. 1

   Costs and renewal dates

   The team records the cost, billing cycle and next renewal date for each subscription. They can check the calendar to see what is due.

2. 2

   Notes for the budget

   Notes cover whether the supplier charges GST and whether the invoice amount varies. The team can include these notes when they export their subscription details.

3. 3

   Renewal reminders

   The team configured email reminders to allow enough time for each contract's procurement and approval requirements.

Less work to prepare the annual budget

Each July, the team had to gather the same information again to prepare the software budget. As the IT manager put it: "We spend an enormous amount of time building next year's budget, trying to actually find out all these different licences we've got, what the actual costs are and when they're due." Now they can export the costs and renewal dates from Subble, using the records they update throughout the year.

288 licences reclaimed in the first year

IT wasn't always told when a staff member or contractor left, so some licences stayed assigned after they were no longer needed. Subble's cost saving recommendations identified these licences, along with licences assigned to inactive users and people who didn't need paid features. The team reclaimed them to reuse when someone else needed one, avoiding another purchase.

Renewing only the licences they need

The team plans to use Subble's usage data to decide how many licences to renew. The IT manager explained: "we've got 100 licences there, we only need 80. So let's make sure when we come to renewal, we only renew for 80."