This document discusses factors to consider when creating an enterprise app store. It notes that traditional software request processes are slow and inefficient, while employees demand quick access like consumer app stores. An enterprise app store can provide this access while maintaining IT control over applications and licenses. However, key factors to address include high licensing costs, diverse IT environments, and complex license terms between applications. The app store must balance user convenience with license compliance and cost controls.

1. WHITEPAPER
Creating a Well-Stocked, Well-Managed
Enterprise App Store
Unifying Software Request, Application Packaging, Deployment
and License Management Processes

2. Creating a Well-Stocked, Well-Managed Enterprise App Store
2
Executive Summary
Today, organizations in just about all industries rely on
business applications for many if not all of their business
processes. As a result, information technology (IT) is under
intense pressure to deliver new applications, keep existing
applications up to date and make applications easily
accessible to end users. At the same time, IT continues to
face significant pressure to reduce costs, a large portion of
which is contributed by software licensing and inefficient
application management processes.
To meet the challenge, IT has to effectively manage
application usage through the entire application lifecycle.
This means addressing three major issues: keeping
applications in a state of readiness for deployment into a
variety of environments; making applications easily and
immediately available to users; and effectively managing
software licenses to ensure continuing license compliance
while optimizing usage and minimizing spend.
Flexera Software offers three industry-leading products that
enable enterprises to address these issues. AdminStudio
Suite helps IT maintain application readiness. App Portal
provides an enterprise app store that empowers users
with convenient self-service access to applications.
FlexNet Manager Suite helps IT and the business
optimize software licenses.
Now, Flexera Software has integrated these three products
to enable a comprehensive approach to managing
applications throughout their lifecycle — Application Usage
Management. Application Usage Management is a unified
and centralized approach to optimizing application usage
and maximizing software value across the entire application
lifecycle. It employs processes and technology to manage
software assets and ensure continuous license compliance
for on-premise, virtual and cloud-based applications. This
strategic approach helps enterprises gain optimum value
from their applications, and drive down costs through
license optimization and increased IT staff productivity.
An important component of an effective Application
Usage Management strategy is the implementation of an
enterprise app store that gives employees a consumer-like,
self-service experience in gaining fast, reliable access to
the applications they need to do their jobs. An enterprise
app store boosts employee productivity by enabling users to
serve themselves. It also helps drive down IT costs by taking
a huge load off the IT staff by automating the process of
employees’ requests for applications.
Because of these significant business benefits, many
enterprises are striving to implement enterprise app stores.
Gartner lists enterprise app stores as one of the top 10
strategic technology trends for 2013.1
If your organization is among the many that are launching
app store initiatives, this paper offers guidance and
presents factors that you need to consider to help ensure the
success of your project. It also describes how the Flexera
Software Application Usage Management approach can
help you address these factors and create a unified process
for managing applications. Employees can have a rich
selection of approved applications from which to choose
and management can rest assured that the right controls are
in place to minimize risk and optimize software spend.
Creating a Well-Stocked, Well-Managed
Enterprise App Store
Unifying Software Request, Application Packaging, Deployment and
License Management Processes
1
“The Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2013”, David W. Cearley, Carl Claunch, Gartner, 12 February 2013

3. Creating a Well-Stocked, Well-Managed Enterprise App Store
3
An Important Strategic Move
If your organization is like most, you have a lot of money
invested in your application portfolio. But are you getting
the maximum return on this investment? You’re probably not
if you’re using traditional software request and fulfillment
processes. These processes are usually quite cumbersome
and involve several IT groups. Users have to fill out detailed
request forms which may have to be routed to managers for
their approval. Service desk agents and administrators then
have to get involved to fulfill the requests.
Many of these request and fulfillment tasks are performed
manually, so they are slow, inconsistent and error prone.
Users may wait days or weeks to get critical applications
that would make them more productive and help drive
enterprise success. Moreover, processing a constant barrage
of one-off application requests consumes valuable IT staff
time. What’s worse, checking for license availability is not
always done, and that exposes the organization to the risk
of over-buying licenses. Conversely, when software request
and fulfillment processes are cumbersome and slow, end
users sometimes install software themselves, circumventing
the IT process. In this case, the organization is at risk of
noncompliance with license agreements. This can lead to
unbudgeted true-up expenses as a result of a software audit.
Compare this to how people obtain applications in their
personal lives. They have convenient and immediate
access to hundreds of thousands of apps through online
app stores such as the Apple App Store and Google Play.
They simply select the apps they need from a catalog
and take delivery immediately to their computers,
smartphones or other devices.
Not surprisingly, employees are demanding this same
level of convenience and immediacy in accessing business
applications in the workplace, a trend known as the
consumerization of IT. If organizations try to buck this
trend, they may lose control of their application portfolios
as employees bypass IT and purchase and/or install the
applications they need on their own. This circumventing
of IT can expose organizations to serious risk that includes
overspending on some software, noncompliance for other
software, and loss or theft of corporate data due the
introduction of malware into corporate systems.
Enterprises can respond to user demands and eliminate
the motivation for going around IT by creating an
enterprise app store that delivers a consumer-style shopping
experience. Users get full visibility into and fast delivery
of all the business applications available to them, so they
are no longer put off by onerous request procedures and
long delivery times. At the same time, IT remains in control
of software assets and enjoys the cost savings that result
from user self-service.
Factors to Consider
The enterprise app store presents IT with an opportunity
to provide substantial business value. With some upfront
planning, you can ensure that you realize maximum return
on your investment in your app store initiative. In planning,
keep in mind that enterprise app stores differ significantly
from their counterparts in the consumer marketplace.
Here are some of the important factors that should be
addressed in planning, selecting and installing an
enterprise app store:
High Licensing Costs
Unlike the majority of consumer apps, enterprise
business applications can cost hundreds, even thousands
of dollars per user. Consequently, IT cannot allow users
to indiscriminately download applications. Some app
requests may require manager approval and IT may
need to track costs to individuals or business units for
purposes of chargeback or showback.
To maintain control of your application portfolio, your
enterprise app store has to employ effective checks and
balances. In establishing control and tracking processes,
however, be sure you don’t put off users with overly
complex requesting procedures or long delays in
fulfilling requests.
IT Environment Diversity
Consumer app stores typically deal with only a single
operating system such as IOS or Android. The business
environment, however, is much more diverse and may
encompass Windows, UNIX and Linux platforms,
virtualized infrastructures, private and public clouds,
software as a service (SaaS) and more. Consequently,
enterprise app stores have to be far more sophisticated
so they can deal with the diversity and heterogeneity
found in most enterprises.
In addition, apps ordered from consumer app stores
are designed specifically for the devices that will be
downloading and running them, such as iPhones. If you
need apps for your iPhone, you order iPhone-specific
apps from the app store listed on your phone.
Enterprise users, on the other hand, need to download
business apps to a variety of devices, ranging from servers
and desktops to laptops and mobile devices. Your enterprise
app store has to accommodate all these different device
types. Additionally, it has to be sophisticated enough to
determine the appropriate operating environment and
device type for each application requested. That’s the
only way to ensure delivery of the right app, in the right
way, for the right operating environment and for the
right device, so the app works properly.

4. Creating a Well-Stocked, Well-Managed Enterprise App Store
4
Complexity of Licensing Terms
License complexity is an additional factor organizations
have to contend with in implementing a successful enterprise
app store. With an eye toward containing software costs,
enterprises purchase licenses in bulk for large groups of
users through volume purchase agreements. The terms
of these licenses are complex and vary widely from one
vendor to another. If you don’t comply with license terms,
vendors may hit you with fines and penalties due to
noncompliance and you may face costly, unanticipated
true-up costs at audit time.
To avoid these unplanned and unnecessary expenses,
you need to ensure that your IT and procurement staff have
access to the details of license terms and product use rights
for each application, and that the organization handles
all application deployments in compliance with these
terms and rights. Additionally, you need to maintain an
audit trail to demonstrate compliance to software vendors
when it comes time for an audit or true-up.
Software License Optimization
Software consumes a significant portion of IT spend, as
much as 35 percent in some cases. Consequently, you must
actively engage in efforts to avoid overbuying of licenses
and ensure that you fully utilize the licenses you have so
you can keep costs in check and minimize risk. That means
operating your app store in the broader context of software
license optimization. That requires the ability to optimally
balance license purchases with license usage rights and
by reclaiming and reassigning licenses for applications
that are installed but are no longer being used.
Achieving this balance requires integrating the app
store with supporting back office systems. Independent
analyst and research firms strongly recommend this type
of integration. As Gartner, Inc. notes, “Where a new app
store is required, integrate it with internal software asset
management and IT procurement systems.2
”
Selection of Deployment-ready Applications
If you want to attract users to the enterprise app store,
it’s essential to provide them with a rich selection of
applications ready for immediate deployment. According
to Gartner, “… the application selection is as important
as the store mechanism itself.3
”
One way to ensure a wide selection of deployment-ready
applications is to integrate the enterprise app store with
an application readiness system that provides automated
application compatibility testing and packaging for a
wide range of deployment scenarios. This integration is
especially useful when you want to move applications to
new operating systems such as Windows 7 and Windows
8, or to new technologies such as desktop and application
virtualization. The application readiness solution will enable
you to minimize the time and effort required to repackage
and manage the applications so they will operate reliably
in the new environments.
The Flexera Software Solution
Flexera Software has been a recognized industry leader in
the enterprise app store market with its field-proven App
Portal product. Now, Flexera Software has integrated App
Portal with two of its other best-of-breed products — FlexNet
Manager Platform (the foundation of FlexNet Manager
Suite for Enterprises) and AdminStudio. This integration
unifies the software request, application compatibility and
packaging, deployment, and license management processes
to enable a holistic and centralized approach to managing
applications throughout their entire lifecycles, an approach
called Application Usage Management.
With the unified Application Usage Management
approach, you can implement and automate workflows
that encompass the multiple functional areas of application
readiness, application access and software license
optimization, regardless of organizational structure or
existing processes. Automation frees the IT staff from
manual and repetitive tasks, increasing IT staff productivity
and eliminating a major source of delay in getting
applications to users.
As a result, you’ll achieve greater speed, efficiency and
consistency in the publishing of new applications to the
app store catalog, and in request and fulfillment processes.
Employees will get the Apple iTunes like experience they
want when requesting business applications. IT can keep
“store shelves” stocked with apps that are ready for
immediate and reliable delivery to the users’ operating
environments and devices of choice. At the same time, IT
will have the confidence of knowing that the organization’s
strategic software assets are being managed efficiently and
cost effectively.
The three products provide a strong foundation on which
to build a comprehensive Application Usage Management
approach. Each product independently delivers leading-
edge functionality.
App Portal
Flexera Software App Portal is a self-service app store that
permits employees to request the applications, services,
devices, and other items they may need from an easy-to-
understand catalog using a Web browser. The catalog
displays only the items each user is authorized to use,
so users get the flexibility and self-service capabilities
they want. The consumer-like shopping experience
presents catalog items in local languages and local
currencies, and apps are organized by category to
simplify navigation.
2
“Enterprise App Stores Reduce Risk and Improve Business results,” Ian Finley, Gartner,1 February 2012
3
ibid

5. Creating a Well-Stocked, Well-Managed Enterprise App Store
5
App Portal automates the fulfillment workflow end to end,
so requests are processed efficiently and consistently, and
users don’t have to wait weeks to get the items they need
to do their jobs. App Portal gathers approvals when
necessary using automated approval workflows that
feature extensive granularity and flexibility. You control
which requests require approval, who can approve
requests and what approval routing structure to use. You
can base conditional approval routing on a variety of
factors, including cost, license availability, security groups
and organizational unit. App Portal maintains a detailed
audit trail of all pertinent activities and keeps the user
informed of the request status.
App Portal tightly integrates with Microsoft System Center
Configuration Manager and Altiris Client Management
Suite, leveraging their software deployment capabilities
for reliable delivery of software to users. It taps into the
wealth of data maintained by Microsoft System Center
Configuration Manager and Altiris Client Management
Suite that defines policies and relationship rules to evaluate
user identity, application dependencies, device type and
network connection, enabling delivery of each application
in the most appropriate way.
You can also connect App Portal to other enterprise systems
to implement a higher level of processes. By integrating
with IT service management systems such as BMC Remedy,
ServiceNow or Microsoft Service Manager, you can
incorporate the app store into your service management
processes to ensure that software delivery complies with
corporate policies and external regulations.
With App Portal, users get the consumer-style experience
they want and IT retains complete control of request,
approval and deployment.
FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises
FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises is a next-generation
hardware and software asset management, contract
management and Software License Optimization solution.
It maintains the asset data that provides insight not only
into license availability, but also into software usage and
usage trends, allowing organizations to optimize licensing
and better forecast future software needs.
This advanced suite automates purchased versus installed
license reconciliation, applies license entitlements to
optimize license consumption and reduces software
audit risk by maintaining continuous license compliance.
FlexNet Manager Suite products are used by hundreds
of organizations worldwide to gain control of software
licensing, reduce risk and optimize software spend across
the enterprise.
AdminStudio Suite
AdminStudio Suite offers extensive support for application
readiness. The suite includes a complete set of automated
MSI packaging, customization, testing and management
reporting capabilities to facilitate packaging operations.
It automates application compatibility testing and
remediation to accelerate migration to Windows 7 and 8 as
well as to Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server
2012. Additionally, it tests and reports on Web application
compatibility with Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10.
The suite also provides a complete set of virtualization
compatibility testing, automated conversion, validation,
editing and management reporting capabilities that help
accelerate the preparation of both desktop and server
applications for reliable deployment and use in physical
and virtual platforms. Application packagers can quickly
prepare applications for deployment in the leading virtual
formats, including Microsoft App-V™
, VMware®
ThinApp™
and Citrix®
XenApp™
. The suite automates the conversion
of MSIs and legacy installers to these formats, ensuring
a consistent approach that is up to nine times faster than
using native or sequencing tools and reducing the cost and
duration of migration projects.
AdminStudio Suite hands off application packages to
today’s leading enterprise deployment systems for fast and
reliable deployment.
The Power of Integration
The integration of App Portal, FlexNet Manager Platform
and AdminStudio enables these three foundational products
to share data and operate in concert to deliver significantly
enhanced functionality.
FlexNet Manager Platform delivers two key data libraries:
• Application Recognition Library. Contains
comprehensive, detailed publisher/application/
version/edition data on more than 110,000
applications from 14,000 vendors. Flexera Software
updates the library every month to ensure its accuracy.
• SKU Library. Provides information for normalizing and
rationalizing purchase orders, helps automate purchase
order processing, and allows automated reconciliation
between license entitlements and software installations.
FlexNet Manager Platform also imports a wide variety of
external data that includes hardware and software inventory
and usage data, purchase order and contract data, and
HR and Active Directory data (for user, computer and
organizational information).

6. Creating a Well-Stocked, Well-Managed Enterprise App Store
6
Based on its comprehensive aggregation of data, FlexNet
Manager Platform calculates optimized license positions
for specific vendors and applications, taking into account
license entitlements, purchased quantities, installations,
usage and contract terms and conditions. It maintains the
license positions in an asset management repository along
with application usage data and other relevant information
for application and license records.
In addition, AdminStudio maintains application metadata
that augments the information in FlexNet Manager
Platform. This metadata includes both product information
such as product name, company name, version, product
description and application icon, and deployment
information such as Microsoft System Center Configuration
Manager site code, ID and server name.
The ability of the three products to operate in concert
and share data brings a whole new level of intelligent
automation that enables organizations to efficiently manage
the lifecycle of enterprise applications. Here are some of
the new capabilities enabled by the integration.
Automated Creation of App Store Catalog Items
When your packaging staff packages an application in
AdminStudio and hands it off to a system management
solution, such as Systems Center 2012 Configuration
Manager, AdminStudio can automatically trigger the
publication of a corresponding catalog item in App Portal.
In addition, when you first set up your enterprise app store,
you can instruct App Portal to add to the store catalog
all applications currently published in AdminStudio. As a
result, all published applications are quickly made available
for request by employees through the app store catalog,
eliminating the delays that are caused when the IT staff
must manually create app store catalog entries.
Automated License Management
When a user requests an application from App Portal, the
product immediately accesses asset data for that application
from FlexNet Manager Platform. The data includes the
licensing position of the requested application (the number
of licenses owned, how many copies of the software are
installed and how many licenses are currently available).
If the license position information indicates that a license
is available for the requested applications, App Portal
instructs FlexNet Manager Platform to reserve a license
for the user. This immediate check for license availability
and subsequent license reservation ensures continuing
license compliance, eliminating the risk of unplanned and
expensive audit true-ups.
Automated License Reclamation
Your enterprise can’t afford to waste money on software
licenses that sit idle because users no longer need the
capabilities that software provides. App Portal’s license
reclamation functionality eliminates this wasteful spending
by ferreting out licenses that are installed but have not been
used for a specified period of time.
App Portal periodically executes a license reclamation
process that queries FlexNet Manager Platform to
determine if there are licenses that are installed but
have not been used for a period of time specified by the
administrator, such as more than 90 days. When App
Portal uncovers installed but unused licenses, it can initiate
an email campaign that notifies affected users, giving
them the option of surrendering the unused application
or keeping it. It can then trigger the system management
solution to uninstall surrendered applications. If a user
does not respond within a specified time period, App
Portal can trigger an automatic uninstall. Alternatively,
it can unconditionally trigger the reclamation of unused
applications from all identified desktops.
Software leasing is another way that the ability of the
integrated products to reclaim and reassign software
licenses can help ensure that license usage is optimized.
With leasing, a user gains access to an app for a fixed
period of time, after which the license is reclaimed and
made available for other users. Leasing is especially useful
in project-based environments in which application needs
change as employees move from one project to another.
The continual reclamation and reassignment of unused,
underused and leased licenses drives up license utilization,
thereby optimizing license spend.
Putting It All Together
You can combine the new automation capabilities provided
by the integration to automate higher-level, end-to-end
process workflows that transcend the multiple functional
areas involved in application publishing, and application
requesting and fulfillment. Figure 1 illustrates an example of
just such a workflow.

7. Creating a Well-Stocked, Well-Managed Enterprise App Store
7
1. An application packager imports an application into
AdminStudio. AdminStudio automatically accesses
the imported application’s unique identity (Flexera
ID) from the application recognition library in
FlexNet Manager Platform. The Flexera ID links the
imported application with its associated data in the
Application Recognition Library.
2a. The packager creates the deployment package and
publishes the application to the deployment system.
2b. AdminStudio triggers the addition of the
application to the App Portal catalog and
delivers the application’s associated metadata
to App Portal.
3. The End User requests an application from
App Portal.
4. When a user requests an application, App Portal
automatically references the asset data in
FlexNet Manager Platform to see if a license is
available for that application. If so, it requests
FlexNet Manager Platform to reserve a license.
(If a license is not available, the automated
workflow could be extended to generate a
request to the purchasing department to procure
additional licenses for the application.)
5. App Portal then determines whether approval is
necessary for that application. If so, it routes the
request to the appropriate approvers according to
pre-specified approval rules.
6. When all necessary approvals have been gathered,
App Portal triggers the deployment system to deploy
the application to the requesting user’s device.
This high level of automation frees the IT staff from
manual and repetitive tasks, increasing staff productivity
and eliminating a major source of delay in getting
applications to users. What’s more, automation enforces
the use of best-practice processes, minimizing the risk
such as noncompliance with license contract terms.
Figure 1. End-to-end process workflow automation
App Packaging
Deployment
System
App
Store
 Check for license
availability
 Reserve license
4
End
User
App is deployed
to user device6
Requests App from
App Store3
Create app
listing in app store2a
Push app to
deployment system2b
Import app into
packaging solution1
 Routed for Approval
 Approval Granted
5

8. Creating a Well-Stocked, Well-Managed Enterprise App Store
8
Fast Time to Value
Integrating the three foundation products — App Portal,
AdminStudio and FlexNet Manager Platform — is
straightforward and requires no programming. So you’ll
be up and running and delivering value quickly.
As Figure 2 illustrates, the products integrate through the
Flexera Software Service Gateway, a fast, lightweight
Enterprise Service Bus implementation that runs on Microsoft
Windows Server 2008 R2 or later. The Gateway supports
message routing, inter-mediation, transformation, logging,
load balancing, failover routing and task scheduling.
If you choose, you can begin by implementing the product
or products that address your most pressing problems
first and then add the other products as you advance in
Application Usage Management maturity. You’ll add value
every step of the way. If you already have one or more of
the products installed, it’s easy to add the others.
Communication among the products is based on the
proprietary Flexera ID, a unique identifier for each of the
more than 110,000 applications identified in FlexNet
Manager Platform. The Flexera ID links application
deployment and licensing information across App Portal,
FlexNet Management Platform and AdminStudio.
Figure 2. Integrating the foundation products
Flexera Service Gateway
Flexera ID
Stored in the Application
Recognition Library (ARL)
App 01
App 02
App 03
App 01
App 02
App 03
MSG-APP-005673
MSG-APP-025652
MSG-APP-765987

9. Creating a Well-Stocked, Well-Managed Enterprise App Store
9
The Flexera ID brings together, in a meaningful, way
two different environments — the application installation
environment and the application purchasing environment.
This intersection gives you broad and deep insight into the
entire application lifecycle, from purchase to retirement.
Conclusion
Flexera Software has led the way in the enterprise app store
market with App Portal. Continuing in this leadership role,
the company has integrated App Portal with the license
optimization capabilities of FlexNet Manager Platform
and the application readiness capabilities of AdminStudio.
The result is faster availability of applications in the app
store, faster delivery of applications to users and optimized
software spend.
This combination of three best-of-breed products brings
new automation and data sharing capabilities to enable
a broader Application Usage Management approach.
With this approach you can implement and automate
workflows and standardize application management
processes that transcend the multiple functional areas of
application readiness, application access and software
license optimization. This strategic approach helps you gain
optimum value from your applications, ensure continual
license compliance, drive down software spend through
license optimization and reduce operational costs through
increased IT staff productivity.
About Flexera Software
Flexera Software is the leading provider of strategic
solutions for Application Usage Management; solutions
delivering continuous license compliance, optimized
usage and maximized value to application producers
and enterprises. Flexera Software is trusted by more than
80,000 customers that depend on our comprehensive
solutions - from installation and licensing, entitlement
and compliance management to application readiness
and software license optimization - to strategically
manage application usage and achieve breakthrough
results realized only through the systems-level approach
we provide. For more information, please go to:
www.flexerasoftware.com

10. Flexera Software LLC
1000 East Woodfield Road,
Suite 400
Schaumburg, IL 60173 USA
Schaumburg
(Global Headquarters):
+1 800-809-5659
United Kingdom (Europe,
Middle East Headquarters):
+44 870-871-1111
+44 870-873-6300
Australia (Asia,
Pacific Headquarters):
+61 3-9895-2000
For more office locations visit:
www.flexerasoftware.com
Copyright © 2013 Flexera Software LLC. All other brand and product names mentioned herein may be the trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners.
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