---
title: Usage
description: Usage monitors how your organization consumes software licenses in real time and historically.
product: OpenLM Platform
---

## About the Usage service

**Usage**  monitors how your organization consumes software licenses in real time and historically. This section helps you:

- Track who is using which applications, where, and for how long
- Detect idle applications
- Analyze past and current sessions
- Monitor license activity per user, workstation, or project

You can explore this data through two main interfaces:

- **Currently consumed licenses (CCL)** – View real-time usage
- **License activity** – Review historical and active session data

## Prerequisites

To collect complete data, install and configure the **OpenLM Workstation Agent** on end-user machines. This lets OpenLM:

- Capture usernames and workstation names
- Track application idle time

:::tip
Without the Workstation Agent, the Usage section will show only partial data collected through the OpenLM Broker.
:::

## Configure settings

To customize how user data is processed in the Usage section, go to **Settings**.

**Example setting:**  
- *Support spaces in username* – Recognizes usernames that contain spaces. Useful when you sync with directories such as Active Directory.

:::note
Activating this option may slightly affect performance due to additional server-side processing.
:::

## Currently consumed licenses (CCL)

Use this view to monitor real-time sessions.

### What you can do

- View active license usage by user and machine
- Identify idle sessions and reclaim unused licenses
- Monitor tokens and borrowed licenses
- Apply filters by server, vendor, feature, user, or license type

### What you can see

| Metric             | What it shows                                         |
|--------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| Server, vendor     | Where the license is managed                           |
| Feature, version   | The licensed feature and its version                   |
| Product name       | Associated product                                     |
| Username           | Who is using the license                               |
| Workstation        | Which machine is running the session                   |
| Start time         | When the license was checked out                       |
| License type       | License model, for example floating or token-based.            |
| Client version     | Version of the application used                        |
| Idle time          | How long the app has been inactive (requires Agent)    |
| Borrowed           | Whether the license is used offline                    |
| Linger time / due  | When the license will be released                      |
| Consumed tokens    | Tokens used by the session                             |

## License activity

Use this view to generate detailed reports on completed (and optionally active) sessions.

### What you can do

- Audit past license usage by user, workstation, or feature
- Group results by user, workstation, project, or other criteria
- Filter sessions by time range and session status
- Include currently active sessions in historical reports

### What you can see

- Product and license type/version
- Workstation and client version
- Username and group (if configured)
- Start and end time of each session
- Status: disconnected or "still in use"
- Linger time and token usage details

### Time range filters

Select a time range to view session data:

- Today
- Yesterday
- Last 7 or 30 days
- Custom range (start and end dates)
- Optionally include currently active sessions

## Use cases

| If you want to...                      | Do this                                         |
|----------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|
| Know who is using what software        | Use CCL to view usernames and sessions          |
| Identify idle sessions                 | Check the **Idle time** column in CCL           |
| Justify or reduce software costs       | Use **License activity** to analyze usage trends|
| Avoid blocked access to tools          | Free up idle licenses for others                |
| Maintain compliance and audit trails   | Use session logs in **License activity**        |