License audits: what "compliant" actually means for ProLeiT users
What Plant iT and brewmaxx licensing covers, where sites drift out of compliance without anyone noticing, and how to check before a renewal turns into a surprise.
Published 15 Sep 2026 · 6 min read
Nobody sets out to run an out-of-compliance system. It happens gradually — a client seat added for a new shift supervisor, a module trialed during a project and never formally licensed, a virtualization change that quietly invalidates a license key tied to old hardware. None of it looks like non-compliance from the plant floor. It just looks like getting the job done. The gap only becomes visible at renewal, or during a formal audit, and by then it's an unbudgeted line item instead of a planned one.
What "licensed" actually covers
A Plant iT or brewmaxx license isn't a single yes/no switch — it's a bundle of specific entitlements: which modules are active, how many client and engineering seats can connect, which process units or lines are covered, and which hardware or virtual environment the license key is bound to. "We're licensed" is only true if every one of those dimensions still matches what's actually running in production. Most drift we find isn't dishonesty — it's simply that the plant changed faster than the paperwork did.
Where sites actually drift
- Seats added informally. A new engineer or a temporary contractor gets a login during a busy period, and the extra seat never gets reconciled against the license certificate afterward.
- Modules trialed and kept. A feature gets switched on for a pilot or a project, proves useful, and stays in daily use without ever being converted to a purchased license.
- Hardware and virtualization changes. A server migration, a hypervisor upgrade, or a hardware refresh can change the fingerprint a license key is bound to — leaving the system running on borrowed time until someone notices.
- Lapsed maintenance blocking updates. An expired service/maintenance agreement doesn't always stop the system from running today, but it does stop you from applying the security and feature updates you'll need tomorrow.
- Site or line expansion outpacing licensing. A new process line or a second shift gets brought under the same system without anyone checking whether the license scope covers it.
A self-check before your next renewal
The check we run with customers before a renewal takes an afternoon, not a project: pull the current license certificate and compare it line by line against what's actually deployed — active modules, connected client seats, covered process units, and the hardware or VM environment each key is bound to. Cross-reference maintenance/SMA expiry dates against your planned update schedule. Anything that doesn't match the certificate is a finding, not a crisis — but it's much cheaper to true up on your own schedule than to discover it during a vendor audit or, worse, a support call where a lapsed license blocks the fix you actually need.
Why this is worth doing before renewal, not after
Licensing gaps found proactively are a negotiation; licensing gaps found reactively are a penalty. Vendors are generally far more flexible about true-ups you bring to them yourself than about non-compliance their own audit turns up. A short internal review ahead of your renewal date gives you the leverage to plan the true-up into next year's budget instead of absorbing it as an emergency cost.
As an official ProLeiT system integrator, this is a review we run for customers directly — comparing what's licensed against what's actually deployed, and flagging drift before it becomes a renewal-week surprise.