Background

One of the largest international telecom providers faced severe challenges during the ULA certification process for Oracle Siebel.

After the certification, Oracle challenged the results, claiming unlicensed use of Siebel modules not included in the ULA. Based on Oracle’s interpretation, the alleged shortfall exceeded USD 80 million.

The customer was unaware of this exposure, as Siebel licensing heavily depends on interpretation of measurement results and mapping between modules and system views.

Challenge

The customer had heavily customized Siebel modules to fit specific business processes.

Oracle demanded a mapping of these custom modules to standard ones, a procedure complicated by Siebel’s architectural mediator layer called ‘views’.

The customer lacked the knowledge and documentation required to produce this mapping — the third-party implementer hadn’t provided it, and internal specialists didn’t understand the licensing implications.

As a result, Oracle imposed its own interpretation, declaring large parts of the deployment unlicensed.

Actions

• Evidence of misinterpretation — Assisted the customer in formulating arguments proving Oracle’s interpretation was based on incorrect assumptions
• Re-run of measurements — Ensured a second, clean system measurement compliant with Oracle’s formal audit standards
• Siebel licensing education — Conducted training sessions for specialists on Siebel module-to-view mapping and compliance principles
• Siebel clean-up — Eliminated redundant users, remapped access rights, and aligned modules to the correct views per Oracle’s methodology
• Usage assessment — Conducted a full Siebel usage evaluation replicating Oracle LMS methodology to identify potential non-compliance points
• Siebel mapping report — Created a detailed mapping document to support future license management and audit readiness