ISO/IEC 19770-3:2016 establishes a set of terms and definitions which may be used when discussing software entitlements (an important part of software licenses). It also provides specifications for a transport format which enables the digital encapsulation of software entitlements, including associated metrics and their management.


This common set of terms and associated transport format is intended to facilitate the management of software entitlements. The intended benefits of the better management of entitlements include easier demonstration of proof of ownership, cost optimization of the use of entitlements and easier license compliance management.


Furthermore, one of the benefits of having a standard for entitlement structure is that it may encourage the normalization by industry of names for and the details of, different types of entitlements. A common lexicon is critical to standardization and shared understanding. The terms in this part of ISO/IEC 19770 should form a part of that lexicon over time.


It should be noted that within this text, attributes of an XML entity will be denoted with angle brackets, . XML elements are noted with quotes, "Element".


ISO/IEC 19770-3:2016 deals only with software entitlements, which are defined as the subset of software licenses that are concerned with usage rights. It is expected that the original documentation of licensing terms and conditions will be definitive for legal purposes, and will always take precedence over the Ent encapsulation.


ISO/IEC 19770-3:2016 does not detail ITAM processes required for discovery and management of software (which is provided for in ISO/IEC 19770‑1) or software identification tags (as defined by ISO/IEC 19770‑2).


ISO/IEC 19770-3:2016 does not consider identifying mechanisms for product activation.


ISO/IEC 19770-3:2016 is not intended to conflict with any organization's policies, procedures and standards, or with any national laws and regulations. Any such conflict should be resolved before using this part of ISO/IEC 19770. In case the conflict cannot be resolved, the specification shall not be implemented.