PTC's New Manage Licensing Application
Welcome to the FAQ for the new Manage Licensing application. Here, you’ll find answers to common questions and helpful tips to make the most of our new self-service tool.
Redesigned based on your feedback, the app offers a seamless, intuitive experience for managing licenses with PTC products.
Currently, all ThingWorx and Windchill products are supported, with more PTC products to be included throughout 2025.
About the Manage Licensing Application
The new Manage Licensing app is an enhanced self-service tool within the PTC eSupport portal. It provides a seamless and user-friendly experience for managing licenses for all ThingWorx and Windchill products.
The app was launched on May 13, 2024, and can be accessed through the existing PTC eSupport portal. App enhancements are released on a regular basis.
Yes, for ThingWorx and Windchill products only effective May 13, 2024. We will continue migrating products through 2025 until we are fully using the Manage Licensing app and can retire the existing License Management web tools.
The app is available in Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. Simply click your name in the top right of any screen and select the Change Language option.
Yes, new features continue to be added, and additional PTC products will be added to the new licensing experience in 2025. Creo will be included in the next group of products. PTC strives to be on a single licensing experience (our new Manage Licensing app) by the end of 2025.
Access and General Navigation
The initial release exclusively supports license management activities for ThingWorx and Windchill products. If you own additional PTC products, you will continue to complete license management activities in the existing License Management portal the same way you do today.
Customers and partners with the License Management permission set in PTC’s Web Access Management tool have access to the Manage Licensing app and are able to perform licensing actions. For partners to operate licensing on behalf of their customers, a relationship may need to be set up by PTC with the customer’s approval. Relationships already exist in the current licensing experience, so setup is likely already in place for most partners and their customers.
Access the Manage Licensing app by following these two easy steps:
1. Log in to PTC eSupport and click on Manage Licenses on the homepage as you do today.
Or you can navigate directly to: http://www.ptc.com/support/license-management
2. Click the link at the bottom of the screen to manage ThingWorx and Windchill licenses. This opens the Manage Licensing app.
Access from License Management portal on PTC eSupport:
New Manage Licensing app:
1. Log in to PTC eSupport and click on Manage Licenses on the homepage as you do today.
Or you can navigate directly to: http://www.ptc.com/support/license-management
2. Click the link at the bottom of the screen to manage ThingWorx and Windchill licenses. This opens the Manage Licensing app.
Access from License Management portal on PTC eSupport:
New Manage Licensing app:
Features and Benefits
The key benefits include:
- A modern user interface
- Robust self-service capabilities (such as license assignment and modification)
- Centralized entitlement and order information management
- Instant access to new licenses and advanced filtering options
- Easy identification of a license file's end date, which is aligned to the contract end date
- A modern user interface
- Robust self-service capabilities (such as license assignment and modification)
- Centralized entitlement and order information management
- Instant access to new licenses and advanced filtering options
- Easy identification of a license file's end date, which is aligned to the contract end date
PTC customers and partners can enjoy the following features:
1. Users are able to install products on one or more licensing hosts.
2. Licensing host configurations can be saved for future use and users are able to alter them as needed.
3. Users are able to easily identify the status of their products across orders and licensing hosts, including where their products are installed and how many licenses are still available.
4. Users can move products between licensing hosts and change quantities in real time.
5. Users can easily identify a license file's end date, which is aligned to the contract end date.
1. Users are able to install products on one or more licensing hosts.
2. Licensing host configurations can be saved for future use and users are able to alter them as needed.
3. Users are able to easily identify the status of their products across orders and licensing hosts, including where their products are installed and how many licenses are still available.
4. Users can move products between licensing hosts and change quantities in real time.
5. Users can easily identify a license file's end date, which is aligned to the contract end date.
Manage Licensing Hosts
The move operation is intended to stay within like environments: Production to Production or Non-Production to Non-Production. Based on feedback, we're exploring future functionality that allows a Non-Production host to be reclassified as Production.
Non-Production classifications are meant for development or sandbox environments, and they are not counted against quantities installed. Only products assigned to your Production hosts will count as installed.
The products do not show in the available licenses view because those products were fully allocated to a Production server. That does not prevent the addition of licenses to a Non-Production host. Please create a Non-Production host and then select assign products, or go to the Non-Production license host details page and select assign products. Once the system identifies you are assigning a license to a Non-Production host, all purchased products are available for assignment up to the purchased amount. You also have the option to clone the product license configuration from one of the Production servers which can expedite the process of assignment.
Our Windchill product utilizes multiple license types, but primarily offers licenses by Registered User, which may be the same users accessing more than one Production instance for a small number of companies. As license generation moves to the new Manage Licensing app, you will see that we currently track constrain Production licenses to be allocated only up to the amount purchased. We have options to handle full allocation across multiple Production instances and recommend opening a ticket with Licensing Support for assistance. More can be learned at https://www.ptc.com/support/article/CS418661.
Create the Production host first. Then, create a Non-Production host and choose Clone an Existing Licensing Host. Select the already-created Production host. You can also clone Non-Production hosts. We are working on additional improvements related to cloning hosts.
Views and Filtering
Multiple Filters: Apply multiple filters at the same time by first applying one filter and then applying additional filters.
Remove Filters: Remove a filter by clicking the “X” icon. You can remove all filters by clicking “Clear Filters.”
Filter Logic: When applying multiple filters of the same category, “or” logic will be automatically applied. Ex. “Product ID equals TWX-123 OR Product ID equals TWX-456.” When applying multiple filters of different categories, “and” logic will be automatically applied. Ex. “Product ID equals TWX-123 AND Status equals Available.”
Filter Search: When typing a value, suggested matching results will appear. Click a matching result to apply it as a filter. Or click “enter” to search using “contains” logic. Ex. “Product Description CONTAINS Windchill.”
Product Family Filters: Easily filter to only ThingWorx or only Windchill products using quick Product Family Filters. Additional filters can be applied after using Product Family Filters.
Remove Filters: Remove a filter by clicking the “X” icon. You can remove all filters by clicking “Clear Filters.”
Filter Logic: When applying multiple filters of the same category, “or” logic will be automatically applied. Ex. “Product ID equals TWX-123 OR Product ID equals TWX-456.” When applying multiple filters of different categories, “and” logic will be automatically applied. Ex. “Product ID equals TWX-123 AND Status equals Available.”
Filter Search: When typing a value, suggested matching results will appear. Click a matching result to apply it as a filter. Or click “enter” to search using “contains” logic. Ex. “Product Description CONTAINS Windchill.”
Product Family Filters: Easily filter to only ThingWorx or only Windchill products using quick Product Family Filters. Additional filters can be applied after using Product Family Filters.
Apply quick filters for ThingWorx and Windchill on the Products Licenses page by clicking on the Windchill or ThingWorx icon. Or click the Product Family filter and then select the corresponding icon. The same filtering actions can be done on the Host Details page.
Click on the Product Description from the Product Licenses page or from a host to see the Product Details. The first tab called Current Configurations shows the quantities that have been installed on each host. You can also navigate to each host from the Product Details page. A single view showing all installed products, their quantities, and their assigned hosts is coming in a future release.
Click on the Product Description from the Product Licenses page or from a host to see the Product Details. The second tab called Feature List will list the features associated with the product and in which versions of the product.
Easily bring data into spreadsheets to save locally and perform data analysis using the Download Excel File button. Currently, you can export the Product License page, Product Details page, and Host page, which can be combined/filtered/pivoted outside the system, in spreadsheets. We are continuing to release new views and customization capabilities.
Click the Personalization icon (3 black bars) to select the columns to display. Drag columns up and down in the list to move them left and right on the page. The same option will be added to other tables and new optional columns are coming soon.
For a simplified view of the contents of your license file, go to the Host License File generation tab of the Host History. Click the Summary View button for each license file that has been generated for the Host. The summary view is available for licenses generated since October 2024.
Versions and License End Dates
By default, the license assignment and generation process will include the latest version of software, and most PTC customers use the latest version. In the event a prior version is needed, please visit the host details page (go to Manage Hosts, then select your targeted host from the list) to locate an option for Manage Versions just above the assigned product list.
Expiration dates in the license file are based on the contract end dates for the customer subscription. Alignment of those dates is meant to set consistent expectation for when terms end and renewed licenses are needed. Once renewals are booked, the renewed term end dates are made available to the new licensing tools for creating updated license files. Now that we're saving license host configurations, this is as easy as clicking a button to regenerate a device's license file with the new dates. It is also important to note that renewals can be booked up to 120 days in advance and in many cases auto-book 45 days in advance of an end date.
Easily see the version of each product installed on the Host details page by using the Software Version column. Under Installed Products on the Host Details page, you will find all the products installed with quantities and the version.
General Capabilities and Functionality
Your session will time out for the Manage Licensing app on eSupport after 10 minutes of inactivity. PTC will continue to monitor activity and discuss whether that time can be extended in the future.
The Customer Detail Report (CDR) only references the original order number from the initial subscription transaction. The new Manage Licensing app references the most recent renewal or amendment order number in some cases. We are working to make it more consistent. A number that will remain consistent for each transaction and can be used for comparison is the Subscription Number.
Yes, perpetual products are included in the product license list and will show the support contract end date instead of the subscription end date. In the case that the products are off support, you may see expired or no date in the end date column. If you believe perpetual licenses are incorrectly shown in your list, please open a case with our Licensing Support team to align on the changes and to have the list corrected.
The products are associated to different installed base records, being part of different subscriptions or transactions on the same subscription. In a future update, we plan to provide table views where the products can be listed in detail (current view) or in summary, where like products roll up to a single line.
Partners
While this is meant to be a self-service experience for customers and partners, PTC Admins continue to have the ability to perform licensing actions on behalf of their customers. Partners can access the app the same way as customers - via the eSupport portal.
Partners will find customer enablement materials as well as partner-specific Quick Reference Guides in the License Management Guide. On May 22, 2024, PTC distributed a pre-recorded enablement session to help partners understand and use the new experience. Partner Office Hours took place on June 6 for live support.
Resources and Support
Instructions and helpful resources to make the most of the new experience are available in the License Management Guide on PTC eSupport.
Enablement resources, including, self-serve, localized Quick Reference Guides, How-To videos, and training recordings of introductory and advanced courses are available on PTC eSupport. These on-demand resources provide information on the app’s features, navigation, and functionality. You can access these resources in the License Management Guide.
Leverage PTC Community to receive support from peers and PTC Subject Matter Experts. Additionally, a virtual ‘Ask the Experts’ event was hosted through PTC Community on June 4, 2024, where Subject Matter Experts answered questions live about the new experience. To learn more about this event and view the Q&A, visit the PTC Community event page.
The support process remains the same. For inquiries or issues, please contact PTC Licensing Support by submitting a ticket via the My PTC Assistant and selecting License Management.