Every OpenText and Micro Focus audit we defend runs on the same four operations. Each one takes a piece out of the opening finding, in sequence, until only the defensible figure remains.
We take over first contact, scope, the NDA and a single controlled channel. The seven day notice clock starts immediately, so nothing reaches the vendor unmanaged.
We build the effective license position independently against entitlements and the Additional License Authorizations, before any vendor measurement script runs.
We challenge every line of the finding: metric definitions, indirect access, non production use, decommissioned systems. This is where the number falls.
We settle on the buyer's terms and convert forward into a clean OpenPass agreement with audit protections written in.
OpenText gives a licensee seven days notice before an audit, along with the right to copy relevant records. That window is the single most important phase of the whole engagement, because every casual reply, every screen share, every spreadsheet handed over without review becomes part of the record the finding is built on. In the Respond phase we take over first contact, agree the scope, put an NDA in place, and route everything through one controlled channel. The aim is simple: the vendor receives nothing that has not been reviewed, and the clock that started against you starts working for you instead.
Before we argue about the finding, we build our own. In the Reconstruct phase we assemble your effective license position from entitlements, order forms and the Additional License Authorizations that govern most Micro Focus products. We do this independently and, wherever possible, before any vendor self assessment script runs, because a script measures deployment and call it consumption. By the time the vendor presents its numbers, we already know what defensible usage looks like. This is the phase where service accounts, dormant users, non production environments and decommissioned systems are separated from genuine consumption.
A compliance finding is a stack of assumptions priced at full list. In the Rebut phase we take it apart line by line. We test every metric definition against the contract rather than the vendor's interpretation. We challenge indirect access claims, non production use counted as production, and systems long since retired that still appear in the count. We hold the remedy itself to account: a shortfall deemed acquired at then current list price, plus back maintenance and support, plus first year maintenance on the new licenses, plus the cost of the audit. Each of those charges is examined separately, because each is negotiable on its own terms. This is where the average finding comes down by 68 percent.
A reduced finding is not the finish line. In the Resolve phase we settle on terms you can live with and convert the position forward, usually into a clean OpenPass agreement with audit protections, defined metrics and migration rights written in. The objective is not only a smaller number today but a contract that makes the next audit far less likely to surprise you. You can see how this plays out by product across the eight defense tracks, and the conversion itself is the subject of our OpenPass negotiation work.
The method is the same whether you are facing an ECM and Documentum seat count, a Fortify developer seat overclaim, or an ArcSight EPS finding. For the full discipline in long form, read the complete OpenText audit defense playbook for 2026. When a notice has already landed, the fastest thing you can do is open a case.
The Respond phase begins the moment you reach us. Open a case and we will take over first contact inside the seven day window.
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