Switching your Existing Licenses to software_DNA

When to start the transition? 

In most cases, you will want to time the transition to a new licensing solution with your next Application upgrade/version, or with your next new Application launch.

New Users will just use your new licensing solution.

Existing Users who decide to upgrade your Application (i.e. download the next version), will need to know how to activate the Application on your new licensing scheme and possibly receive a new License Activation Code. (see below) 

Gradual or complete transition? 

This is the core of the plan.

A “Gradual" transition implies that you operate two licensing schemes during the transition (months to years), and makes sense for the following:

• You have a large existing customer base, and moving this base all at once would require a lot of effort and support to existing users.
• You don’t want to "force" existing Users to upgrade to the new version all at once.
• You want to take it one step at a time in the full transition to software_DNA Licensing.

A “Complete” transition implies a quick transition to avoid operating two licensing schemes, and makes sense for the following:

• You have a small existing customer base.
• You can make the transition/upgrade mandatory with minimal disruption to your customer base
• You implement software_DNA on a new product.

Getting License Activation Codes to existing Users who want to Upgrade 

New Users will get their License Activation Code when they purchase the upgraded Application using software_DNA, typically via your eCommerce Store-Front, connected to software_DNA for automatically issuing the License Activation Codes

For existing Users, there are multiple possible options based on your overall strategy (free or paid upgrade, discount for existing users, …) and the capabilities of your eCommerce/Store-Front solution.

• Upload of existing “codes” or “keys” to the software_DNA solution using our “Code Upload” feature in the DNA Control Panel.
• Users would keep the same “code”, and activate the upgraded version using their existing code (assumes the existing “code” is compatible with the software_DNA system).
• Free or “paid” upgrade via your eCommerce solution that supports an “Upgrade” option.
• The eCommerce solution would offer the Upgrade only to existing Users, and issue a new License Activation Code via software_DNA.
• Free or “paid” upgrade via your eCommerce solution that supports a “Upgrade/Validate” option.
• The eCommerce solution would offer the Upgrade to all Users, and for existing Users, during the Ordering process, would require the input of the existing “code” that would be validated with software_DNA (the existing “code” ’s would have been uploaded to software_DNA). 

Implementing and Testing software_DNA with your Upgraded Application 

software_DNA offers a complete and free testing environment (we call it “TESTING MODE”) where you can completely implement software_DNA in your upgraded Application, connect it to your eCommerce/Store-Front, and fully test the overall end-to-end process until you are satisfied.

There are several implementation options which you code into your upgraded Application, based on how you want to present the licensing process to your Users. Annotated Source Code Samples, IDE Projects and Developer Guides are available for most IDE’s and programming languages as downloads from your DNA Control Panel account.

Implementing software_DNA within your Application can be done in a matter of hours, followed by a couple of days of thorough testing. 

Finally, configuring our eCommerce Connectors is easy with our step-by-step online Integration Guides.