Licensing: Workflow applications

Licenses define which features a user can be given access to. Licenses are assigned to roles, and each role inherits licenses from its parent roles. So a user can access all licenses available to the primary and secondary roles that user is a member of. If a role has only one license assigned to it, then that license is automatically the default license for that role. Otherwise, you assign a default license that is first used when the user logs in. Then, the user can select a different license after logging in.

By allowing you to assign multiple types of licenses to different roles, you can balance the total number of licenses required against the need to ensure that no one is locked out of the system because all licenses are being used. These needs should be considered when defining the role hierarchy for IMPAX.

Licenses are merged from all roles

Licenses are merged. Merged roles inherit them from all roles above them in the hierarchy. For example, in the following hierarchy, the Breast Imaging role inherits the licenses from St. Mary's and from Radiology, as well as having the Breast Imaging Radiologist license:

St. Mary's -- Enterprise license

Radiology -- Enterprise license +Radiologist license

Breast Imaging -- Enterprise license + Radiologist license +Breast Imaging Radiologist license

Malcolm

Now, the user, Malcolm, has access to all three type of licenses when he logs into the IMPAX Client. But, because Malcolm is in the Breast Imaging role, it makes sense to set the Breast Imaging Radiologist license to be used by default.

When planning licensing, you can use inheritance to your advantage. You can assign a general license that applies across many roles at a very high level in the role hierarchy, and then assign more specific licenses for roles that are further down the hierarchy.

Use patterns can be balanced against total licenses purchased

By looking at the available and used licenses for your system, you can judge whether you need to purchase more licenses or reassign licenses based on usage patterns and scheduling. For example, you may have six radiologists who need access to 3D tools, but only three of them will likely be reading at one time. Or, you may have 300 clinicians at the site, but find over time that 160 Clinician licenses are sufficient to meet their needs.

Access to multiple license types to ensures availability

You must assign a default license to each role, which the IMPAX Client uses when a user first logs in. For example, all radiologists who read CT and MR studies could be assigned a Radiologist license with the 3D tools option by default. But, this group of radiologists could also have a Radiologist license without the 3D option available to them if all of their default licenses are used. IMPAX automatically fails over to this second license if the first one is not available.