ArcGIS Pro Named User License Borrowing

[JoshuaBixby]

Esri REALLY needs to implement configurable license borrowing for ArcGIS Pro Named User licenses.

Currently:

• ArcGIS Pro users can take a license offline, but the license is offline until the license expires, which can be a year or longer into the future.
• ArcGIS Pro Named User licenses can be "released."  For Portal, the process isn't too bad, but releasing Pro Named Users licenses issued through AGOL is a huge pain.
• ArcGIS Pro Named User licenses can be blocked from offline use, but that is a sledge hammer when we really need a finish hammer.
• ArcGIS Pro license borrowing is possible through Concurrent Use licensing (I think), but that involves standing up yet-another-licensing-mechanism.

For an organization with 10,000+ potential ArcGIS Desktop (ArcMap and/or Pro) users, locking/losing ArcGIS Pro Named User licenses is not an uncommon occurrence.  Casual GIS user:  Wait?  I was supposed to return my offline license before re-imaging my computer?  Since Pro Named User licenses in Portal come with access and licensing issues, ArcGIS Online is a tempting alternative except for the huge hassle it is releasing those licenses through Esri Support.

ArcGIS Pro Named User license borrowing would provide another tool in the toolbox for large organizations to manage licenses.  Allowing both the administrator to restrict and user to set a borrowing duration would cut down on the number of named user licenses that have to be released.

[AmnoyAm]

Joshua,

We hear you loud and clear and understand your frustration.  This feature is definitely on our radar and is scheduled to be part of the ArcGIS Pro 2.2 release.  There are many moving parts and much work to be done on the back end side to make it possible.  But we are working hard to have this feature available for the next major release. 

[KoryKramer]

Hi Joshua.  Just wanted to confirm

"ArcGIS Pro license borrowing is possible through Concurrent Use licensing (I think)"

Start ArcGIS Pro with a Concurrent Use license—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS Desktop 

[KoryKramer]

Joshua, I believe Amnoy was referring to https://community.esri.com/ideas/11109‌ as what might be slated for 2.2.  This idea is marked as Under Consideration currently.

[JoshuaBixby]

Thanks for checking, I thought I read it was possible.  Overall, though, this idea is focused around adding more management options for Named User licenses.

[pfoppe]

We are discussing these challenges internally at our organization and it might be possible to get visibility to users with licences checked out, and possibly even an API call to release the license: 

• Looks to be in the “User Entitlements” API Call -
  https://developers.arcgis.com/rest/users-groups-and-items/user-entitlements.htm
  • Specifically look at the disconnected key and if present… has a new key disconnectedInfo.  Here is an example response for a user with a disconnected license:
    
    

{"username": "<username@<email>_<orgname>","lastLogin": 1549667257000,"disconnected": true,"disconnectedInfo": {"sessionName": "ArcGISPro_105","disconnectedSince": 1549667249000,"disconnectedUntil": 1706774399000},"entitlements": ["3DAnalystN","dataReviewerN","desktopAdvN","geostatAnalystN","networkAnalystN","spatialAnalystN","workflowMgrN"]},

• Possible API call to remove the disconnected license:
  • https://developers.arcgis.com/rest/enterprise-administration/portal/release-license.htm

Which suggests we (as admins) can check it back in…
“...the device is lost, damaged, corrupted, or formatted, the user will not be able to check in the license. This prevents the user from logging in to ArcGIS Pro from any other device. As an administrator, you can release the license. This frees the outstanding license and allows the user to check out a new license or use ArcGIS Pro in a connected environment.”

We have not actually tested the 'releaseLicence' API call, but may look into it further...

[KoryKramer]

In coordination with the release of ArcGIS Pro 3.4, we plan to add the ability for ArcGIS Online admins to limit the duration that an ArcGIS Pro license can be taken offline. Starting with ArcGIS Pro 3.4, there will be a UI in ArcGIS Pro for individual users to "borrow" (take the license offline) for a duration up to but not longer than the number of days set by the administrator.

[KoryKramer]

Hi @JoshuaBixby While there is no plan to provide "license borrowing" of named user licenses at this point, with ArcGIS Pro 3.4 we did address the offline time limit issue that you pointed out would help to cut down on problems.

>>Allowing both the administrator to restrict and user to set a borrowing duration would cut down on the number of named user licenses that have to be released.

See the What's New help to learn more, as well as everything else that is new and improved in ArcGIS Pro 3.4.

[JoshuaBixby]

Kory, thanks for the update.  Limiting offline time for licenses is definitely a positive step, but lack of "license borrowing" equivalent functionality will definitely keep us using Concurrent Use licensing for the foreseeable future.