How to Track Usage in Substly

Substly offers two ways to track usage: through your AD-integration or through the Substly Extension. This article will guide you through the process of viewing tracked usage in Substly.

If you have integrated your Active Directory (AD) with Substly, usage will automatically be tracked for all services and users in your organization, where possible. This means that you will be able to see which services have been logged into and by whom. Usage tracked via your AD is based on active access tokens found from SSO-based logins.

Some services may have limitations on retrieving access tokens. This can be due to security reasons or other technical limitations. For example, a service may require additional authentication steps or may not support SSO-based logins.

Additionally, certain plans may have restrictions on retrieving access tokens. This can be due to the level of access you have to your account or the features included in your plan. For example, a basic plan may not have access to SSO features, making it impossible to retrieve access tokens for tracking usage.

It's important to note that even with Active Directory integration, there may be some limitations on tracking usage through this method. However, Substly will still track usage for all services and users where possible, providing valuable insights into your organization's software usage.

You can also track usage through the Substly Extension. This extension can be installed on your browser and will track usage for all services accessed through that browser. This is especially useful for tracking Shadow IT services. The extension tracks URLs found in our Vendor Database, meaning only SaaS or business applications are tracked; for example, if you use Adobe, Trello, or Slack via your browser, that information gets sent to Substly.

However, if you read your local online newspaper or access any other website on the internet that is not business software, the extension will not track that, and no data is sent to or stored by us.

Once usage has been tracked, you can view it in Substly. To access the usage view, navigate to Usage, then Services or Users. These two different views allow you to view usage based on services, or on a specific user.

View adoption and usage rates of services, unsanctioned or unused accounts, or the source of usage tracking. Depending on how much financial data Substly has access to for each service, even potential savings may be presented.

One of the most useful views in Substly is the Shadow IT view. This allows you to see which Shadow IT services are being used in your organization. To access this view, simply remove the Added to Substly filter, removing services with tracked usage that are already in your service library.

Once you have selected a Shadow IT service, you will be able to see which users have accessed the service, when it was accessed, and at what URL. This information can help you make a decision on whether to add the Shadow IT service to your service library or to ignore it.

Usage can also be viewed based on your users. Navigate to Usage, then Users. Here, you can view potential savings per user, average adoption rate, unsanctioned or unused services, and what the source of usage it for each respective user.

Tracking usage in Substly is a simple and effective way to gain insights into your organization's software usage. By using the AD-integration or Substly Extension, you can easily track usage and view it based on services or users. The Shadow IT view is especially useful for identifying and managing Shadow IT services. Use the information gathered from usage tracking to make informed decisions about your organization's software usage.