This glossary will help you understand the key metrics and terminology used in ActivTrak for BI - Technology License Optimization. Use this reference to interpret data and effectively communicate findings to your IT, finance, and procurement teams.
Also known as Active Users
Definition
The number of users who have spent time in the selected application category or a specific application during the selected time period. This counts unique users with any recorded activity, regardless of how much time they spent.
Example
With all categories and applications selected, 142 users were active during the 4-week period. Filtering to a specific application like Zendesk might show only 56 active users—meaning 86 users in your organization never touched Zendesk during that period. Comparing Active App Users to Owned Licenses reveals whether you're over- or under-provisioned.
Where to find it
Technology & License Optimization:
Technology Usage - Saving Opportunities:
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires
ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Definition
The annual per-user license cost for a given application. This represents the price your organization pays per license seat per year, as configured in your license data.
Example
Zendesk costs $280 per user annually, while Slack costs $150. This 12x cost difference means that even a small number of unused Zendesk licenses has a much bigger financial impact than unused Slack licenses. With 32 Zendesk licenses, each one you can reclaim saves $280 per year—making Zendesk a higher-priority target for optimization despite having fewer total licenses.
Where to find it
Technology Usage - Saving Opportunities:
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires
ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Definition
The software application or specific URL being analyzed. In the License Utilization & Cost table, applications are grouped by parent product (e.g., MS Office) with individual components listed beneath (e.g., Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Teams, etc.).
Example
The MS Office grouping shows 173 active users at the parent level, with two components underneath: Microsoft Word (170 active users, 160 licenses) and Microsoft Excel (172 active users, 135 licenses). The component-level breakdown helps you understand which specific services within a suite are driving usage and where license allocation may need adjustment.
Where to find it
Technology Usage - Saving Opportunities:
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires
ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Definition
The average time spent per user per day on the selected application category or specific applications. This measures usage intensity—not just whether someone uses an application, but how much time they spend in it on a typical day.
Example
An organization-wide average of 3.3 active hours per day indicates moderate usage intensity across the selected tools. However, individual users vary widely: Gavin W. averages 4.8 hours per day (a power user), while Natalie A. averages only 0.8 hours per day (a light user). This range can inform license tiering decisions if the application offers different plan levels.
Where to find it
Technology & License Optimization:
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires
ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Definition
The average hours of activity per day for a specific user across all selected applications, displayed in the user list on the Saving Opportunities page. This provides a quick view of each user's overall technology engagement level.
Example
Amber W. averages 4.2 activity hours per day, indicating heavy application usage, while Alex D. shows 0.0 hours—suggesting either inactivity or that their work doesn't involve the selected applications. Users with very low averages may be candidates for license reclamation or reassignment.
Where to find it
Technology Usage - Saving Opportunities:
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires
ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Also known as Avg. Mins per Use/Day
Definition
The average number of minutes per user per day spent in the selected application, displayed as bars in the Usage Trend chart. This daily metric helps you track whether usage intensity is increasing, stable, or declining over time.
Example
If the Usage Trend chart shows bars consistently around 30 minutes across the selected period, usage intensity is stable. A downward trend in average minutes alongside a stable user count could indicate that employees are shifting to an alternative tool—valuable intelligence for planning future license investments.
Where to find it
Technology & License Optimization:
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires
ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Definition
A classification grouping for applications based on their function or purpose (e.g., communication, productivity, development, design). Categories allow you to analyze usage patterns across groups of related tools rather than individual applications.
Example
Filtering to a "Communication" category might show combined usage for Slack, email, and video conferencing tools, giving you a holistic view of how your organization communicates. This category-level view helps identify redundancies where multiple tools serve similar functions and consolidation may be possible.
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires
ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Definition
The total annual cost of all owned licenses for a specific application, calculated by multiplying the license count by the annual per-user cost. This represents what your organization pays for the application regardless of actual usage.
Calculation
License Count × Annual Cost per User
Example
Zendesk has 32 licenses at $280 per user, resulting in a Cost of Ownership of $8,960. Slack has 40 licenses at $150 per user, giving a Cost of Ownership of $6,000. Despite Slack having more licenses, Zendesk's cost of ownership is higher due to its significantly higher per-user price—making Zendesk optimization more financially impactful.
Where to find it
Technology Usage - Saving Opportunities:
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires
ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Definition
The number of days since the most recent recorded activity in the selected application. At the KPI level, this measures organization-wide recency (days since any user last used the application). At the user level, it measures how recently a specific individual used the application.
Example
The organization-wide Days Since Last Activity is 5, meaning someone used the selected application as recently as 5 days ago. At the user level, Crystal E. and Matthew K. both show 22 days since last activity—meaning they haven't used the application in over three weeks. If your organization's reclamation threshold is 30 days, these users are approaching the cutoff. Bailey S. (6 days) and Brenda Y. (6 days) are recent, active users.
Where to find it
Technology & License Optimization:
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires
ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Definition
The total number of days a user recorded activity in the selected application during the selected time range. This measures usage frequency—how many days the user actually used the tool, not how many days were available.
Example
In a 4-week (20 weekdays) period, Brenda Y. had 19 days with activity—using the application nearly every workday. Crystal E. had only 7 days with activity, using it about a third of available days. This frequency difference helps distinguish daily-use power users from occasional users, informing both license tier decisions and reclamation candidates.
Where to find it
Technology & License Optimization:
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires
ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Definition
The average hours per day a specific user spent in the selected application on days they were active. This measures usage intensity at the individual level, complementing Days with Activity (frequency) to give a complete picture of how each person uses the tool.
Example
Cynthia E. averages 4.5 hours per day and Gavin W. averages 4.8 hours per day—both are heavy users who likely depend on the application for core work functions. Natalie A. averages only 0.8 hours per day, suggesting light or peripheral usage that might be served by a lower-tier license or an alternative tool entirely.
Where to find it
Technology & License Optimization:
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Definition
An
organizational unit in ActivTrak
that groups users together based on shared characteristics such
as department,
function, reporting structure, or project assignment. Teams (also
known as
Groups)
serve as a primary filter for analyzing productivity data and
enable comparative
analysis across different groups within an organization.
Teams in ActivTrak:
- Created and managed by administrators
- Allow for hierarchical structures (teams within teams)
- Serve as filters for dashboards and reports
- Enable team-level goal setting and benchmarking
- Provide context for productivity comparisons
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires
ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Definition
The number of licenses your organization currently owns for a specific application, as configured in your license data. This is compared against Active Users to calculate License Usage % and Potential Savings.
Example
Your organization owns 1,000 licenses each for Zoom, Slack, and Grammarly, and 1,200 for MS Office.
Where to find it
Technology Usage - Saving Opportunities:
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires
ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Definition
The percentage of owned licenses that are being actively used for a given application. This is the primary metric for identifying over-provisioning, under-provisioning or compliance risk.
Calculation
(Active Users / License Count) x 100%
Example
Slack shows 94% license usage (938 active users / 1000 licenses). This means you're using nearly all of your licensed seats, leaving little room before you'd need to purchase more if usage grows even slightly.
Where to find it
Technology Usage - Saving Opportunities:
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires
ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Definition
The total number of software licenses your organization owns across all applications in the selected view. This is the aggregate license count displayed as a headline KPI on the main dashboard page.
Example
Your organization owns 177 total licenses across all tracked applications. Comparing this against the 142 total users gives a high-level sense of provisioning, but the real insight comes from the application-level breakdown—some applications may be over-provisioned while others are under-provisioned.
Where to find it
Technology & License Optimization:
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires
ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Also known as Unused License Cost
Definition
The estimated annual cost impact of the gap between owned licenses and active users.
Calculation
(License Count − Active Users) × Annual Cost per User
Example
Zoom shows $12,400 in potential savings with 938 active users and 1000 licenses at $200 per user.
Where to find it
Technology & License Optimization:
Technology Usage - Saving Opportunities:
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires
ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Definition
The combined annual license cost across all owned licenses in the selected view. This represents your total technology spend for the applications being analyzed and serves as the baseline for measuring optimization impact.
Example
A Total Cost of Ownership of $105K means your organization spends $105,000 annually on the licenses currently tracked in the template.
Where to find it
Technology & License Optimization:
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires
ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Definition
The total number of users who appeared in the selected date range, regardless of application activity. This represents the size of the workforce being analyzed and serves as context for understanding active user counts at the application level.
Example
With 142 total users in the selected period and 177 owned licenses, the organization has more licenses than people—suggesting over-provisioning at the portfolio level. However, the application-level view reveals a more nuanced picture: some tools like Slack have far more users than licenses, while others may have licenses sitting completely unused.
Where to find it
Technology & License Optimization:
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires
ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Definition
Individual employees or contractors whose digital activity is being tracked through the ActivTrak agent software. In ActivTrak, a "User" typically corresponds to a specific person whose work habits, productivity, and application usage are monitored and analyzed within the platform.
Key Aspects of Users in ActivTrak
- Each user typically requires one license in the ActivTrak system
- Users are organized into teams for analysis and reporting
- User data forms the foundation for all productivity metrics
- Users can be assigned specific productivity benchmarks and goals
- User privacy settings can be configured according to organizational policies
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires
ActivConnect API (Add-on)
Definition
The number of unique users who used the selected application on a given day, displayed as a line in the Usage Trend chart. This daily metric tracks how many people are actively engaging with the tool over time.
Example
If the User Count line on the Usage Trend chart shows a steady decline from 140 users per day to 120 users per day over a 4-week period, it suggests decreasing adoption. A sudden drop might indicate a system outage or the introduction of an alternative tool. Consistent user counts alongside declining average minutes could mean employees are checking in but spending less time—a different kind of adoption concern.
Where to find it
Technology & License Optimization:
Package availability*
All packages
*Requires ActivConnect API (Add-on)