Guide · Rocket compliance reviews

A friendly review with an invoice behind it.

A Rocket Software compliance review reconciles what you run against what you are entitled to, across inherited Micro Focus and ASG products with mismatched records. Soft in tone, hard in effect. Here is what it checks and how the outcome is decided.

Migrated records, current deployment, a quiet reconciliation.

Rocket Software's mainframe portfolio is assembled from acquisitions: the OpenText Application Modernization and Connectivity business, formerly Micro Focus, closed in 2024, and the earlier ASG acquisition before it. A compliance review typically reconciles deployment against entitlement across that span, terminal emulation, COBOL and Enterprise Server, modernization tooling, and ASG products, each carrying its own metric of instances, users, or capacity.

The risk is structural. When products pass between owners, entitlement data, metric definitions, and historical amendments do not always transfer cleanly. The customer's understanding of what they hold commonly diverges from the new owner's records, and a review run against migrated or incomplete data is where that divergence becomes a claimed shortfall. A compliance review is also frequently softer in framing than a formal audit, sometimes presented as housekeeping ahead of a renewal, but the commercial effect, an established shortfall used as leverage, lands in the same place.

This connects directly to the first Rocket renewal and is run through our Rocket Software audit defense work.

Five moves that decide the outcome

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№ 01

Slow the first exchange

Acknowledge the review, route it through one channel, and concede nothing on scope. No discovery tooling runs and no inventory is shared until the contractual basis for the request and the products in scope are mapped. The opening exchange sets the frame.

Speed favors the vendor.

№ 02

Reconstruct the inherited entitlement

The Micro Focus and ASG era agreements, amendments, and metric definitions, rebuilt into one defensible record before the vendor's migrated data sets the baseline. Where the new owner's records are incomplete, your reconstruction is the correction.

Their records moved; yours must be rebuilt.

№ 03

Measure deployment on your terms

Actual usage of each product counted independently, with the right metric applied to each, so the reconciliation runs on accurate numbers rather than a discovery tool's defaults. Misapplied metrics are a common source of overstated findings.

The metric is half the argument.

№ 04

Challenge the claimed shortfall

Each finding is tested against the reconstructed entitlement and the contract language, in writing. Shortfalls built on migrated data gaps, wrong metrics, or unsupported interpretations are pushed back before they harden into a settlement number.

A finding is a claim, not a total.

№ 05

Resolve without feeding the renewal

Any genuine gap is priced at negotiated rates and resolved cleanly, kept separate from the renewal so the review does not become leverage for a worse multi year deal. Closure on the compliance question, with the renewal negotiated on its own merits.

Two negotiations, kept apart.

What changes with us in the room

The word review is softer than the number behind it. We treat it as the audit it is.

48hr

Mobilization on a review request

500+

Engagements delivered since 2019

$180M+

Mainframe spend negotiated on the buyer side

Frequently asked questions

Q1

What does a Rocket compliance review check?

Typically deployment against entitlement: how many instances, users, or capacity units of each product run versus what the contract grants. The portfolio spans inherited Micro Focus AMC and ASG products, so reviews commonly cover emulation, COBOL and Enterprise Server, modernization tooling, and ASG products, each with its own metric. Gaps become findings.

Q2

Why are inherited contracts a risk?

The records moved but the clarity often did not. When products pass from Micro Focus or ASG to Rocket, entitlement data, metric definitions, and amendments do not always transfer cleanly. Customers commonly find their understanding does not match the new owner's records, and a review against migrated data is where that mismatch becomes a claimed shortfall.

Q3

Is a review the same as a formal audit?

Not always, and the difference matters. A compliance review or true up request is frequently softer in tone than a contractual audit, sometimes framed as housekeeping before a renewal. The commercial effect can be identical: an established shortfall becomes negotiation leverage. Treat any deployment versus entitlement request with full audit discipline.

Q4

What is the first move?

Slow it down and reconstruct your position first. Acknowledge, route through one channel, and rebuild the inherited entitlement across the Micro Focus and ASG products in scope before returning any data. Running discovery or sharing inventory before you know your entitlement hands the vendor the framing. We mobilize within 48 hours.

Related: Rocket Software hub · audit defense · post acquisition renewal · audit defense service

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