The Meridian certify or renew scorecard turns five factors into a weighted score that points clearly toward one path. Rate growth, count, cloud, support, and scope, apply the weights, and read the total. It makes a high stakes decision defensible to a board, and where the score is close, the contract decides.
By the Meridian advisory team, former Oracle LMS and GLAS licensing analysts. Updated 4 June 2026.
It is a weighted scoring tool that rates your Oracle ULA across five factors, growth, certified count, cloud, support, and contract scope, on a simple scale and weights each, so the total points clearly toward certify or renew. It turns a judgement call into a defensible, repeatable decision you can show a board. The scorecard does not replace the analysis behind each factor; it organises it, so the final recommendation is visible, weighted, and hard to argue with on instinct alone.
A good decision should survive being written down. Score each factor honestly, apply the weights, and let the total speak. If the answer changes when you change a number, you have found the question that deserves more evidence.
Score each factor from minus 2 to plus 2, where a positive score favours certifying and a negative score favours renewing. Then multiply by the weight. The factors and weights below are our standard starting point, and the weights reflect how often each factor proves decisive in real engagements. Adjust the weights to your situation, but do it before you score, not after, so the result stays honest.
| Factor | Weight | Plus 2 (certify) | Minus 2 (renew) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real growth | 3 | Flat or shrinking | Strong, provable |
| Certified count | 3 | High, mature, defensible | Thin, immature |
| Support cost | 2 | Hold base flat | Accept higher base for growth |
| Cloud | 2 | Counts or repatriable | Large, will not count yet |
| Contract scope | 1 | Clean and in scope | Unresolved scope issues |
The weights are indicative and reflect a typical case. Growth and the certified count carry the most weight because they most often decide the outcome, support and cloud follow, and scope is the tie breaker that becomes decisive only when the others are balanced.
Add the weighted scores. The maximum certify score is plus 22 and the maximum renew score is minus 22. A strongly positive total points to certifying, a strongly negative total points to renewing, and a total near zero is the signal to stop and read the contract, because the decision is genuinely balanced and the language will tip it. Treat any total within a few points of zero as undecided rather than as a weak verdict, because a close score usually hides a factor that needs better evidence.
Take an indicative mature manufacturer with a flat Oracle estate, a high and defensible count, modest cloud that will count, and clean scope. Growth scores plus 2 times weight 3, which is plus 6. Count scores plus 2 times 3, plus 6. Support scores plus 2 times 2, plus 4. Cloud scores plus 1 times 2, plus 2. Scope scores plus 1 times 1, plus 1. The total is plus 19, a clear certify. Reverse the growth and count for a fast growing business with a thin deployment and the total swings deeply negative, a clear renew. The figures are indicative, but the mechanism is what matters.
The scorecard is only as good as the inputs. The certified count must be measured independently, not estimated, because the difference between a thin estimate and a maximized, defensible count can flip the score by itself. The support comparison should come from a real model, set out in modeling support costs under each path, and the growth input should be your evidenced forecast rather than Oracle's projection, a tactic explained in how Oracle sells the renewal. Score on evidence and the total earns its authority.
The scorecard gives you a defensible answer and a record of how you reached it, which matters when a C level executive has to sign the certification letter or approve a renewal spend. Use it to structure the decision, then test the close calls against the contract. When you are ready to put real numbers behind each factor, that is the work we do with you. The full framework lives in our pillar, the certify or renew guide.
Score growth, count, support, cloud, and scope from minus 2 to plus 2, weight them, and read the total. A clearly positive score says certify, a clearly negative score says renew, and a score near zero says read the contract. Measure the count independently before you score it, because a maximized, defensible count can move the whole result. The scorecard makes the decision defensible; the evidence makes it right.
It is a weighted scoring tool that rates your Oracle ULA across five factors, growth, certified count, cloud, support, and contract scope, on a simple scale and weights each, so the total points clearly toward certify or renew. It turns a judgement call into a defensible, repeatable decision you can show a board.
A high renew score comes from strong provable growth, a thin or immature deployment, large cloud workloads that will not count yet, and unresolved scope issues. When those weighted factors outscore the certify side, renewal earns the time. Where the score is close, the contract language usually breaks the tie.
Book a confidential assessment and we will measure your count, model your support, and run the scorecard so your certify or renew decision is defensible.