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Checklist + Diagrams: How to Audit Your Tool Stack for Underused Platforms

ddiagrams

2026-01-30

10 min read

Printable SaaS audit checklist + diagrams to find underused platforms, compute cost per user, and remove redundancy across your tool stack.

Hook: Your SaaS bills keep rising while teams still ask “do we even use this?”

If you manage tools for an engineering org or IT organization in 2026, you already know the pattern: new SaaS arrives weekly, procurement signs on, and months later you see license renewals for platforms nobody actively uses. This audit is designed to stop that leakage. Below you’ll get a printable, step-by-step tool audit checklist, concrete diagrams you can use to quantify usage, formulas to calculate cost per user, and a simple redundancy scoring system so you can make defensible decisions about consolidation.

Why this matters in 2026: trends accelerating SaaS sprawl — and rationalization

Late 2025 and early 2026 accelerated two forces: the proliferation of niche AI-augmented SaaS and a stronger movement toward composable enterprise platforms. Organizations are under pressure to reduce complexity, meet compliance demands, and apply AI-driven observability across their tool landscape. The result: tool audits are no longer optional operational hygiene — they’re a strategic lever for cost, security, and developer velocity.

What this guide gives you (fast)

Printable audit checklist you can take to meetings or hand to procurement.
Diagram templates (Mermaid/PlantUML) for visualizing usage metrics, cost per user, and platform redundancy.
Formulas and scoring to prioritize which platforms to sun‑set, consolidate, or renegotiate.
Actionable playbook and sample stakeholder message templates.

Audit framework: four focused phases

Use this four-phase framework to keep audits efficient and repeatable. The inverted-pyramid approach: surface the biggest cost/usage problems first, then dig into integrations and data risk.

Inventory & classification — capture every paid and freemium platform.
Usage quantification — measure active users, feature adoption, and session metrics.
Cost analysis — compute cost per active user and per-active-feature.
Redundancy & risk scoring — identify overlaps and integration complexity.

Phase 1 — Inventory & classification (quick wins)

Objective: get a single source of truth for every platform, license, and owner.

Key fields to capture

Vendor, product name, URL
License type (seat, tier, enterprise)
Annual cost and next renewal date
Primary owner (team & product champion)
Linked identities (SSO provider (Okta/BSM)?)
Integrations (data flows to other systems)
Notes — reason for purchase, onboarding status

Tooling tip

Use your procurement system export or access logs from your IdP provider (Okta/BSM) to build this list. In 2026 many IdP vendors now supply API endpoints for license and group reports — use them to avoid manual entry.

Phase 2 — Usage quantification (measure before you cut)

Decision-making without data is politics. Collect three core metrics: active users, feature adoption, and session frequency. Prefer 90-day rolling windows for SaaS that’s task-oriented and 12-month windows for seasonally used tools.

Metrics to capture

MAU (monthly active users) and 90DAU
% of licensed seats assigned vs. seats used
Top 5 features used and percent adoption
Average session length and frequency per user
Number of integrations or webhooks in use

Practical: sample usage table (CSV-friendly)


Vendor,Product,A nualCost,SeatsAssigned,ActiveUsers_90D,TopFeatureAdoption%,Integrations
AcmeChat,Internal Chat,12000,200,32,35,3
BugTrak,Bug Tracker,48000,250,230,82,6
CloudLogs,Logging,36000,100,95,60,8
AIData,GenAI Ops,24000,50,6,12,1

Phase 3 — Cost analysis: calculating cost per active user and cost per active feature

Cost-per-user is the most defensible metric for renewals and chargebacks. Use a conservative active user denominator (e.g., 90-day active users) to avoid underestimating cost.

Formulas

Cost per active user = Annual cost / ActiveUsers_90D
Cost per licensed seat (waste) = Annual cost / SeatsAssigned
Cost per active feature = Annual cost / (ActiveFeatureCount)

Worked example

CloudLogs: Annual cost $36,000; ActiveUsers_90D = 95.

Cost per active user = 36,000 / 95 ≈ $379/user/year
SeatsAssigned = 100 → cost per licensed seat = $360/seat/year

Compare these numbers to business value. If CloudLogs is the system-of-record for logs and required for compliance, $379/user may be justified. If not, it’s a consolidation candidate.

Phase 4 — Redundancy & risk scoring

Not all redundancy is bad — sometimes you need a backup or polyglot tooling. But overlapping feature sets with high cost and low usage are prime targets. Use a simple scoring model to prioritize reviews.

Redundancy score (0–10)

Functional overlap (0–4): check how many core features overlap with other tools.
Integration complexity (0–3): number of integrations that would break if removed.
Business criticality (0–3, inverse): mission-critical reduces score.

Compute: Redundancy Score = FunctionalOverlap + IntegrationComplexity - BusinessCriticality. A higher score means higher redundancy and higher potential for removal.

Example (AIData genAI ops)

Functional overlap with internal tools: 3/4
Integration complexity: 1/3
Business criticality: 1/3 (nice-to-have)

Score = 3 + 1 - 1 = 3 → medium redundancy; given low active users (6), high removal priority.

Printable audit checklist (one-page, actionable)

Print this section and use it in procurement and renewal meetings.

Inventory
- [ ] Vendor & Product
- [ ] Annual cost & renewal date
- [ ] License model (seat, tier, enterprise)
- [ ] Owner & contact
Usage
- [ ] Active users (90-day)
- [ ] Seats assigned
- [ ] Top features used
- [ ] Session frequency
Cost Analysis
- [ ] Cost per active user calculated
- [ ] Cost per seat (waste) calculated
- [ ] ROI or business case logged
Redundancy & Risk
- [ ] Redundancy score computed
- [ ] Integrations mapped
- [ ] Data residency/compliance check
Action Plan
- [ ] Retain / Consolidate / Cancel decision
- [ ] Sunset timeline & migration steps
- [ ] Communication owners & stakeholder sign-off

Visualizations: diagrams that make decisions obvious

Here are diagram templates you can paste into Mermaid/PlantUML editors. Use them in your audit decks — visuals accelerate stakeholder buy-in.

1) Usage waterfall — Mermaid bar chart (pseudo; many renderers now support Mermaid charts)


%% Usage waterfall showing seats -> assigned -> active
flowchart LR
  Seats([Seats Assigned: 250]) --> Assigned([Seats Used: 200])
  Assigned --> Active([Active Users (90d): 160])
  Active --> PowerUsers([Power Users: 24])
  style Seats fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px
  style Active fill:#9f9,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px

2) Cost-per-user bar chart (Mermaid pie as a quick comparator)


%% Compare cost-per-active-user for top platforms
pie title Cost per Active User
  "CloudLogs: $379" : 379
  "BugTrak: $209" : 209
  "AcmeChat: $375" : 375
  "AIData: $4000" : 4000

3) Redundancy network (PlantUML) — map overlaps and integrations


@startuml
node "Engineering" as E
node "Product" as P
cloud "CloudLogs" as CL
cloud "BugTrak" as BT
cloud "ObservabilityHub" as OB
E --> CL : logs
P --> BT : issues
CL --> OB : forward
BT --> OB : forward
CL -[dashed]-> BT : overlap (alerting)
@enduml

4) Decision flowchart (Mermaid) — audit decision path


flowchart TD
  A[Start audit] --> B{Active users > 20% of seats?}
  B -- Yes --> C{Cost per active user > org threshold?}
  B -- No --> G[Flag for review: unused seats]
  C -- Yes --> D[Business critical?]
  C -- No --> E[Keep; monitor]
  D -- Yes --> F[Retain or renegotiate contract]
  D -- No --> H[Consolidate or cancel]
  G --> H
  E --> End[End]
  F --> End
  H --> End

Advanced strategies & 2026 best practices

After basic audits, apply these advanced tactics being used across enterprises in 2026.

1. Automate discovery with AI and SSO telemetry

Use machine learning to detect platforms with anomalous drop-off in active users. IdP logs (SAML/SCIM) plus billing exports let models flag underused platforms automatically.

2. Adopt SaaS FinOps and chargeback models

Shift cost ownership to consuming teams via internal chargebacks. Show cost-per-active-user and let consuming teams decide whether to retain premium features.

3. Prefer composable platforms over point solutions

Where possible, consolidate to platforms that provide extensible APIs and plugin ecosystems. In 2026, composable vendors provide built-in replaceability (feature toggles, import/export) that eases migration.

4. Contractual levers: flex seats, trial extensions, and audit clauses

Negotiate flexible seat counts, pauseable subscriptions, or better audit rights in renewal windows to avoid paying for low-usage months.

5. Security & compliance gating

Before cancelling anything, check data exports, retention policies, and legal obligations. In regulated industries, removing a tool can require data migrations and retention mapping.

Sample case study — 1,000-user org reduces SaaS spend by 28% in 6 months

Summary: A mid-sized technology company with ~1,000 employees ran this audit across 120 platforms. Key outcomes:

Identified 18 platforms with cost per active user > $1,000/year and active user counts < 10.
Consolidated three overlapping monitoring tools into a single observability contract.
Renegotiated volume pricing on two widely used tools, saving 12% annually.
Total annual SaaS spend reduced by 28% (~$420K), while average developer onboarding time improved by 9% because of fewer logins and integrations.

Lessons learned: the team prioritized tools with high integration complexity to avoid operational risk, and targeted low-use, high-cost tools for cancellation. Automating discovery via SSO logs saved weeks of manual effort.

Stakeholder communication: sample email to product owners

Subject: Action required — Q1 SaaS audit findings for [Product X]

Hi [Owner], we completed a usage review of [Product X]. Current 90-day active users: 6 (of 50 seats). Cost per active user: $4,000/year. We recommend a 30-day pause and either consolidation with [Platform Y] or a renewed business case for continued spend. Can we meet on Friday to review migration steps?

Checklist for implementing decisions

Confirm stakeholder approval and set sunset date.
Create data export and retention plan.
Map integrations and create migration tickets.
Notify vendor and request pro-rated refund where applicable.
Monitor post-sunset metrics for disruption.

Final checklist — what to check before you press cancel

[ ] Data exports verified and exported
[ ] Integrations deprecated or migrated
[ ] Backups of key artifacts taken
[ ] Stakeholder sign-off obtained
[ ] Contract cancellation window observed

Actionable takeaways

Run a quarterly lightweight audit: automate discovery with IdP and billing exports; run a human review for high-cost or high-risk items.
Standardize metrics: use 90-day active users and cost per active user as your primary KPIs.
Score redundancy: a simple 0–10 model accelerates prioritization.
Use diagrams: visuals (usage waterfalls and redundancy networks) shorten decision cycles with executives.
Negotiate smarter: push for flexible seats, audit rights, and pause options in renewals.

Where to go next (tools & templates)

Start with three actions this week:

Export your procurement/vendor list and IdP license report.
Run a 90-day active user report for the top 30 costliest subscriptions.
Use the printable checklist above in your next renewal review meeting.

Closing & call to action

Auditing your tool stack is the fastest way to reduce SaaS waste and restore developer velocity in 2026. Use the checklist and diagrams in this guide to make data-driven choices, avoid political debates, and build a repeatable governance process. If you want a ready-to-use audit spreadsheet and editable Mermaid/PlantUML files based on the templates above, download our audit pack at diagrams.us/tools-audit (includes CSV template, Mermaid snippets, and a vendor negotiation script).

Get started now: run a 30-minute discovery (IdP + procurement export) and you’ll have the first prioritized list of underused platforms within a day.

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