Advanced Spreadsheets and Reporting Documentation
Index

Registration & Licensing

Advanced Spreadsheets and Reporting requires a valid license key in production environments for its license-gated features: indicators and the API pages. Spreadsheets, report distribution, inter-company reporting and the indicator library work without a license. This guide explains the licensing model and registration process.

Licensing Overview

License Types

Environment License Required
Production (SaaS) Yes
Production (On-Premises) Yes
Sandbox (Business Central Online) No - Full functionality without license
Sandbox / Test (On-Premises) Yes - contact Hougaard for a key

License Characteristics

  • Tenant-Specific: Each license is tied to your Azure AD tenant
  • Environment-Specific: Licenses are validated and stored per environment (not per company)
  • Subscription-Based: Every license key has an expiration date and requires renewal

Obtaining a License

New Customers

  1. Visit www.hougaard.com
  2. Navigate to the Advanced Spreadsheets and Reporting product page
  3. Choose your subscription plan
  4. Complete the purchase process
  5. You will receive your license key via email

Existing Customers

For license renewals or additional environments, contact:

  • Email: sales@hougaard.com
  • Website: www.hougaard.com

Registering Your License

Step 1: Access the Registration Page

  1. Open Business Central
  2. Search for "About Advanced Spreadsheets and Reporting", or open the Advanced Spreadsheets and Reporting menu and choose the About/License link
  3. The Advanced Spreadsheets and Reporting menu shows a notification while the environment is unregistered; opening an indicator (the Define Indicator card) without a license also brings up the registration page

Step 2: Enter Your License Key

  1. Enter your license key in the Registration Key field
  2. Press Tab or Enter — the key is validated immediately when you leave the field

Step 3: Confirm Registration

If successful, you will see the message:

"Thank you for registering the Advanced Spreadsheets and Reporting app, all functionality is now enabled."

The registration will be stored and validated automatically on subsequent use.

License Validation

Automatic Validation

Advanced Spreadsheets and Reporting validates your license by connecting to:

https://check.hougaardlicense.com

This validation occurs:

  • Once per session, the first time a license-gated feature is used (the result is cached for the rest of the session)
  • Again right after you register a key

What is Validated

  • License key authenticity
  • Expiration date
  • Tenant ID match
  • Environment match

License Expiration

Warning Period

Two weeks before your license expires, you will see warnings when using AFR features. This gives you time to renew before losing functionality.

After Expiration

When a license expires:

  • The expired key is deleted from storage automatically, and the registration page shows that your key has expired
  • Indicators return zero values; opening the Define Indicator card stops with "This app require registration to work."
  • The API endpoints return the error "No active license for the Advanced Spreadsheets and Reporting"
  • Spreadsheets, print jobs and inter-company reporting keep working — they are not license-gated

Renewing an Expired License

  1. Obtain a new license key from Hougaard
  2. Open the registration page
  3. Enter the new license key in Registration Key and press Tab or Enter

Troubleshooting

"Configuration Problem" Page

If a page titled Configuration Problem appears:

  • The environment does not allow the app to make HttpClient requests
  • Turn on Allow HttpClient Requests for the Advanced Spreadsheets and Reporting app in Extension Management (the page's link takes you there)
  • See the HTTP Client Warnings guide

"There is a problem with your license, please contact sales@hougaard.com"

This error fires when the stored license has no valid expiration date or the date has passed.

Resolution: Contact sales@hougaard.com with your tenant ID and environment name.

"License key cannot be used, reason: ..."

The license server rejected the key — for example because it is invalid, already used, or issued for a different tenant or environment. The reason returned by the server is shown in the message.

Resolution: Check the key for typos, then contact sales@hougaard.com quoting the reason text.

"Cannot contact the hougaard.com license checker, please email support@hougaard.com"

This indicates a network connectivity issue:

  • Check your internet connection
  • Verify firewall settings allow HTTPS to check.hougaardlicense.com
  • Contact your network administrator

"The hougaard.com license checker returned an unexpected reply"

The license server answered, but not in the expected format — usually a temporary problem. Try again later, or email support@hougaard.com if it persists.

License Works in Sandbox but Not Production

This is expected behavior. Business Central Online sandbox environments don't require licenses, but production environments (and on-premises sandboxes) do. Purchase a license for production use.

Managing Multiple Environments

If you have multiple Business Central environments:

  1. Each production environment needs to be registered
  2. The same license key can often be used across environments
  3. Contact Hougaard for multi-environment licensing options

License Information

To view your current license status:

  1. Search for "About Advanced Spreadsheets and Reporting" (or use the menu's About/License link)
  2. The page shows:
    • Registration status
    • License valid until — the expiration date (if registered)
  3. A registered environment offers a Change License action for entering a new key

Contact

For licensing questions or issues:

  • Sales: sales@hougaard.com
  • Support: support@hougaard.com
  • Website: www.hougaard.com