Item 1. BUSINESS

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Item 1. BUSINESS

Note: A glossary of terms used in this Form 10-K appears at the end of this Item 1.

GENERAL

We are a global leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software and services, offering customers productive business solutions through powerful technology products and services. We serve customers in architecture, engineering and construction; product design and manufacturing; and digital media and entertainment industries. Our customers design, fabricate, manufacture and build anything by visualizing, simulating and analyzing real-world performance early in the design process. These capabilities allow our customers to foster innovation, optimize their designs, streamline their manufacturing and construction processes, save time and money, improve quality, deliver more sustainable outcomes, communicate plans, and collaborate with others. Our professional software products are sold globally, both directly to customers and through a network of resellers and distributors.

Corporate Information

Our internet address is www.autodesk.com. The information posted on our website is not incorporated into this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to reports filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a) and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, are available free of charge on the Investor Relations portion of our website at www.autodesk.com as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC.

PRODUCTS

Our architecture, engineering and construction products improve the way building, infrastructure, and industrial projects are designed, built, and operated. Our product development and manufacturing software provides manufacturers in automotive, transportation, industrial machinery, consumer products and building product industries with comprehensive digital design, engineering, manufacturing and production solutions. These technologies bring together data from all phases of the product development and production life cycle, creating a digital pipeline that supports greater productivity, accuracy through process automation, and insights that enable more sustainable outcomes. Our digital media and entertainment products provide tools for digital sculpting, modeling, animation, effects, rendering, and compositing for design visualization, visual effects and games production. Our portfolio of products and services enables our customers to foster innovation, optimize and improve their designs, save time and money, improve quality, communicate plans, and collaborate with others. A summary of our revenue by geographic area and product family is found in Note 2, “Revenue Recognition,” in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

Autodesk’s product offerings, sold through a subscription, include:

Architecture, Engineering and Construction ("AEC")

•AutoCAD Civil 3D

AutoCAD Civil 3D solution provides a surveying, design, analysis, and documentation solution for civil engineering, including land development, transportation, and environmental projects. Using a model-centric approach that automatically updates documentation as design changes are made, AutoCAD Civil 3D enables civil engineers, designers, drafters, and surveyors to significantly boost productivity and deliver higher-quality designs and construction documentation faster. With AutoCAD Civil 3D, the entire project team works from the same consistent, up-to-date model so they stay coordinated throughout all project phases.

•BIM 360

BIM 360 construction management cloud-based software enables almost anytime, anywhere access to project data throughout the building construction lifecycle. BIM 360 empowers those in the field to better anticipate and act, and those in the back office to optimize and manage all aspects of construction performance.

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•Industry Collections

The AEC Collection, including AutoCAD, AutoCAD Civil3D, and Revit, aims to help our customers design, engineer, and construct higher quality, more predictable building and civil infrastructure projects, commonly used by AEC industry experts.

•PlanGrid

PlanGrid cloud-based field collaboration software provides general contractors, subcontractors, owners and architects access to construction information in real-time. With PlanGrid technology, any construction team member can manage and update blueprints, specs, photos, requests for information (RFIs), field reports, punchlists and other critical jobsite data. The data collected within PlanGrid software acts as a digital trail during the building process, allowing for easy turnover to the owner for operations and maintenance after construction is complete. PlanGrid mobile-first technology is accessible on modern desktop, laptop or mobile devices, including native iOS, Android and Windows.

•Revit

Revit software is built for Building Information Modeling ("BIM") to help professionals design, build, and maintain higher-quality, more energy-efficient buildings. Using the information-rich models created with Revit, architects, engineers, and construction firms can collaborate to make better-informed decisions earlier in the design process to deliver projects with greater efficiency. Revit includes features for architectural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing design as well as structural engineering and construction, providing a comprehensive solution for the entire building project team.

AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT

•AutoCAD

AutoCAD software is a customizable and extensible CAD application for professional design, drafting, detailing, and visualization. AutoCAD software provides digital tools that can be used independently and in conjunction with other specific applications in fields ranging from construction and civil engineering to manufacturing and plant design.

•AutoCAD LT

AutoCAD LT software is purpose built for professional drafting and detailing. AutoCAD LT includes document sharing capability without the need for software customization or certain advanced functionality found in AutoCAD. Users can share all design data with team members who use AutoCAD or other Autodesk products built on AutoCAD.

Manufacturing ("MFG")

•CAM Solutions

Our computer-aided manufacturing ("CAM") software offers industry-leading solutions for Computer Numeric Control ("CNC") machining, inspection, and modeling for manufacturing. A comprehensive line-up of expert products, including PowerMill, FeatureCAM, PowerInspect, PowerShare, and others, help our customers manufacture complex, innovative products and components with maximum quality, control, and production efficiency.

•Fusion 360

Fusion 360 is the first 3D CAD, CAM, and Computer-aided Engineering ("CAE") tool of its kind. It connects the entire product development process on a single cloud-based platform.

•Industry Collections

The Product Design & Manufacturing Collection offers connected, professional-grade tools that help our customers make great products today and compete in the changing manufacturing landscape of the future. The collection offers access to a wide range of our products, including AutoCAD, Fusion 360, Vault, and Inventor.

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•Inventor

Inventor enables manufacturers to go beyond 3D design to digital prototyping by giving engineers a comprehensive and flexible set of tools for 3D mechanical design, simulation, analysis, tooling, visualization, and documentation. Engineers can integrate AutoCAD drawings and model-based design data into a single digital model, creating a virtual representation of a final product that enables them to validate the form, fit, and function of the product before it is ever built.

•Vault

Vault data management software makes it easier to manage data in one central location, accelerate design processes, and streamline internal/external collaboration. Vault integrates with more than 30 Autodesk design applications, provides powerful revisioning and access control capabilities, and enables customers to share product data securely to improve engineering cycle time and reduce manufacturing errors.

Media and Entertainment ("M&E")

•Industry Collections

The M&E Collection provides end-to-end creative tools for entertainment creation. This collection enables animators, modelers and visual effect artists to access the tools they need, including Maya and 3ds Max, to create compelling effects, 3D characters and digital worlds.

•Maya

Maya software provides 3D modeling, animation, effects, rendering and compositing solutions that enable film and video artists, game developers, and design visualization professionals to digitally create engaging, lifelike images, realistic animations and simulations, extraordinary visual effects, and full length animated feature films.

•Shotgun

Shotgun is cloud-based software for review and production tracking in the M&E industry. Creative companies use the Shotgun platform to provide essential business tools for managers and visual collaboration tools for artists and supervisors, who often work globally with distributed teams.

•3ds Max

3ds Max software provides 3D modeling, animation, and rendering solutions that enable game developers, design visualization professionals and visual effects artists to digitally create realistic images, animations, and complex scenes and to digitally communicate abstract or complex mechanical, architectural, engineering, and construction concepts.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND INTRODUCTION

The technology industry is characterized by rapid technological change in computer hardware, operating systems, and software. In addition, our customers’ requirements and preferences rapidly evolve, as do their expectations of the performance of our software and services. To keep pace with these changes, we maintain a vigorous program of new product development to address demands in the marketplace for our products, such as enabling more flexibility and sustainable outcomes.

The software industry has undergone a transition from developing and selling perpetual licenses and on-premises products to subscriptions and cloud-enabled technologies. To address this shift, Autodesk made a strategic decision to shift its business model from selling perpetual licenses to selling subscriptions. Subscription plan offerings are designed to give our customers increased flexibility with how they use our products and service offerings and to attract a broader range of customers such as project-based users and small businesses. Subscriptions represent a combined hybrid offering of desktop software and cloud functionality which provides a device-independent, collaborative design workflow for designers and their stakeholders. We discontinued the sale of new commercial licenses of most individual software products in 2016. Additionally, in June 2017, we commenced a program to incentivize maintenance plan customers to move to subscription plan offerings, maintenance-to-subscription ("M2S"), while at the same time increasing maintenance plan pricing over time for customers that remain on maintenance plans. Since launching the program, a substantial majority of maintenance plan customers have converted to subscription plan offerings. We will be retiring maintenance offerings as of August 7, 2021. Customers will have a one-year period starting August 7, 2020 to convert a maintenance seat to subscription plan offerings. Additionally, in order to offer better

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service to our customers, we are transitioning our existing customers from serial numbers to named users. We migrated our single user subscriptions in fiscal 2020 and are planning to transition multi-user subscriptions to named users in fiscal 2021.

We dedicate considerable technical and financial resources to research and development to further enhance our existing products and to create new solutions and technologies to expand our market opportunity and deliver additional automation and insights to our customers. For example, in fiscal 2020, we continued and expanded our investments in construction. We continued to make investments in the traditional data creation tools to support the design and pre-construction phases, while expanding our investment in the areas of site execution with process and project management Construction Cloud tools. Recognizing the value of data continuity across the construction lifecycle of design, building and operations, we made investments in the pre-construction and site execution phases of the project through our cloud-based tools. To connect the phases of construction upstream with design, we invested in and announced our Construction Cloud project delivery platform that allows individuals, teams and projects to be connected across all phases in a common data platform and increase efficiencies. We anticipate ongoing investments in construction that support pre-construction, site execution as well as the handover phase of the project and will continue to invest in connecting workflows and data across the ecosystem of the project.

Our software is primarily developed internally; however, we also use independent firms and contractors to perform some of our product development activities. Additionally, we acquire products or technology developed by others by purchasing or licensing products and technology from third parties. We continually review these investments to ensure that we are generating sufficient revenue or gaining a competitive advantage to justify their costs.

The majority of our research and product development is performed in the United States, China, Singapore, Canada, and the United Kingdom. However, we employ experienced software developers in many of our other locations. Translation and localization of our products are performed in several local markets, principally Singapore and Ireland. We generally localize and translate our products into German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Korean, and simplified and traditional Chinese.

We plan to continue managing significant product development operations internationally over the next several years. We believe that our ability to conduct research and development at various locations throughout the world allows us to optimize product development, lower costs, and integrate local market knowledge into our development activities. We continually assess the significant costs and challenges, including intellectual property protection, against the benefits of our international development activities.

For further discussion regarding risks from our product development and introduction efforts, see Item 1A, “Risk Factors.”

MARKETING AND SALES

We sell our products and services globally, primarily through indirect channels consisting of distributors and resellers. To a lesser extent we also transact directly with our enterprise and named account customers and with customers through our online Autodesk branded store. Our indirect channel model includes both a two-tiered distribution structure, where distributors sell to resellers, and a one-tiered structure, where Autodesk sells directly to resellers. We have a network of approximately 1,500 resellers and distributors worldwide. For fiscal 2020, approximately 70% of our revenue was derived from indirect channel sales through distributors and resellers.

We anticipate that our channel mix will continue to change, particularly as we scale our online Autodesk branded store business and our largest accounts shift towards direct-only business models. Importantly, we expect that the majority of our revenue will continue to be derived from indirect channel sales in the near future. We employ a variety of incentive programs and promotions to align our reseller channel with our business strategies. Our ability to effectively distribute our products depends in part upon the financial and business condition of our distributor and reseller networks. The loss of, or a significant reduction in, business with any one of our major distributors or large resellers could harm our business; see Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” for further discussion.

Sales through our largest distributor, Tech Data Corporation and its global affiliates (collectively, "Tech Data"), accounted for 35%, 35%, and 31% of our net revenue for fiscal years ended January 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively. Ingram Micro Inc. ("Ingram Micro"), our second largest distributor, accounted for 10%, 11%, and 8% of Autodesk's total net revenue for fiscal years ended January 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively. We believe our business is not substantially dependent on either Tech Data or Ingram Micro. Should any of the agreements between us and Tech Data or Ingram Micro be terminated for any reason, we believe the resellers and end users who currently purchase our products through Tech Data or Ingram Micro would

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be able to continue to do so under substantially the same terms from one of our many other distributors without substantial disruption to our revenue. No other distributor, reseller, or direct customer accounted for 10% or more of our revenue.

Our customer-related operations are divided into three geographic regions: the Americas; Europe, Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”); and Asia Pacific (“APAC”). Each geographic region is supported by global marketing and sales organizations. These organizations develop and manage overall marketing and sales programs and work closely with a network of domestic and international sales offices. We believe that international sales will continue to comprise the majority of our total net revenue. Adverse economic conditions and currency exchange rates in the countries that contribute a significant portion of our net revenue, including emerging economies, may have an adverse effect on our business in those countries and our overall financial performance. Our international operations and sales subject us to a variety of risks; see Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” for further discussion.

We also work directly with reseller and distributor sales organizations, computer manufacturers, other software developers, and peripherals manufacturers in cooperative advertising, promotions, and trade-show presentations. We employ mass-marketing techniques such as webcasts, seminars, telemarketing, direct mailings, sponsorships, advertising in business and trade journals, and social media. We have a worldwide user group organization and we have created online user communities dedicated to the exchange of information related to the use of our products and services.

We generate revenue primarily through various offerings that provide recurring revenue. Under our subscription plan, customers can use our software anytime, anywhere, and get access to the latest updates to previous versions through term-based product subscriptions, cloud service offerings, and enterprise business agreements. With the discontinuation of the sale of perpetual licenses, we have transitioned away from selling a mix of perpetual licenses and maintenance plans in favor of a consolidated subscription model. However, our customers who have previously purchased a perpetual use license for the most recent version of the underlying product are able to renew a previously purchased maintenance plan, until maintenance offerings are retired as of August 7, 2021, that provides them with unspecified upgrades when and if available, and receive online support during the term of their maintenance contract.

CUSTOMER AND RESELLER SUPPORT

We provide technical support and training to customers through a multi-tiered support model, augmented by direct programs designed to address certain specific customer needs. Most of our customers receive support and training from the resellers and distributors from which they purchased subscriptions or licenses for our products or services, with Autodesk in turn providing second tier support to the resellers and distributors. Other customers are supported directly via self-service using the Autodesk Knowledge Network which guides customers to answers in our online support assets, support forums, webinars or to support representatives using different modalities such as social media, phone, email and webchat. We also support our resellers and distributors through technical product training, sales training classes, webinars and other knowledge sharing programs.

ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND GOVERNANCE PROGRAMS

Education

Autodesk is committed to helping fuel a lifelong passion for design and making among students of all ages, both within and outside the classroom. We offer free educational licenses of Autodesk's professional software to students, educators, and accredited educational institutions worldwide. We inspire and support beginners with Tinkercad, a simple online 3D design and 3D printing tool. Through Autodesk Design Academy, we provide secondary and postsecondary schools hundreds of standards-aligned class projects to support design-based disciplines in Science, Technology, Engineering, Digital Arts, and Math (STEAM) using Autodesk's professional-grade design, engineering and entertainment software. Autodesk Design Academy curricula is also syndicated on iTunes U and Udemy, where millions of students go to learn online. Classes and projects are available on our Instructables website for anyone looking to expand their "making" skills. Our intention is to make Autodesk software ubiquitous and the design and making software of choice for those poised to become the next generation of professional users.

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Sustainability Programs

To help our customers imagine, design, and make a better world, our sustainability initiatives focus our efforts on the areas where we can have the greatest positive impact: enabling sustainable practices through our products, delivering free sustainable-design learning and training resources, providing software grants to qualifying nonprofits and entrepreneurs, and leading by example with our sustainable business practices. Through our products and services, we are supporting our customers to better understand and improve the environmental performance of everything they make.

Climate Change

In addressing the global challenges posed by climate change, we make it possible for our customers to innovate and respond to associated changes in regulation, building code, physical climate parameters and other climate-related developments. This effort can directly and indirectly create more demand for existing and new Autodesk products and services in the short and long-term. Furthermore, our leadership is committed to taking climate action and that commitment goes hand-in-hand with our values and reputation in the marketplace.

Climate Change Management Actions

To drive continued progress and meet growing demand, we continue to expand the solutions, education, and support we offer, helping customers secure a competitive advantage for a low-carbon future by designing high-performance buildings, resilient cities and infrastructure, and more efficient transportation and products. To continue to grow this market, we provide software and support to early stage entrepreneurs and start-up companies who are designing clean technologies. We plan to expand these offerings in the future based upon demand and opportunity in response to challenges posed by climate change.

Internally, we are investing in best practices to mitigate our greenhouse gas emissions and climate change risk through investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, disaster management and recovery strategies, and materials innovation. We are on track to meet our science-based greenhouse gas reduction target of 43% absolute emissions by fiscal 2020 and have announced a new commitment to being net-zero emissions by the end of fiscal 2021. Our results will be published in our fiscal 2020 sustainability report.

Climate Change Governance

With oversight from our CEO, the Sustainability & Foundation Team has direct responsibility for setting and implementing our corporate sustainability strategy, including our climate change strategy.

Emissions Performance & Other Key Performance Indicators

By end of fiscal 2019, Autodesk had reduced its net greenhouse gas emissions for its operational boundary by 41% from our fiscal year 2009 baseline to 178,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. This reduction was accomplished through increased investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency in our global real estate portfolio and investments with our customers to create carbon avoidance projects that generate verified emission reduction credits. More information about our sustainability commitment can be found in our annual sustainability reports, which we have published on our website since 2008. Our fiscal 2020 sustainability report will be published in the second quarter of fiscal 2021.

Philanthropy

The Autodesk Foundation (the "Foundation"), a privately funded 501(c)(3) charity organization established and solely funded by us, leads our philanthropic efforts. The purpose of the Foundation is twofold: to support employees to create a better world at work, at home, and in the community by matching employees' volunteer time and/or donations to nonprofit organizations; and to support organizations and individuals using design to drive positive social and environmental impact. In the latter case, we use grant funding, software donations, and training to accomplish this goal, selecting the most impactful and innovative organizations around the world, thus, leading to a better future for our planet. On our behalf, the Foundation also administers a discounted software donation program to nonprofit organizations, social and environmental entrepreneurs, and others who are developing design solutions that will shape a more sustainable future.

DEVELOPER PROGRAMS

Our business and our customers benefit from our relationships with an extensive developer network. These developers create and sell their own interoperable products that further enhance the range of integrated solutions available to our

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customers. One of our key strategies is to maintain an open-architecture design of our software products to facilitate third-party development of complementary products and industry-specific software solutions. This approach enables customers and third-parties to customize solutions for a wide variety of highly specific uses. We offer several programs that provide strategic investment funding, technological platforms, user communities, technical support, forums, and events to developers who develop add-on applications for our products. For example, we have created our web services platform, Autodesk Forge. The Forge Platform includes web services that enable software developers to rapidly develop the next generation of applications, and experiences that will power the future of making things. Forge facilitates the development of a single connected ecosystem for integrating Autodesk applications with other enterprise, web and mobile solutions.

COMPETITION

The markets for our products are highly competitive, are subject to rapid change, and can have complex interdependencies between many of the larger businesses. We strive to increase our competitive separation by investing in research and development, allowing us to bring new products to market and create exciting new versions of existing products that offer compelling efficiencies for our customers. We also compete through investments in marketing and sales to more effectively reach new customers and better serve existing customers.

Our competitors include large, global, publicly traded companies; small, geographically focused firms; startup firms; and solutions produced in-house by their users. Our primary global competitors include Adobe Systems Incorporated, AVEVA Group plc, Bentley Systems, Inc., Dassault Systèmes S.A. and its subsidiary Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp., Intergraph Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hexagon AB, MSC Software Corporation, Nemetschek AG, Oracle Corporation, Procore Technologies, Inc., PTC Inc., 3D Systems Corporation, Siemens PLM, and Trimble Navigation Limited, among others.

The software industry has limited barriers to entry, and the availability of computing power with continually expanding performance at progressively lower prices contributes to the ease of market entry. The industry continues to undergo a platform shift from the personal computer to cloud and mobile computing. This shift further lowers barriers to entry and poses a disruptive challenge to established software companies. The design software market is characterized by vigorous competition in each of the vertical markets in which we compete, both from existing competitors and by entry of new competitors with innovative technologies. Competition is increasingly enhanced by consolidation of companies with complementary products and technologies and the possibility that competitors in one vertical segment may enter other vertical segments that we serve. In addition, some of our competitors in certain markets have greater financial, technical, sales and marketing, and other resources than we do. Because of these and other factors, competitive conditions in these industries are likely to continue to intensify in the future. Increased competition could result in price reductions, reduced net revenue and profit margins, and loss of market share, any of which could harm our business. See Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” for further discussion of risks regarding competition.

We believe that our future results depend largely upon our ability to better serve customers by offering new products, including cloud and mobile computing products, whether by internal development or acquisition, and to continue to provide existing product offerings that compete favorably with respect to ease of use, reliability, performance, range of useful features, continuing product enhancements, reputation, price, and training.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND LICENSES

We maintain an active program to legally protect our investment in technology through intellectual property rights. We protect our intellectual property through a combination of patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret protections, confidentiality procedures, and contractual provisions. The nature and extent of legal protection associated with each such intellectual property right depends on, among other things, the type of intellectual property right and the given jurisdiction in which such right arises. We believe that our intellectual property rights are valuable and important to our business.

Nonetheless, our intellectual property rights may not be successfully asserted in the future or may be invalidated, circumvented or challenged. In addition, the laws and enforcement of the laws of various foreign countries where our products are distributed do not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as U.S. laws. Enforcement of intellectual property rights against alleged infringers can sometimes lead to costly litigation and counterclaims. Our inability to protect our proprietary information could harm our business.

From time to time, we receive claims alleging infringement of a third party’s intellectual property rights, including patents. Disputes involving our intellectual property rights or those of another party have in the past and may in the future lead to, among other things, costly litigation or product shipment delays, which could harm our business.

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We retain ownership of software we develop. Our combined hybrid offerings include both desktop software and cloud functionality. Desktop software is licensed to users pursuant to ‘click through’ or signed license agreements containing restrictions on duplication, disclosure, and transfer. Cloud software and associated services are provided to users pursuant to on-line or signed terms of service agreements containing restrictions on access and use.

We believe that because of the limitations of laws protecting our intellectual property and the rapid, ongoing technological changes in both the computer hardware and software industries, we must rely principally upon software engineering and marketing skills to continually maintain and enhance our competitive market position.

While we have recovered some revenue resulting from the unauthorized use of our software solutions, we are unable to measure the full extent to which unauthorized use of our software products exists. We believe, however, that unauthorized use of our software is and can be expected to be a persistent problem that negatively impacts our revenue and financial results. We believe that our transition from perpetual use software licenses to a subscription-based business model combined with the change from desktop to cloud-based computing will shift the incentives and means by which software is used without authorization.

In addition, through various licensing arrangements, we receive certain rights to intellectual property of others. We expect to maintain current licensing arrangements and to secure licensing arrangements in the future, as needed and to the extent available on reasonable terms and conditions, to support continued development and sales of our products and services. Some of these licensing arrangements require or may require royalty payments and other licensing fees. The amount of these payments and fees may depend on various factors, including but not limited to: the structure of royalty payments, offsetting considerations, if any, and the degree of use of the licensed technology.

See Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” for further discussion of risks related to protecting our intellectual property.

PRODUCTION AND SUPPLIERS

The production of our software products and services involves duplication or hosting of software media. The way that we deliver software has evolved during our business model transition. For certain cloud-based products, we use a combination of co-located hosting facilities and increasingly Amazon Web Services and to a lesser degree other infrastructure-as-a-service providers. We offer customers an electronic software download option for both initial product fulfillment and subsequent product updates. Customers who choose electronic fulfillment receive the latest version of the software from our vendor’s secure servers. Customers may also obtain our software through media such as DVDs and USB flash drives available from multiple sources. The purchase of media and the transfer of the software programs onto media for distribution to customers are performed by us and by licensed subcontractors. Packaging materials are produced to our specifications by outside sources. Production is performed in leased facilities operated by independent third-party contractors. To date, we have not experienced any material difficulties or delays in the production of our software and documentation.

EMPLOYEES

As of January 31, 2020, we employed approximately 10,100 people. None of our employees in the United States are represented by a labor union. In certain foreign countries, our employees are represented by work councils. We have never experienced any work stoppages and believe our employee relations are good. Reliance upon employees in other countries entails various risks and changes in these foreign countries, such as government instability or regulation unfavorable to foreign-owned businesses, which could negatively impact our business in the future.

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ACQUISITIONS

Over the past three years, we acquired new technology or supplemented our existing technology by purchasing businesses or technology related assets focused in specific markets or industries. For the fiscal years ended January 31, 2019 and 2018, we acquired companies accounted for as business combinations. There were no business combinations or technology acquisitions in fiscal year 2020. The following were significant acquisitions for fiscal years 2019 and 2018:

Date of closingCompanyDetails
January 2019BuildingConnected, Inc. ("BuildingConnected")The acquisition of BuildingConnected enabled Autodesk to add bid-management capabilities to its construction portfolio.
December 2018PlanGrid, Inc. ("PlanGrid")The acquisition of PlanGrid enabled Autodesk to offer a more comprehensive, cloud-based construction platform.
July 2018Assemble Systems, Inc. ("Assemble Systems")The acquisition of Assemble Systems enabled Autodesk's customers to influence, query and connect BIM data to key workflows across bid management, estimating, scheduling, site management and finance.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

*Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR)—*Represents the annualized value of total monthly recurring revenue for the preceding three months. "Maintenance plan ARR” captures ARR relating to traditional maintenance attached to perpetual licenses. "Subscription plan ARR" captures ARR relating to subscription offerings. Refer to the definition of recurring revenue below for more details on what is included within ARR. Recurring revenue acquired with the acquisition of a business is captured when total subscriptions are captured in our systems and may cause variability in the comparison of this calculation.

ARR is currently one of our key performance metrics to assess the health and trajectory of our business. ARR should be viewed independently of revenue and deferred revenue as ARR is a performance metric and is not intended to be combined with any of these items.

Billings**—**Total revenue plus net change in deferred revenue from the beginning to the end of the period.

Cloud Service Offerings**—**Represents individual term-based offerings deployed through web browser technologies or in a hybrid software and cloud configuration. Cloud service offerings that are bundled with other product offerings are not captured as a separate cloud service offering.

Constant Currency (CC) Growth Rates**—**We attempt to represent the changes in the underlying business operations by eliminating fluctuations caused by changes in foreign currency exchange rates as well as eliminating hedge gains or losses recorded within the current and comparative periods. We calculate constant currency growth rates by (i) applying the applicable prior period exchange rates to current period results and (ii) excluding any gains or losses from foreign currency hedge contracts that are reported in the current and comparative periods.

Core Business**—**Represents the combination of maintenance, product subscription, and EBA.

Enterprise Business Agreements (EBAs)**—**Represents programs providing enterprise customers with token-based access or a fixed maximum number of seats to a broad pool of Autodesk products over a defined contract term.

Free Cash Flow**—**Cash flow from operating activities minus capital expenditures.

Industry Collections—Autodesk Industry Collections are a combination of products and services that target a specific user objective and support a set of workflows for that objective. Our Industry Collections consist of: Autodesk Architecture, Engineering and Construction Collection, Autodesk Product Design & Manufacturing Collection, and Autodesk Media and Entertainment Collection. We introduced Industry Collections effective August 1, 2016 to replace our suites.

Maintenance Plan**—**Our maintenance plans provide our customers with a cost effective and predictable budgetary option to obtain the productivity benefits of our new releases and enhancements when and if released during the term of their contracts. Under our maintenance plans, customers are eligible to receive unspecified upgrades when and if available, and technical support. We recognize maintenance revenue over the term of the agreements, generally one year.

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Net Revenue Retention Rate (NR3): Measures the year-over-year change in ARR for the population of customers that existed one year ago (“base customers”). Net revenue retention rate is calculated by dividing the current period ARR related to base customers by the total ARR from one year ago related to same base customers. ARR is based on USD reported revenue, and fluctuations caused by changes in foreign currency exchange rates and hedge gains or losses have not been eliminated. ARR related to acquired companies is excluded from the calculation for at least one year from integration.

Other Revenue**—**Consists of revenue from consulting, training and other services, and is recognized over time as the services are performed. Other revenue also includes software license revenue from the sale of products which do not incorporate substantial cloud services and is recognized up front.

Product Subscription**—**Provides customers the most flexible, cost-effective way to access and manage 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software tools. Our product subscriptions currently represent a hybrid of desktop and cloud functionality, which provides a device-independent, collaborative design workflow for designers and their stakeholders.

Recurring Revenue**—**Consists of the revenue for the period from our legacy maintenance plans and revenue from our subscription plan offerings. It excludes subscription revenue related to consumer product offerings, select Creative Finishing product offerings, education offerings, and third-party products. Recurring revenue acquired with the acquisition of a business is captured when total subscriptions are captured in our systems and may cause variability in the comparison of this calculation.

Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO)**—**The sum of total short-term, long-term, and unbilled deferred revenue. Current remaining performance obligations is the amount of revenue we expect to recognize in the next twelve months.

Spend**—**The sum of cost of revenue and operating expenses.

Subscription Plan**—**Comprises our term-based product subscriptions, cloud service offerings, and EBAs. Subscriptions represent a combined hybrid offering of desktop software and cloud functionality which provides a device-independent, collaborative design workflow for designers and their stakeholders. With subscription, customers can use our software anytime, anywhere, and get access to the latest updates to previous versions.

Subscription Revenue**—**Includes subscription fees from product subscriptions, cloud service offerings, and EBAs.

Unbilled Deferred Revenue**—**Unbilled deferred revenue represents contractually stated or committed orders under early renewal and multi-year billing plans for subscription, services and maintenance for which the associated deferred revenue has not been recognized. Under FASB Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") Topic 606, unbilled deferred revenue is not included as a receivable or deferred revenue on our Consolidated Balance Sheet.

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