Share the Wealth: Software Asset Management Professional (SAM Pro) in ServiceNow
Updated: Feb 1, 2021
In this week’s Share the Wealth video, Will Young of GlideFast gives an overview and demonstration of Software Asset Management Professional (SAM Pro) in ServiceNow.
SAM Pro Editions
Here is a rundown on all SAM editions:
Software Asset Management (Basic) is part of ITSM, only allows users to track purchases — It should be called “Software Tracker.”
Software Asset Management Foundation is no longer recommended, as it was a manual creation of software models for reconciliation and requires some migration effort to get to SAMP.
Software Asset Management Professional is an only full-feature option, has data feeds from ServiceNow Content Service, provides automated software model discovery and normalization, and is licensed per computer.
ServiceNow Pre-Requisites
ServiceNow prerequisites include procurement, cost management, data certification, discovery (current version with patterns), normalization data services (plugin helps maintain consistency in company names across the entire ServiceNow platform), SAM premium usage integration (Microsoft SCCM 2012 v2 or 2016), and software asset management professional.
Tables and Terms
The following tables and terms are defined:
Publisher (Microsoft) = Manufacturer != Vendor
Software Product (Word)
Software Model (Word Professional 2010)
– Version
– Edition
– Other criteria
Entitlement
– 200 of [Software Model]
Software Subscription — SCCM/Discovery
Software Usage — SCCM
Discovery Model — Normalize discovered values
Discovery Map — Map installs to software models
Reclamation Candidate
– Blacklisted
– Unlicensed
– Low Usage
Reconciliation Result
Product Result
– Compliant/Not Compliant
Model Result
– Compliant/Not Compliant
Metric Result
– Actual deployed vs. owned
Product Success Journey
The Product Success Journey is divided into chapters, stages, phases, and moments of truth. The chapters are launching, managing, and advancing SAM. The stages include (1) program governance, (2) enablement, (3) socialize, (4) coaching & mentoring, (5) road map, (6) insight pursuits, and (7) expand. The four phases are initiate, prepare, create, and transition. The moments of truth include value review, capabilities & data readiness, executive review, first process/activity, SAM strategy & plan, and ongoing relationship. These steps are required for implementation in order to reach maturity model level and allow the customer to run with the product.
Asset vs Configuration Management
Asset management is not configuration management. Asset management focuses on the financial aspect of the physical IT component throughout its entire lifecycle. Configuration management focuses on operational usage and logical relationships.
Additional Features
Young explores product interactions, deployment notes, the role of discovery, SCCM and orchestration, software license metrics, Adobe and Microsoft Cloud software, software asset management roles, and software terminology.
Demo
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