Article for ITOM Licensing calculations

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ServiceNow IT Operations Management (ITOM) License Calculations

ITOM licensing enables organizations to discover, monitor, and manage the IT infrastructure through capabilities such as Discovery, Service Mapping, Cloud Discovery, Event Management, and Service Graph Connectors. ITOM licenses are typically consumption-based and are calculated using Configuration Items (CIs) that meet ServiceNow licensing criteria.

The primary objective of ITOM licensing is to ensure that actively managed infrastructure assets within the CMDB are accurately identified and counted for operational management and compliance purposes.

Subscriptions: Example

Navigate to "ITOM Licensable CIs" -> Find the licensed details

Product Family	Quantity	Unit Cost	Purchased(Entitled)	Allocated(Consumed)	Allocated Status	Utilization	Start Date	End Date	Unallocated
ITOM	10000	$8.40	10000	9000	Within limit	90	2023-12-31	2026-12-30	1000

Subscriptions unit ratios:

Different infrastructure categories consume licenses at different rates:

CI Category	Subscription Unit Ratio	Example
Servers	1:1	100 Servers = 100 Subscription Units
PaaS Resources	3:1	300 PaaS Resources = 100 Subscription Units
FaaS Resources	20:1	2,000 FaaS Resources = 100 Subscription Units

1. Servers:

Servers constitute the largest portion of ITOM node consumption and are licensed at a 1:1 subscription unit ratio, where each qualifying server CI consumes one ITOM subscription unit.

Subscription Unit Ratio: 1:1

Tables:

CI Category	Tables
Servers	cmdb_ci_vm_instance cmdb_ci_ucs_blade cmdb_ci_mainframe_hardware cmdb_ci_ucs_rack_unit cmdb_ci_server

Filter conditions: The URL below opens a list of Configuration Items (CIs) that are currently contributing to ITOM license consumption. To identify unique servers and avoid counting records from multiple discovery sources separately, apply a Group By → Name operation on the list view.

• Navigate to cmdb_ci table -> class: is a : please mention all the tables which are mentioned above table
• ex: update service instance name: https://****.service-now.com/now/nav/ui/classic/params/target/cmdb_ci_list.do%3Fsysparm_query%3Dsys_class_nameINSTANCEOFcmdb_ci_vm_instance%255EORsys_class_nameINSTANCEOFcmdb_ci_ucs_blade%255EORsys_class_nameINSTANCEOFcmdb_ci_mainframe_hardware%255EORsys_class_nameINSTANCEOFcmdb_ci_ucs_rack_unit%255EORsys_class_nameINSTANCEOFcmdb_ci_server%255Elast_discovered%253E%253Dgs.beginningOfLast3Months()%255Eoperational_status%253D1%255EGROUPBYname%26sysparm_first_row%3D1%26sysparm_view%3D
• Discovery source: ServiceNow, Service graph connectors, or other(if any)
• Install status: not retired (If Discovery identifies a retired CI, the install status is automatically updated to Installed/Operational)
• Most recent discovery: at or after last 90 days

1. PaaS:

PaaS resources represent managed cloud platform components such as databases, application servers, and messaging services. ServiceNow applies a weighted licensing model where multiple PaaS resources are aggregated before consuming an ITOM subscription unit.

Subscription Unit Ratio: 3:1

Tables:

CI Category	Tables
PaaS	cmdb_ci_cloud_messaging_service cmdb_ci_cloud_gateway cmdb_ci_cloud_webserver cmdb_ci_cloud_database cmdb_ci_cloud_appserver cmdb_ci_cloud_directory cmdb_ci_dynamodb_table

Filter conditions: The URL below opens a list of Configuration Items (CIs) that are currently contributing to ITOM license consumption. To identify unique servers and avoid counting records from multiple discovery sources separately, apply a Group By → Name operation on the list view.

• Navigate to cmdb_ci table -> class: is a : please mention all the tables which are mentioned above table
• ex: update service instance name: https://****.service-now.com/cmdb_ci_list.do?sysparm_query=sys_class_nameINSTANCEOFcmdb_ci_cloud_messaging_service%5EORsys_class_nameINSTANCEOFcmdb_ci_cloud_gateway%5EORsys_class_nameINSTANCEOFcmdb_ci_cloud_webserver%5EORsys_class_nameINSTANCEOFcmdb_ci_cloud_database%5EORsys_class_nameINSTANCEOFcmdb_ci_cloud_appserver%5EORsys_class_nameINSTANCEOFcmdb_ci_cloud_directory%5EORsys_class_nameINSTANCEOFcmdb_ci_dynamodb_table%5Elast_discovered%3E%3Djavascript:gs.beginningOfLast3Months()%5Eoperational_status%3D1%5EGROUPBYname&sysparm_first_row=1&sysparm_view=
• Discovery source: ServiceNow, Service graph connectors
• Install status: not retired (If Discovery identifies a retired CI, the install status is automatically updated to Installed/Operational)
• Most recent discovery: at or after last 90 days

1. FaaS:

FaaS workloads are lightweight, event-driven serverless computing resources. Due to their transient nature and lower infrastructure footprint, ServiceNow licenses these resources using a higher aggregation ratio.

Subscription Unit Ratio: 20:1

Tables:

CI Category	Tables
FaaS	cmdb_ci_cloud_function

Filter conditions: The URL below opens a list of Configuration Items (CIs) that are currently contributing to ITOM license consumption. To identify unique servers and avoid counting records from multiple discovery sources separately, apply a Group By → Name operation on the list view.

• Navigate to cmdb_ci table -> class: is a : please mention all the tables which are mentioned above table
• ex: update service instance name: https://****.service-now.com/cmdb_ci_list.do?sysparm_query=sys_class_nameINSTANCEOFcmdb_ci_cloud_function%5Elast_discovered%3E%3Djavascript:gs.beginningOfLast3Months()%5Eoperational_status%3D1%5EGROUPBYname&sysparm_first_row=1&sysparm_view=
• Discovery source: ServiceNow, Service graph connectors
• Install status: not retired (If Discovery identifies a retired CI, the install status is automatically updated to Installed/Operational)
• Most recent discovery: at or after last 90 days

Recommendations:

Based on the current ITOM utilization (90% consumed, 1000 licenses available -> this is just example) and ServiceNow ITOM licensing principles, the following actions can help reduce license consumption and improve long-term license governance.

1. Retire and Clean Up Stale Configuration Items

Action:

• Identify CIs that have not been discovered for more than 90 days.
• Review with CI owners and update the Install Status to Retired, Decommissioned, or Disposed where applicable.
• Remove duplicate or obsolete assets from the CMDB.

Benefit:

• Retired CIs do not consume ITOM licenses.
• Reduces unnecessary license consumption and improves CMDB accuracy.

1. Eliminate Duplicate CIs Across Multiple Sources

Action:

• Analyze CIs discovered from Discovery, SCCM, Workspace ONE UEM, Cloud Discovery, and other sources(if any).
• Identify duplicate records based on Serial Number, FQDN, Name or Duplicate of fields.
• Strengthen Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) rules.

Benefit:

• Prevents multiple CIs representing the same device from consuming licenses unnecessarily.
• Improves CMDB data quality.

1. Optimize Server Discovery Scope

Action:

• Review all subnets currently included in Discovery Schedules
• Exclude:
• Decommissioned environments
• Temporary lab environments
• DR environments that are no longer active
• Unmanaged network segments

Benefit:

• Reduces discovery of non-business-critical infrastructure.
• Prevents accidental growth in Server-based license consumption.

1. Review of Virtual Machine instance CIs

Action:

• Analyze VMs that are:
• Powered off
• Inactive
• Temporary
• Created for testing purposes(if any)
• Work with infrastructure teams to decommission unused virtual machines.

Benefit:

• Server licenses are consumed at a 1:1 ratio.
• VM cleanup provides immediate license savings.

1. Establish a Monthly License Review Process

Action:

• Create dashboards to monitor:
• License consumption trends
• Newly discovered CIs
• Top consuming CI classes
• Stale assets

Benefit:

• Detects unexpected growth early.
• Helps forecast future license requirements.

1. Implement CI Ownership and Governance

Action:

• Assign ownership for critical CI classes.
• Conduct quarterly reviews with server, cloud, application, and infrastructure teams.

Benefit:

• Ensures obsolete CIs are retired promptly.
• Maintains CMDB health and licensing compliance.

All Categories:

CI Category	Tables
Servers	cmdb_ci_vm_instance cmdb_ci_ucs_blade cmdb_ci_mainframe_hardware cmdb_ci_ucs_rack_unit cmdb_ci_server
enduser_devices	cmdb_ci_computer cmdb_ci_pc_hardware
PaaS	cmdb_ci_cloud_messaging_service cmdb_ci_cloud_gateway cmdb_ci_cloud_webserver cmdb_ci_cloud_database cmdb_ci_cloud_appserver cmdb_ci_cloud_directory cmdb_ci_dynamodb_table
Containers	cmdb_ci_oslv_container
Networking Devices Advanced	cmdb_ci_site cmdb_ci_ni_interface cmdb_ci_equipment_holder cmdb_ci_ni_physical_link cmdb_ci_ni_logical_path
IoT	cmdb_ci_converged_infra cmdb_ci_iot
Networking Devices	cmdb_ci_netgear
FaaS	cmdb_ci_cloud_function
API	cmdb_ci_api
Customer Prem Devices	cmdb_ci_modem_network cmdb_ci_optical_network_terminal cmdb_ci_media_gateway cmdb_ci_wap_network