ITOM SKU calculation

[varunkumar11863]

Hi,

Does ServiceNow uses environment field to calculate SKUs on daily basis to ensure they don't charge for Non-PROD Servers? Or is it based on VM / PAAS / FAAS counts only?

[iekosmadakis · Accepted solution]

Hello @varunkumar11863 !
ServiceNow ignores the CMDB “Environment” field. Counts are driven by the type of Configuration Item (CI) the platform discovers, not by whether that CI is tagged as Dev, Test, QA or similar. Consequently, it treats every discovered server, VM, PaaS, or FaaS resource exactly the same, whether production or not.

To have a better overview, I strongly suggest to navigate (as an admin) to ITOM License > Report ITOM Licensable CIs and review exactly which CIs are being charged.

Please consider marking my answer as helpful and accepting it as the solution if it assisted you in any way.

[iekosmadakis · Accepted solution]

Hello @varunkumar11863 !
ServiceNow ignores the CMDB “Environment” field. Counts are driven by the type of Configuration Item (CI) the platform discovers, not by whether that CI is tagged as Dev, Test, QA or similar. Consequently, it treats every discovered server, VM, PaaS, or FaaS resource exactly the same, whether production or not.

To have a better overview, I strongly suggest to navigate (as an admin) to ITOM License > Report ITOM Licensable CIs and review exactly which CIs are being charged.

Please consider marking my answer as helpful and accepting it as the solution if it assisted you in any way.

[xesewo5851]

Nope, as @iekosmadakis mentioned SN does not consider the environment field. We have confirmed that in the past after similar request/question by a client.

[AJ-TechTrek · Accepted solution]

Hi @varunkumar11863 ,

No ,  ServiceNow does not natively or automatically use the environment field (e.g., "Production", "Non-Prod", "Dev", "QA") to decide which CIs to count towards your license.
The environment field is there to help you classify CIs, but licensing is not enforced based on it out of the box.

What does ServiceNow licensing actually count?

ServiceNow licensing is usually based on:
* The number of server CIs discovered (e.g., cmdb_ci_computer), or
* The number of virtual machine instances, PaaS / FaaS resources, or database instances, depending on product SKUs.
These counts come from Discovery / Service Graph Connector / Cloud Discovery / ACC-V, and are typically calculated daily or at least monthly by the License Workbench.

Where environment can matter:
* You can exclude Non-Prod CIs from the license count by:
* Using License Entitlement Rules in the License Workbench
* Defining rules like:
“Exclude all CIs where environment=Non-Production or Install Status=Retired”

* This requires explicit configuration; it’s not automatic.
* These rules tell the License Workbench which CIs should not be counted when calculating your compliance.

Best practice:
* Keep the environment field accurate via tagging, discovery or integration (e.g., from vCenter, AWS tags).
* Use License Workbench > License Entitlement Rules to formally exclude Non-Prod CIs.
* Review and audit regularly to stay compliant and avoid over-counting.

What is done by default?	What can be configured?
Discovery and Service Graph populate CIs.	Add License Entitlement Rules to exclude Non-Prod.
Daily license usage count is based on discovered CIs, typically by class or cloud resource type.	Use environment field (or any other field) to filter out CIs.
Environment field by itself is not used automatically by ServiceNow to adjust SKU count.	You can build logic to do this in License Workbench or reporting.

Please appreciate the efforts of community contributors by marking appropriate response as Mark my Answer Helpful or Accept Solution this may help other community users to follow correct solution in future.
 
Thank You
AJ - TechTrek with AJ
LinkedIn:- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajay-kumar-66a91385/
YouTube:- https://www.youtube.com/@learnitomwithaj
ServiceNow Community MVP 2025