ServiceNow License Management Help

Vance1 · ‎11-28-2016

Hello,

I have been looking through the Wiki and ServiceNow Community for the best way to view and manage ServiceNow License utilization but have not come across a "Best Practice" for how to do so.

I found some very helpful threads that explain how to configure some report settings (Thread-1, Thread-2) but essentially they direct you to paste "javascript:gs.getRoledUsers()" into the sys id filter on the sys_user table tweak from there. Thread-1 had a nice speedometer built from the "sys_user_has_role" table, but neither of these options provide details about where the licenses are used internally like by department without additional data analysis.
I found a thread that suggested the use of "System Usage" but the number of licensed users displayed here was different that what I get using the report method above.
Finally, I came across something called "Subscription Management Application" that seems to be the most promising, except... Subscription data arrives on production instances only and the application will not be made available until Helsinki. How am I supposed to test this as a solution in my development instance if I am only able to access data in my production instance? It would be nice to know exactly how this application will be generating an accurate license count. A dedicated video about the intended usage of this application and demonstration would also be helpful. Will automation be built in? Can I have the system reclaim licenses based on specified criteria like no login within 6 months?

What I am looking for:

The best, most accurate way to monitor ServiceNow License usage with visibility down to department and user at this point in time.
I would like to know how license reporting works between ServiceNow and Us (company). It seems that ServiceNow must be monitoring our instance and bills us periodically based on this reporting mechanism. I would like to know how often ServiceNow counts our licenses used and what criteria is being used to generate that report so we can duplicate it for accurate planning.

Thanks to anyone who is able to help. I feel like something as important as License Management shouldn't be this difficult.

Vance1 · ‎12-06-2016

Configuring the report as shown here seems to be the best answer to my question.

Four Primary Components:

Data > Table > sys_user
Sys ID > is > javascript:getRoledUsers()
Active > is > True
Last Login Time > Relative > On or after > 365 > Days > Ago

One Secondary Component if Applicable (Not Shown):

Filter Out Non-Fulfiller Roles

In our case, we currently don't have any users that utilize a non-fulfiller role ONLY. However, If you do, and you subscribe to a Fulfiller user model, it might be a good idea to filter these out as they don't utilize a license according to ServiceNow. Please consult your order agreement and ServiceNow representative for confirmation.

Using this report configuration will eliminate duplicates as it is pulling individual users from the "sys_user" table instead of users and their individual roles from the "sys_user_has_role" table. You can then add related columns like department to gain more insight into who is using licenses.

If you have Performance Analytics (PA), I suggest using it. It will allow you to practically eliminate the need to export this report to Excel for post-processing and analysis.

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread and other like it as this solution would not likely be possible without you.

View solution in original post

leonardsalas · ‎07-11-2019

Using sys_user_has_role.list will show all users and the roles they have in list view. Then just sort by role.

tabitha · ‎11-28-2016

Hi Vance, I am the product manager for Subscription Management. You are absolutely right, I do need to get a video posted. It's on my list but I will bump the priority. Yes, Subscription Management will greatly automate the process and provide you with a dashboard of all of your ServiceNow subscriptions and consumption. There is a few minutes of initial set up, but after that it's pretty hands off as long as you are under your purchased amount. Subscribed users will eventually replace the current 'users with a role' definition of a licensed user which will free up roles for customers to use more liberally.

I would be happy to give you a demo. I appreciate that you took the initiative to post on the topic so I feel like you may have some good feedback on the new product. Helsinki is the first version of this application and we have a few releases to get to where we'd like to be so all customer feedback now is timely and appreciated.

I have passed along your more pressing questions to one of my colleagues that is better suited to respond. I will request he respond asap.

Thank you,

Tabitha

Vance1 · ‎11-29-2016

Hi Tabitha, thank you for your response. I would love a demo and would be happy to provide you with feedback. Can we set this up soon?

Vance1 · ‎12-06-2016

Hi Tabitha,

I'd really love to get in touch with you about the Subscription Management Application Demo. Please let me know when we can do this. Thanks

tabitha · ‎01-12-2017

I apologize for not seeing this sooner Vance. I'm always happy to provide demos. Please shoot me an email to tabitha.hunter@servicenow.com with some date/time suggestions and I will send out an invite. This offer is open to anyone, I love hearing feedback on this new functionality so we can grow it to best suit customer needs.