Software Asset Management Counters

[rosa8]

I am currently trying to set up Software Asset Management. Our system is on Berlin Patch1. MS Office 2007 is the first software that is being set up. The software counter license type is set to 'By number of users' and Installs per license is set to '2'. It is my understanding that if a user is assigned 2 computers it should count as 1 license. If a user is assigned 3 computers, it should count as 2 licenses. It currently seems to be ignoring the 2 installs per license and is counting 1 per user no matter how many computers are assigned to a given user.

To complicate this even more, Microsofts agreement is that you can count 1 license per user if one of the computers is a desktop and the other a laptop. You cannot use it for 2 desktops or 2 laptops. Does anyone have any idea on how you would calculate that? Is Service Now designed to do such a count.

Thanks,
Rosa

[Valor1]

Rosa,
The "number of users" is meant for just that--straight user count (what it's doing).

If you want a user count + increment based on computers assigned, that's certainly possible but not at all easy. Furthermore, your question regarding computer type further complicates things, as you note.

If you have ServiceNow's Discovery, you would be able to check the Chassis type of the workstation (it's one of the attributes we find), but otherwise it's next to impossible.

If you need help implementing these new count types, I have a good deal of experience doing so--I rebuilt the Aspen software license engine do do similar things. Alas, the Berlin count engine is all different, or I'd be able to help you much more.

[rosa8]

I copied this from the link below.
http://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Using_Counters_for_Software_License_Reconciliation

"If a license type is specified on a counter, each single installation counts as a license or every two installations count as a license. The concept of having two installations count as one license is an idea that certain companies, such as Microsoft and Adobe, sometimes use. This type of license enables customers to purchase one license, and, for example, install the software on one desktop computer and one laptop."

When License Type of 'By number of users' is selected there is a mandatory field for 'Installs per license'. I entered '2' in the installs pre license but it doesn't calculate that way.

Rosa

[Valor1]

Oh, my fault. You're totally right.

I finally got this to work in my sandbox, and it looks like it is working mostly correctly, but it seems there is a serious delay in the calculation.

For example, I created a license as you did, "By number of users" with 2 installs per user. By manual count, I should have had 24 used, but instead the software counter reported 25.

Then, I increased the installs per user to 3, and the number of installs went to 16. Upon changing the number of installs back to 2, It still hasn't recalculated (>5 minutes later, even after clicking "count").

[rosa8]

I'm curious. How many installs do you actually have per user? In my testing I have 13 total installs, 8 unique users, 1 of the users has 4 installations. When I run my install count, I get 8 but I think I should get 9 because the user with 4 installations should count as 2 licenses.

Then to complicate this further... in order for 2 installs to count as 1, one of the installs needs to be a desktop and the other a laptop. If a user has 2 desktops or 2 laptops they need to count as 2 licenses.