Overview : Handling Edition Mismatches, Discovery Gaps & Downgrade Rights
This article walks through a real-world compliance configuration for Articulate 360 in ServiceNow SAM Pro. It covers a common scenario practitioners encounter: an entitlement created via a Publisher Part Number (PPN) that resolves to an edition-specific Software Model (in this case, Articulate 360 Teams), while the discovery source (SCCM) has not yet surfaced edition-level data leading to a mismatch between the entitlement and the installed software footprint.
The resolution involves configuring downgrade rights at both the Software Model and Entitlement level, paired with a version/edition-neutral Software Model to bridge the discovery gap.
Background: The Problem Setup
Step 1 - Entitlement Creation via PPN
A Publisher Part Number (PPN) was available for Articulate 360 and the corresponding product was present in the SAM Pro Content Library. An entitlement was created using this PPN.
Best Practice: Always use a PPN when creating entitlements. It auto-populates key fields such as license metric, rights per pack, downgrade rights, and triggers automatic Software Model creation enriched with Content Library data.
Reference: https://www.servicenow.com/community/sam-blog/review-software-entitlements/ba-p/3304445
Upon reviewing the created entitlement, it became clear the Software Model had resolved to Articulate 360 Teams — with Teams recognised as the edition by the Content Library.
Step 2 - Suite Components Validation
The Articulate 360 Teams Software Model was opened and all expected suite components were present, including:
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Rise 360
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Storyline 360
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Replay 360
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Peek 360
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Review 360
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Studio 360
Suite components are managed by the SAM Pro Content Service. These components are automatically populated when a Software Model is created via PPN, ensuring that sub-application installations are covered under the parent entitlement during reconciliation.
Reference: https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0748712
Step 3 - The Discovery Gap (No Matching Discovery Models)
Using the "Show Matching Discovery Models" action on the Software Model form, the results returned empty - no discovery models were matched.
Root Cause: The discovery source in use is SCCM, which at this point had not yet discovered edition-level data for Articulate 360. As a result, the discovery models present in the environment are normalised to Articulate 360 (no edition) rather than Articulate 360 Teams.
Software Discovery Models are created and normalised from data provided by your discovery source (SCCM, Intune, ServiceNow Discovery, etc.). If the discovery source does not report edition details, the resulting discovery models will not carry an edition value meaning they will never match an edition-specific Software Model like Articulate 360 Teaams.
Reference: https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0859817
Resolution
Step 4 - Identifying the Version/Edition-Neutral Discovery Models
To confirm what was actually in the environment, the edition filter was removed from the "Show Matching Discovery Models" search. This surfaced all Articulate 360-related discovery models confirming that installations did exist, just without edition attribution.
Step 5 - Confirm (or Create) a Version/Edition-Neutral Software Model
A check was performed to verify whether a Software Model for Articulate 360 with no edition existed. It did.
If this model does not exist in your environment, create it manually. A version/edition-neutral model acts as the bridge between edition-specific entitlements and discovery models that lack edition data. Without it, reconciliation will not be able to match installs to entitlements.
Step 6 - Configure Downgrade Rights
Downgrade Rights were configured at two levels:
| Level | Action |
|---|---|
| Software Model | Added the edition-neutral Articulate 360 model as a Downgrade Right on the Articulate 360 Teams Software Model |
| Entitlement | Added the same Downgrade Right at the entitlement record level |
Step 7 - Run Compliance
After downgrade rights were configured at both levels, compliance was re-run. Reconciliation processed as expected — all Articulate 360 installations (via the edition-neutral discovery models) were covered by the Articulate 360 Teams entitlement through the configured downgrade path.
Additional Consideration: Storyline (without 360)
Storyline without the 360 suffix is a distinct, standalone perpetual license product. It is not covered by the Articulate 360 Teams entitlement or its suite components. A dedicated Software Model and entitlement must be created for this product.
Regards,
Abby
