This post is a tour of every tool Software Asset Management (SAM) gives you to fill in missing software lifecycle dates: the end-of-support, end-of-extended-support, and end-of-life dates that tell you when a product becomes a risk.
Publishers do not always publish those critical dates, and when they do, they do not always reach every version you have installed. SAM layers several mechanisms: automatic ones that work at scale (approximated dates from ServiceNow’s content library, and formula-based averages), precision overrides for special cases (custom dates you set, and add-on dates for paid extensions like Microsoft ESU), and parent-child relationships that let one product’s dates flow to a whole family. The payoff is complete coverage with an audit trail showing where every date came from.
Start with the automatic layers
Two layers do most of the work without per-product configuration.
Approximated Lifecycle is content ServiceNow’s Content Team maintains for you. When a publisher has not published explicit dates, the team supplies a derived date paired with a code that explains it.
Calculated Lifecycle fills what is left. When neither a published nor an approximated date exists, Software Lifecycle Averages let you define a formula in months (“end of support = general availability + 48 months,” and so on), and the platform applies it to every product in scope that does not already have a more specific date. These show up tagged “Calculated,” so they never secretly pass for publisher values. You can define averages at four levels (a single product, a whole publisher, a grouping of your own, or a global fallback for the entire estate), and the platform always picks the most specific match. The global fallback ships inactive at 48 / 60 / 72 months; switching it on is a one-click safety net for everything.
Then the precision overrides
When the automatic layers do not produce the right answer, two mechanisms take over.
Custom Lifecycle is for dates that are simply true for you: a negotiated support agreement, an internal policy decision (“we are retiring this product class by year-end regardless of the vendor”), or a research source you stand behind. The record is tagged “Internal” and overrides anything from the content library. Scope it at the version level (i.e. “SQL Server 2019”). One date then propagates across the whole family, instead of covering exactly one record and leaving the rest exposed.
Publisher Add-On Lifecycles handle paid extensions like Microsoft Extended Security Updates or Red Hat Extended Life Support. Publishers actually publish two official date sets for these (standard and extended), and the only difference is who holds the add-on. Record the add-on against the product and SAM automatically switches the report to the extended dates. Without it, a product you have actively extended can show up as past end of support when it is not.
Scale it with Parent-Child Relationships
Most mechanisms work one record at a time. Parent-Child Relationships are the leverage layer: define a link once and the parent’s dates flow to every child that does not already have its own. Use specific relationships for clearly-named families (Office → Word, Excel, PowerPoint), blanket relationships when a publisher follows one consistent policy across its catalog, and exclusions to carve out the products that genuinely do not fit.
How it all stacks
Published dates apply first, approximation fills the gaps, calculated averages fill what is still left, and custom records override the lot when contract or policy says so. Add-on dates swap in the extended set for customers who hold the extension, and parent-child relationships carry whatever date wins out to every related product. Layer them in that order and the estate ends up with something rare: complete coverage, and a clear answer for every date about where it came from.
Where to go next
Essential references
KB1642485 — Software Lifecycle Codes reference
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