Hi @andynewey ,
I have looked into the issue in detail and wanted to share my findings and recommendations below.
BACKGROUND - How the Publisher Lookup Works
The Publisher field on the Software Model form (cmdb_software_product_model) references the core_company table and applies a filter that only returns records where the Publisher boolean field is set to TRUE. This means that even if a company record exists in the system and even if it appears in Discovery maps or has software models already associated with it, it will NOT appear in the Publisher lookup unless that specific checkbox is ticked on the company record itself. This is a common cause of the exact issue you are experiencing.
STEP 1 - Check the Publisher Flag on Cisco's Company Record
Please carry out the following on your instance:
1. Navigate to Company (core_company) via the left-hand navigation or by typing core_company.list in the application navigator.
2. Search for all records where the Name contains "Cisco". It is very likely you will find multiple records for example, "Cisco", "Cisco Systems", and "Cisco Systems, Inc." may all exist as separate entries.
3. Open each record and check whether the Manufacture checkbox is ticked.
STEP 2 - Identify the Normalised Record & Check Normalization Data Services : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZVZHulgnG0&list=PLrhqGp3sUzhvGXEN_iBBBF3b9Pq1p8QwP
If multiple Cisco company records exist, it is important that you use the correct one when creating your Software Model. Look at the Normalised column against each Cisco record in the Company list view. The record with Normalised = TRUE is the canonical, authoritative entity that ServiceNow's Publisher Normalisation process has designated as the master Cisco record. Using a non-normalised company record as the Publisher on your Software Model introduces a significant risk: during SAM Pro reconciliation, discovered software installations will be remapped to the normalised publisher entity, which could cause your Software Model to not match correctly against those installations resulting in unreconciled records.
Recommendation: Ensure the Publisher checkbox is ticked on the Normalised = TRUE record, and use that record as the Publisher on your IOS XE Software Model.
ADDITIONAL NOTE - IOS XE Discovery Considerations
Once the publisher issue is resolved, it is also worth confirming that your Discovery payloads are returning IOS XE as a distinct installed software record rather than simply a device attribute. Cisco network OS versions are sometimes captured at the CI level (on the Network Device record) rather than as a Software Installation record, depending on your Discovery classifier configuration and SNMP credential setup.
If IOS XE is not appearing as an installed software item in the Software Installations table (cmdb_sam_sw_install), the Software Model alone will not generate reconciliation results regardless of the publisher configuration. This may require a review of your Discovery patterns and classifier rules for Cisco network devices.
I hope the above gives you a clear path forward. Please do let me know what you find when checking the Manufacture flag and the Normalised record on your instance.
If this helped sort things out, please mark it as Helpful and Accept it as the Solution much appreciated.
Best regards,
Abby
