Empty user fields in the Software Subscriptions table

[tom_p94]

I was wondering if anyone is using a workaround for the scenario below?

We have a number of records with the user field as (empty) in samp_sw_subscription. This is due to the licenses being held by non-user accounts such as email inboxes for meeting rooms. These accounts don't exist as users on the sys_user table. I suppose these technically at the moment are framed as device subscriptions rather than user subscriptions. 

This is impacting our SAM Pro workspace as we can't create user allocations, and so it's effecting our compliance rate. 

The official response from SN was: ServiceNow SAM pro only supports user subscriptions, while Teams Room or Wallboards supports device subscriptions. We are considering this for the future roadmap. However, please raise an enhancement request.

A possible solution I've thought of is creating a user for each of these accounts on the sys_user table, but this would have licensing implications.

[Uncle Rob]

Right click any of those "empty" and show matching.  Same size list?
I've seen this behavior when there's a sys_id in the field what doesn't exist in the referenced table.
You could also run a script to log out the user values and see if they all output as null or sys_ids.

[dreinhardt]

Hi @tom_p94,

I don't quite understand your statement “This is impacting our SAM Pro workspace as we can't create user allocations, and so it's affecting our compliance rate.” SaaS user subscriptions are displayed in a separate related list in the software model of the respective product and are taken into account during reconciliation and compared with the available usage rights (similar to sw install records). This means that allocations are not  necessary to get a valid license compliance, as this is already the case with user subscriptions. Could you please explain your approach to allocations in more detail? 

"A possible solution I've thought of is creating a user for each of these accounts on the sys_user table, but this would have licensing implications."

Could be a solution, but it's not required for a reconciliation result as mentioned above.  What kind if licensing implications do you mean?

Best, Dennis