How SAM handles "reserving" licenses

[nagaryu]

I heard that in the M365 licensing system, if you make a reservation when there is not enough stock of licenses, I can assign the license to a user and use it in advance without waiting for the license to be delivered.

In other words, I understand that it is a state where you can assign it to a user even if there is no stock.

When considering this in terms of ServiceNow's system, the number of licenses in stock is registered in the alm_license record, but if there is not enough stock, when you try to assign it to a user (i.e. when I try to create a record in alm_entitlement_user), an error message is displayed and the record cannot be created.

＜Question 1＞
What should I do if I want to achieve "reservation" behavior in ServiceNow?

＜Question 2＞
I heard that whether a license can be reserved or not is decided at the time of the contract with Microsoft.
When considering this in terms of ServiceNow's system, I think it is necessary to set the flag in alm_license (when it can be reserved and when it cannot be ordered because it cannot be reserved), but does SAM have such a function?

The reason for wanting to use this flag is that, for example, if there is a need to perform "reservation work" or "order work" in sc_req_item, it is necessary to create tasks for each work in sc_task, and I want to use this as a condition for making that decision.

＜Question 3＞
In question 2 above, if SAM does not have such a function, is it allowed to add a custom field to alm_license and use it?

[dreinhardt]

Hi @nagaryu ,

the feature is available in SAM Pro an does not need any SaaS integration  - https://www.servicenow.com/docs/bundle/yokohama-it-asset-management/page/product/software-asset-mana...

Best, Dennis

[dreinhardt · Accepted solution]

SAM Ranger YouTube session about this - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GLQVqkZYgFk&list=PLkGSnjw5y2U4zdMtBnktGnnoH_higJEN0&index=51&pp=iAQB

[nagaryu]

Hi @dreinhardt ,

Thank you as always!

I see, according to the explanation around 4 minutes and 00 seconds in the video, if the alm_license's "Licsence type: Subscription," and "License metric: User Subscription," then a new alm_license can be created with the "Create Reserve Entitlement" UI Action, and inventory will increase.
I tried it, and an alm_license record was created correctly!

By the way, what about <Question 2>?

I assumed that if the settings are "Licsence type: Subscription," and "License metric: User Subscription," then reservations are possible, but if the settings are otherwise, reservations are not possible. Is that correct?

In other words, I assume that the criterion for this is whether or not the "Create Reserve Entitlement" UI Action is displayed.

Alternatively, I considered adding a custom field to alm_license to indicate whether or not a reservation can be made and using that to make the determination, but if it is possible to make this determination using OOTB functionality or an existing field, I would like to prioritize that if possible.