Overlapping Software: De-Duplication of Spend for SaaS Software

[MichaelG8574211]

I've been looking into the Overlapping Usage reports in the Software Asset Workspace, and I've run into a problem with SaaS software. The report picks up SaaS spend from the Entitlements loaded, but I also need to load Spend transactions for the report to identify non-SaaS spend. However, if I load a Spend Transaction for SaaS software (as might occur if my organisation were to pipe all the transactions from our AP system, which would be needed to take advantage of the shadow IT detection functionality), I end up with two entries for every SaaS product, one under SaaS for the value derived from the Entitlements and one under Spend for the value from the Spend Transactions.

Is there a way to match the SaaS spend to Spend Transactions so that this duplication doesn't occur, or do I have to simply remove any SaaS spend entries from the Spend Transactions as they are identified?

[pr8172510 · Accepted solution]

Hi Michael,

Good question — this is a common scenario when working with SaaS spend and Overlapping Usage reports.

A few things you should know and consider:

1. Why duplication is happening
   SaaS spend is derived from Entitlements, while Spend Transactions are treated as a separate data source.

When you load Spend Transactions for SaaS products:

• System does not reconcile with Entitlements
• Both values are considered independently
• Result → duplicate entries in reports

1. Recommended approach → Exclude SaaS from Spend Transactions

Instead of trying to merge both:

Filter out SaaS records during import (Transform Map / ETL)

For SaaS products:

• Use Entitlements as source of truth
• Avoid loading corresponding Spend Transactions

This is the most reliable and commonly used approach

1. Alternative → Keep Spend but control reporting (limited)

If full AP data is required:

• Tag SaaS Spend Transactions (e.g., u_is_saas = true)
• Exclude them in reporting layer

But this adds complexity and requires maintenance

1. Advanced option → Custom reconciliation logic

If you want to align both:

• Match on Publisher / Product / Subscription
• Suppress one dataset

This requires customization and is not recommended unless necessary

1. Best practice (important)

✔ Entitlements → SaaS cost
✔ Spend Transactions → Non-SaaS + Shadow IT
✔ Avoid mixing both for same product

1. Key takeaway

There is no OOB de-duplication

You need to control which dataset drives reporting

If your goal is accurate Overlapping Usage:

Prefer excluding SaaS from Spend Transactions

[MichaelG8574211]

Thanks for this. I'll look into the ETL for my AP data and see if I can get it configured to exclude known SaaS spend. In the worst-case scenario, I can always set up a report to identify all the products with both types of spend, and de-duplicate them post-import.