Perpetual licenses with no start date - Washington Release

[Nancy Schilli]

I've read a few comments about this in this community. But still don't have the answer I need. 

When entering perpetual licenses, the start & end dates do not show up on the form.  I would have to go to the table view in order to update the start date.

I've also read that a job runs to reconcile and it only looks at entitlements with start and/or end dates.  Another comment stated that the perpetual licenses will automatically cover all the installs for those models. but if the model has upgrade / downgrade rights, then you need the start date to know which of the downgrades you are entitlement to. 

This is very confusing. I've been doing SAM for years and not sure why the start & end dates were removed from the form for the perpetual licenses, since you want to know the start dates, and then you want the end date so you can document when you terminate the licenses.  Was there some logic as to why it was removed from the workspace, since start date is important for ALL license types. 

Please advise. 

[Community Alums]

Hello @Nancy Schilli ,

Here’s a reply to clarify the perpetual license situation and why the start/end dates might not appear:

The reason you don't see the start and end dates for perpetual licenses is that perpetual licenses, by definition, are not tied to a specific period of time; they last indefinitely. The start and end dates are more relevant for subscription-based licenses, where usage is time-bound, and tracking those dates is essential.

Regarding downgrade rights, if the ServiceNow content library has accurate information for the software model, it will automatically generate downgrade rights for you. However, you can also manually create downgrade rights from the related list on the entitlement if needed.

For upgrades, there’s a Next Version field on the software model record, which can be updated manually if not by content library. Once the scheduled job detects a value in that field, it will automatically upgrade the entitlements based on the new version.

Thanks!

Subham

[dreinhardt]

Hello @Nancy Schilli,

thank you for your question, which we have actually been getting asked by customers recently. In our case the background is, some manufacturers sell perpetual licenses with a defined period of use (you could also call it a subscription) and the requirement is the correct import of these details into the tool.

Unfortunately, there is nothing in the documentation about the definition of “Perpetual” from the perspective of ServiceNow SAMP. I assume that Google's general definition will apply here and that for this reason, among other things, the Start/End Date fields are not included.

A perpetual software license is a type of software license that authorizes an individual to use a program indefinitely. Generally, outside of termination, a perpetual software license lets the holder use a specific version of a software program continually with the payment of a single fee

In the mentioned case above and in general, we recommend that the necessary fields are enabled/added to the form for the corresponding license types. Unfortunately, this requires an change in the OOTB functions and will unfortunately lead to skipped records for the business rules or UI actions during release updates/patches, which you must be aware of at this point.

The reconciliation is based on the status of an entitlement (Build, On Order, In Use, Retired) and will only include "in Use" entitlements for the licence balance calculation. (comment by @christianseppDL - Re: SAM Reconciliation function - ServiceNow Community)

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@Nancy Schilli wrote:

  Another comment stated that the perpetual licenses will automatically cover all the installs for those models. but if the model has upgrade / downgrade rights, then you need the start date to know which of the downgrades you are entitlement to. 

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Depending on the use rights, a perpetual license can certainly also support the downgrade, but this varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. It is usually the case that all available versions can be used with a valid MNT and the last version can continue to be used when this expires.

In my opinion, this is exactly what SAMP does. The software model receives regular updates and new upgrade/downgrade rights via the DMAP and the SAMP Content Service. As soon as maintenance has expired, these updates are no longer applied to the software model and use is restricted to the last valid version.

For all software entitlements/models with a non-generic approach (licensed by a specific version) it's recommend to ensure the "Next version" field is populate with the next available version per software model to ensure the entitlement is upgrade to the latest allowed version.

If the Next Version field is populated in the software model that the maintenance entitlement is associated with and the metric group selected in the maintenance entitlement is Common, then the maintenance entitlement is updated with the next version of the software model. Next version is applicable only for the Common metric group.

Create maintenance entitlements in workspace (servicenow.com)

Downgrade Rights (servicenow.com)

Software license maintenance (servicenow.com)

Best, Dennis