SAM Premium: How does Per User Licensing reconcile installations missing "Assigned to"?

[RahulY00040]

Hello Community,

I am looking for some clarity on how SAM reconciliation calculates software compliance under the Per User license metric (specifically for products under the Common category).

I am trying to understand how ServiceNow evaluates the following deployment combinations:

• Active users assigned to CIs:Standard mapping logic.
• Inactive users assigned to CIs: Does reconciliation still consume a right for an inactive user?
• Installations missing an "Assigned to" user:

Specifically, if a software installation record exists but the assigned_to field on the Configuration Item (CI) is completely blank, how does the reconciliation engine handle it? Does it ignore the record, or does it consume a license right anyway?

Any insights into the platform's exact calculation logic for these scenarios would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Rahul

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[fknell · Accepted solution]

Hi @RahulY00040,

For the Common/Per User metric, ServiceNow generally requires one license right per software installation associated with a user. An installation assigned to an active user consumes a right; an installation assigned to an inactive user can also continue consuming a right until the assignment or installation data is corrected.

If the CI’s  assigned_to  field is blank, the installation is not attributed to a user. It is therefore typically shown as an unassigned or unlicensed installation rather than consuming a right for a specific user.

The CI’s  assigned_to  field is the important value to verify, since the software-installation record normally reflects the CI assignment. 

Please refer to ServiceNow’s Software license metrics documentation. It describes the Per User metric and explains how license metrics are used during reconciliation. 

Hope this helps!

[fknell · Accepted solution]

Hi @RahulY00040,

For the Common/Per User metric, ServiceNow generally requires one license right per software installation associated with a user. An installation assigned to an active user consumes a right; an installation assigned to an inactive user can also continue consuming a right until the assignment or installation data is corrected.

If the CI’s  assigned_to  field is blank, the installation is not attributed to a user. It is therefore typically shown as an unassigned or unlicensed installation rather than consuming a right for a specific user.

The CI’s  assigned_to  field is the important value to verify, since the software-installation record normally reflects the CI assignment. 

Please refer to ServiceNow’s Software license metrics documentation. It describes the Per User metric and explains how license metrics are used during reconciliation. 

Hope this helps!

[RahulY00040]

Thanks  for your quick response!

Over weekend, I was able to validate that even though devices assigned_to is blank, still that device is counted towards the Per User metric calculation. Could you please check and validate my understanding. And same is written in documentation for MSFT software and I believe same is applicable for non-Microsoft software too. Refer doc here:

Thanks,
Rahul

[fknell]

Hi @RahulY00040,

It depends on the publisher’s logic. For Microsoft, it's clear; in general, publisher-specific content can override or supplement it.

Hope this helps!

[RahulY00040 · Accepted solution]

Hello @fknell , 

Thanks for your response. In my sandbox instance, I was able to demonstrate that in case of per user metric under common category, it was counting the server/computer without assigned to as 1 as mentioned in above shared document. Its not clearly documented for Common Metric Group, but its behavior is similar to what mentioned in document for MSFT prodcuts.

Thanks,
Rahul