Software Model Table or Software Package Table?

[denitsadeneva]

Hello,

I have a client, who wants to start tracking their software licenses in the Asset Management Fundamentals ( no SAM product yet ). And on the process of guiding them to the right place I stumbled across the following - currently the client uses the cmdb_ci_spkg table to track the software available in the company - they even created some manual entries in this table and some additional custom columns for their needs. They are referencing this table from a catalog item, so that they can display which software can be purchased / installed, etc. Now my recommendation would be to document all their software models in the Software Model table and ideally to reference it, when it comes to catalog items, but the client is not really convinced why they should do that. If it is for the purpose of track the software licenses purchased and allocated ( manually, as the client doesn't have SAM ), the situation becomes even more complex, because within a record in the cmdb_ci_spkg there is an option to add a Software entitlement, but the created SW entitlement is without a SW Model. So I'm also puzzled why the SW Package table references the entitlement and why it won't be the right place they to continue managing their software packages ( given they don't have SAM ).

My only so far stable argument is that if they start using SAM some day, then they will have to anyway migrate to SW Models, since this is how SAM operates, but other than that I can't thing of any other arguments against using the SW Package table the way they use it in the moment.

Do you probably have any other pros and cons why they should stop using the SW Package table ( entering manually new lines and even new columns) and why they should move to the SW Model table? Thanks in advance!

[Engelica Adalia]

@denitsadeneva Looks like they are using it as a normal table with lots of customizations that will need to be updated once SAM is installed. The "cmdb_ci_spkg" table is being used by SAM to reconcile software package and versions and is updated indirectly via the "Synch Software Package" Business Rule. This rule is created as part of the Legacy Software Asset Management and it is disabled when SAM or SAMP is installed. The only downside that I can think of is until when this table will be available.

When SAM is installed, the Software Installation [cmdb_sam_sw_install] table is the appropriate source for all current software data. ServiceNow normalizes the installations and compare it against the Software Discovery Model [cmdb_sam_sw_discovery_model] and "Software Model" [cmdb_software_product_model] -> this is the table that you should utilize to track your software (can contain your entitlements/licenses [alm_license] which can be directly linked to product catalogs.

ServiceNow References:

Discovery with Software Asset Management (servicenow.com)

Installed with the legacy Software Asset Management plugin (servicenow.com)