Software Models

[Jay662]

Hello everyone,

Feels a little overwhelmed attempting to understand Software Models/Products. I understand that you need a 'Software Entitlement' that links to the software Model. We also have Software Product that gets linked to the Model. 

We have discovery running which has created 'Software Discovery Models' - Do these then link to a software model using reconciliation. 

Also is a software model required for every version?  

[mikew_samexpert]

See attached.

[Stephen42]

Many Thanks !

[Jay662]

This is incredibly useful, thanks very much!

[BH83401]

Can you upload the full sized image? 

[Debendu]

Hi @Jay662,

Here is the detailed explanation of the relation between Software Product, Software Model, Software Discovery Model and Software Entitlement.

Software Product [samp_sw_product]: 
In this table all the software products of different publisher are stored. For example, the software products of Microsoft like Word, OneNote, Visio are present in this table.

Software Model [cmdb_software_product_model]: 
One specific software product can have different versions/editions like Adobe Acrobat DC, Adobe Acrobat Professional etc. and that is why the Software Models are came in the picture. It used to track each version/edition of a specific software including the software product lifecycle.

Software Entitlement [alm_license]: 
This table stores the actual purchased software license/entitlement. As we know there are different versions/editions present for a specific software product, we need to map the software entitlement to the correct software model. For example, if we purchased software rights/license for Adobe Acrobat Professional then we must map the software entitlement to the correct software model of Adobe Acrobat Professional, we should not map this entitlement record to Adobe Acrobat DC. Hence, the software models and software entitlements are important in the SAM.

Software Discovery Model [cmdb_sam_sw_discovery_model]: 
We know the software models are used to track each versions/edition of the software product and the software entitlements are used to track the software rights purchased by an organization, so it is also important to track the software installations within the organization, otherwise, we will be unable to generate accurate license positioning report which is one of the main features of SAM. The discovery or integrations (SCCM/JAMF) bring the Software Installation [cmdb_sam_sw_install] records. The Software Discovery Models are automatically based on the Software Installation records. Software Discovery Models have fields such as "Discovered publisher", "Discovered Product", "Discovered version" and by the Software Normalization process the Software Discovery Models are mapped(normalized) with their correct Software Models. Hence, Software Discovery Models creates a relation between the installed software and the software models by which we can track how many software installations are present for a specific software model.

I hope this will clear all your doubts regarding this.