--- sourceDocument: Asset Management sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/it-asset-management Release : - brazil ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Asset Management ft:clusterId : - itam bundleId : - itam workflow : - Technology --- # Software Asset Management overview # Software Asset Management overview {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Brazil Updated September 10, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 2 minutes to read Summarize ![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. ## Summary of Software Asset Management overview The Software Asset Management (SAM) application in ServiceNow provides comprehensive functionality to manage software installations, licensing, compliance, and optimization within your IT environment. It helps you monitor software usage, reconcile entitlements against installations, and optimize license usage to ensure compliance and cost efficiency. Show full answer Show less ## Key Features * **Dashboards:** Visualize software installation data and analytics through various dashboards including Software Asset Analytics, Normalization and Content Service, Software Publisher Analytics (for vendors like Citrix, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, VMware), and dashboards for Office 365 and Adobe Cloud. Note that the publisher pack add-on must be activated to access some of these dashboards. * **Licensing:** Manage software models tied to your installed products and entitlements (licenses owned). This includes features like publisher part number lookup, license metrics (per core/processor), entitlement maps, import tools, and error handling to accurately track licensing details. * **Discovery and Normalization:** Discover installed software via ServiceNow Discovery or Microsoft SCCM integrations, then normalize discovered data against ServiceNow's normalized software library to standardize product and version information. Supports custom product creation and manual normalization. Includes tools like License Workbench and normalization suggestion services. Microsoft SCCM 2016 plugin supports multiple SCCM versions, with migration paths to Service Graph Connector recommended for new integrations. * **Reconciliation:** Align discovered software installations with license entitlements to determine compliance status. Generates removal candidates for unused software to reclaim licenses and includes grouping and remediation actions to resolve compliance issues. * **Optimization:** Automate reclamation of unused software licenses by uninstalling software and reclaiming rights using Client Software Distribution workflows. Supports creation of removal candidates, reclamation rules, software usage tracking, and integration with Procurement for purchase order creation. * **Downgrade Rights:** Supports licensing flexibility by allowing use of rights acquired for the latest software version to license earlier versions, helping customers optimize license usage based on version needs. ## Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers By leveraging SAM, you can gain clear visibility into software usage and licensing compliance, reduce software costs through optimization and reclamation, and streamline software license management processes. The integration capabilities with discovery tools and procurement systems enable efficient and automated management of software assets across your enterprise environment. This helps you maintain compliance, optimize software spend, and support IT governance initiatives effectively. An overview of the functionality of the Software Asset Management application. Software Asset Management functionality consists of these main features. {#c_SAMOverview__table_fxn_2mt_1bb__entry__2} | Feature area | Description | |-|-| | Dashboards | These dashboards show software installation results for your environment in the form of statistics and charts. * Software Asset Analytics: Overview, License Summary, Compliance Summary, and Removal Summary * Normalization and Content Service: Normalization trend charts * Software Publisher Analytics: Citrix, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and VMware. Note: The publisher pack add-on must be activated to see the Software Publisher Analytics dashboard. * Office 365 and Adobe Cloud Note: The publisher pack add-on must be activated to see the Office 365 and Adobe Cloud dashboard. * Software Asset Management: Overview, Optimization, Compliance Analysis {#c_SAMOverview__ul_b13_x44_lbb} | | Licensing | Software models created for all installed software products are used to tie software installations (software being used) with entitlements (software owned). Entitlements define license details and are assigned to software models. Features include publisher part number lookup, common per core and per processor license metrics, entitlement discovery maps, exclusion listing, client access, license change projection, entitlement import, and entitlement import error results list. | | Discovery and normalization | A discovery process, such as ServiceNow Discovery or Microsoft SCCM (2012 v2 or 2016), can be used to discover the software installed in your environment. The normalization process compares the discovered publisher, discovered product, and discovered version values against the ServiceNow repository of normalized equivalents An OOB Normalization library contains all content except publisher and product. Custom products can be created if a software product does not exist in the Software Library. Discovered software can also be manually normalized for reconciliation. A software discovery model is then matched to discovered software installations. Features include partial, full, and publisher normalization, License Workbench, License Position report, custom pattern normalization rules, normalization suggestions, on-premise customer support, and an optional Software Asset Management content service to update the Normalization Library with pattern normalization rules. The Integration --- Microsoft SCCM 2016 plugin is compatible with SCCM version 1606, 1906, 1910, and 2002. Note: Legacy SCCM plugins, SCCM 2012 and SCCM 2016, will be deprecated in the upcoming releases.If you are creating the integration for the very first time, then begin with Microsoft SCCM Service Graph Connector SG Connector. If you are already using one of these plugins then use the application titled Migration Readiness Tool for Service Graph Connector for SCCM in the ServiceNow Store to prepare for migration to the Service Graph Connector. | | Reconciliation | The reconciliation process calculates the compliance status of software products regarding discovery and entitlements. Removal candidates are generated for unused software that can be used to reclaim software rights. Features include reconciliation grouping, and remediation actions for resolving compliance issues. | | Optimization | The reclamation process remediates non-compliance by uninstalling software from devices and reclaiming those software rights. The reclamation process can be automated using Client Software Distribution (CSD). Features include removal candidate and workflows, reclamation rule creation, software usage listing, and support for creating a purchase order directly using Procurement integration. For more information, see the [Procurement overview](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=c_Procurement&version=brazil&pubname=brazil-it-service-management&ft:locale=en-US). | | Downgrade Rights | The concept of downgrading licenses is built into the Software Asset Management plugin feature. Downgrade rights is the process of having acquired the rights to the latest version of software but using the rights to license earlier versions of the same software. For more information, see [Downgrade Rights](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/~9rg4gpH8xo~WA5O~wBFJA "The concept of downgrading licenses is built into the Software Asset Management plugin feature. Downgrading rights is the process of having acquired the rights to the latest version of software but using the rights to license earlier versions of the same software."). | [ ] {#c_SAMOverview__table_fxn_2mt_1bb}