Software Asset Management Content Service

Opt in to the Software Asset Management Content Service to share unnormalized software installation data from your organization with ServiceNow to improve the normalization process.

The Software Asset Management Content Service is an IT Asset Management (ITAM) shared service that provides users with continual software recognition improvements. By sharing unnormalized software installation data with ServiceNow, you receive automatic content updates based on your unique software installation footprint.

Data shared using the Software Asset Management Content Service remains anonymous and secure, following ServiceNow privacy policies, and is properly disposed of after review.

This new content improves your normalization hit ratios, which enable you to manage your software assets better. By default, you aren’t opted in to the content service. For information on how to opt-in, see Enable sharing information with the Software Asset Management content service.

If you want to exclude any software discovery models, custom software products, or custom publisher part numbers from being shared with ServiceNow, select the Exclude from content service check box on the Software Discovery Model, Custom Software Product, or Custom Part Number form.

The normalization process acts only on active publishers, products, and rules. Obsolete rules aren’t used. You can deactivate any Normalization Library content version at any time.

Data sharing for Software Discovery Models, Software Model Lifecycles, Part Numbers and Discovery Maps, Processor Names, and Product License Exception Rules is automatically enabled after opting in. If you don't want to share a type of asset data, select the toggle button next to the type of data on the Content Service Setup page and then select Save.

Table 1. Software Asset Management Content Service asset data types

Software asset data	Definition	Details transferred
Software Discovery Models	Model created to classify and reduce duplication of software installs when new installs are identified. Only Software Discovery Models with the following statuses are transferred: Match not found Publisher normalized Partially normalized Manually normalized Normalized Note: Only the Discovery models whose status is Normalized and Version is empty are transferred. Note: To improve the accuracy of machine learning predictions, software discovery models normalized by machine learning are transferred.	Discovered publisher Discovered product Discovered version Normalized publisher Normalized product Normalized version Edition Language Platform Rule table Rule ID ML model version ML normalization status ML prediction values Note: You can override the ML model used for prediction by specifying alternate values in the property com.snc.samp.ml.overrride_ml_model_version. The admin and sam_admin have read access to this property but only the admin has both read and write access.
Software Product Lifecycles	The externally defined or publisher-defined life cycle of the software product. Only software product life cycles that aren’t created by ServiceNow and have a life-cycle type that is not internal are transferred.	Publisher Product Licensable version Edition Full version Lifecycle phase Phase start date Lifecycle source
Part Numbers and Discovery Maps	Custom part numbers and custom discovery maps that are manually created to represent the publisher part number and the corresponding version and edition of the software product.	Publisher part number License type Publisher Product Discovery map Version condition Version Edition condition Edition Platform Platform condition Language Language condition Database Option
Processor Names	Processor identified on a configuration item (CI). Only processors mapped to the default processor factor are transferred.	CPU type Core count Speed
File signatures	Signature that identifies software packages discovered on CIs. Software packages are discovered based on the attributes of the file, such as file name or file size. Only file signatures that are manually normalized are transferred.	File name File size Publisher Product Version Edition Platform Language
Software Spend Transactions Note: Displays only if Software Spend Detection is installed. Data sharing for Software Spend Transactions is inactive by default.	Software Spend Transaction records that were imported for Software Spend Detection. Only the vendor name, transaction description, general ledger account, and prediction results are transferred.	Vendor name Description GL account Is software Publisher ID Product ID
Unrecognized Subscription Identifier	Subscription identifiers that software models aren’t associated with in the ServiceNow content.	Subscription identifier Software model Number of subscriptions
Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) normalization rule	Publisher, product, version, and edition, as well as their corresponding values of the software product in the Software Asset Management (SAM) content library.	Publisher Product Version Full Version Edition Language
Product License Exception Rules	Product, edition condition, edition, and product type, as well as their corresponding values of the software product in the Software Asset Management (SAM) content library. The exception rules table provides an option to tag certain product editions as non-licensable​. Note: If a product is labeled as non-licensable, and you want to tag an edition of that product as licensable, then you should submit a request with the Content Service team.	Product Edition condition Edition Product type Active Note: This record enables you to add your own exception rules using the Custom Product License Exception Rules [samp_custom_lic_exception_rules] table. This table is available to you and has reverse push capabilities. This functionality enables you to create an exception rule for a case where the product is licensable but certain editions of the product are non-licensable.

Opting out

You can opt out at any time from the Content Service Setup page.

When you opt out, your company no longer contributes to the improvement of the normalization process. You still receive content updates, but the updates may be less applicable because they aren't informed by your company's unique software installation footprint that exists within your environment and CMDB.

Your company can rejoin the Software Asset Management Content Service at any time.

• Content updates for Software Asset Management
  The Software Asset Management Content Service provides content updates to your instance weekly that you can use to normalize your data.

Related concepts

• Normalization and Content Service dashboard