Content updates for Software Asset Management

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Content updates for Software Asset Management

    The Software Asset Management (SAM) Content Service provides weekly content updates to your ServiceNow instance that help normalize and enhance your software asset data. These updates cover various software asset-related elements, ensuring your data remains accurate and aligned with current industry standards and vendor information.

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    Key Features

    • Content updates include categories, discovery maps, normalization suggestions, product classifications, license exception rules, product names and types, publishers, suite definitions, software model life cycles, software model suggestions, custom software product suggestions, and Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) normalization rules.
    • Publisher name changes update new software models but do not retroactively update existing software models' display names unless the product moves between publishers.
    • Product types can be updated at the edition level using the Custom Product License Exception Rules, supporting scenarios like non-licensable editions.
    • Exception rules prevent assigning non-licensable status to licensable editions; such cases require submission to the Content Service team for review with documentation.
    • Scheduled jobs—such as SAM - Apply latest content changes and SAM - Create lifecycles and suites for a software model—automate the application of content updates and propagate lifecycle and suite component changes to software models.
    • Content updates cannot be applied to software models with the Allow automated content updates flag cleared, giving you control over which models receive automated changes.
    • Life-cycle data added via content updates cannot be deleted but can be deactivated; these entries are marked with "ServiceNow" as the source.
    • Reporting tools like Software Models with deactivated discovery maps and the SAM Content Audit table help monitor changes and data quality.
    • Content updates do not affect custom products or custom discovery maps, preserving your custom configurations.

    Practical Considerations for ServiceNow Customers

    • Ensure the Allow automated content updates flag is managed according to your update preferences for each software model.
    • Use audit and reporting features to track changes and verify content update impacts on your software library.
    • For license exception scenarios that cannot be handled by existing rules, engage with the ServiceNow Content Service team with proper documentation.
    • Leverage content updates to maintain normalized, accurate software asset data, improving license compliance and asset management effectiveness.
    • Understand that publisher name updates affect only new models and that product movements between publishers trigger model updates accordingly.

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

    The following types of content can be updated as part of a content update:
    • Categories
    • Discovery maps
    • Normalization suggestions
    • Product classifications
    • Product license exception rules
    • Product names
    • Product types
    • Publishers
    • Suite definitions
    • Software model life cycles
    • Software model suggestions
    • Custom software product suggestions
    • Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) normalization rule
    Note:
    Software models aren’t updated when a publisher's name is updated as part of the content updates. The software model isn't updated because its display name is removed from the core company's reference. However, if a product moves to a different publisher, then the software model gets updated during content updates when the product goes from one core company to the other core company. The publisher name is updated for new software models but not for existing software models.

    Product types can be updated on a product’s edition level using the Custom Product License Exception Rules [samp_cust_prod_lic_excep_rules] table. For cases where certain editions are non-licensable, the product type gets updated automatically if the exception rule is defined in the Product License Exception Rules [samp_prod_lic_excep_rules] table or the Custom Product License Exception Rules [samp_cust_prod_lic_excep_rules] table. However, if a product is non-licensable, an exception rule can’t be created for ​a licensable edition. For this case, you must raise a case with the Content Service team​ with supporting documentation and the team reviews ​whether the edition must be tagged as licensable.

    The SAM - Apply latest content changes scheduled job runs and processes the content updates. After the content download is complete, the updated content is pulled from the staging columns to the corresponding target columns. Related downstream records are also updated.

    A query runs and identifies what transactional data in your instance must be updated with the new content. After the changes are identified, the changes are then propagated to your instance.

    Another scheduled job, SAM - Create lifecycles and suites for a software model, runs and propagates suite component and life cycle changes to your software models. If you don't want content changes applied to a software model, then you can clear the Allow automated content updates flag on the Software Model form. By default, the flag is selected to enable automated content updates to all software models.

    Note:
    If a content update adds life-cycle data, it can't be deleted from the software model, but you can deactivate it. Any life-cycle data that is added as part of a content update has the source set to Servicenow.

    Use the Software Models with deactivated discovery maps report to show software models that are pointing to any deactivated discovery maps.

    To see the changes that have been made to the software library, review the SAM Content Audit [sam_content_audit] table.

    Note:
    Content updates don't have an impact on any custom products or custom discovery maps.

    For more information on how to send your content to ServiceNow and include it in the content updates, see Enable sharing information with Software Asset Management content service. For more information on content updates, see KB0824127.