Engineering license management

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Engineering License Management

    Engineering license management in ServiceNow Yokohama release enables organizations to gain full visibility into their engineering software license usage and position. This capability helps eliminate audit risks, reduce inefficient license usage, improve forecasting accuracy, and prevent license denials. It specifically addresses engineering applications commonly used in industries such as aerospace, oil and gas, and construction.

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    To access the complete features, customers need to request the Software Asset Management Professional for Engineering Applications plugin (com.snsampengapp).

    Key Features

    • Concurrent Licensing Support: Manages pools of shared licenses that can be used by multiple users simultaneously via license management servers deployed on the network.
    • Integration with License Monitoring Tools: Supports integration with OpenLM and Open iT, which connect to various license management servers (e.g., IBM LUM, Sentinel Technologies, Bentley Systems) to collect detailed license usage data.
    • Data Collection and Normalization: OpenLM and Open iT gather comprehensive data including license usage, denials, user activity, and alerts, then normalize and reconcile this data within the ServiceNow instance.
    • Support for License Types: Supports floating, network, and token licenses as part of the license metric management.
    • Dashboards and Reporting: Provides detailed reports and dashboards such as the Engineering License Overview dashboard (classic and workspace versions) to monitor total spend, denial rates, usage trends, and other key metrics.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Gain accurate, real-time insights into engineering license consumption and availability.
    • Reduce risks associated with software audits and compliance failures.
    • Optimize license usage to lower costs and prevent unnecessary purchases.
    • Improve license forecasting and planning based on historical usage and denial trends.
    • Centralize license management data for better operational control and decision-making.

    Next Steps and Additional Resources

    To implement engineering license management, customers must:

    • Request and install the Software Asset Management Professional for Engineering Applications plugin.
    • Download and configure the OpenLM and/or Open iT ServiceNow Store applications using Guided Setup.
    • Refer to the OpenLM Adapter Integration and Open iT LicenseAnalyzer documentation in the ServiceNow Store for detailed setup and configuration guidance.

    Get visibility into your license position and usage of your engineering applications to eliminate audit risks, inefficient usage of licenses, inaccurate forecasting, and to help prevent denials.

    Watch this short video for an introduction to engineering license management.

    Note:
    To access all the benefits of the Software Asset Management Professional for engineering applications, request the Software Asset Management Professional for Engineering Applications plugin (com.sn_samp_eng_app). For more information, see Request Software Asset Management.

    Engineering applications refer to categorizing software products in industries such as aerospace, oil and gas, and construction.

    A concurrent license enables multiple users to share access to software applications from any computer on a network or from a virtual machine. License management servers that are installed on the network manage the distribution of a pool of shared licenses.

    You can have multiple license management servers; one for each engineering application. The number of concurrent licenses in the shared pool determines the number of users who can use the software application at a given time. When you want to use an application, that application sends a request to the appropriate license management server to determine if a license is available. If a license is available, the application starts and the number of available licenses decreases by one. When the user exits the application, the license returns to the pool.

    The following graphic illustrates the way OpenLM and Open iT work with the ServiceNow instance.

    Engineering License Manager

    The Software Asset Management application supports three types of licenses: floating, network, and token licenses. For information on these licenses, see Software license metrics.

    The ServiceNow instance integrates with OpenLM and Open iT to collect data from license management servers. OpenLM and Open iT are software license monitoring and management tools that integrate with a wide variety of license management servers such as IBM License Use Management (LUM), Sentinel Technologies, and Bentley Systems, Inc. Both OpenLM and Open iT connect with each license management server, consolidate the data, and get the data into your ServiceNow instance via the ServiceNow Store application.

    After you download the ServiceNow Store application and configure the application via Guided Setup, both OpenLM and Open iT trigger data collection from all the license management servers that are connected to either of these. Data such as license usage, denials, user activity, and alerts are collected from the license management servers by OpenLM and Open iT, and transferred to the ServiceNow instance. The data is normalized and reconciled to produce reports. You can see the total spend on engineering software, the most denied products, license usage over time, and many other reports on the Engineering License Overview dashboard (Software Asset Management classic application) or the Engineering License overview dashboard in workspace (Software Asset Workspace).
    Important:
    For more details on the OpenLM setup and configuration, refer to the Supporting Links and Docs section of the OpenLM Adapter Integration page in the ServiceNow Store.

    For more details on the Open iT setup and configuration, refer to the Open iT LicenseAnalyzerpage in the ServiceNow Store.