Engineering license management

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Engineering License Management

    Engineering license management in ServiceNow's Zurich release empowers customers to gain clear visibility into their engineering software license usage and position. This visibility helps eliminate audit risks, reduce inefficient license usage, improve forecasting accuracy, and prevent license denials. It specifically supports managing concurrent licenses, which allow multiple users to share access to engineering applications across a network or virtual machines.

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    To leverage these capabilities, customers need to request the Software Asset Management Professional for Engineering Applications store app. Engineering applications typically include software used in industries like aerospace, oil and gas, and construction.

    Key Features

    • Concurrent License Management: Manages pools of shared licenses via license management servers, each associated with specific engineering software applications.
    • Integration with OpenLM and Open iT: These integrations connect to various license management servers (including Sentinel, Reprise, FlexLM, Autodesk, DSLS, IBM LUM) to monitor thousands of engineering software licenses.
    • Data Collection and Consolidation: OpenLM and Open iT collect license usage, denials, user activity, and alerts, and transfer normalized data into the ServiceNow instance for reconciliation and reporting.
    • Support for Multiple License Types: Software Asset Management supports floating, network, and token licenses, providing flexibility in managing different licensing models.
    • Dashboards and Reporting: Engineering License Overview dashboards available in both the classic Software Asset Management application and Software Asset Workspace offer comprehensive reporting on software spend, denials, usage trends, and more.

    Key Outcomes

    • Optimized License Usage and Spend: Monitoring concurrent license consumption helps customers optimize usage and reduce unnecessary expenditure.
    • Improved Forecasting: Accurate usage data supports better forecasting of license needs.
    • Enhanced Compliance and Audit Readiness: Consolidated usage data aids in supporting audits and contract renewals, reducing compliance risks.
    • Reduced Productivity Loss: Tracking license denials helps identify and mitigate potential disruptions to end users.

    Additional Information

    Customers should refer to the specific OpenLM Adapter Integration and Open iT LicenseAnalyzer pages in the ServiceNow Store for detailed setup and configuration guidance. The integrations and dashboards provide a streamlined approach to managing engineering software licenses effectively within the ServiceNow platform.

    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:
    Request the Software Asset Management Professional for Engineering Applications store app (sn_samp_eng_app) to access the benefits of the Software Asset Management Professional for engineering applications. 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.

    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, see 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, see the Open iT LicenseAnalyzer page in the ServiceNow Store.