License metrics added by the IBM License Compliance for Software Asset Management application

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of License metrics added by the IBM License Compliance for Software Asset Management application

    The IBM License Compliance for Software Asset Management application enhances your ServiceNow Software Asset Management capabilities by adding specific license metrics tailored for IBM software products. These metrics enable precise classification and reconciliation of IBM software discovered in your environment.

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    To access these additional IBM license metrics, you must both activate the Software Asset Management publisher pack for IBM and install the IBM License Compliance for Software Asset Management application. Simply activating the publisher pack alone does not provide these enhanced metrics.

    Key Features

    • IBM-specific license metrics: The application provides IBM-focused license metrics such as Authorized User, Employee User Value Unit, Per Device, Per Processor (CPU count), Processor Value Unit (PVU), Resource Value Unit (RVU), and Virtual Processor Core (VPC).
    • Integration with existing metric groups: Software Asset Management automatically applies default license metrics for supported publishers (e.g., Adobe, Microsoft) via predefined metric groups. The IBM metrics come as a dedicated metric group within this framework.
    • Custom license metrics: Any IBM license metrics provided by the application but not included in the default IBM metric group require you to create custom license metrics within your ServiceNow instance to use them in reconciliation processes.
    • Reconciliation support: These license metrics are applied to your software entitlements and are used by the reconciliation engine to accurately calculate and manage IBM software licenses.

    Practical Implications for ServiceNow Customers

    • Ensure you have both the IBM publisher pack activated and the IBM License Compliance application installed to fully leverage IBM license metrics.
    • Use the predefined IBM license metrics for standard reconciliation scenarios involving IBM software products.
    • For any additional IBM license metrics outside the default group, create corresponding custom license metrics to include them in your reconciliation process.
    • By properly configuring these metrics, you can achieve more accurate license compliance and optimized management of your IBM software assets.

    The IBM License Compliance for Software Asset Management application adds license metrics that enable you to classify your IBM software products.

    These additional license metrics are available only if you have activated the Software Asset Management publisher pack for IBM and installed the IBM License Compliance for Software Asset Management application. They are not available if you have only activated the Software Asset Management publisher pack for IBM.

    You can also use license metrics to reconcile the software products that are discovered in your environment. The Software Asset Management application automatically adds default license metrics for supported software publishers by using publisher-specific metric groups, such as the Adobe and Microsoft metric groups. These license metrics are then set in your corresponding software entitlements and used for reconciliation. Any additional license metric that is not included in an existing metric group must be added as a custom license metric in order to be used for reconciliation. Custom license metrics modify the reconciliation process by adding software license calculations that are not already included in the default list of supported license metrics.

    By default, the IBM metric group includes the following license metrics for IBM reconciliation:
    • Authorized User
    • Authorized User Value Unit
    • Employee User Value Unit
    • External User Value Unit
    • Per Device
    • Per Named User
    • Per Processor (CPU count)
    • Per user
    • Processor Value Unit (PVU)
    • Resource Value Unit (RVU)
    • Virtual Processor Core (VPC)

    All other license metrics that are added by the IBM License Compliance for Software Asset Management application are not included in the IBM metric group. If you want to reconcile your IBM software products using any of these license metrics, you must create a corresponding custom license metric on your ServiceNow instance. See Add a custom license metric for more information on how to create a custom license metric.