Software Asset Management Foundation plugin migration

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated August 11, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Software Asset Management Foundation plugin migration

    This guide explains how ServiceNow customers can migrate from the Software Asset Management (SAM) plugin to the more advanced Software Asset Management Foundation plugin. The migration introduces enhanced features and structural improvements but requires manual customer actions after plugin activation to complete the process successfully.

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    Automatic Changes During Migration

    • Table Renaming: Key tables are renamed to better reflect their purpose:
      • Software License [almlicense] becomes Software Entitlement
      • User Entitlement [almentitlementuser] becomes User Allocations
      • Device Entitlement [almentitlementasset] becomes Device Allocations
    • New tables and script includes are added to support enhanced functionality.
    • Values in the Software Entitlements License key field are migrated to the License Key table.
    • For software models with suite components, mandatory field values are transferred appropriately.
    • Rights fields in software entitlements are renamed and values are transferred to new fields to clarify active and purchased rights.
    • Software entitlement allocations are automatically set to the correct software models, with quantity aggregation applied for multiple allocations to avoid duplicates.
    • Forms and lists for Software Models, Entitlements, Discovery Models, and Software Installations are updated to align with the new plugin structure.

    Manual Customer Actions Required

    • After plugin activation, customers must manually overwrite any customizations made to forms and lists, as these are not migrated automatically.
    • Specific fields in software models, software entitlements, and user/device allocations require manual configuration to ensure data integrity.
    • Customers need to perform an explicit overwrite of customizations to complete the migration successfully.

    Disabled Functionality Post-Migration

    • The scheduled job for SAM License Counters is deactivated, disabling software counters.
    • Auto-match functionality that links discovery models to software models is disabled.
    • The original Software Asset Management navigation menu is renamed and deactivated.
    • Legacy business rules related to discovery models are disabled to prevent conflicts with the new plugin.

    Practical Implications for ServiceNow Customers

    By migrating to the Software Asset Management Foundation plugin, customers gain access to a more powerful and modernized SAM framework. However, successful migration requires careful planning and execution of manual steps, especially around preserving and reapplying customizations. Customers should prepare to manage form and list configurations post-activation and understand that some legacy functionalities will be disabled. This ensures that the new plugin operates correctly and leverages the improved architecture and features.

    Migrate from the Software Asset Management plugin to the Software Asset Management Foundation plugin to take advantage of more powerful features. Manual actions by the customer are required after plugin activation.

    After automatic changes are performed during plugin activation, successful migration from the Software Asset Management (com.snc.software_asset_management) plugin to the Software Asset Management Foundation (com.snc.sams) plugin requires a Overwrite customizations for Software Asset Management migration to be performed by the customer.

    Customizations to forms and lists may need to be manually overwritten by the customer after plugin activation. In addition, certain fields in software models, software entitlements, user/device allocations forms require manual configuration by the customer after plugin activation.

    Automatic changes

    The Software Asset Management Foundation (com.snc.sams) plugin performs these automatic changes:
    • Tables
      • Table labels renamed
        Table Original Label New Label
        [alm_license] Software License Software Entitlement
        [alm_entitlement_user] User Entitlement User Allocations
        [alm_entitlement_asset] Device Entitlement Device Allocations
      • Adds new tables and script includes.
      • Adds any string value in the Software Entitlements License key field to the License Key [samp_sw_license_key] table
    • Field names and values
      • Inference mandatory field

        For software models that have suite components (to bundle software models), the Inference mandatory field value in the Software Suite [cmdb_m2m_suite_model] table is transferred to a new Mandatory field

      • Rights field

        The Software Entitlements (formerly Software Licenses) Rights field value in the License Entitlements [alm_entitlement] table is transferred to a new Purchased rights field, and name changed from Rights to Active rights

      • The Software model field for a software entitlement allocation (Software Entitlement [alm_license] table) is automatically set to the software model on the entitlement (License Entitlements [alm_entitlement] table)
      • The quantity for a software entitlement allocation (License Entitlements [alm_entitlement] table) is set to 1 unless there are multiple allocations

        If there are multiple software entitlement allocations for the same user or device, the allocations are aggregated into one record, the quantity is set to the count of aggregated records, and duplicate allocations are not allowed.

    • Forms and lists
      Software Models, Entitlements (formerly Software License), Discovery Models, and Software Installations form and list layouts are modified to fit the new application
      Note:
      Any customizations to these forms and lists must be manually overwritten after plugin activation.
    • Functionality
      Table 1. Functionality disabled
      Functionality Description
      License and software counters The scheduled job trigger for SAM License Counters is changed to None so that it is deactivated, and software counters are disabled.
      Auto-match functionality The auto-match functionality, which attempts to match a discovery model to a corresponding software model, is deactivated.
      Navigation menu The navigation menu for the Software Asset Management plugin is deactivated and renamed.
      Business rules Legacy business rules applied to discovery models are disabled.