Software Asset Management Foundation plugin migration

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 20, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Software Asset Management Foundation plugin migration

    This migration guide helps ServiceNow customers transition from the Software Asset Management (SAM) plugin to the more advanced Software Asset Management Foundation (SAM Foundation) plugin. While some changes occur automatically during plugin activation, manual customer actions are required to complete the migration, especially regarding customizations and field configurations.

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    Automatic Changes During Migration

    • Table Renaming: Key tables are renamed for clarity:
      • almlicense from "Software License" to "Software Entitlement"
      • almentitlementuser from "User Entitlement" to "User Allocations"
      • almentitlementasset from "Device Entitlement" to "Device Allocations"
    • New tables and script includes are added to support enhanced functionality.
    • Values in the Software Entitlements License key field are added to the License Key table (sampswlicensekey).
    • Field value transfers and renaming:
      • The "Inference mandatory" field for software suites is transferred to a new "Mandatory" field.
      • The "Rights" field in Software Entitlements is renamed to "Active rights" and its value moved to "Purchased rights".
      • Software entitlement allocations are automatically linked to the corresponding software model and quantities are set appropriately, aggregating multiple allocations for the same user or device into a single record.
    • Forms and list layouts for Software Models, Entitlements, Discovery Models, and Software Installations are updated to fit the new plugin structure.

    Manual Customer Actions Required

    • Manually overwrite any customizations made to forms and lists after plugin activation to align with the new plugin's layouts.
    • Configure certain fields in software models, software entitlements, and user/device allocation forms to ensure data integrity.

    Disabled Functionality

    • License and software counters: The scheduled job for SAM License Counters is deactivated, disabling software counters.
    • Auto-match functionality: The feature that matches discovery models to software models is disabled.
    • Navigation menu: The previous SAM plugin’s navigation menu is renamed and deactivated.
    • Legacy business rules: Business rules applied to discovery models are disabled.

    Key Outcomes

    After completing both the automatic and manual steps in this migration, customers will benefit from the enhanced capabilities of the Software Asset Management Foundation plugin, including improved data model clarity and updated user interfaces. However, customers must plan for manual adjustments to customizations and certain field settings to ensure a smooth transition without loss of functionality or data inconsistencies.

    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.