License upgrade and downgrade with the legacy Software Asset Management plugin
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Summary of License upgrade and downgrade with the legacy Software Asset Management plugin
The legacy Software Asset Management (SAM) plugin (com.snc.softwareassetmanagement) in ServiceNow Zurich release provides built-in functionality to manage license upgrades and downgrades. This capability helps organizations reconcile software licenses by allowing flexibility in how software versions are licensed and counted against entitlements.
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Upgrading a license means using a newer software version without purchasing its license, while downgrading involves purchasing a license for a newer version but using an earlier version. Downgrading is more common and helps avoid uninstalling unlicensed software versions found during discovery.
Key Features
- Downgrade Child and Upgrade Parent Relationship: You can define unlicensed earlier versions as downgrade children of a licensed newer version (upgrade parent). This automatically creates a software model record for the unlicensed version linked to the licensed version.
- License Counting: Installations of downgrade children without their own licenses or entitlements can be counted against the upgrade parent license, streamlining compliance management.
- Automatic Software Model Management: Deleting a downgrade child from the parent’s record removes the corresponding software model record for the unlicensed version automatically.
- Counters and Compliance: If a downgrade child has a license or entitlement, a counter tracks installations against its license. The total counted installs cannot exceed available rights on the upgrade parent.
- Date Range Validity: Start and end dates can be set on upgrade parents and downgrade children to control when counters apply, ensuring license counts are accurate for the valid period.
- Scope of Upgrade/Downgrade Settings: Settings applied at the software model level affect all licenses of that model, while settings at the software license level apply specifically to that license.
- Flexible Methods for Upgrading and Downgrading: Licenses can be upgraded or downgraded through either software license records or software model records within the legacy SAM plugin.
Practical Implications for ServiceNow Customers
This functionality enables organizations to maintain compliance without forcing users to uninstall older versions of software when licenses for newer versions exist. By leveraging downgrade child and upgrade parent relationships, customers can effectively count installations of older software versions against purchased licenses for newer versions, optimizing license usage and reducing unnecessary license purchases.
Setting date ranges and understanding scope ensures accurate tracking of license entitlements over time. Using either software license or model records to manage upgrades and downgrades gives flexibility in asset management processes.
The concept of upgrading and downgrading licenses is built in to the legacy Software Asset Management (com.snc.software_asset_management) plugin.
This is helpful when reconciling licenses. Downgrading a license is the process of purchasing a license, but using an earlier version. Upgrading a license occurs when a newer version of a license is not purchased, but you are allowed to use the newer version. Downgrading is more common than upgrading.
For example, you have licenses for the software model Microsoft Word 2010, but no licenses or entitlements for Word 2007. Discovery finds installations of Word 2007 being used in your organization. Rather than force users to uninstall all instances of this unlicensed version, you decide to count installations of Word 2007 against your Word 2010 license. To do this, you configure Word 2007 as a downgrade child in the Word 2010 Software Model record. A Software Model record is automatically created for Word 2007 which specifies Word 2010 as the upgrade parent.
If a software version has a downgrade child or an upgrade version that can be counted against the parent, the number of installs counted is restricted to the number of available rights of the parent. For example, Microsoft Word 2010 has a downgrade to Word 2007. Both versions have an active counter. Microsoft Word 2010 finds all entitled copies of Word 2007, and also takes out of compliance any installs from that downgrade counter until the available downgrade rights are used. However, if Microsoft Word 2010 only has 100 rights, then the maximum number of rights to be taken from the downgrade counter is 100.
You can set the start and end dates for a software upgrade parent and downgrade child to be valid. The software counter counts the upgrade and downgrade licenses within the selected dates. If the software counter runs outside of the date range, the upgrade and downgrade licenses are not counted.