Integrating your Software Asset Management application with the Zendesk application enables you to track your software subscriptions and to reclaim unused licenses.

Important: Minimize security risks and protect information by granting access only to the necessary user or API permissions.
Table 1. Minimal user permissions
Process Required user role in the Zendesk application Authentication scopes
Download subscriptions Light Agent None
Pull user activity Light Agent None
Reclaim subscription admin None

Create a Zendesk OAuth client

Create an OAuth client for authenticating Zendesk API requests.

Before you begin

Zendesk Role required: admin

Procedure

  1. From a web browser, open Zendesk.
  2. Log in using your admin credentials.
  3. On the left navigation menu of the Zendesk Agent Workspace, select the Admin icon (Admin icon.).
  4. Go to the Admin Center from the Admin page and from the Admin menu, navigate to Apps and Integrations > API.
    The Zendesk API page opens.
  5. Select the OAuth Clients tab and then select Add OAuth client.
  6. On the form, fill in the fields.
    Table 2. Create a new OAuth client form
    FieldDescription
    Client name Name of the OAuth client.
    Description Brief description of the OAuth client.
    Company Name of the company whose data the OAuth client grants access to through the Zendesk API. The company name is displayed during authentication of your Zendesk API requests.

    This field populates automatically based on the company that your Zendesk account is associated with. However, you can modify the company name as needed.
    Logo Logo that is displayed during authentication of your Zendesk API requests.

    Select the green square to locate and select the logo that you want to display.
    Unique identifier Unique identifier for the OAuth client. This field populates automatically based on the OAuth client name that you specified in the Client name field. However, you can modify the unique identifier as needed.
    Note: The unique identifier is used only in the Zendesk code.
    Client kind This field must be set to Confidential. Confidential authentication clients run on secure servers, where their credentials can be kept safe.
    Redirect URLs URL of the OAuth provider that users are redirected to after authentication.

    Enter https://instance.service-now.com/oauth_redirect.do, where <instance> is the name of your ServiceNow instance.
  7. Select Save.
  8. On the dialog box, select OK.
    The dialog box closes and the form reloads.
  9. Copy the value from the Secret field.
    Save the Secret value in a secure location for later use.

Create a Zendesk connection

Create a connection between your Zendesk applications and your ServiceNow instance so that your instance can retrieve user data from your applications.

Before you begin

ServiceNow Role required: admin

Procedure

  1. From your ServiceNow instance, navigate to Process Automation > Flow Designer.
    The Flow Designer launches in a new tab.
  2. Select the Connections tab.
  3. Locate your Zendesk connection and then select Configure.
  4. In the dialog box, fill in the fields.
    Table 3. Create Connection dialog box
    Field Description
    Connection Information
    Connection Name Name of the Zendesk connection. This field populates automatically.
    Connection URL URL for the connection.

    Enter https://<subdomain>.zendesk.com, where <subdomain> is your organization subdomain.
    Credential Information
    OAuth Client ID Unique identifier for your Zendesk OAuth client.

    Enter the same unique identifier that you specified in Create a Zendesk OAuth client.
    OAuth Client Secret Secret that is assigned to your Zendesk OAuth client.

    Enter the same secret that you copied in Create a Zendesk OAuth client.
    OAuth Redirect URL URL of the OAuth provider that users are redirected to after authentication.

    This field populates automatically based on the redirect URL that you specified in Create a Zendesk OAuth client.
  5. Select Create and Get OAuth Token.
    Note: For the role required to perform this step, refer to the Minimal user permissions table.
  6. On the Zendesk OAuth authorization dialog box, select Authorize.
    The OAuth access token becomes available for authorizing your Zendesk connection.

Create a Zendesk integration profile

Create a Zendesk integration profile to track software subscriptions and optimize licensing for your Zendesk applications.

Before you begin

To create a Zendesk integration profile, request the Software Asset Management - SaaS License Management plugin (sn_sam_saas_int) from the ServiceNow Store.

ServiceNow Role required: sam_integrator or admin

Important: You must select the Zendesk Spoke check box for this integration while installing optional features on the Application Manager page. For more information about choosing the required SaaS applications, see Request SaaS License Management.

About this task

If you’re using Software Asset Workspace, the option to create the Zendesk integration profile in Core UI is inactive.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the integration profile.
    InterfaceAction
    Core UI
    1. Navigate to All > Software Asset > SaaS License > Direct Integration Profiles.
    2. Select New.
    3. Select Zendesk Integration Profile.
    Software Asset Workspace
    1. Navigate to License operations > User Subscriptions > Direct integration profiles.
    2. Select New.
    3. Select Zendesk from the drop-down list.
    4. Select Continue.
  2. On the form, fill in the fields.
    Table 4. Integration Profile form
    Field Description
    Display Name Name of the integration profile. For example, Zendesk Integration.
    Status Status of the integration profile.
    • If you have not published the integration profile, this field is automatically set to Draft.
    • If you have already published the integration profile, this field is automatically set to Published.
    Profile Type Type of integration profile.

    This field is automatically set to Zendesk Subscription.
  3. Review the required user roles or API permissions specified in the Vendor configuration field for each process to minimize security risks and optimize SaaS licenses.
    Note: For more information, see Minimal user permissions table.
    1. In the Download Subscription Subflow section, verify that the Subflow field is set to Zendesk Download Subscriptions.
      Note: The Download subscriptions check box is selected by default and you can't clear it.
    2. In the Reclaim Subscription Subflow section, verify that the Subflow field is set to Zendesk Reclaim Subscription.
      Note: The Reclaim subscriptions check box is selected by default. If you don't want to reclaim subscriptions, you can clear this check box. If you clear it, the removal candidates are created but the reclaim subscription subflow isn't triggered or the reclamation process isn't initiated.
  4. Select Save.
    Your ServiceNow instance creates a draft integration profile.

    The Connection & Credential field appears and is automatically set to sn_zendesk_spoke.Zendesk.

  5. On the integration profile form, select Validate Connection to verify the connection and credential details of this integration.

    Validating the connection verifies the Download Subscriptions APIs, but not the Reclaim Subscriptions APIs.

  6. After the connection is verified, select Publish.
  7. In the Publish Confirmation dialog box, select OK.

What to do next

After the integration connects, your ServiceNow instance automatically creates software models, reclamation rules, and software subscriptions that are refreshed daily.

If you want to set up multiple integration profiles with unique connections, create child aliases to manage different configurations and settings for each integration profile. For more information, see Create a child alias to set up multiple integration profiles.

Review all automatically generated reclamation rules to reclaim user subscriptions. For more information, see Review a software reclamation rule.

Create software entitlements for the automatically generated software models to track used software against owned software.
Reconciliation also runs on your subscriptions as a scheduled job or on-demand. You can view your reconciliation results in the License Workbench (Software Asset Management classic application) or the License usage view (Software Asset Workspace). Use these results to determine your license compliance position and to remediate any non-compliance.