The legacy Software Asset Management (com.snc.software_asset_management) plugin uses software models to manage licenses, specifically in software counters and license restrictions, and to track upgrade and downgrade licenses.

Before you begin

Role required: sam or model_manager

About this task

Create software models for all of the software your organization wants to monitor. Software models can also be imported from another source such as the Discovery application.

Note: Software does not create configuration items. If the discovery tool you use supports and finds ISO information, details such as ISO ID and ISO serial number are added to the Software Model form for compliance purposes.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to All > Software Asset > Software Models.
    Users with the model_manager role can navigate to Product Catalog > Product Model > Software Models, but cannot administer all aspects of software models.
  2. Click New.
  3. Complete the form.
    Table 1. Software model fields
    Field Description
    Display name [Read-only] Name of the model. A system property called glide.cmdb_model.display_name.shorten controls how software model display names are generated. Administrators can configure the property.
    Manufacturer The company that built the model.
    Name The manufacturer-assigned name of the model or an abstract name specified by the model manager, such as Field Agent Laptop.
    Edition The edition of the software model, such as Professional.
    General
    Short description A brief description of the model.
    Model categories [Read-only] The category the model is assigned to. The system automatically sets the value to Software License. This field is a glide list.
    Asset tracking strategy The process the model should be tracked by. Choose from the following:
    • Leave to Category: model is transparent and the asset class is defined solely by the category.
    • Create Consumable Asset: model forces the asset class to be consumable, regardless of what the category defines as the asset class.
    • Don't create assets: model blocks asset instantiation, regardless of what the category defines as the asset class.
    Acquisition method The method for purchasing the model. Options are Both, Buy, and Lease.
    Cost The cost a single unit of the model.
    Depreciation The depreciation scheme for the model.
    Model number The specific model number assigned to the item by the manufacturer.
    Barcode The barcode number assigned to the model. Barcodes are usually assigned by the manufacturer.
    Owner The person responsible for the model.
    Status The current status of the model. Options are In Production, Retired, and Sold.
    Certified The option that determines whether the model is approved for use.
    Comments Information about the model that would be helpful for others to know.
    License
    Version The exact version of the software. For example, Version 2.
    Major The ISO major version number of the software.
    Minor The ISO minor version number of the software.
    Build The build number of the software.
    Software category A category name for grouping software with similar characteristics.
    Single or multi license Defines whether this model uses a single license or multiple licenses.
    Maximum socket count Maximum number of CPU sockets that a computer must have for the software to be installed.
    License type The tracking type for the license. For example, by number of users, per workstation, per installation with IBM PVU or per Oracle processors. If you select the By number of users option, you can create a software counter and specify the number of installations per license.
    Activation status The activation state of the software model. Options are None and Activated.
    ISO id The unique ISO identification number of the software product.
    ISO serial number The serial number issued by ISO for the software.
    Application model Application associated with this software.
    Rights Number of licenses granted to this software.
    Minimum users Minimum number of user licenses required for this software.
    Maximum users Maximum number of user licenses required for this software.
    Suite Components
    Inference percent The percentage of suite components that need to be present on a system to count as a suite. Used for suite management. For example, Suite A consists of 5 products. If the inference percent is set to 60% and a discovery tool finds three of the products on the system, the software is flagged for possible purchase as a suite.
    Components The child product or products of the suite. For example, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel are child products of Microsoft Office.
    Suite Parents
    Parents The parent suites to which the software is assigned. For example, the parent suite for several common Microsoft products is a version of Microsoft Office.
    Upgrade
    Upgrades An alternative version license to which you have rights. For example, if you purchase version 4 of a software product shortly before version 5 is released, your version 4 license may include a free upgrade to version 5 when it is released.
    Downgrade
    Downgrades An alternative version license to which you have rights. For example, if you purchase version 4 of a software product, your version 4 license may include downgrade rights to version 3.
    Licenses
    Software Licenses The software licenses that should be created automatically from this model.
    Note: This embedded list shows all assets created from this model, whether or not they are software licenses, in versions prior to this release.
    Catalog Item
    Product Catalog The information about the model as it appears in the product catalog and service catalog. Information only appears if the model has been published to the product catalog.
    Description Description of the software model as it appears in the product catalog.
    Picture An image of the software logo.

    Any software licenses you create and assign to the new model are displayed in the Licenses embedded list on the Software Model form.