The ServiceNow® Software Asset Management application systematically tracks, evaluates, and manages the cost, utilization, compliance, and optimization for software and SaaS applications. The Software Asset Management application was enhanced and updated in the Washington DC release.

Software Asset Management highlights for the Washington DC release

  • Assess and evaluate the maturity of your Software Asset Management program through the Success Portal dashboard in Software Asset Workspace.
  • Discover and manage all SaaS applications accessed via a browser and configured within the ServiceNow Digital End-User Experience (DEX) product.
  • Reduce clutter on the License usage view by streamlining the Software Asset Management implementation.
  • Determine and showcase license compliance for Microsoft Windows Server and SQL Server on Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) through enhanced Bring Your Own License (BYOL) support.
  • Get a detailed analysis of your software installation, uncovering the factors behind their unlicensed status and outlining the necessary steps for action.

See Software Asset Management for more information.

Important: Software Asset Management - SaaS License Management, Data Collection for Oracle Global Licensing and Advisory Services, IBM License Compliance for Software Asset Management, ITAM Health Check, and Software Asset Management Playbooks and Guided Setup are available in the ServiceNow Store. For details, see the "Activation information" section of these release notes.

Important information for upgrading Software Asset Management to Washington DC

After upgrading to Washington DC, you must redo all your customizations related to Adobe and Microsoft 365 integrations with your ServiceNow instance because the functionalities of these integrations are moved to the Software Asset Management – SaaS License Management store application.
  • If you’ve customized an impacted file, the upgrade process skips the file and indicates a conflict. You must manually resolve the conflict and ensure that the old existing file is deleted.
  • If you haven't customized an impacted file, the file gets deleted as part of the upgrade, and a file with a new sys_id is created.

New in the Washington DC release

Measure the maturity of your Software Asset Management application through Success Portal
Measure the maturity and improve the value return of your Software Asset Management application within your organization through the Success Portal dashboard. You can visualize, identify, and report the capabilities or features you must focus on to use Software Asset Management efficiently.
Gain complete visibility into the usage of all SaaS applications
Discover and manage all paid or free SaaS applications, which are accessed via a browser and configured within the ServiceNow® Digital End-User Experience (DEX) product. Manage your shadow IT spend more effectively by viewing all the users who access these applications in the SaaS detection report. This report also shows the usage of these applications and how long each application has been used.
Manage licenses for all Okta users
Manage Okta user licenses by creating subscriptions for Okta users.
Integrate Salesforce Marketing Cloud using OAuth 2.0 credentials
Integrate Salesforce Marketing Cloud using OAuth 2.0 credentials and view the contact counts for email and SMS.
Simplify the credential setup for Adobe integration using OAuth Server-to-Server credentials
Simplify your credential setup process by integrating your Adobe Cloud services with a ServiceNow instance using OAuth credentials. Adobe is migrating from a Service Account (JWT) credential to an OAuth Server-to-Server credential. For more information, see the Adobe Migration guide.
Improve the readability of the License usage view with a phase-wise implementation of Software Asset Management
Carry out phase-wise Software Asset Management implementation by focusing only on a few software products that you want to manage initially. You can gradually ramp-up the implementation journey by assessing the progress. This approach enables you to reduce clutter on the License usage view and report only on the software products that are part of the current implementation phase.
Manage Red Hat core-based licensed products and track their consumption with the Software Asset Management publisher pack for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Manage core-based license positions for the RHEL product and the Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Virtual Datacenters product. With the core-based license metric, you can track accurate measurement of rights consumption at the host level.
Determine license compliance for Microsoft Windows Server on Azure according to the new licensing rules from Microsoft with BYOL support
Leverage the improved BYOL support to assess license compliance and implement necessary remediation measures for Microsoft Windows Server and SQL Server on Azure. This process enables you to confirm that the license compliance on Azure is in alignment with the most recent licensing rule changes by Microsoft.
Discover software and their license types on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) using BYOL support
Discover software and the software's license types on GCP by using the enhanced BYOL support for Microsoft Windows Server and SQL Server. With the added support for GCP, you can determine software compliance for Windows Server and SQL Server across your hybrid infrastructure that is on premise and cloud. You can also take remediation action when the software is out of compliance.
Manage product licensability at the edition level by using the enhanced software licensing feature
Address product licensability at the edition level by leveraging the weekly updates from the Software Asset Management Content Service Library. With the improved software licensing feature at the edition level, you can define your own exception rules for non-licensable products and update it to the content service library.
Optimize Microsoft 365 subscriptions with reduced dependency on discovery solutions to track usage
Manage Microsoft 365 subscriptions within ServiceNow with a detailed overview of active, inactive, and unassigned subscriptions based on their latest activity dates. The feature eliminates the need for configuring discovery solutions, such as Microsoft SCCM, to track usage and enables you to collect usage data for Microsoft 365 applications. You can retrieve individual Microsoft 365 subscriptions with optimized resource usage.
Improve granularity via the enhanced license usage view
Gain in-depth information of the factors leading to unlicensed software installations, software that has been ignored during reconciliation, and instances where a software installation requires user action. Receive guidance on the steps to take, acquire insights into the indicators contributing to Oracle options activation, and obtain a thorough understanding of reconciliation results.
Manage Microsoft Windows Server licensing through Guided Setup
Use Guided Setup for configuring Microsoft Windows Server and license management. The prerequisite checks and a step-by-step walk-through help you to set up the Software Asset Management application successfully.
Enhanced coverage and visibility into product life cycles
Increase coverage for life-cycle reporting through the introduction of approximate life-cycle dates. Get better visibility into the process of selecting life-cycle dates. Transparent and comprehensive reporting enables for an effective and reliable End of Life (EOL) management of your products.

UI changes

Take a tour button on the Success portal view
On the Overview page of the Success portal, view the features supported by the Success portal through a series of slides by selecting the Take a tour button.
Microsoft 365 subscription details report on the Optimization and savings dashboard
Find the Microsoft 365 subscription details report on the Optimization and savings dashboard page in the Software asset analytics view. The report displays the active, inactive, and unassigned subscription details for Microsoft 365, Microsoft Office 365, and Power BI.

Changed in this release

Adobe and Microsoft 365 integration functionalities moved to Software Asset Management – SaaS License Management
For quick turnaround of enhancements and fixes, the Adobe and Microsoft 365 integration functionalities have moved to the Software Asset Management – SaaS License Management store application.

Deprecations

  • Cisco Webex Meetings integration is no longer deployed or enhanced. Instead, use the Cisco Webex integration profile to integrate with Webex Meetings and other Webex applications.
  • Starting with the Washington DC release, the following two quick start tests are deprecated:
    • SAM - Validate Reconciliation for Custom Product
    • SAM - Pin and Unpin Publishers on License Workbench
  • The Microsoft 365 user activity according to the subscription report on the Optimization and savings dashboard in the Asset analytics view is deprecated. This report has been replaced by the new Microsoft 365 subscription details report.

Activation information

Software Asset Management is available with activation of the Activate all Software Asset Management Professional plugins, including the Software Asset Workspace plugin (com.sn_samp_master_ws). Activating this plugin automatically activates the Activate all Software Asset Management Professional plugin (com.sn_samp_master) and the Software Asset Workspace plugin (com.sn_sam_workspace). After the new plugin is activated, you can't access the classic user interface. For details about the plugins and how to request them, see Request Software Asset Management.

In the ServiceNow AI Platform® Washington DC release, there's limited support for the Software Asset Management classic user interface. While it remains active in your instance, including when you upgrade to a new ServiceNow AI Platform® release, you can move to the new workspace for an intuitive and personalized experience.

For releases prior to Utah, if you activated the older Software Asset Management Professional plugin (com.sn_samp_master), the Software Asset Workspace is available with activation of the Software Asset Workspace plugin (com.sn_sam_workspace). After the Workspace plugin is activated, you can't revert to the classic user interface. For details about the plugins and how to request them, see Request the Software Asset Management plugins.

To activate Next Experience, make sure that the glide.ui.polaris.experience system property in your instance is set to true.

Install the following Software Asset Management applications by requesting them from the ServiceNow Store. Visit the ServiceNow Store website to view all the available apps and for information about submitting requests to the store. For cumulative release notes information for all released apps, see the ServiceNow Store version history release notes.
  • Software Asset Management - SaaS License Management
  • Data Collection for Oracle Global Licensing and Advisory Services
  • IBM License Compliance for Software Asset Management
  • ITAM Health Check
  • Software Asset Management Playbooks and Guided Setup

Related ServiceNow applications and features

Hardware Asset Management
The ServiceNow® Hardware Asset Management application provides advanced workflow, automation, and mobile capabilities to track and manage your asset environment.
Enterprise Asset Management
The ServiceNow® Enterprise Asset Management application enables you to manage the entire life cycle of your connected and non-connected enterprise assets. It provides a comprehensive end-to-end solution for maintaining enterprise assets, minimizing costly downtime, and maximizing enterprise asset usability.
Cloud Cost Management
The ServiceNow® Cloud Cost Management application enables you to analyze all costs that are associated with your cloud assets. You can use this information to optimize operations and reduce your cloud spend.
Contract Management
The ServiceNow® Contract Management application enables you to track and manage your contracts.
Procurement
The ServiceNow® Procurement application helps you to create purchase orders and to obtain items for fulfilling service catalog requests.