Question 1

What is Software Asset Management Pro in ServiceNow?

Accepted Answer

ServiceNow's licensed SAM offering. Adds Publisher Packs, SaaS License Management, Reclamation, and the Content Library Service on top of SAM Foundation.

Question 2

What is Content Library Service (CLS) in ServiceNow?

Accepted Answer

ServiceNow-managed catalog of publishers, products, and software models. Normalizes raw Discovery strings into canonical entries so reconciliation is accurate.

Question 3

What is Software Model in ServiceNow?

Accepted Answer

e.g. 'Microsoft Visio Professional 2021'. Links discovered installs to entitlements during reconciliation. Lives on samp_sw_product_model.

Question 4

What is Entitlement in ServiceNow?

Accepted Answer

Stored on alm_license. Holds quantity, metric, contract reference, and tied software model. Source of 'what you own'.

Question 5

What is License Metric in ServiceNow?

Accepted Answer

Per User, Per Device, Per Core, Processor, PVU (IBM), Named User Plus (Oracle), CAL, Concurrent. Drives the reconciliation math.

Question 6

What is Reconciliation in ServiceNow?

Accepted Answer

Scheduled engine that calculates compliance position per software model — surplus, compliant, or non-compliant. Results land on samp_sw_reconciliation_result.

Question 7

What is Reclamation Rule in ServiceNow?

Accepted Answer

Criteria (e.g. last_used > 90 days) that generate Reclamation Candidates. Workflow then notifies user and triggers SCCM/Intune uninstall to recover the license.

Question 8

What is Publisher Pack in ServiceNow?

Accepted Answer

Engineering packs for Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, SAP, Adobe, Salesforce. Encode core factors, PVU tables, CAL math, and audit-grade compliance logic.

Question 9

What is SaaS License Management in ServiceNow?

Accepted Answer

Ingests usage from Microsoft 365, Zoom, Salesforce, Adobe CC, AWS, Google Workspace, etc. Finds unused / duplicate assignments and powers SaaS reclamation.

Question 10

What is Software Discovery Model in ServiceNow?

Accepted Answer

Discovery + SCCM/Intune/JAMF/BigFix populate cmdb_sam_sw_install. CLS normalizes; reconciliation consumes the normalized installs.

Question 11

What is License Workbench in ServiceNow?

Accepted Answer

Single page per software model showing entitlements, installs, allocations, reclamation candidates, contracts, and remediation actions.

Question 12

What is Allocation in ServiceNow?

Accepted Answer

Records who consumes a license. Required for named-user metrics and helpful for chargeback and audit defense.

Question 13

What is True-Up / True-Down in ServiceNow?

Accepted Answer

True-up: buy more to close a gap. True-down: drop seats at renewal. SAM Pro feeds Procurement with hard numbers.

Question 14

What is Audit Defense Workspace in ServiceNow?

Accepted Answer

Curates the evidence package — entitlements, contracts, installs, allocation — so you can respond to a publisher audit in days, not months.

Question 15

What is Software Spend Detection in ServiceNow?

Accepted Answer

Parses AP / expense / contract data to surface software purchases that never made it into SAM. Common discovery: 20–30% hidden SaaS.

💿 SAM PRO

Term Glossary