This video is an overview of the Microsoft Publisher Pack for the ServiceNow Software
Asset Management product.
SAM helps you manage software assets and monitor and control license processes throughout the
software lifecycle.
SAM tells you: - What software you own…
- Are you buying what you need?
- And, are you using what you have?
With the Microsoft Publisher Pack, SAM gives you this information for your Microsoft licensed
software.
Microsoft often makes changes to its licensing programs, product use-rights, and software
assurance.
Microsoft Publisher Pack helps you understand and manage Microsoft licensing compliance.
This helps you reduce annual true-up costs and the risk of unplanned audits.
Microsoft Publisher Pack also helps you monitor the usage and cost of software licenses.
SAM gives you a comprehensive analysis of your Microsoft software.
From a single view, we can see Products out of compliance, Over-licensed amounts, True-up
costs...
...And Potential Savings, which estimates your savings from reclaiming underused software
installations.
You can also see product risk with Software Lifecycle information like End of Life, and
End of Support.
The SaaS overview for Microsoft shows assigned subscriptions, usage, and spend, which helps
you forecast future licensing needs.
License usage lets you prioritize which publishers need your attention first.
From here, we can drill down to see compliance for different Microsoft products.
The Software Assurance feature helps you deploy, manage, and use your Microsoft products more
efficiently.
If your organization is enrolled in a program that includes Software Assurance, SAM automatically
applies the program to trim licensing costs.
Software Assurance gives you access to the latest versions of Microsoft technology.
Content libraries automatically update your software model and entitlements to the latest
version…
…with downgrade rights to license older versions.
For license compliance, SAM offers a variety of licensing terms.
Let’s take a look.
Microsoft SQL Server database software is deployed on datacenter servers…
…and is licensed by the processor cores on the servers it’s deployed on.
Many organizations run SQL Server on virtual machines to optimize the performance of physical
servers.
In addition, virtualization technology allows virtual machines to move between hosts in
a cluster.
With core-based licensing, SAM keeps track of all this, giving you an optimal license
position.
Organizations make thousands of IT configuration changes, which can result in significant,
unexpected cost.
License change projection lets you see license costs from proposed configuration changes
before you make the change.
This helps you manage and approve these changes before you implement them.
Software license costs are automatically projected based on the proposed changes.
And these projections are done natively, within change management, so they can be considered
during the change approval process.
The User Subscriptions feature lets users with Office 365 subscriptions use it anywhere,
on any device with internet access, using the same subscriptions.
Alternatively, User-Based Licensing gives you a certain number of installations.
For example, with four user-based licenses, any four users with the proper rights can
access the software on any machines the software is installed on.
These licenses save money when users need to install software that’s available in
the cloud, like Office 365, locally on more than one machine.
Microsoft Publisher Pack also integrates with Azure AD to analyze usage across more than
thirty-four hundred SaaS apps within SAM.
SAM also handles publishers that use both SaaS and on-premises components to report
license position.
In addition, SAM’s SaaS license connections framework lets you build low-code integrations
with any other SaaS apps that provide usage APIs, so you can extract and analyze usage
information within SAM.
SAM supports Microsoft Products deployed in hybrid environments, including on-premises
and Public Cloud Platforms like AWS and Azure.
This helps you identify all your Microsoft products, as well as their license types,
like BYOL or License Included.
SAM reconciles Microsoft’s licensing rules for on-premises and cloud deployments, providing
a single license position for all your Microsoft products.
This keeps you compliant in the most cost-effective way and ready for your next Microsoft contract
renewal.
Microsoft Publisher Pack for ServiceNow Software Asset Management helps you manage license
compliance, optimize license usage, and reduce spend on Microsoft software assets deployed
across your IT estate, on-premises, or in the cloud.
To learn more, visit servicenow.com, forward slash – SAM
To learn more, visit servicenow.com slash SAM
For more information, see our product documentation, knowledge base, or podcast.
Or ask a question in the ServiceNow Community.