Software Entitlements without a Publisher Part Number (PPN) Product Success Playbook Software Entitlements without a Publisher Part Number (PPN) A step-by-step guide to analyze and remediate SAM Data Table of Contents Summary Goal of this Playbook Audience Problem Overview Executive Summary How this playbook can help you achieve business goals How this playbook is structured Problem Analysis Upstream Causes Downstream Consequences Impact on Your Business Engagement Questions Remediation Plays Summary Play 1: Review your data Play 2: Analyze your CI records Play 3: Fix Play Play 4: Fix Play Data Governance References<optional> Summary Goal of this Playbook This playbook helps you identify and remediate Software Entitlements without a Publisher Part Number (PPN). Details about this playbook Author Emir Eminovic Reviewer Dave Aiken Date 03/20/2023 Addresses HSD # HSD0012804 Applicable ServiceNow Releases All Family Releases Prerequisites Software Asset Management (SAM) Time Required Approximately 1 to 8 hours (depending on your environment) Audience Configuration Manager or Configuration Management teamSoftware Asset ManagerServiceNow Administrator Problem Overview PPN (Publisher Part Number) also called SKU or Manufacturer Part number in some other cases, is the unique identifier of a software model, usually attached to every purchase order line to clearly identify which software or package is purchased by a customer. A software model is a profile of the software that you've purchased, including information about the publisher, version, and discovery map. When a Publisher Part Number (PPN) is specified for the entitlements that you import, the PPN is matched to PPN in the Content Service Library and the data is used to create a software model automatically. When a Software Entitlement is defined, entering the PPN in the Publisher part number field will do the following: 1. Lookup the PPN code in the Software Product Definitions table. 2. Find the Software Model that represents the product. If no Software Model is found, a new Software Model is generated based on the DMAP information. 3. The Software Entitlement fields are filled in according to the content data available: Software Model (from Step 2)License typeMetric GroupLicense Metric Omitting this information may result in creation of custom PPNs and/or inaccurate entitlement allocations, resulting in duplicate Software Models, Compliance issues and failed Audits. Executive Summary How this playbook can help you achieve business goals Properly importing your Software Entitlements and allocating them, allows you to accurately track software spend and find opportunities for spend reduction. How this playbook is structured This playbook contains a section to analyze and confirm our findings about missing PPNs in your Entitlements table. The next two plays focus and researching and remediating those missing numbers. Some best practices to prevent re-occurrence of this issue are available in the Data Governance section. Problem Analysis Upstream Causes Entitlement Import source file did not contain Part numbers and no match was foundEntitlement Imports Errors were Accepted without data correction and hence without a custom or actual PPNPPN is not a mandatory field for Manual Entry (Create New Software Entitlement Form)PPN was removed by an UserCustom PPNs were removed, however no actual PPN was providedPPN not used to identify SW entitlement/allocationsVendor provides internal SKUs instead of actual PPNs on Purchase OrdersPublisher does not provide/have a PPN Downstream Consequences Data Consequence Cannot match an Entitlement to the correct Software ModelDuplicate Software ModelsCustom PPNs Operation Consequence Incorrect Software Entitlement and Allocation counts App Consequence Out of Box components such as reports and Dashboards may not report correct metricsUsers seeing identical Display Values for Duplicated items resulting in confusion and loss of trust in your data Impact on Your Business Entitlements tied to Publisher part Number enable you to make better software licensing decisions that lower the overall spend for your Organization Audit Compliance System IntegrityRisk Management Process Automation Data Accuracy Better User Experience Model Management Engagement Questions: Consider the answers to these questions: Do you get PPN from your Software Vendor? Is it actual PPN or an internal SKU?How are Software Allocations/Entitlements managed in your organization?Is your SW purchasing process standardized?Do you review and fix Entitlement import errors? Remediation Plays SummaryThe table below lists and summarizes each of the remediation plays in the playbook. Details are included later. Play Name Review your data What this play is about In this play we will find any Entitlements which are missing the PPN. Required tasks Perform a query on a table Analyze Play What this play is about In this play we will review any Entitlements which are missing the PPN Required tasks Analyze Data in the list Fix Plays What this play is about In this play we will remediate each Entitlement one by one Required tasks Find the PPN from the source and update the record Data Governance What this play is about This play focuses on preventing additional entitlements without a PPN Required tasks Periodically, check your Entitlements to be imported successfully Play 1 - Review your data What this Play is about In this play we will find any Entitlements which are missing the PPN. Required tasks Navigate to Software Entitlements (alm_license) table and apply the following filters: Publisher part number is: emptyState is one of: In Use, Consumed, or In Stock Review the results If there are no results, then this playbook does not apply to you Optional Step: Check if there are Software Product Definitions (samp_sw_product_definition) without a PPN which may contribute to the issue, as all line items should have a PPN Play 2 - Analyze your Entitlement records What this Play is about In this play we will review any Entitlements which are missing the PPN. Required tasks Group the Results from Play 1 by the following options to see if there are any patterns that may help you identify the root cause of this issue License TypeStateData SourceCreated By Look for patterns that will help you resolve a majority of the listed items. For example, many entitlements could be created by the same Data Source or the same user (Created By) Sort the results by Total Cost descending, and prioritize the highest cost items in your research Play 3 - Fix Play What this Play is about In this play, we will remediate each Entitlement one by one Required tasks Select a Software Entitlement from the list and open the recordIf the field is not visible on the form, select the Playbook Publisher Part Number view to see the reference fieldReview the source record of this Entitlement and check if a PPN is available thereReview Software Product Definitions for the Software Title and match it to a PPN manuallySave the recordContinue to the next item in the list Data Governance What this Play is about This play focuses on preventing additional entitlements without a PPN Required tasks Ensure the Content Service is enabled to reduce the number of Custom PPNs Review the suggested PPNs in the SAM workspaceProcess any Entitlement Import Errors after each Entitlement ImportPeriodically re-run Play 1 from this playbook Congratulations You have completed this Product Success Playbook.