FAQ's realted to Best Practices for Software Spend ReportingIssue <!-- /*NS Branding Styles*/ --> .ns-kb-css-body-editor-container { p { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } span { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } h2 { font-size: 24pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h3 { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h4 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } a { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718F); } a:hover { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #024F69); } a:target { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #032D42); } a:visited { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718f); } ul { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } li { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } img { display: ; max-width: ; width: ; height: ; } } FAQ's realted to Best Practices for Software Spend Reporting Release<!-- /*NS Branding Styles*/ --> .ns-kb-css-body-editor-container { p { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } span { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } h2 { font-size: 24pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h3 { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h4 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } a { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718F); } a:hover { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #024F69); } a:target { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #032D42); } a:visited { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718f); } ul { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } li { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } img { display: ; max-width: ; width: ; height: ; } } N/A Resolution<!-- /*NS Branding Styles*/ --> .ns-kb-css-body-editor-container { p { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } span { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } h2 { font-size: 24pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h3 { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h4 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } a { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718F); } a:hover { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #024F69); } a:target { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #032D42); } a:visited { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718f); } ul { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } li { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } img { display: ; max-width: ; width: ; height: ; } } Q1: Do OOTB spend calculations use start_date, end_date, unit_cost, and quantity?No. The OOTB spend engine uses only total_cost and purchased_rights from "In Use" entitlements to derive Average Price. The start_date, end_date, unit_cost, and quantity fields are not consumed by the spend calculation. The start_date and end_date serve only for entitlement validity (determining whether an entitlement is active) and for Subscription Management (triggering renewals and expiry workflows).Q2: Does "Total Software Cost" consider entitlement duration?No. The full total_cost flows into the Average Price formula regardless of contract length. Currently, total_cost = unit_cost × purchased_rights. However, we do have an enhancement to consider the duration in the total cost.Q3: Is it expected that Publisher Total Spend aggregates full cost without considering dates?Yes, this is expected behavior by design. The spend reporting layer was built as a compliance position dashboard, not a financial analytics tool. It shows "how much have you committed" (total contract value), not "how much are you spending this year" (annualized cost).Q4.Do we need to export to Excel for accurate annual spend?Within purely OOTB capabilities, yes. No OOTB report, dashboard widget, or PA indicator computes annualized software spend.Customization Proposal: (customization) Add a single custom field (u_yearly_cost = unit_cost × rights) and a PA indicator to get automated annual spend totals on the dashboard without Excel. Please note that this will work only for SA only entitlements and subscription entitlements and not for P+SA entitlements and only P entitlements. If P+SA/P entitlements are less in your organization you can use this. However, please note that this is a customization and will require to be developed and tested by the customer, service now will not be managing this.Q5. Is splitting or recreating multi-year entitlements the only way to make the SAM Pro Dashboard reliable?Ans. While this may fix the problem temporarily it may complicate matters later. We advise either calculating in excel or the customization option for now to report on yearly software spend. Also, please create an enhancement request for the same.Q6.. If we create multi-year entitlements (e.g., 2026–2029), is it expected that the system will include the entire cost upfront?Ans. Yes, this is expected behavior in the current release.Q7. Is the recommended approach to publish entitlements year-by-year to ensure correct yearly spend tracking?Ans. No. I understand why this approach may be adopted it's intuitive. But as your Product Manager, I cannot recommend it as a best practice because the downstream consequences outweigh the benefit.What we recommend instead:Step 1: Use the OOTB dashboard for compliance. This is what it does well. The license position :how many you own, how many you need, where you're over and under is accurate and valuable.Step 2: For financial reporting, choose based on your portfolio and appetite for customization:a. If you want zero customization: Create an OOTB list report on entitlements with unit_cost, purchased_rights, start_date, and end_date. Export to Excel and calculate when you need annual spend totals. This is manual but honest and transparent.b. If your portfolio is mostly subscription/SA : Deploy u_yearly_cost = unit_cost × purchased_rights with one PA indicator. This automates annual spend reporting for subscription and SA-ONLY entitlements on the dashboard. Be aware that Perpetual and P+SA entitlements will be overstated ,if these are a small portion of your portfolio, the overstatement is acceptable