This documentation supports the 21.3 version of BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management. To view an earlier version, select the version from the Product version menu.

The Software Asset Management SAM console

The Software Asset Management (SAM) console is the primary console for software asset managers. Anyone who manages software licensing and has any of the following permissions can use this console:

  • Asset Admin
  • Asset User
  • Contract User
  • Contract Admin


Related topic

Configuring-license-types

By using the SAM Console, you can monitor licenses consumed, and the compliance of certificates. You can set up notifications if compliance issues arise like sending alerts when a contract is close to expiring, or certificate level notification when license are approaching breach or already breached. You can also monitor usage of the product. You can then determine necessary actions of either buying more licenses or harvesting some unused licenses.

Functional areas of the SAM console

You can use the SAM console to perform several tasks such as searching for CIs, managing license jobs, and calculating count of licenses that are In Compliance, Out of Compliance, and so on.


The following figure shows the SAM console:

sam console.png

The following table describes what you can do in each of the functional areas:

Functional area

Description

Software Asset Management console banner

Breadcrumb bar

A navigation aid that contains links to related records that you opened from the console

Search

Enables you to search across multiple forms for records that match a key term. However, this search does not include Asset CIs.

For more information about using this search, see Searching for records in the application consoles.

Software Asset Management console header

Company, Manufacturer, and Product Name

You can filter the software license certificates listed in the certificates table by any company, by manufacturer, by product name, or by a combination. For example, you can list all Microsoft Visio licenses for your company.

Filter By

Search using predefined searches, and manage your searches. You can search for certificates that are approaching breach, in compliance, out of compliance, or of unknown compliance. Saved custom searches appear in the My Searches area of the Defined Searches list.

Navigation pane

Inbox

The inbox displays events generated when the License Engine runs, and other messages about contract and software compliance information.

The inbox displays messages for the following areas:

  • Contracts that have expired or are about to expire
  • Software license certificates that are not compliant or are approaching non-compliance
  • Software license certificates that have expired or are about to expire
  • Summary results of the engine run
  • List of new CIs that are linked to software license certificates.

You might see different types of messages displayed, depending on how the application administrator has configured inbox preferences.

You can work on the message by selecting the message and clicking Dealt With button. To view the applicable contract or certificate, select the message and click View.

Certificates

A summary of software license certificates compliance. It includes the count of the certificates in compliance, out of compliance, or approaching breach.

When you use search definitions, it does not change the certificate counts.

Functions

You can perform the following tasks by using the SAM console provides access to the following functionality:

The Purchased versus Deployed KPI displays data for only the following license types:


    • Per Instance
    • Per Copy
    • Per Copy Per Device

Because this KPI is applicable only when the count for the number of deployed licenses can be larger than the number of purchased licenses, data for Enterprise and Site license types are not displayed.

Custom license types are not included in the Purchased versus Deployed flashboard. The following procedure provides steps for adding them.

  • The Software Asset Management (SAM) console also includes links to perform the following secondary functions, which are not related to either contract or software license management:

      • Open other consoles, such as the Purchasing console and the Reporting console.
      • Use the BMC Atrium CMDB query dialog box to build complex searches, as described in Searching-for-CIs.
      • Create reminders, as described in Creating-reminders.
      • View your profile.
      • Viewing and selecting KPIs. Click this link to select a flashboard. The KPIs that appear in the Software Asset Management console represent, in graphical format:
        • Certificates by compliance status
        • Certificates by manufacturer
        • Certificates by supplier

Certificates panel

Important: If you cannot see the Certificates panel, click the Certificates title.

View Contracts

To view details of a contract, select the certificate and click View Contract. For more information about viewing contracts, see  Reviewing a software contract.

View Certificate

View details of the selected certificate. For more information, see  Working-with-a-software-license-certificate.

View Usage

View software usage of the selected certificate. For more information, see  Viewing-software-usage-details.

Print

Print the selected contract.

Certificates table

Lists software license certificates. The Compliance Status column indicates whether the license is in compliance.

Select

Select whether to view related contracts or related CIs.

Related CIs

To view which CIs are related to a certificates, select the certificate. The Related CIs table lists the related CIs. To view details of one of the CIs, select the CI and click View CI. 
For information about manually managing CIs attached to a certificate, see  Working-with-a-software-license-certificate.

Unrelated CIs panel

Important: If you cannot see the Unrelated CIs panel, click the Unrelated CIs title.

View CI

To view details about the CI, select a CI and click  View CI. For more information, see Working-with-CIs.

Job Name

When running connection rules for a job, if the License Engine cannot link a CI or a list of CIs to contracts, the engine creates an exception record for each CI that it cannot relate to. Select a job to see the unrelated CIs for that job.

CIs table

The CIs table lists the exception records for the most recent run of the selected job. These records are software CIs that should be related to a certificate, but are not.

Important: A CI that is unrelated on one job might be related as the result of a different subsequent job.

 

Tip: For faster searching, add an asterisk to the end of your partial query. Example: cert*