As software environments become more diverse and complex, managing licenses, and ensuring compliance have become critical challenges for businesses. With the rise of cloud technologies and subscription-based models, the need for effective Software Asset Management (SAM) has never been greater. The global SAM market is projected to reach USD 8.63 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 18.23% (Verified Market Research).
ServiceNow SAM is emerging as a key player in addressing these challenges. With a growing user base of over 600 organizations (according to 6sense), it is the fourth-largest SAM solution on the market, proving its value in helping businesses optimize their software management practices and ensure compliance.
In this article, we will explore how ServiceNow SAM empowers organizations to take control of their software assets, with a special focus on how its powerful normalization features help drive greater operational efficiency and reduce risk.
Table of Contents
What is SAM?
SAM is the practice of managing and optimizing software assets throughout their lifecycle. It helps organizations track software usage, ensure compliance, and maximize the value of their software investments.
As part of SAM, normalization plays a critical role by standardizing discovered software data, ensuring consistency across various sources, and aligning it with recognized values from a central content library.
Normalization Role in ServiceNow SAM
This process helps in reconciling purchased licenses with actual usage, maintaining compliance, and accurately computing license positions. Additionally, *wide-net normalization reduces the need for manual rules, grouping similar software models under common standards.
With the “Normalization Suggestions” feature, the system also identifies discrepancies between your data and the latest updates, ensuring your software installations remain current and precise.
* May not be available for all software. We recommend checking updates from the content service team.
How Does Normalization Work in ServiceNow SAM?
1. Discovery of Software Installations
- ServiceNow Discovery or other discovery tools gather data on software installed across your environment. This includes details like the software’s publisher, product name, version, and edition.
- This data is stored in the Software Installation table and linked to the hardware configuration items in the CMDB.
2. Creating Discovery Models
The software installation records are grouped into discovery models based on the software’s publisher, product, and version. These discovery models help organize and track software in a more structured way.
3. Normalization Process
SAM compares the discovered software data to a central Content Library that contains standardized software information. This is like a “dictionary” of recognized software information.
When SAM finds a match between the discovered data and the library, it updates the discovery model with the standardized or “normalized” values. These values include:
- Publisher (e.g., Microsoft)
- Product (e.g., Windows 11)
- Version (e.g., 21H1)
This ensures that all the software records are consistent and can be easily tracked and managed.
4. Additional Normalized Information
Along with Publisher, Product, and Version, SAM may also add other useful details like:
- Product type (e.g., licensable, patch, or driver)
- Platform (e.g., Windows, Linux)
- Language of the software
- Edition (e.g., Pro, Enterprise)
- Full version number
5. Normalization Status
- Normalized
- Partially Normalized
- Publisher Normalized
- Match Not Found
- Manually Normalized
- New
The Power of Machine Learning in ServiceNow SAM to Improve Normalization Rates in Real-time
ServiceNow SAM utilizes machine learning to optimize the normalization of discovery models, with current support for predicting values such as version, full version, and edition. This enhances normalization rates instantaneously by normalizing unrecognized discovered software.
Once the Software Asset Management – Machine Learning Normalization (com.sn_sam_ml_normalization) plugin is activated, ‘SAM – Normalize discovery models using machine learning’ a scheduled job runs to process discovery models that are not fully normalized by existing content library rules. The scheduled job ‘SAM-Normalize discovery models using content library rules’ triggers the on-demand job ‘SAM-Normalize discovery models using machine learning’ while also validating machine learning predictions on the contrary.
When the ServiceNow Content rules are updated, the machine learning predictions are continually refined. The scheduled job ‘SAM – Normalize discovery models using content library rules’ runs to reprocess discovery models normalized by machine learning to align the models with the updated content rules.
Why SAM Normalization Matters for Your Business?
- Unified Software View – By standardizing data from multiple discovery tools normalization provides a consistent and unified view of your software assets across all environments.
- Accurate Reporting – Normalized data enables precise software inventory reporting, making it easier for decision-makers to assess software needs and plan license purchases more effectively.
- Higher Cost Savings – It helps identify underused or redundant software, eliminating unnecessary costs and preventing over-purchasing of licenses.
- Compliance Confidence – With a clean, normalized inventory, companies can confidently demonstrate compliance during vendor audits, avoiding expensive fines or penalties.
- Simplified Decision-Making – A centralized, standardized inventory streamlines decisions around software purchases, retirement, or reallocation, and supports smarter investments in business growth.
End Note
Effective Software Asset Management is no longer just an option—it’s a necessity. As software environments grow more complex and compliance demands rise, normalization becomes essential for accurate, consistent software data and optimal license management. Implementing SAM with proper normalization helps reduce costs, mitigate risks, and ensure organizations remain compliant and secure in the face of ever-changing regulations.
KANINI provides expert ServiceNow solutions to simplify your Software Asset Management and boost operational efficiency.
Reach out to discover how we can help optimize your SAM processes and achieve better outcomes for your business.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How does normalization improve license compliance?
Normalization aligns discovered software with standard values, making it easier to reconcile software with purchased licenses and ensure compliance.
2. What happens if normalization doesn’t find a match?
If no match is found, the software record is marked as “Match Not Found” and requires manual updates for compliance.
3. Can normalization help with audit readiness?
Yes, normalization ensures an accurate and up-to-date inventory, helping your organization stay prepared for software audits.
Author
Ravi Rajamani
Ravi is the ServiceNow Practice Lead at KANINI. He brings close to 18 years of experience in the IT industry and has strong program & project management skills spanning ServiceNow, Resource Management, Solution Design, and Service Delivery. He has a proven track record of helping enterprise customers leverage ServiceNow platform efficiently.
