Managing Software Products

Software Products are managed in much the same way as other CMDB items and are used primarily to create a record for your software licenses.

ASM Core classifies Software Products as Configuration Items, one of the main items in the CMDB. You can also manage software products as follows:

• execute transactions on software products (for example to order, allocate or reserve a quantity of items of the software product)

• specify how the software product may be used, that is to which other CMDB items the software product can be allocated or reserved

• set up thresholds to log calls or requests if the quantity of items of the software product (that is the number of licenses you have available for a particular software product) is running low and you need to order more licenses

Adding a Software Product

1. Display the Software Product Details window in any of the following ways:

   • Select Menu and then New. From the submenu, select Software Product. If Software Product does not appear then:

   • From the submenu, select CMDB Item... and select the item type. Use this option if the item type does not appear in the New submenu, you want to create an item from a template, or create a subtype of the items listed as default.

   • Use the Add New button in the CMDB Item Search window.

   • You can also create a new CMDB item by cloning an existing one.

2. In the Software Product Details window, complete the details.

3. Link the product to other CMDB items.

4. Specify how the product can be used.

5. Use the options in the Explorer pane to carry out additional tasks.

6. Select Ok to save your changes, or Save New to save the details and open a blank details window in which you can enter the details for another new software product. Provide the Change Reasons if prompted to do so.

Specifying Use of Software Products

You can specify the CMDB items with which a software product may be used. For example, you may define the usage criteria on a software license for MS SQL Server to indicate that it should only be installed on Servers.

1. Scroll down to the bottom of the window and select the Usage Criteria tab from the Linking Pane.

2. Specify the usage criteria.

3. Select Ok to save your changes, or Save New to save the details and open a blank details window in which you can enter the details for another new software product. Provide the Change Reasons if prompted to do so.

Software Product Details Explorer Options

The Explorer pane appears on the left-hand side of the Software Product Details window. It contains options or links to other windows and functionality that relate to the software product.

The following options are available:

Select	To...
Agreements	view all the agreements where the software product is specified in the agreement selection criteria
Availability	view or set Availability Settings for the software product
Impact Criteria	specify the criteria that will be used to apply an outage to a CMDB item when one or more CMDB items impacting this item are currently experiencing an outage
Clone	create a CMDB item by copying the details of an existing one, and updating the details as required
Object	attach objects or files from Windows applications to the current software product
Attributes	type data into categories set up in the Administration module
Form	capture general, non-reportable, non-searchable information about the software product
Audit	view an audit trail of the changes made to the details of the software product
Depreciation	view the depreciation information for the software product
Transactions	view or perform transactions on a software product. The Transactions window accessed through the Transactions explorer option records all transactions performed on the software product.
Transaction History	search on transactions added to a software product
Thresholds	set up thresholds that will create a call, request, or notification if the number of software products meets the criteria defined for the threshold
Linking	view a graphical view of the other CMDB items which are linked to the software product
Components	view a graphical view of the components for a container software product
Call Search	display the Call Search window, where you can view all open calls logged against the software product
Request Search	displays the Request Search window, where you can view open requests for the software product
External Resources	view external resources such as directory server users linked to the software product
Discrepancy Reports	display the outstanding CMDB Resource Reports (reports to be reviewed) linked to the software product
Version History	view the history for the software product

Searching for a Software Product

You can search for a software product in the same way as you would search for any CMDB item, selecting Software Product in the CMDB Item Type field in the CMDB Search Criteria pane.

Updating a Software Product

You update software product details in the same way as you would update any CMDB item.

Deleting a Software Product

You delete a software product in the same way as you would delete any CMDB item.

You can restore deleted software products if you wish.