Maximizing Value from SAM Pro with Service Portal Value Builder

Success portal Value builder Introduction

One of the key things that ServiceNow consumers are concerned with is making sure that they are maximizing the return on the investment they have made the platform.?This is especially true of products like ServiceNow Software Asset Management Professional (SAM Pro) which is used for managing software licenses, entitlements, and software usage.?With new SAM Pro implementations, companies are encouraged to start small with just a couple of vendors/products and ramp up over time.?When building up SAM Pro usage over time, it is important to keep an eye on how many software products are being managed and that publisher packs and product features are being used as they should.?Fortunately, with the Utah release, ServiceNow has included a new feature called Success Portal Value builder to help with this challenge.

Success Portal Value builder is an app within ServiceNow that allows SAM managers to identify and prioritize functionalities that haven’t been implemented or haven’t been used.?This allows consumers to establish a baseline of where they are with SAM Pro and create a plan on how to move forward.?Here are some of the features of the Success portal Value builder:

• Shows what apps and plugins have been used and which ones haven’t.
• Shows which publisher packs have been used and which ones haven’t.
• Shows what products are being managed and which are not.
• Value builder tasks are automatically created when it is identified that publisher packs aren’t fully being utilized
• You can filter data by domain and category to make the portal more meaningful.
• Tasks can be marked as favorites to increase visibility
• You can stay up to date with new features of SAM Pro as they are becoming available in future releases.

The Success Portal Value builder is a graphical interface that is simple and easy to use.?It features widgets which show the completeness in different areas, tiles for tasks, and new updates from ServiceNow.

Value Builder Overview

Widgets

There are four widgets displayed in Value builder:

-?????????The SAM apps and plugin widget shows you which SAM apps and plugins aren’t being used.?This lets you review your SAM Pro setup and determine if there are additional apps and plugins that should be installed to provide additional capabilities.

-?????????Publisher pack utilization is a widget shows all publisher packs that are available for use and how many are being utilized.?More importantly, it lets you see which publisher packs are not being utilized so you can investigate and determine how to best make use of them.

-?????????The Usage under management widget shows the usage of all licensable products.?This is determined by looking to see if usage is found and if entitlements have been created.?This also lets you see where products aren’t under management so you can plan extending SAM Pro to additional products.

-?????????Value builder tasks by status is a widget that gives you a view into tasks that have been created, how many are New, Work in progress, etc.?It’s a great way to see your progress on Value builder tasks.

Tasks

Task tiles appear in the Value builder tab categorized (e.g., New, In progress, Favorites) for easy viewing and tracking.?As mentioned earlier, Value builder tasks are automatically created when it is identified that publisher packs aren’t being fully utilized, but you can create additional tasks to capture custom action items.?This allows you to build a comprehensive plan to move forward in maximize your usage of SAM Pro, all managed directly from the Value builder portal.

New updates

The New updates section summarizes new or upcoming capabilities within the SAM Pro app.?This allows you to review additional features that you may want to implement in the future.

Conclusion

So, if you have recently upgraded to Utah and are users of SAM Pro, you now have a new tool to help you on your journey to maximize usage of your platform in an intuitive, easy to use dashboard.?If you have yet to upgrade, this is a capability that you should plan on using in the future.

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About the author:

Chris Casey is a pre-sales solution architect for Engage ESM (The Eviden ServiceNow specialist Practice) and is also a member of the Atos Automation Experts Community.?He has over 25 years of IT experience covering a broad range of topics.?At work, he enjoys working on bids, keeping up with the ever-changing ServiceNow advancements, and providing thought leadership on delivery projects.?While he is not working or caring for his family, he is passionate about writing and recording music.