Downgrade Rights

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Downgrade Rights

    Downgrade rights enable customers to utilize their licenses for earlier software versions after acquiring the latest version. This functionality is integrated within the Software Asset Management (SAM) plugin and is essential for managing software licenses effectively.

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    Key Features

    • The Software Asset Management content service generates downgrade rights linked to a discovery map.
    • Weekly scheduled jobs retrieve downgrade rights data and populate the Downgrade Rights tables.
    • If no software model exists, a new model is created automatically during the downgrade rights population process.
    • Downgrade rights are automatically populated in a hierarchical list if the discovery map allows it.
    • Once created, downgrade rights can only be deactivated and not deleted, ensuring data integrity.
    • The system prevents the creation of duplicate downgrade rights, providing error messages when duplicates are attempted.

    Key Outcomes

    By leveraging downgrade rights, ServiceNow customers can maintain compliance with licensing agreements while ensuring access to necessary software versions. The system's safeguards against duplicates and its automated features streamline license management, enhancing operational efficiency.

    The concept of downgrading licenses is built into the Software Asset Management plugin feature. Downgrade rights is the process of having acquired the rights to the latest version of software but using the rights to license earlier versions of the same software.

    The Software Asset Management content service generates downgrade rights. The downgrade rights correspond to a discovery map. A scheduled job, Download software content: Downgrade Rights triggered on a weekly basis, gets the downgrade rights from the Software Asset Management content service and pushes the data to the Downgrade Rights [samp_dmap_downgrade_model] table.

    Another scheduled job, SAM- Create downgrades/upgrades for a software entitlement, picks up the information from the [samp_dmap_downgrade_model] table. The table propagates the next version and the downgrade rights on the existing software models and their corresponding entitlements.

    If there is no software model corresponding to a discovery map, when populating the Downgrade Rights [samp_sw_downgrade_model] table, a new software model is automatically created.

    If the discovery map, corresponding to the software model, has downgrade rights, the Downgrade Rights related list is automatically populated with a hierarchical list of downgraded versions of the software.

    Once downgrade rights are created and saved in the Downgrade Rights tables, [samp_sw_downgrade_model] and [samp_downgrade_model], the downgrade rights can't be deleted. However, you can deactivate the downgrade rights.

    If you delete a software model, all records corresponding to the software model in the Downgrade Rights [samp_sw_downgrade_model] table are automatically deleted.

    The system does not allow duplicate downgrade rights to be created; either through the scheduled job or manually in the Software Model and Entitlement form layout. If you try to create, duplicate downgrade rights on software models or on entitlements, an error message appears informing you that the downgrade model exists. If they have the same values in all the following fields, downgrade rights are considered to be duplicates.
    • Publisher
    • Product
    • Version condition
    • Version
    • Edition condition
    • Edition
    • Platform
    • Language
    • Software install condition
    • Named User Type- is displayed only for SAP products.

    If you already have duplicate downgrade rights from previous Software Asset Management Professional releases, then those duplicate downgrade rights aren't modified or deleted.

    If you try to create a duplicate downgrade right for an inactive downgrade right, an error message appears. The error message informs you that an inactive downgrade right exists and you can reactivate it.

    Downgrade support is available for the following Microsoft license metrics:
    • Per User
    • Per Named User
    • Per Device
    • Per Named Device
    • Per Core
    • Per Core (with CAL)
    • Server (Per Instance)
    • Server (Per Server)
    • Per Processor

    Downgrade rights