Use Software Asset Management and Application Portfolio Management to manage technology onboarding

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Use Software Asset Management and Application Portfolio Management to manage technology onboarding

    ServiceNow customers can leverage the Software Asset Management (SAM) application combined with the Technology Reference Model (TRM) from Application Portfolio Management to efficiently manage technology onboarding. The TRM acts as a curated library of software products, detailing their approval status and lifecycle phases, and is maintained by enterprise architects for use by application owners.

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    Key Features

    • Technology Reference Model (TRM): Lists software products with approval status and lifecycle dates, serving as a centralized approval source.
    • Software Model Association: When creating a software model linked to an approved TRM product, the model is automatically marked as Certified, enabling its use.
    • Approval Synchronization: If a product’s approval status changes in TRM, existing software models do not automatically update but display banners to alert users to sync certification flags accordingly.
    • Reclamation Management: Products marked as unapproved in TRM trigger automatic creation of reclamation candidates for associated software installations, streamlining compliance and asset cleanup.
    • Lifecycle Phase Visibility: SAM provides visibility into TRM lifecycle phases for software models, helping manage software usage throughout its lifecycle.

    Practical Application and Behavior

    The interaction between SAM and TRM supports real-world onboarding scenarios. For example, if a software model is created for an unapproved product, it defaults to not certified and restricted, with reclamation candidates created for existing installations. Once the product is approved in TRM, software models reflect this change with banners prompting users to update certification status, and new software models inherit the approved status automatically. Older versions remain restricted to ensure compliance.

    Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Ensures software usage aligns with enterprise-approved technology standards.
    • Automates compliance enforcement through certification flags and reclamation candidates.
    • Provides clear visibility into software lifecycle status and approval alignment.
    • Facilitates streamlined onboarding and management of software assets in accordance with TRM policies.

    Use the Software Asset Management application along with Technology Reference Model (TRM) of Application Portfolio Management to manage onboarding of technologies.

    TRM is a list of software products with information on their approval of use. Each product is associated with a set of lifecycle phases with a start and end date. The TRM library is maintained by the enterprise architect and used by application owners.

    The Software Asset Management application gives visibility into the TRM lifecycle phases for all products associated with software models. When a software model is created and associated with a product that is approved for use in TRM, the Certified check box in the software model form is selected by default. All software models associated with that product are then available for use.

    Software model from

    If the same product in TRM is later marked as unapproved, the existing software models associated with that product don't reflect that change. However, when you open the existing software models, a banner appears stating This software is not approved for use in the Technology Reference Model (TRM). To be in sync with the TRM, set the Certified flag to FALSE..

    If a new software model is created with this product, that software model is marked as unapproved, and a banner isn't displayed as this software model is in sync with TRM.

    If a product is marked as unapproved in TRM, reclamation candidates are automatically created for all software installations that are associated with that product. After the product is approved for use in TRM, the existing reclamation candidates are either marked Closed complete or Closed canceled.

    Software Asset Management and TRM use case

    This section describes a use case that demonstrates how the Software Asset Management application and TRM interact.

    For example, you create a software model SW1, on September 15, 2022, and associate it with PostgreSQL, which is an unapproved product in TRM. By default, the Certified check box in the SW1 form is set to false and the Restricted software check box is set to true. Also removal candidates are created for any installations discovered.

    On September 18, 2022, release 14.5 of PostgreSQL gets approved for use in TRM. If you now open SW1 a banner appears stating the following This software is approved for use in the Technology Reference Model (TRM). To be in sync with the TRM, set the Certified flag as true. However software models with older versions would continue to be restricted.

    If you create another software model SW2, on September 19, 2022, and associate it with PostgreSQL, the Certified check box is set to true and the Restricted software check box is set to false in the SW2 form.