Considerations for implementing the ITAM-SPO better together flow

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
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    Summary of Considerations for implementing the ITAM-SPO better together flow

    This document outlines important considerations for ServiceNow customers implementing the IT Asset Management (ITAM) and Sourcing and Procurement Operations (SPO) better together solution. It highlights key behaviors, integration points, and limitations that impact purchase order processing, asset receipt, catalog usage, and integration with other solutions such as Software Asset Management (SAM) and Coupa.

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    Key Features

    • Purchase Order (PO) and Purchase Requisition (PR) Transaction Behavior: To ensure smooth integration, options to cancel or order POs in ITAM are disabled. Editing and return flows for PRs and POs in SPO are unsupported, and the Confirm Revision button is disabled when PRs are in Pending Review status.
    • Acknowledging Asset Receipt: Asset receipt acknowledgment occurs within ITAM through the PO, creating assets visible under the ITAM PO's Assets tab. SPO POs do not generate assets or receipts directly; instead, a read-only receipt appears on the SPO Purchase Order Line (POL) only after ITAM receipt slip creation.
    • Shopping Hub and IT Asset Management Catalog Control: All IT asset, consumable, and enterprise purchases must be routed through the Service Catalog, while service purchases continue via the Shopping Hub. Shopping Hub controls restrict direct IT asset purchases to maintain process integrity.
    • Supplier Product and Vendor Catalog Usage: Purchases initiated via the ITAM-SPO flow bypass the Vendor Catalog Item table and instead utilize SPO's Supplier Product table for processing.
    • Impact on SAM-Coupa Integration: The ITAM-SPO integration is incompatible with the SAM-Coupa integration. Customers wishing to maintain SAM-Coupa functionality should not install the Asset Management Integration for SPO plugin. If installing the better together solution, specific steps must be taken to disable conflicting business rules, scheduled jobs, and integrations to ensure SPO-Coupa integration functions properly.
    • Asset Creation for Services: The creation of inventory assets for services in the almasset table is disabled with the integration plugins, though existing service inventory assets remain unaffected. Fixed assets for services continue to be created, and inventory asset creation for goods operates as usual.

    Key Outcomes

    • Customers achieve streamlined PO and PR processes with clear limitations to prevent unsupported edits and returns, enhancing data consistency across ITAM and SPO.
    • Asset receipt acknowledgment is centralized in ITAM, ensuring accurate asset records without duplication or discrepancies in SPO.
    • Purchasing controls enforce catalog discipline by separating IT asset and service purchases appropriately between Service Catalog and Shopping Hub.
    • Integration with third-party procurement systems like Coupa requires careful configuration to avoid conflicts, preserving existing integrations or enabling the new SPO-Coupa flow.
    • Asset management of services aligns with organizational policies by disabling new inventory asset creation for services while maintaining fixed asset tracking.

    This section provides information on considerations for implementing the ITAM-SPO better together solution.

    Functional detail Description
    PO and PR transaction behavior

    To enable seamless integration:

    • The Cancel and Order options are disabled for POs in ITAM.
    • Edit and return flows for Purchase Requisitions (PR) and Purchase Orders (PO) in SPO are not supported in this integration. Therefore, the Confirm Revision option is disabled when the PR is in the Pending Review state.
    Acknowledging asset receipt in ITAM
    • After asset delivery, the purchaser acknowledges receipt via the PO in ITAM. Assets are then created and can be viewed under the Assets tab of the ITAM PO.
    • In this workflow, no assets or receipts are created from the SPO PO.
    • A read-only receipt is generated on the SPO POL only after the ITAM receipt slip is created.
    Shopping Hub and IT Asset Management

    As part of this flow, all IT asset, consumable, and enterprise purchases should go through the service catalog. Services purchases should continue to flow through Shopping Hub.

    Shopping Hub controls should prevent IT asset purchases directly from the Shopping Hub catalog.
    Supplier Product and Vendor Catalog Item table usage When a purchase is initiated using the ITAM-SPO flow, the system doesn't use the Vendor Catalog Item (pc_vendor_cat_item) table. Instead, it uses SPO's Supplier Product (sn_shop_supplier_product) table to process the purchase.
    How ITAM-SPO better together flow affects SAM-Coupa integration The ITAM-SPO integration flow does not support the Software Asset Management (SAM) and Coupa integration. If you are currently using the SAM-Coupa integration and wish to continue doing so, do not install the Asset Management Integration for Sourcing and Procurement Operations (sn_spend_asset) plugin.

    If you choose to install the better together application, complete the following steps to successfully implement the SPO-Coupa integration:

    • Stop the “Create a Requisition” business rule from triggering on the ITAM Purchase Order table (proc_po) when the status changes to Ordered.

    • Restrict the creation of new itam_procurement_integration_job scheduled jobs. Retire any existing daily jobs to avoid potential conflicts.

    • Delete all business rules associated with the app-itam-procurement-integration application to prevent integration conflicts.
    • Ensure that Purchase Requests (PRs), Purchase Orders (POs), and Receipts in SPO are properly mapped to corresponding entities in Coupa for seamless integration.
    Creation of assets for services

    The creation of inventory assets for services in the alm_asset table is disabled in the Sourcing and Purchasing Automation and Asset Management Integration for Sourcing and Procurement Operations plugins. The previously created inventory assets for services are not affected. For fixed assets, ITAM continues to create corresponding records in the alm_asset table for services. Inventory asset creation for goods continues to function as before.