---
title: Basic Software Asset Management
description: The Basic Software Asset Management activates the ITSM Software Asset Management feature provided with the Asset Management application.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/it-service-management/software-asset-management-foundation-plugin/c\_SoftwareAssetMgmtSAMF.html
release: australia
product: Software Asset Management Foundation plugin
classification: software-asset-management-foundation-plugin
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-03-12"
reading_time_minutes: 2
breadcrumb: [ITSM Software Asset Management, Asset Management common applications, IT Service Management]
---

# Basic Software Asset Management

The Basic Software Asset Management activates the ITSM Software Asset Management feature provided with the Asset Management application.

For documentation on the full fledged Software Asset Management product \(also known as Software Asset Management professional\), see [Software Asset Management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/it-asset-management/c_SoftwareAssetMgmt.md).

Basic Software Asset Management systematically tracks, evaluates, and manages software licenses and compliance. Functionality consists of these main features.

<table id="table_fxn_2mt_1bb"><thead><tr><th>

Feature area

</th><th>

Description

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>

Dashboard

</td><td>

The Software Asset Management Foundation dashboard shows software installation results for your environment in the form of statistics and charts.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Licensing

</td><td>

Software models created for all installed software products are used to tie software installations \(software being used\) with entitlements \(software owned\). Entitlements define license details and are assigned to software models.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Discovery and normalization

</td><td>

A discovery process, such as ServiceNow Discovery or Microsoft SCCM, can be used to discover the software installed in your environment. An Out Of the Box \(OOB\) Normalization library contains publisher and product content. Custom products can be created if a software product does not exist in the Software Library. Discovered software can be manually normalized for reconciliation.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Reconciliation

</td><td>

The reconciliation process calculates the compliance status of software products with respect to discovery and entitlements. Remediation options are created to resolve compliance issues.

</td></tr></tbody>
</table>-   **[Exploring Basic Software Asset Management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/software-asset-management-foundation-plugin/exploring-sam-foundation.md)**  
The Basic Software Asset Management \(com.snc.sams\) supports tracking, evaluating, and managing software licenses and compliance. You can access this functionality through the Software Asset Workspace or the Software Asset Management Core UI.
-   **[Setting up Basic Software Asset Management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/software-asset-management-foundation-plugin/t_SAMSetupSAMF.md)**  
Set up Basic Software Asset Management before configuration.
-   **[Configuring Basic Software Asset Management workspace](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/software-asset-management-foundation-plugin/configuring-samf-plugin-workspace.md)**  
Once you have finished setting up the Basic Software Asset Management and the Software Asset Workspace plugin applications, you need to configure the Software Asset Workspace.
-   **[Configuring the classic Basic Software Asset Management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/software-asset-management-foundation-plugin/samf-plugin-configuration.md)**  
Configure Basic Software Asset Management if you prefer to continue using the classic version.
-   **[Using Basic Software Asset Management workspace](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/software-asset-management-foundation-plugin/using-samf-workspace.md)**  
Use the Software Asset Workspace, the intuitive and streamlined user interface of the Basic Software Asset Management application.
-   **[Using Basic Software Asset Management classic](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/software-asset-management-foundation-plugin/using-samf-classic.md)**  
Using Basic Software Asset Management classic.
-   **[Basic Software Asset Management Administration](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/software-asset-management-foundation-plugin/c_SAMAdministrationSAMF.md)**  
Basic Software Asset Management administration tasks include adding custom product records, creating custom license metrics, and setting properties. You can also refresh processor definitions, and migrate software installations.

**Parent Topic:**[ITSM Software Asset Management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/itsm-sam.md)