---
title: Managing software suites
description: Simplify licensing and lower the cost of licenses from vendors. Get visibility into your complex suite licenses, manage compliance, and optimize your spending on these licenses.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/it-asset-management/software-asset-management/Manage-software-suites.html
release: brazil
product: Software Asset Management
classification: software-asset-management
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-09-10"
reading_time_minutes: 3
breadcrumb: [Software Asset Management software suites, Exploring Software Asset Management, Software Asset Management, IT Asset Management, Asset Management]
---

# Managing software suites

Simplify licensing and lower the cost of licenses from vendors. Get visibility into your complex suite licenses, manage compliance, and optimize your spending on these licenses.

Create a suite and add components to the suite so that your organizations' rights are accurately counted during reconciliation.

A software suite is a group of related software that is offered as one unit. An example is the Microsoft Office Professional suite that includes PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Outlook, and Access.

Another example of a server-side suite is the Microsoft Core Infrastructure Server \(CIS\) Suite. The CIS Suite can include the Windows Server software as well as the System Center suite, which includes Configuration Manager, Operations Manager, and other titles. CIS Suite, which is licensed with Microsoft server metrics \(Per Core, Per Core \(with CAL\), Per Instance, Per Processor, Per Server\), are considered during reconciliation.

For any software model, you can specify whether the model is a suite \(parent\) or a component \(child\). A software model can be a component in multiple suites. For example, Microsoft Word is a component in two suites: Microsoft Office Standard and Microsoft Office Professional. Although you can set a single software model as both a suite and a component, software isn’t typically sold as nested suites.

Whenever a software model is automatically created as part of a scheduled job, its child components are automatically created and appear in the [Suite Components](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/it-asset-management/software-asset-management/software-model-fields.md) section.

Use the **Inference percent** or **Inference number** and **Mandatory** fields when the suite parent isn’t defined in the install table.

**Note:** If the system property **com.snc.sam.auto\_suite\_inference** is set to true, the Inference number and percent is automatically determined. Additionally, the parent software model suite is automatically inferred for a software model based on its child software models.

-   **Inference percent**: Specifies the percentage of the components that must be installed for the suite.
-   **Inference Number**: Specifies the number of components installed for the suite.
-   **Mandatory**: Enforces whether a specific component must be installed to infer that the suite is installed. Choices are Optional, Always Mandatory, Mandatory Group.

    **Note:** If two or more software components are part of a Mandatory Group, then at least one of them must be present so that all the software components are considered a suite. This assumes that the inference percent, inference number, and other requirements are also fulfilled.


When a suite parent is detected during reconciliation, the child components don’t count for the individual license.

**Note:** Users with the model\_manager role can navigate to **Product Catalog** > **Product Model** > **Software Models**, but can’t administer all aspects of software models.

Software Asset Management supports hybrid and subscription-based software suites. In a hybrid software suite, either the suite parent or child component is subscription-based. In a subscription-based software suite, both the suite parent and child component are subscription-based. The license that you use to determine compliance is dependent on whether the suite parent and child component are subscription-based:

-   If only the suite parent is subscription-based, then all the child component installations are inferred as part of the suite parent. You can determine your license compliance using the suite parent license.
-   If only the child component of a suite parent is subscription-based, then the instances of that child component aren’t inferred as part of the suite parent. You can determine your license compliance using the child component license.
-   If both the suite parent and child components are subscription-based, then the instances of the child components are inferred as part of the suite parent. You can determine your license compliance using the suite parent license. For example, Microsoft 365 E5 is a subscription-based software suite that consists of the Office 365 E5, EMS E5, and Windows 10 subscription software. Because both the suite parent and child components are subscription-based, they’re reconciled against the Microsoft 365 E5 parent license.

**Parent Topic:**[Software Asset Management software suites](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/it-asset-management/software-asset-management/software-suites.md)