Software Asset Management Services Overview

With increasing frequency, customers using software from Microsoft will be asked to verify license compliance through a Software Asset Management (SAM) Baseline engagement, one of the three SAM Services program offerings from Microsoft. Often perceived as an audit, a SAM Baseline engagement may cause business disruption by consuming people’s time and by introducing unexpected costs from having to purchase licenses for software deployed but not properly licensed. However, customers can use two lesser-known offerings to deploy Microsoft software inventorying tools and to identify ways to manage software assets more effectively.

The three SAM Services offerings can be used individually, sequentially, or in tandem to provide license verification, deployment of software for inventory and usage analysis, and evaluation of the effectiveness of software management processes.

The SAM Baseline is the most widely known and used SAM Services offering with the central goal of license verification. A SAM Baseline engagement focuses on license compliance but differs from an audit in that there are generally no service fees or punitive license pricing imposed, and customers can generally choose which Microsoft partner performs the engagement (though results are shared with Microsoft regardless of partner choice). The primary deliverable of a SAM Baseline engagement includes the following: