Getting Started With SAM Director
SAM Director User Guide
© Copyright 2014 License Dashboard Limited.
License Dashboard Limited is a trading subsidiary of the Blenheim Group. License Dashboard Limited - Blenheim House - York Road - Pocklington - York - YO42 1NS - UK t: +44 845 265 1217 (UK/International) – t: 1-855-773-3404 (US & Canada) - f: +44 845 265 1219 - e: [email protected]
OVERVIEW
OVERVIEW
License Dashboard SAM Director is an online tool which integrates with License Manager. SAM Director brings the extensive reporting capabilities from a License Manager database and makes it available online. It also adds in functionality to request and track software for your entire organization and aid in addressing shortfalls in license entitlement. Licensing requests are cross-checked against available license entitlement and sent for purchasing and installation.
Purpose and Scope
This help documentation is designed to get you up and running with SAM Director as quickly as possible. The beginning section provides details for configuring the system. The second section provides details on how the purchasing side of SAM Director can be configured for use. More detailed help and support is available in the SAM Director User Guide.
Table of Contents
Overview
2
Preparation
4
How to Configure SAM Director
5
The Administration Workspace
7
Configuring the System Settings
7
Configuring Email
8
Creating Approval Levels
11
Setting Up Software Requests
13
Setting Up Purchasing
14
Setting Up Users
15
Defining the Contact Query Types
18
The Manage Purchasing Workspace
19
Setting Up the Product Catalog
19
Configuring Purchasing
21
Preparation
Installation
When you purchase SAM Director, you are provided with the install files and an installation guide. The installation guide is in a PDF format and gives details of the system requirements and how to install the software. Please refer to this document when installing SAM Director.
Login
A standard Administrator account is enabled when you install SAM Director. Use this account to log into the system. Please note: If you are using a Hosted System, you may also need to enter the
company name.
Username: Administrator Password: Administrator
Please note: After login, you may want to change the password. Click Change Password at the top of the page to do this.
How to Configure SAM Director
There are two workspaces in SAM Director which are used to configure the system. 1. Administration
2. Manage Purchasing
To access each workspace, click the link in the workspaces menu.
Introduction to Administration
The Administration workspace is used to configure the functions and appearance of SAM Director. There are three menus:
l The Administration menu is used to manage users and the areas of the system they can
access.
l The Data Settings menus is used to configure the email addresses to direct Business Unit
queries and Contact queries to. The automatically generated notifications can be customized here.
l The System Configuration Settings menu is used to configure the look of SAM Director and
the email, login session and system settings. It is also used to control the Purchasing and Software Request features.
Introduction to Manage Purchasing
The Manage Purchasing is primarily used to manage purchasing requests. However, there are two menus which are used to manage the Product Catalog, software suppliers, agreements and license details.
l The Product Maintenance menu is used to manage the Product Catalog. The Product Catalog
is unique to your organization. It enables you to create a list of frequently used products and manufacturers in your organization. This helps users to choose the appropriate software and version when they raise a request.
l The Purchasing Administration menu is used to manage the suppliers, agreements and
licenses used when purchasing a product.
Configuring SAM Director
You can take the following steps to configure SAM Director. 1. Configure the System Settings
2. Configure Email
3. Create Approval Levels
4. Set Up Software Requests
5. Set Up Purchasing
6. Set Up Users
7. Define the Contact Query Types
8. Set Up the Product Catalog
9. Configure Purchasing
After configuring SAM Director, it is recommended that you review the Shortfalls list in the Manage License page. This allows you to begin purchasing licenses to meet a shortfall in entitlement.
THEADMINISTRATIONWORKSPACE
THE ADMINISTRATION WORKSPACE
Configuring the System Settings
In SAM Director, you can configure the system settings for your organization. 1. Click Administration to view the administration workspace.
2. Click System in the System Configuration Menu to view the system settings page.
3. Type a Company Name and Application Name. 4. Type the Application URL.
5. Select a Currency Symbol for use in the system.
6. Select a Multi-Lingual Support setting. Select Yes to enable the Language option in the navigation toolbar.
7. Select a Business Unit Security setting. Business Unit security is used to restrict user access to Business Units. The security roles restrict the data you can view in the Reports workspace and the Executive Summary workspace. Please note: The Security Roles page is used to
manage access levels and the Users page is used to assign security roles to users. These pages are not covered in this Getting Started Manual, please refer to the SAM Director user guide for help.
8. Select a Service Management setting. Service Management is used to create specific filters for users to use. These filters are only made available in the Reports workspace. Please note:
The views are created in the Views page, views are assigned to roles in the Roles page. These pages are not covered in this Getting Started Manual, please refer to the SAM Director user guide for help.
9. Select No for the User Account Backup setting. This feature is only used in Cloud Console. 10. Select an ASP Management setting. ASP Management allows Authorized Service Providers
to flag the Manufacturers who require priority management in SAM Director. 11. Click Update to save the new settings.
Configuring Email
SAM Director can be configured to send emails for install notifications, transfer requests and other reasons. This requires access to an email server. The Email page allows you to configure the email settings for SAM Director.
Each Email Address serves a different purpose in SAM Director.
l The Service Desk email address is used to send Installation notifications to. l The License Administrator email address is used to send compliance verification
notifications to. This informs the License Administrator when a new item is added to the Compliance Verification page.
l The System Reply to Address is used to send Standard System Notifications from.
l The Purchaser email address is the default address to send purchase notifications to. These
inform the purchaser when a new item is added to the Items to Order or Shortfalls to Order page. Please note: The default address is overridden if a purchaser has been specified on the
software request.
l The Tester email address is used to send all emails to if the Email Mode set to Testing in the
Email Settings.
l The Transfer Requests email address is the default address to send transfer notifications to.
These inform the License Administrator when a new item is added to the Pending Transfers page. Please note, the default address is overridden if the Business Unit has its own contact
email in the Business Units page.
l The Main Contact email address is the default address for Standard Query Types raised using
the Contact Us button. Please note: This is overridden if the Contact Type has its own contact
email in the Contact Query Types page.
1. Click Administration to view the administration workspace.
2. Click Email in the System Configuration Menu to view the email settings page.
3. Type an Email Server address.
4. Select an Email enabled setting. To enable or disable SAM Director emails.
5. Select an Email Mode. Select Production when you are ready to make the system live to all users. The testing setting will send all notifications to the Tester email address.
6. Select an address to send Installation Notifications to when a product is ready to be installed. The address is defined in the Email Addresses section.
7. Select the number of Devices per install request setting. This determines whether an install notification must be generated for each separate device when a software request for multiple devices is completed.
8. Type the email address for each type of contact. Each email address serves a different purpose in SAM Director.
l The Service Desk email address is used to send Installation notifications to. l The License Administrator email address is used to send compliance verification
notifications to. This informs the License Administrator when a new item is added to the Compliance Verification page.
l The System Reply to Address is used to send Standard System Notifications from.
l The Purchaser email address is the default address to send purchase notifications to. These
inform the purchaser when a new item is added to the Items to Order or Shortfalls to Order page.
l The Tester email address is used to send all emails to if the Email Mode set to Testing in the
Email Settings.
l The Transfer Requests email address is the default address to send transfer notifications to.
These inform the License Administrator when a new item is added to the Pending Transfers page.
l The Main Contact email address is the default address for Standard Query Types raised using
the Contact Us button.
8. Click Update to save the new settings.
A feature of SAM Director allows you to request transfer licenses between Business Units to meet a software request. If licensing is managed separately in each Business Unit you can set a specific email address to send emails to.
9. Click Business Units in the Data Settings menu to view the Business Units page.
10. Click Edit against a Business Unit. The Edit Business Unit page is displayed. 11. Type a Contact Email and click Update.
12. Click Custom Messages in the Data Settings menu to view the Custom Messages page.
13. Type a custom message for each notification type. 14. Click Update.
Creating Approval Levels
When a software request is received, it is sent through an approval process before it is sent to verify if there are any licenses available. SAM Director allows you to create approval levels for software requests. Approval levels are assigned to users. Software requests are sent to specific users with the appropriate approval level.
An organization can have an approval level hierarchy for software requests to go through several approvers. SAM Director does not restrict the user to follow the approval levels in sequence. Users must select the appropriate approver for their request. For example, if there are two approval levels, manager and director, a user could potentially send a request directly to the manager for approval. This allows approvers to raise requests which are already approved at their approval level.
1. Click Administration to view the administration workspace.
2. Click Approval Levels in the Administration menu to view the Approval Levels page.
4. Type an Approval Level Name.
5. Click Update. The approval level is created. The approval level for software requests is set in the Software Requests page. Approval levels are assigned to users in the Users page. The user must select the correct Approver when raising their software request.
Setting Up Software Requests
In SAM Director, software requests are sent through an approval process and license compliance process before they are sent for purchasing or to be installed. These processes can be edited to suit your organizations needs.
1. Click Administration to view the administration workspace.
2. Click Software Requests in the System Configuration Settings menu to view the sofware requests settings.
3. Select a Required Approval Level. This determines the final approval level which users must have to allow them to approve software requests. Users with the required approval level and access to the manage purchasing workspace can approve requests.
4. Select an Allow pre-approval of Requests setting. This allows users with the required approval level to flag their request as already approved and send it directly for compliance verification. A final approver must be selected as the pre-approver, they are informed on submitting on the request that they have been nominated.
5. Select an Allow manager to specify purchaser setting. This allows users to specify which purchaser to send a purchase request to.
Setting Up Purchasing
When you purchase items in the Manage Purchasing workspace, you can monitor the delivery of goods before sending an installation notification. This ensures that you are fully licensed before installing a product.
1. Click Administration to view the Administration workspace.
2. Click Purchasing in the System Configuration Settings menu to view the Purchasing page.
3. Select an Enable Goods Inward setting. Select Yes to monitor good inwards before sending an installation request.
4. Click Update.
Setting Up Users
Users can be granted access to SAM Director to request software, manage software requests or view licensing data. Users can be created individually or imported. Users can be set to use License Manager or Windows authentication when logging in.
In SAM Director, users can be given different permissions to access different parts of the system. Users can also be restricted to view only specific licensing data in the Reports section. The permissions are defined in the Security Roles and Approval Levels pages.
How to Create a User
1. Click Add New User. The Edit User page is displayed.
2. Input the User Info. Tick Administrator to give the user administrator permissions. Select a Security Role to restrict the data a user can view in the Executive Summary workspace and Reports workspace.
3. Input the Authentication details to determine how the user will log in to SAM Director 4. Select the Software Management details. The approval level determines whether the user
can approve software requests. 5. Input the Additional Information.
6. Tick the Allowed Applications to determine which workspaces the user can access in SAM Director.
7. Click Update. The User is added. Please note: If the user has been set up with License Manager Authentication, their login details are emailed to them.
How to Import Users from an Excel Spreadsheet
If you are using License Manager authentication, you can import users from an Excel spreadsheet. The Excel file must contain the following column headings:
l Login ID l DisplayName l Email l JobTitle l Department l Telephone l UseWindowsAuthentification l AccountExpiryDate l Language
1. Click Administration to view the administration workspace.
2. Click Import Users in the Administration menu to view the Import Users page.
3. Select the Approval Level for all users in the Excel spreadsheet.
4. Select the Allowed Applications for all users in the Excel spreadsheet. This determines which parts of SAM Director a user can access.
5. Double-click the Import File box.
6. Navigate to where the user file is stored. Select it and click Open.
7. Click Upload User Data. The Users are added to SAM Director. An email with the login details is sent to each user.
How to Edit Users Imported from Active Directory
If you are using Windows authentication, the details are imported from Active Directory. You can edit user permissions in bulk by using Excel. Please note: This is not available if SAM Director is
installed in a hosted environment.
1. Click Administration to view the administration workspace. 2. Click Users in the Administration menu to view the Users page.
3. Click Export User Data. The user details are saved in an Excel spreadsheet in your downloads folder.
4. Open the Excel spreadsheet. Divide the list of users into separate spreadsheets for each approval level. Divide each spreadsheet into separate spreadsheets according to which area of the system the users will be allowed to access.
Defining the Contact Query Types
The Contact Us button in the top menu allows all users in SAM Director to raise a query. These queries can be pre-defined and automatically emailed to the appropriate email address.
1. Click Administration to view the administration workspace.
2. Click Contact Query Types in the Data Settings menu to view the Contact Query Types page.
l Click Add Standard Query Types to add a list of default query types in SAM Director. l Click Add New Query Type to create a new query type.
3. Click Edit to edit a query type. The Edit Contact Query Type page is displayed.
l Type a Contact Email for the Query Type. l Tick Delete to delete the Query Type.
4. Click Update.
THEMANAGEPURCHASINGWORKSPACE
THE MANAGE PURCHASING WORKSPACE
Setting Up the Product Catalog
When users raise a request for software, they are asked to specify the software they require from the product catalog. This allows you to determine the standard software used in your organization. Users can request products which are not in the product catalog and any non-catalog purchases can be tracked.
1. Click Manage Purchasing to view the Manage Purchasing workspace.
2. Click Suggested Products for Catalog in the Product Maintenance menu. This shows a list of all products currently used in your organization which are not in the product catalog.
l Tick the Add to Catalog box against products in the list. l Click Update. The Products are added to your product catalog.
3. Click Products in the Product Maintenance menu. This shows a list of all products currently in your product catalog.
THEMANAGEPURCHASINGWORKSPACE
l Tick Show All Products to include products which are not in the catalog. Use the filters and
search fields to search for products you want to add to the product catalog. Select a product you want to add and tick the On Catalog box to add it to the product catalog. Remember to flag the manufacturer as On Catalog also for the additional products you select on the Products page.
l Click Export to Excel to export the list of products. This allows you to update details in bulk,
such as the Estimated Cost of products. Use the Import Products page to import the edited list and update the details in SAM Director.
4. Click Software Bundles in the Product Maintenance menu. This shows details of any software bundles in the product catalog.
l Click Add New Software Bundle to create a new software bundle for users to select when
they are requesting multiple software items.
Configuring Purchasing
The Manage Purchasing workspace is used to purchase licenses and software for product requests or to meet a shortfall in entitlement. When a product request is received, the purchaser can raise a purchase order and email it to a supplier or mark it as no purchase required. The Purchasing Administration allows you to manage the suppliers, agreements and licenses used when purchasing products.
1. Click Manage Purchasing to view the Manage Purchasing workspace.
2. Click Suppliers in the Product Maintenance menu. This shows a list of all suppliers currently used by your organization.
l Click Add New Supplier to add a new supplier to the list.
l Click Edit against a supplier in the list to edit the details of a supplier. Please note: The Email
will be used to send purchase orders to suppliers from within SAM Director.
3. Click Agreements in the Product Maintenance menu. This shows a list of all agreements used by your organization. The agreements are automatically populated from License Manager.
l Click Add New Agreement to add a new agreement to the list and to the License Manager
database.
l Click Edit against an agreement in the list to edit the details in both SAM Director and
License Manager.
4. Click Licenses in the Product Maintenance menu. This shows a list of Licenses available for selection when completing a purchase order.
l Click Populate from License Records to copy license details from License Manager. l Click Add New License to add a new license or use the Import Licenses page to import
licenses from an Excel spreadsheet.
SUPPORT
Support
Support website:www.licensedashboard.com Telephone: 0845 265 1217
Email:[email protected]
Address: License Dashboard Limited, Blenheim House, York Road, Pocklington, York YO42 1NS
Online resources
l Share your thoughts and views in theLicense Dashboard Forum. Get the latest news,
development schedules and technical details. Share your wish lists and questions, and communicate with other users.
http://www.licensedashboard.com/forums/
l Downloadthe latest patch versions of the software, including the latest dictionary definition
updates. You can log in using your forum username and password. http://www.licensedashboard.com/LatestDownloads/Login.aspx
l Read the latest publishedwhitepaperson SAM and License Dashboard.
