This system map is part of the license reclamation exceptions guide. It shows where each record lives, the key that carries it to the next system, who owns it, and what one fully joined case looks like.
Where each record lives
| System | Records it holds | Typical owner | What it cannot show alone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asset manager | License assignments, reclamation rules, removal candidates and statuses | Head of IT asset management | Why a candidate was kept or removed |
| Identity system | Accounts, registered devices, sign-in activity fields, audit logs | Identity team | Whether anyone looked at the signals |
| Service desk | Objections, evidence notes, exception approvals, change records | Service desk manager and business approvers | What the rule saw when it fired |
| Procurement or finance files | True-up worksheets, contract counts | Procurement lead | Which counted licenses were exceptions |
The asset manager's candidate table is the spine. ServiceNow, for example, documents a scheduled job that creates software removal candidates when a reclamation rule's conditions, such as its last-used filter, are met, and stores them in a candidates table. Every explanation of a candidate sits in another system.
ServiceNowThe four linking keys, one by one
| Join | Linking key | Asset manager side | Other system side | Owner | What is often missing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account to device | User principal name | Assigned user on the install or subscription | Account and registered device in the identity system | Identity team | Shared accounts not tagged as shared |
| Candidate to ticket | Candidate number | Candidate record | Candidate number quoted in the ticket | Service desk manager | Objections raised by chat or email, never ticketed |
| Ticket to evidence | Ticket number | Candidate closed with a ticket reference | Sign-in values pasted or attached in the ticket | IT asset analyst | Screenshots instead of values; raw logs expired |
| Decision to true-up | Exception reference | Candidate status and closed date | True-up worksheet line | Procurement lead | Worksheet built from a fresh export with no exception reference |
The third join is the fragile one. Microsoft documents that Entra audit and sign-in logs are kept for seven days on the Free tier and 30 days on P1 and P2 unless routed to storage or Log Analytics. Whatever signal justified a decision last year therefore tends to survive only where someone typed it into the ticket.
One fully joined case (Illustrative)
Invented for this page. The same fictional 540-person veterinary hospital group as the worked case, but a different exception: a diagnostic imaging viewer licensed to a surgery-suite kiosk account that staff open only during procedures. The table shows only the keys.
| Order | System | Record | Key carried forward |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Identity system | Kiosk account surgery-k2, registered to the surgery-suite cart | User principal name |
| 2 | Asset manager | Imaging viewer license assigned to surgery-k2 | User principal name |
| 3 | Asset manager | Removal candidate RC-5521: viewer unused for 120 days by the rule's measure | RC-5521 |
| 4 | Service desk | Ticket INC-30418: head veterinary surgeon objects, quotes RC-5521 | INC-30418 |
| 5 | Service desk | Kiosk sign-in values and the procedure calendar summary added to INC-30418 | INC-30418 |
| 6 | Service desk and asset manager | Exception EX-112 approved; RC-5521 closed as rejected with INC-30418 | EX-112 |
| 7 | Service desk | Change CHG-0907 tags kiosk accounts and exempts them, cites INC-30418 | CHG-0907 |
| 8 | Procurement file | True-up line counts the license as in use, notes EX-112 | EX-112 |
Remove the candidate number from the ticket in row 4, or the exception reference from the worksheet in row 8, and the case falls apart into a ticket nobody can match and a count nobody can explain.
Chronology is the second join
Keys prove which records belong together; timestamps prove the order. A reviewer needs the candidate date, the objection date, the evidence date and the decision date in sequence, in one time zone, to show the evidence was checked before the decision rather than found afterward. Ask whether the service desk and asset manager store times in the same zone, and whether closed candidates keep their creation date after purge settings run.
Test the map with the asset team, at metadata level
Take the map to the head of IT asset management. Each question is about a field, never a record.
- Are kiosk and shared device accounts tagged as such in the identity system or the asset manager?
- Do tickets quote candidate numbers, and since when?
- Are sign-in values pasted as text, attached as screenshots, or only described?
- How long do closed candidates stay in the candidate table?
- Do true-up worksheets carry an exception reference for kept licenses?
Write the answers into the workflow map template. ITSM ticket history explains why the service desk is usually where the reasoning survives, and license accounting data for AI training covers the counting side. Retention rules that may cut a join short are listed in the Microsoft 365 retention policy checklist.
Microsoft 365Qualification and what stays unknown
The company needs 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), a documented operating history, rights to license the records and an authorized contact. Companies in the U.S., Canada and the EU qualify, as do companies in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, South Africa, Latin America, the UAE and Saudi Arabia when at least 90% of the data is in English. Partners sign the Channel Partner Agreement before submitting introductions.
These records describe employees and their devices, so the person who can approve a licensing discussion is usually not the person who runs the tools; the who can license decision tree sorts that out. Unknown until SourceX reviews it: the privacy and vendor-terms position, de-identification needs, buyer interest and any price.
Next step
Refer a company. Earn up to $100,000. Default reward: 25% of Actual Supplier Payout, capped at $100,000 cumulatively per referred company. Eligibility and payment conditions apply, and a signed Schedule A or addendum can differ. A lead, meeting or signature alone does not trigger payment.
If a client's tickets quote candidate numbers and its true-up worksheets carry exception references, register as a partner, confirm the company against who qualifies and read the program terms before you introduce its head of IT asset management.