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Direct Assignment

Software Asset Management Guide
Allocation

Direct Assignment

Direct assignment lets you allocate a specific license to a set of computers, overriding the engine's affinity-based choice. This page covers the workflow with screenshots and the tips for making it operationally sustainable.

When to Use Direct Assignment

The conceptual page Concepts: Direct Assignment covers when this is the right tool. In short:

  • A specific machine must be covered by a specific license (contractual, audit-driven)
  • VIP allocations — guaranteeing a particular user gets a particular pool
  • Test or dev environments with dedicated licenses
  • Forcing the engine's hand on a particular case where affinity is not picking what you want

It is not the right tool when the same preference applies to many machines — that should be expressed in affinity rules instead. See Customizing the Calculation.

Workflow: Assign Computers to a License

Step 1: Find the Computers to Assign

  1. Navigate to Licensing → Licenses and open the license:

License selected

  1. From the License Allocations menu, choose one of:
    • List Computers that the Selected License is Allocated to — shows current allocations
    • List Qualifying Unallocated Computers for the Selected License — shows machines that could be assigned

Listing computers

  1. Select the computers you want (Shift+Click or Ctrl+Click for multi-select).
  2. Choose Query → Copy — a confirmation dialog appears.

Step 2: Paste as Children of the License

  1. Open the license asset.
  2. Navigate to Relationships → Related Assets tab.

Related Assets tab

  1. Choose Paste Children....

Paste dialog

  1. In the dialog, select Has priority License allocation for as the Dependency Type. (This is the dependency type the engine recognizes for direct assignments.)
  2. Click OK.

Step 3: Verify

The assigned computers appear in the Related Assets tab:

Verification view

Click OK to close the asset. The license register now shows the updated Assigned count:

Updated assigned count

Step 4: Recalculate

Run Licensing → Calculate Licensing Position to make the direct assignments take effect. The engine processes them first, before affinity-based allocation.

Reading the Result

After the recalculation:

  • Direct-assigned machines have grants from the assigned license
  • The license shows its allocated count reflecting the direct assignments plus any affinity-based allocations within remaining capacity
  • The Licensing Position for the product reflects the combined direct + auto allocations

Removing a Direct Assignment

To unassign:

  1. Open the license.
  2. Go to Relationships → Related Assets.
  3. Remove the asset from the list.
  4. Recalculate.

The next calculation drops the explicit grant and opens the consumption back up to affinity-based allocation.

Tips

  • Start with critical or audited products. Microsoft, Adobe, and Oracle products are common direct-assignment targets because of audit risk.
  • Document why. A direct assignment with no documented reason is hard to justify in 18 months when no one remembers why it was set. Use the license's Notes field or an attached document.
  • Review periodically. Direct assignments to disposed assets waste capacity. Quarterly cleanup keeps the assignment list accurate. See Reallocating After Disposal.
  • Check the Qualifying Unallocated query first. It surfaces the machines that have the product installed but lack any allocation — a good source for which machines to direct-assign.