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Standard License Import

Software Asset Management Guide
Importing Licenses

Standard License Import

The standard license import is the general-purpose path for loading licenses from a spreadsheet. It accepts a tab-separated text file with a fixed set of columns and creates one license asset per row. This page covers the file format, the import workflow, and two requirements to know about up front.

Important Points

1. The Data Must Be Tab-Separated

The data is pasted into a dialog box on the import screen, and the import expects tab characters between columns. Two convenient ways to produce that:

  • Copy directly from Excel. When you select cells in Excel and copy them, they land on the clipboard as tab-separated values. Paste straight into the dialog — no file save needed.
  • Paste from a tab-separated text file. If your data is already in a .txt or TSV file, open it and copy-paste the contents.

For loading from CSV files or other formats, use the general-purpose How to Import CSV workflow instead — it builds on a configurable transformation that supports comma-separated input and lets you map columns flexibly.

2. The Software Product Must Match an Existing Catalog Entry

The SoftwareProduct column on each row is matched against the Product Code field on Software Catalog entries. The match is exact against the Product Code (not the description — the two are often the same in practice, but Product Code is authoritative). Casing differences are tolerated.

If a row's SoftwareProduct value does not match an existing Product Code, that row is skipped and reported in the import log. The rest of the file imports normally.

Products are added to the catalog deliberately — silent auto-creation would let every typo become a new product. Other lookups behave differently: Location, Custodian, Cost Centre, Department, and Supplier are auto-created if the value is not found. Only the Software Product needs to exist beforehand. See Preparing the Catalog for the recommended pre-import check.

File Format

The file is tab-separated, with a header row. The columns the import understands:

Column Maps To Notes
Reference AssetRef Your internal license reference
Barcode Barcode Optional
Description AssetDesc Required. The visible name of the license
SoftwareProduct SoftwareCatalogEntry Must match a catalog Product Code exactly
Agreement SoftwareAgreement Optional. Links the license to a parent agreement
Quantity Quantity Number of pack/bundles purchased
Seats LicenseSeats The license capacity in metric units
Amount Amount Purchase cost
DatePurchased DatePurchased License purchase date
LocationName LocationID Auto-created if not found
CustodianName CustodianID Auto-created if not found
CostCentreName CostCentreID Auto-created if not found
DepartmentName DepartmentID Auto-created if not found
SupplierName SupplierID Auto-created if not found
Manufacturer Manufacturer Free text
RegistrationCode SerialNumber Vendor's product key, if known
Upgrade SoftwareLicenseUpgrade 1 if this is an upgrade license, 0 otherwise

Sample File

Reference	Barcode	Description	SoftwareProduct	Agreement	Quantity	Seats	Amount	DatePurchased	LocationName	CustodianName	CostCentreName	DepartmentName	SupplierName	Manufacturer	RegistrationCode	Upgrade
A123	11223344	Standard License for Adobe Acrobat X Professional	Adobe Acrobat X Professional		1	10	100.00	21-Apr-2026	Head Office	Joe Bloggs	Finance	Accounts	Software License Retailer	Microsoft	A123456	0

Save this as a .txt file with tab separators — copying-and-pasting from this page may convert tabs to spaces.

The Workflow

  1. Open Licensing → License Dashboard → Licensing Calculation Steps.
  2. In the Create and Import License Records panel, click Standard Import of Software Licenses.
  3. Paste the file contents into the PASTEDATA parameter (or upload, depending on your version).
  4. Click Run to start the import. The import runs as a batch job — check the batch jobs panel for progress.
  5. Once complete, the new licenses appear in the Licenses query.
  6. Run Calculate Licensing Position to fold them into the compliance position.

The import is idempotent on AssetRef + Description + CategoryID — re-importing the same row updates the existing license rather than creating a duplicate.

What To Build Before You Import

The import depends on your Software Catalog being correct. If you are loading licenses for products that are not yet in the catalog, the rows fail. Before importing:

  1. List the unique product names from your spreadsheet's SoftwareProduct column.
  2. Confirm each one exists in the Software Catalog with the same Product Code.
  3. Add missing entries. See Preparing the Catalog for the recommended approach.

Common Failures

Symptom Cause Fix
All rows fail with "wrong number of fields" File is CSV, not tab-separated Re-save as Tab Delimited Text
Some rows fail with "Software Product not found" SoftwareProduct value does not match a Product Code Either fix the spelling in the spreadsheet or add the catalog entry first
Licenses import but show zero seats in the position LicenseType was not set on the catalog entry Set the License Type on the product before the import (or fix afterward and recalculate)
Licenses import but do not appear under their agreement Agreement column was blank or did not match an existing agreement Create the agreement record first; agreements do not auto-create on import
Imported but compliance numbers unchanged The position has not been recalculated Run Licensing → Calculate Licensing Position

Verifying the Import

After import:

  1. Open Licensing → Licenses. Filter by the manufacturer or supplier from your file. The new records should be visible.
  2. Open one of them. The SoftwareCatalogEntry field should be populated with the matched product.
  3. Run Calculate Licensing Position.
  4. Open Licensing → Licensing Position and find the products from your import. Their Seats column should reflect the imported capacity.

If the seats look right and the outstanding requirement has changed in the direction you expect, the import is good.