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Permissions and Roles

Software Asset Management Guide
Introduction

Permissions and Roles

xAssets uses the standard user-groups permission model from the Configuration Guide for SAM as for the rest of the platform. This page is a quick reference for which SAM tasks need which level of access.

What Each Role Can Do

Task Required Access
View the Licensing Position and Licenses queries Standard user with read access to the Licensing menu
Open a license record and view its allocations Standard user with read access
Create or edit a license record Write access on the Asset table for licenses
Create or edit a Software Catalog entry Write access on the Asset table for catalog entries (CategoryID = 143)
Run Calculate Licensing Position Write access plus permission to run transformations
Submit unrecognised software to xAssets Standard user with transformation-run permission
Bulk import licenses (Standard / MLS / Adobe) Write access plus permission to run the import transformation
Create / edit direct assignments via Related Assets Write access on AssetDependency
Edit calculation rules via Calculate → Configure ADMIN rights — see below
Run Create OEM Licenses Permission to run the transformation; results affect the licenses table
Edit the per-product scoping flags on the catalog Write access on the Software Catalog form

ADMIN-Only Tasks

The Configure dialog on Calculate Software Licensing is restricted to ADMIN users. Non-admin users see the message "Only administrators can configure software calculation rules" if they try to open it.

This is deliberate: the calculation rules drive every compliance number in the system. A bad rule edit could affect compliance results across every product, so the ability to edit rules is held to administrators.

To grant a user the ability to edit rules, give that user ADMIN-level rights via the user groups system (see Configuration Guide).

Splitting SAM Across Roles

A common split for mid-sized organisations:

  • SAM Manager — read access to all SAM queries; write access to license records and catalog; can run calculations and imports
  • xAssets Administrator — full ADMIN; can edit calculation rules; runs scheduled jobs
  • Procurement / Finance — read access to license records and reports; no write access
  • IT Service Desk — read access to per-asset Software tab so they can answer "what does this PC have installed"
  • Auditor (external) — read access to the Licensing Position and reports; ideally on a snapshot or read-only environment

For smaller installations, the SAM Manager and xAssets Administrator roles often collapse into one person. That is fine — the separation matters mostly when you want change control on the calculation rules.

Read-Only Mode

xAssets supports a read-only mode for users who should be able to see SAM data without changing anything. See the Configuration Guide. Use this for vendor auditors and compliance reviewers.