Per-Product Configuration
A Software Catalog entry has several configuration fields beyond the name and license type. This page covers what each one does and when to set it.
License Type
The most important field. Determines the metric used for both consumption counting and license capacity. See Creating a Catalog Entry and Concepts: License Metrics.
If the License Type is not set, the engine cannot meter consumption for this product, and the licensing position will be wrong (typically zero seats and zero allocations). The License Dashboard → Licensing Calculation Steps tab calls this out via the Software Products missing LicenseType check.
Downgrade Rule
Controls whether licenses for this product can cover older versions of the product. Three options:
| Rule | What Licenses for This Product Can Cover |
|---|---|
| None | Only this exact product |
| One | This product and the immediately previous version |
| Any | This product and all earlier versions |
The downgrade rule on the catalog entry is the default for new licenses. Individual licenses can override the rule. See Concepts: Downgrade Rules for engine behavior.
Software Manufacturer
The publisher (Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle). Used for grouping in reports and dashboards. Not critical to engine behavior but important for usability — the Licensing Position groups by manufacturer in the default view.
Software Product Family
A grouping field that lets you cluster related products (e.g., "Microsoft 365" might include Apps for Business, E3, E5). Useful for rolling up reports across editions of the same family.
Not engine-significant — the engine works at the product level. Family is purely a reporting attribute.
Software License Group
Lets you tag the product as part of a license pool. Combined with the Create License Group menu actions, allows allocation grouping that the standard affinity rules respect. Advanced; most installations do not need it.
Default Allocation Rule
Sets the per-product policy for which dimensions the engine must enforce when allocating licenses for this product. Every license created against this catalog entry inherits the default; individual licenses can override it where they need to differ.
| Option | What the Engine Enforces for Licenses of This Product |
|---|---|
| Use Default Rules | No per-product policy — each license decides for itself (or falls back to the engine's standard Location requirement) |
| Allocate by Department | Consumption's department must match the license's department |
| Allocate by Location | Consumption's location must match (within the license's location) |
| Allocate by Cost Centre | Consumption's cost centre must match |
| Allocate by Department + Location | Both must match |
| Allocate by Department + Cost Centre | Both must match |
| Allocate by Location + Cost Centre | Both must match |
| Allocate by Department + Location + Cost Centre | All three must match |
Typical use cases:
- Per-publisher policy. Adobe and some Oracle products are licensed per organisational unit. Set Default Allocation Rule to Allocate by Department on those catalog entries; all their licenses then enforce the policy automatically.
- Cost-centre charge-backs. When a product's licensing costs are tracked per cost centre and must not bleed across, set the default to Allocate by Cost Centre.
- Regional purchasing. When licensing is purchased and used regionally and you don't want a London license covering a Frankfurt asset, set the default to Allocate by Location.
For the full mechanics — including how to override at the per-license level and how the dropdown maps to engine behaviour — see Customizing the Calculation: Per-Product Scoping.
Software Type
A free-text classification (e.g., "Productivity", "Development Tool", "Database"). Used for filtering and grouping in reports. Set however suits your reporting taxonomy.
Status
Catalog entries can be active or out of service. Out-of-service entries are excluded from the licensing position calculation. Use this when retiring a product from your environment — keep the entry for historical reference but stop calculating against it.
Notes Field
Free text. Use for any context that does not fit elsewhere — contractual quirks, vendor contact, internal product owner.
Setting Defaults at Catalog Level
Several fields have a "default for new licenses" semantic:
| Catalog Field | Inherited By |
|---|---|
| License Type | New license records for this product |
| Downgrade Rule | New license records for this product |
| Software Manufacturer | New license records (informational) |
| Default Allocation Rule | All licenses for this product (overridable per-license) |
Setting these on the catalog entry once means subsequent license records do not need each field configured individually. License records can override the catalog default if needed.