SAM Catalog
SAM Catalog gives your organization a centralized, structured catalog of the software applications it owns and uses. It complements Software Asset Management — where SAM records the commercial side (sellers, purchases, and entitlement records), the catalog is the normalized inventory of the applications themselves, so entitlements, usage, and procurement all refer to the same, consistent set of products.
Open the OpenLM Platform app launcher (grid icon, top-right) and select Software Asset Management → SAM Catalog.
Before you start: Activate Software Asset Management in OpenLM Products.
SAM Catalog is a newer capability, available as a trial on the OpenLM Cloud Platform. Availability depends on your plan and account activation.
What the catalog is for
- A single source of product names. A structured list of applications, so the same product is not recorded under several spellings across entitlements, usage, and reports.
- Automatic enrichment. Products that OpenLM observes but cannot match to a catalog entry are enriched automatically, reducing the manual work of keeping the catalog complete and consistent.
- A foundation for Software Asset Management. Entitlement records and reporting reference catalog entries, so cost, compliance, and utilization are attributed to the right application.
The three screens
SAM Catalog opens on Software Catalogs. The navigation menu, under Management, holds three screens:
| Screen | What you do there |
|---|---|
| Software Catalogs | Browse, add, import, and export catalog entries, and share your catalog with OpenLM. |
| Pending Catalogs | Approve or deny entries that are waiting for review. Administrators only. |
| Software Discovery | Run and monitor the AI discovery pipeline that finds new publishers and products. Cloud only. |
Local and global catalogs
Every catalog screen is split into a Local and a Global tab. The two hold the same records, but they have different owners:
| Local | Global | |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | Your organization | OpenLM |
| Who sees it | Only your organization | Every organization using OpenLM Platform |
| Who edits it | Your administrators | OpenLM, through the global approval queue |
| Typical source | Your license servers and workstations, plus your own manual entries and imports | OpenLM's discovery pipeline, plus catalogs that organizations choose to share |
When a product matches both a local and a global entry, the local entry wins, so your own naming stays authoritative.
What a catalog entry holds
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Software Name | The product name as it should appear in the catalog. |
| Publisher | The vendor that publishes the software. |
| Feature | The license feature or product code used for matching and identification. It is the entry's identifying key. |
| Deployment Type | Where the software runs: OnPremise, Cloud, or Hybrid. Entries whose deployment type was never set show as Unknown. |
| Part of a Package | Whether the entry belongs to a larger suite or bundle. |
| Category | One or more classifications, used for filtering and reporting. |
An entry can also carry a Version, and the process names and DLL file names that help match installed software to it. Those extra fields are set through bulk import, not through the add form.
How entries reach the catalog
An entry can arrive in four ways:
- Manually, with Add Catalog on the Software Catalogs screen.
- By import, from a CSV, TSV, or XLSX file.
- From OpenLM's monitoring data. Other OpenLM services ask the catalog to match each product name they observe on a license server or workstation. Products with no match are sent back to SAM Catalog for enrichment, and the ones that enrich successfully are added to the global catalog.
- From the discovery pipeline, which researches publishers and their products and adds them to the global catalog. See Software Discovery.
The approval lifecycle
Entries your organization creates do not go straight into the working catalog — not even ones an administrator types in by hand. They move through three states:
- Unapproved — waiting on the Pending Catalogs screen.
- Approved — listed on the Software Catalogs screen and used for matching.
- Rejected — kept out of the working catalog, but retained so the same proposal is not raised again from scratch.
An entry you add by hand or import from a file starts as Unapproved and appears on Pending Catalogs, not on Software Catalogs. It joins the working catalog only after an administrator approves it. Editing an approved entry sends it back for approval as well.
Entries that OpenLM produces centrally are the exception: what the discovery pipeline enriches successfully is written to the global catalog and approved automatically.
Local and global entries are approved separately: an administrator in your organization reviews the Local queue, and OpenLM reviews the Global queue. Every create, update, approval, and rejection is recorded in the entry's audit trail, together with who performed it and when.
Who can do what
| Role | Software Catalogs | Pending Catalogs | Software Discovery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrator | Full access | Full access | Full access (cloud only) |
| Viewer | Can browse, search, and export | No access | Can browse |
| Neither role | The app shows a "not enough permissions" page |
Changing the catalog — creating, editing, importing, approving, and rejecting entries — is an administrator action. A viewer may still see some of those buttons, but the operation is refused.
How it relates to Software Asset Management
| Area | Where it lives |
|---|---|
| The catalog of applications (this page) | SAM Catalog |
| Sellers, purchases, and entitlement records | Software Asset Management |
| Activating either capability | OpenLM Products |
Related
- Software Catalogs — browse, add, import, export, and share catalog entries.
- Pending Catalogs — approve or deny entries awaiting review.
- Software Discovery — the AI discovery pipeline.
- Software Asset Management — sellers, purchases, and entitlement records.
- OpenLM Products — activate Software Asset Management for your account.