Cleanup in SKU Content library

[RamyaJagadeesh]

With Flexera-IBM partnership, we’ve initiated a SKU validation process where IBM SKUs and their attributes are being substantiated against IBM vendor literature. 

IBM SKUs that are duplicate and/or redundant have been cleaned up from SKU library. There are few sets of SKUs identified and deleted from the library and its authentic SKU is being retained with correct attributes.

This deletion has been thoroughly tested internally and appropriate steps have been taken to make sure that it doesn't negatively impact any existing licenses.
If a SKU has been used to create a Purchase Order (PO) or license and if the same SKU is being deleted, then its original or fallback SKU will be replaced in the existing license. Hence, the license configurations will not be modified.

SKU deletions will not trigger Recommended License Changes (RLC) however license definition changes like fallback SKU mapping to use rights template may generate RLCs.

Non-IBM publishers SKU cleanup:

We have noticed that customer databases retain old obsolete SKUs which have been deleted from SKU Content library. So, previously deleted SKUs from other publishers will be removed from customer databases now. This will ensure more reliable SKU recognition.
This activity has been tested and we expect no impact on licenses, however, there may be few RLCs generated as the SKUs will now be updated to its latest and correct license use rights.

Moving forward all SKUs in customer databases will be aligned with SKU library i.e, PURL.cab.

This SKU cleanup will be published as part of September’s SKU/PURL/Bundles release scheduled 23^rd September 2022 for on-premises customers and 26^th September 2022 for cloud customers.

In case of any queries, please raise a case with our Support team.

[Frank07]

Hello RamyaJagadeesh,

You are mentioning:

"This deletion has been thoroughly tested internally and appropriate steps have been taken to make sure that it doesn't negatively impact any existing licenses.
If a SKU has been used to create a Purchase Order (PO) or license and if the same SKU is being deleted, then its original or fallback SKU will be replaced in the existing license. Hence, the license configurations will not be modified."

If the SKU has been changed its content in the ARL i.e. an application has been added to it. This will not reflect in the excisting license configurations on our systems where license is created based on the PO ?

If not, does this mean the way to handle is to put license on retired and create a new one based on the changed SKU or create a new one and then check the differences and adjust the license?

Regards, Frank007

[Povilas]

Hi,

is the list of deleted/updated SKUs available for download? Would be good to crosscheck if the update really didn't have any effect on license configuration. Thanks.

[schandpasha]

Hi @Frank07 ,

If the license is created through PO/SKU and there is change in application mapping for that SKU, then it will give an RLC suggesting to add that application to license which can be accepted and the license would get updated.

Regards, Shabina

[Frank07]

Hello Shabina,

Thank you for the update.

I'm sorry but I don't know the abbreviation "RLC".

Where and when will the suggestion come up the change an exising license ? Do I need to trigger something bij my self

Regards, Frank07

[dmathias]

@Frank07 RLC = Recommended License Changes module

Thanks,

David

NTT DATA Services

[goody612]

Is it expected that based on this SKU review there will be modifications to the ARL?  We are working on comparing what we see within FNM with that of Big Fix and seem to be a lot of discrepancies with the evidence.  Just curious if this will possibly address some of these discrepancies.

[Big_Kev]

Hello @RamyaJagadeesh  and SKU team

May I please ask a simple scenario regarding this IBM SKU clean up, For instance, an old/deprecated IBM SKU AAA was cleaned up, and ideally have the newer/correct SKU BBB in the SKU library. 

What does the product present if the customer put 'AAA' in the Purchase Order Partner No field during PO creation?  will FNMS return information from BBB or it returns 'not recognized' SKU outcome?  

IBM has their commercial reason to retire old SKU which make sense, but Flexera SKU library provides a wiki/data look up service to help customer understand what it is/was .... thoughts? 

BTW, The customer may send a new content submission when they see 'AAA" is not recognized 🙂 , thoughts? May be it worth providing a Deleted SKU list so that at least to avoid the re-content submission ?

Your feedback will be welcomed.

Cheers

Kevin  

[sohbinong]

Totally agree with some of the comments and questions above.

1. Definitely will be helpful if we can have a list of Deleted/and Updated SKUs available for download, and comparison - Pretty much like when the ARL was cleaned up to match the Technopedia definitions a while back. 

< Quote>

IBM has their commercial reason to retire old SKU which make sense, but Flexera SKU library provides a wiki/data look up service to help customer understand what it is/was

< Quote> 

2. Some of the license configurations might have historical reasons to follow the previous SKU definitions back then. How do we handle those scenarios then? 

[schandpasha]

Hi All,

The cleanup is mainly focused on removal of SKUs that were never released by IBM. Ex: If valid sku released by IBM looks like IBMSKU1, the library had skus like IBMSKU1-A, IBMSKU1-ABC etc. Similar SKU with additional strings. Upon validation with IBM catalog and IBM folks, we decided to remove them.

So, to answer your question of removing retired skus, they are not removed through this activity and not in future as well.

Below are the scenarios that we have tested on how FNMS shows after the deletion of SKUs

1. PO created using IBMSKU, FNMS UI will refer to IBMSKU%
2. PO created using IBMSKU%, FNMS UI will refer to IBMSKU%
3. PO created using IBMSKU-ABC, FNMS UI will refer to IBMSKU-ABC
4. PO created using IBMSKU-ABC%, FNMS UI will refer to IBMSKU-ABC%
5. PO created using IBMSKU-ABC and SKU is deleted, FNMS UI will refer to IBMSKU%
6. PO created using IBMSKU-ABC% and SKU is deleted, FNMS UI will refer to IBMSKU%

Thanks,

Shabina

[schandpasha]

Hi @goody612 ,

This activity does not impact or have any modifications in ARL. Please raise a case with support team for the discrepancies with evidence.

Regards, Shabina

[Big_Kev]

Hello @schandpasha 

Thank you for your explanation and illustrations here. It make sense now the deletion is on the 'incorrect' SKU.

All good.

Cheers

Kevin