Software Identification Tags and Tracking Licensed Software
This article provides basic information about software identification (SWID) tags and explains how to create and view a licensed software record based on SWID tags in Jamf Pro.
Licensed Software allows you to store and track licenses for the software in your environment so you can easily access license and purchasing information and monitor compliance. For each software product that you want to track licenses for, you must create a licensed software record in Jamf Pro. However, creating a licensed software record based only on application name and version number can cause inaccurate license counts in certain scenarios.
This potential issue is addressed through the use of software tagging. Software tagging is the process of companies including a software identification (SWID) tag with each installation of their software. Each software company has their own unique registration identifier (reg ID) that matches the SWID tag. The SWID tag is an XML file that contains information about the identification, license, and management of an individual piece of software. Therefore, if a computer has a suite of applications it could potentially have multiple SWID tags.
Installation type (standard versus subscription-based)
Installation status (stand-alone versus part of a suite)
Installation status based on suite (standard versus extended)
Installation serialization status (trial, serialized, etc.)
The international standard for SWID tags is ISO/IEC 19770-2:2009.
Creating a Licensed Software Record Based on SWID Tags
To create and view a licensed software record based on SWID tags, the software you want to track must have a SWID tag associated with it and the SWID tag must be in Jamf Pro.
Jamf Pro collects SWID tags from a computer each time the computer submits inventory. SWID tags are not listed in the computer's inventory information in Jamf Pro, but they are stored in the Jamf Pro database for use with Licensed Software.
Additional Information
For more information about tracking licensed software with Jamf Pro, see Licensed Software Records in the Jamf Pro Documentation.