Integrating with Zendesk
Integrating your Software Asset Management application with the Zendesk application enables you to track your software subscriptions and to reclaim unused licenses.
Important: Minimize security risks and protect information by granting access only to the necessary user or API permissions.
| Process | Required user role in the Zendesk application | Authentication scopes |
|---|---|---|
| Download subscriptions | Light Agent | None |
| Pull user activity | Light Agent | None |
| Reclaim subscription | admin | None |
Create a Zendesk OAuth client
Create an OAuth client for authenticating Zendesk API requests.
Before you begin
Zendesk Role required: admin
Procedure
From a web browser, open Zendesk.
Log in using your admin credentials.
On the left navigation menu of the Zendesk Agent Workspace, select the Admin icon (
Admin icon.\).
Go to the Admin Center from the Admin page and from the Admin menu, navigate to Apps and Integrations > API.
The Zendesk API page opens.
Select the OAuth Clients tab and then select Add OAuth client.
On the form, fill in the fields.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Client name | Name of the OAuth client. |
| Description | Brief description of the OAuth client. |
| Company | Name of the company whose data the OAuth client grants access to through the Zendesk API. The company name is displayed during authentication of your Zendesk API requests.This field populates automatically based on the company that your Zendesk account is associated with. However, you can modify the company name as needed. |
| Logo | Logo that is displayed during authentication of your Zendesk API requests. Select the green square to locate and select the logo that you want to display. |
| Unique identifier | Unique identifier for the OAuth client. This field populates automatically based on the OAuth client name that you specified in the Client name field. However, you can modify the unique identifier as needed.Note: The unique identifier is used only in the Zendesk code. |
| Client kind | This field must be set to Confidential. Confidential authentication clients run on secure servers, where their credentials can be kept safe. |
| Redirect URLs | URL of the OAuth provider that users are redirected to after authentication. Enter `https://*instance*.service-now.com/oauth_redirect.do`, where <*instance*> is the name of your ServiceNow instance. |
Select Save.
On the dialog box, select OK.
The dialog box closes and the form reloads.
Copy the value from the Secret field.
Save the Secret value in a secure location for later use.
Create a Zendesk integration profile
Create a Zendesk integration profile to track software subscriptions and optimize licensing for your Zendesk applications.
Before you begin
To create a Zendesk integration profile, request the Software Asset Management - SaaS License Management plugin (sn_sam_saas_int) from the ServiceNow Store.
ServiceNow Role required: sam_integrator
Important: You must select the Zendesk Spoke check box for this integration while installing optional features on the Application Manager page. For more information about choosing the required SaaS applications, see Request SaaS License Management.
About this task
If you’re using Software Asset Workspace, the option to create the Zendesk integration profile in Core UI is inactive.
Procedure
- Navigate to the integration profile.
| Interface | Action |
|---|---|
| Core UI |
|
| Software Asset Workspace |
|
- On the form, fill in the fields.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Display Name | Name of the integration profile. For example, `Zendesk Integration`. |
| Status | Status of the integration profile.- If you have not published the integration profile, this field is automatically set to Draft. - If you have already published the integration profile, this field is automatically set to Published. |
| Profile Type | Type of integration profile. This field is automatically set to Zendesk Subscription. |
Review the required user roles or API permissions specified in the Vendor configuration field for each process to minimize security risks and optimize SaaS licenses.
Note: For more information, see Minimal user permissions table.
In the Download Subscription Subflow section, verify that the Subflow field is set to Zendesk Download Subscriptions.
Note: The Download subscriptions check box is selected by default and you can't clear it.
In the Reclaim Subscription Subflow section, verify that the Subflow field is set to Zendesk Reclaim Subscription.
Note: The Reclaim subscriptions check box is selected by default. If you don't want to reclaim subscriptions, you can clear this check box. If you clear it, the removal candidates are created but the reclaim subscription subflow isn't triggered or the reclamation process isn't initiated.
Select Save.
Your ServiceNow instance creates a draft integration profile.
The Connection & Credential field appears and is automatically set to sn_zendesk_spoke.Zendesk.
Open the connection & credential aliases record by selecting the preview icon
No alternative text supplied
next to the Connection & Credential field and then selecting Open Record in the record preview.
On the Connection & Credential Aliases form, select the Create New Connection & Credential related link.
In the Create Connection and Credential dialog box, fill in the fields.
| Field | Description | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connection Information | |||||||||
| Connection Name | Name of the Zendesk connection. This field populates automatically. | ||||||||
| Connection URL | URL for the connection. Enter `https://| Credential Information | OAuth Client ID | Unique identifier for your Zendesk OAuth client. Enter the same unique identifier that you specified in Create a Zendesk OAuth client. | OAuth Client Secret | Secret that is assigned to your Zendesk OAuth client. Enter the same secret that you copied in Create a Zendesk OAuth client. | OAuth Redirect URL | URL of the OAuth provider that users are redirected to after authentication. This field populates automatically based on the redirect URL that you specified in Create a Zendesk OAuth client. |
What to do nextAfter the integration connects, your ServiceNow instance automatically creates software models, reclamation rules, and software subscriptions that are refreshed daily. After creating an integration profile, view information about the profile in the Software Asset Workspace by navigating to License operations > User subscription > Direct integration profiles. You can select an integration profile to view the following related lists. If all of the following related lists aren't visible for an integration profile in the default view, you can select the custom integration view from the Details tab:
After creating an integration profile, you can define subscription exclusion rules to keep certain subscriptions from license cost calculations. For more information, see Subscription exclusions for SaaS and SSO applications. If you want to set up multiple integration profiles with unique connections, create child aliases to manage different configurations and settings for each integration profile. For more information, see Create a child alias to set up multiple integration profiles. Review all automatically generated reclamation rules to reclaim user subscriptions. For more information, see Review a software reclamation rule. Create software entitlements for the automatically generated software models to track used software against owned software.
Reconciliation also runs on your subscriptions as a scheduled job or on-demand. You can view your reconciliation results in the License Workbench (Software Asset Management classic application) or the License usage view (Software Asset Workspace). Use these results to determine your license compliance position and to remediate any non-compliance.
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