Modules > Workflow Automation > Request Catalog > Integrating Managed Software List (MSL) Items

The Request Catalog is designed to be general in nature, allowing practically any type of item to be added to the catalog and subsequently requested via the general request portal. Therefore, software is a category of item that can be added to the Request Catalog.

As such, there may be instances where the item being added to the catalog happens to be an MSL title, and as such you would like the general request portal to perform some of the same functions as the more specialized Software Request Portal. For instance, automatically setting up authorizations for approved MSL items. The general request portal will do just that.

When you mark a Request Catalog item as being linked to a MSL title, the behavior of the general request portal changes for that item in the following ways:

1. Items linked to an MSL title will use the MSL's pricing as well as the MSL's setting for whether or not the title requires approval.

2. The cost of all MSL items in the request will be subtracted from the total request amount before a debit record is created for the request. MSL items will be debited separately as each is authorized (as is normal behavior with the software request portal).

3. When using the general request portal, any cost adjustments based on questionnaires as well as the non-recurring cost element will be added to the MSL cost, the same way those items would be added to the base cost of a non-MSL Request Catalog item. This allows more flexibility in working up pricing.

4. When a general request contains one or more MSL-linked items, a record of the overall request will be tracked in the request orders table and a separate record will be created and tracked in the software orders table (as if the software request portal had been used to create the portion of the order that handles MSL titles)

NOTE: The general request portal does not implement all of the functions of the more specialized software request portal. Namely, the general request portal does not implement the following:

1. Upgrade license types

2. Requesting optional or forced optional or enterprise entitlements

3. Exercising entitlements

NOTE: The MIE checks for existing authorizations before creating new authorizations for MSL titles. If an authorization exists, then no new authorization will be created and only the License Units Required (LUR) column will be updated to reflect the quantity being ordered through the general request portal. The MIE will only log a debit record for the difference between the quantity ordered and the current value stored in the LUR column. For example, if an existing authorization record has an LUR value of 1, and 4 units were requested through the general request portal, a debit record for 3 units will be created by the MIE for that request. Therefore, the actual amount charged after authorizations have been handled may differ from what was originally shown in the general request order review page.