Import financial transactions

---
title: Import financial transactions
description: Import a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet of financial transaction data in the Software Asset Workspace to start managing software spending.
locale: en-us
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/it-asset-management/software-asset-management/import-spend-transactions.html
release: australia
product: Software Asset Management
classification: software-asset-management
topic_type: task
last_updated: "2026-03-12"
reading_time_minutes: 3
keywords: [software spend detection, software asset management software spend detection, import financial transaction, SAM - Label Spend Transactions, License operations]
breadcrumb: [Software Spend Detection, Software Asset Management, IT Asset Management, Asset Management]
---

# Import financial transactions

Import a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet of financial transaction data in the Software Asset Workspace to start managing software spending.

## Before you begin

Have your financial transaction data ready, including vendor name, transaction description, amount, and GL account for each transaction.

**Note:** To use the AI pipeline for classifying imported transactions, install the ServiceNow Otto for Software Asset Management \(SAM\) store app. Without this store app, transactions are processed by the machine learning pipeline. For details, see [AI-powered software spend detection](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-asset-management/software-asset-management/spend-detection-ai-enhancements.md).

Role required: sam\_user

## About this task

Import financial transactions to gain visibility into software spending across your organization. After the import, the **SAM - Label Spend Transactions** scheduled job classifies each transaction as software or non-software and links software transactions to publisher and product records in your Content Library. Use the classified data to track software spending, identify unmanaged purchases, and improve license position accuracy.

## Procedure

1.  Go to **Software Asset Workspace** > **License operations** > **Software spend detection** > **Transaction imports**.

2.  Select **New**.

3.  On the **Create New Software spend transaction import** form, enter a name for the import in the **Name** field.

4.  Select **Download template**.

    The template downloads as a Microsoft Excel \(.xlsx\) file.

5.  Open the downloaded template and populate it with your financial transaction data.

    Include a value in each required column. For accurate classification results, include a GL \(General Ledger\) account for every transaction.

6.  Return to the **Create New Software spend transaction import** form and select **Attach file** to upload the completed template.

7.  Select **Import**.

    The import runs and the status updates based on the outcome, such as **Completed**, **Completed with Errors**, or **Error**.

    The **SAM - Label Spend Transactions** scheduled job runs in the background, using the vendor name, description, and GL account to classify each transaction as a software or non-software purchase. For details, see [AI-powered software spend detection](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-asset-management/software-asset-management/spend-detection-ai-enhancements.md).


## What to do next

After the import completes, review the results and manage your transactions. To see the row counts for every import, navigate to **Software Asset Workspace** > **License operations** > **Software spend detection** > **Transaction imports**. The list view shows the total rows processed, skipped, ignored, and errored for every import. To review the transactions or errors created by a specific import, open the import record from the Transaction imports list. For details on the tabs available on an import record, see [Managing software spend in the Software Asset Workspace](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-asset-management/software-asset-management/spend-detection-sam-workspace.md).

To review individual transaction records across all imports, navigate to **Software Asset Workspace** > **License operations** > **Software spend detection** > **All transactions**. The list view shows every transaction record along with its assigned values.

**Parent Topic:**[Software Spend Detection](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-asset-management/software-asset-management/software-spend-detection.md)

**Related topics**  


[Classify and normalize software spend transactions by using ServiceNow Otto for Software Asset Management \(SAM\)](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-asset-management/software-asset-management/classify-normalize-software-spend-transactions.md)

[Managing software spend in the Software Asset Workspace](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-asset-management/software-asset-management/spend-detection-sam-workspace.md)

[Create a spend transaction manually](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-asset-management/software-asset-management/manually-update-transactions.md)