SaaS Inventory and Ownership Starter Kit

If you do not have a SaaS inventory, you do not control SaaS spend. You are reacting to it.

This starter kit helps a beginner build a single source of truth for:

what tools you pay for
who owns each tool
how billing works
where contract terms live
when renewals and notice windows happen
how many seats are paid vs used

What you will produce

By the end, you should have:

A SaaS Inventory Table (single spreadsheet or database)
A clear owner map (business plus technical owners)
A renewal feed (so nothing silently renews)
A Top 10 action list (quick wins plus risks)
A lightweight monthly governance cadence

Who should own this

Ideal owners (choose one accountable owner, not a committee):

Procurement Ops (common)
Finance Ops (common)
IT Ops (works well if finance partnership exists)

You will also need contributors:

IT (SSO, access, provisioning)
Finance/AP (billing sources)
Department owners (tool ownership and justification)

Time and effort

Setup: 60–120 minutes to build v1
Then: 30 minutes per week for 2–4 weeks to stabilize coverage

The goal is not perfection. The goal is a working truth system.

Beginner-safe definitions

Inventory: A complete list of what you pay for.
Business owner: The person accountable for why the tool exists and the budget.
Technical owner: The person accountable for configuration, access, SSO, and risk.
Billing source: Corporate card, AP invoice, marketplace, or reseller.
Renewal risk: Anything renewing inside 120 days with unclear terms or no owner.

Step-by-step instructions

Step 1: Pull a raw vendor list (do not overthink)

Start with any two sources. You can add more later.

Recommended sources:

AP/ERP export (vendor, amount, date range)
corporate card statements (merchant names)
SSO or identity provider app list (Okta, Azure AD, Google)
expense reports (tools reimbursed by employees)

If you already have a spend export, use to clean and categorize it.

Step 2: Normalize vendor names (this is more important than it sounds)

Problem: "Slack", "Slack Technologies", "SLACK*BILLING" might be the same thing.

Rules:

pick one canonical vendor name per tool
keep the raw name in a separate column
merge duplicates intentionally

Output: fewer vendors, clearer ownership, fewer missed renewals.

Step 3: Decide what counts as SaaS or subscription (simple rule)

Include:

software subscriptions (per seat, per feature, per usage)
data and content subscriptions that auto-renew
managed SaaS services billed monthly (monitoring, email, security tools)

Exclude for now:

one-time purchases
truly usage-only infra (unless billed as a subscription and renewing)

You can add them later.

Step 4: Capture billing and contract truth

For each vendor or tool, capture:

billing source: card or invoice
billing frequency: monthly or annual
current cost (estimate is fine)
where the contract is stored (or "missing")

If contracts are scattered, use as your cleanup motion.

Step 5: Assign owners (two owners, one accountable)

For each vendor or tool:

Business owner: accountable for value and budget
Technical owner: accountable for access, SSO, provisioning, and risk

If ownership is unclear:

assign a temporary owner (time-bound)
escalate weekly until ownership is real

Ownership is the control point. Without it, nothing else works.

Step 6: Capture seat and usage basics (minimum viable)

You do not need perfect product analytics. Start with:

seats paid (from invoice or admin console)
seats assigned (from admin console)
seats active (if available; else approximate)
last login threshold (if available)

Define "inactive" simply (example):

no login in 60 days OR
no activity in 60 days (if vendor provides it)

Step 7: Convert renewals into an owned calendar

For each tool, capture:

contract start and end date (if known)
renewal terms (auto-renew yes or no)
notice days (if known)
negotiation start date (end date minus 90–120 days)

If you have the data in CSV, use to compute deadlines and buffers.

Step 8: Produce a Top 10 action list (quick wins plus risks)

Sort the inventory by:

highest annual spend
renewals inside 120 days
lowest seat utilization
missing contract terms

Your Top 10 list should include:

vendor
issue
recommended action
owner
due date

Step 9: Install governance (so it does not decay)

Run a 30-minute monthly review with a simple agenda:

new tools added (who approved, who owns)
renewals inside 120 days
seat utilization flags
corporate card SaaS purchases (exceptions)
actions due this month

SaaS Inventory Table template (copy and paste)

Use this as a starting schema. You can store it in a spreadsheet.

Table fields

vendor_name (canonical)
tool_name (if different)
category_level_1
business_owner
technical_owner
billing_source (AP, corporate card, marketplace, reseller)
billing_frequency (monthly, annual)
annualized_cost_estimate
contract_location (link or system name)
contract_end_date
auto_renew (yes/no/unknown)
notice_days (number/unknown)
seats_paid
seats_assigned
seats_active (if available)
utilization_notes
renewal_risk_flag (yes/no)
next_action
next_action_owner
next_action_due_date

CSV starter (example)

Copyable template (CSV)
vendor_name,tool_name,category_level_1,business_owner,technical_owner,billing_source,billing_frequency,annualized_cost_estimate,contract_location,contract_end_date,auto_renew,notice_days,seats_paid,seats_assigned,seats_active,utilization_notes,renewal_risk_flag,next_action,next_action_owner,next_action_due_date
ExampleCo CRM,CRM,Sales Ops,Sales Ops Lead,IT Ops,AP,annual,48000,Contract Repo,2026-09-30,yes,60,120,118,95,20 inactive seats,yes,Seat reclaim sprint,Sales Ops Lead,2026-02-15

Copy-ready request email to owners (beginner-safe)

Copyable template (TEXT)
Subject: SaaS Inventory and Ownership Confirmation (Action Required)

Hi team,

We are building a single SaaS inventory so we can manage renewals, prevent accidental auto-renews, and eliminate unused seats.

Please reply with:
1) Are you the BUSINESS owner for [Tool Name]? If not, who is?
2) What team uses it and for what purpose?
3) Do you know the renewal date and whether it auto-renews?
4) Any known seat or utilization issues (unused seats, wrong tier, duplicates)?

If you do not respond by [DATE], we will assign a temporary owner and follow up.

Thanks,
[Name]

Common pitfalls (avoid these)

trying to perfectly categorize everything before you assign ownership
mixing billing sources without capturing the billing source column
tracking renewals but not tracking notice windows
tracking "seats paid" without ever checking "seats active"