March 3, 2014  

SAP: How to manage user licenses

SAP user licenses are often the most expensive in the IT operation budget, hence using the licenses correctly can mean large savings. The problem is that managing the license structure is complex, so the right expertise is needed.
Therefore I always encouraged my clients, to invest in outside help for the initial setup of the license structure. Once the initial setup is completed, maintaining it is a manageable task.

But how is the user licenses counted in SAP?
Of course it depends on the SAP contact, which can be built on several different license models. Typically I either run into unit contract, where any SAP user has the same price. It is simply a matter of counting the number of SAP users. The other typical license model is a solution where the users’ accesses determine the cost. So if a user only recording time in SAP, has a lower license cost than a hard-core finance SAP user.

So how can I optimize our license usage?
It’s quite easy – if a user has a large number of accesses, an expensive license is needed. So to save on the license cost, optimization on the authorization concept is needed. Often I run into clients where 30% or more of the users’ accesses have not been used for a full year. Unfortunately, that does not mean that it’s possible to cut 30% of license costs. But typically a review of assigned accesses result in around 5 to 10% user license saving.

Below is my quick guide you can use to asses you SAP licenses

  1. Get your hands on the SAP license contact
  2. Read and understand the license model
  3. If you have a unit license model, count the number of SAP users, if your SAP population is below the number of licenses, concentrate on other areas than licenses – no savings are possible
  4. If you are billed on user types, take 50 random users and evaluate if they have accesses assigned that they are not using
  5. If you can save on at least 1 of the 50 users, your business case for the remaining SAP population has already written it self
  6. If you don’t have any SAP license experts – get outside assistance to complete the initial setup
  7. Update SOP for SAP license management
  8. Continuously review and update access (and license) allocation

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About Kenneth Hartvig

In my professional life I have 4 great passions; SAP Security + Identity & Access Management + Business Development + Leadership. I am easily inspired with new ideas for business Development, and I do my best to contribute with my insight on how to make things better for my clients. As a leader a key focus point for me is; involvement - I want to know my employees. I want to involve them in the decision process. I want to create ownership and commitment. To me involvement is the best way of unlocking people's potential to becoming better. On the technical side my relationship with my first great love, SAP, started in 2002. Since then, through participation in various courses, seminars, conferences and of course many exciting projects, I have gained a broad experience in developing, implementing, managing, operating and auditing SAP security solutions. It was also in connection with simplification of SAP access management, I moved into the Identity & Access Management sphere. Since then I have completed several IAM projects with various software solutions, incl. Control SA, TIM, MS FIM and Omada.

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