The background: The new world of SAP licensing
The way that SAP is licensed is changing substantially. As we covered here, SAP’s new Full Use Equivalent (FUE) license structure is based around roles and authorizations provisioning, not actual usage as it has been. In this model, existing users are converted to use types, which are weighted and totaled up to “Full Use Equivalents” or FUEs.
While FUEs are non-negotiable, don't worry; the change may be good news for your business. The new SAP licensing model brings welcome clarity and objectivity to what was previously a complex system. Across the four total use types that comprise the FUE structure, many functions have been pushed into lower-cost user groups, offering potential license fee savings for organizations that ensure their roles and authorizations are fit for purpose.
But now is the time to get your roles and authorizations right. SAP is using S/4HANA and RISE cloud migration opportunities to move organizations to the new licensing structure. Businesses in planning or early stages of transformation projects therefore have an immediate opportunity to right-size their roles and authorizations, save on licensing fees, and establish a target security model in the process. With RISE in particular, SAP has real-time visibility of your license position, reducing room for negotiation after the fact.
At Turnkey, we've walked this journey with numerous clients, seeing firsthand how the right approach to SAP licensing can deliver tremendous value, especially in the context of S/4HANA and RISE cloud migrations. In this blog, we'll share a recent client success story that shows exactly what's possible when you right-size your roles and authorizations and approach the SAP licensing shift strategically.
The challenge: Untangling years of access build-up
Having run SAP for many years, our client found that roles had become misaligned with business processes over time. As a result, access levels slowly crept up more than they necessarily needed to. Indeed, the initial S/4HANA Trusted Authorization Review (STAR), which provides the ability to simulate future S/4HANA RISE licensing requirements, indicated a total of 1300 FUEs—a number that had our client falling off their chairs.
There are several reasons why this happened for the client, all of which are commonplace in many organizations using SAP:
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Incremental drift: Poor role maintenance over time, without any precision around the access people need compared to what they request.
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Lack of governance: No designated role owners to keep track of who has access to what and to be accountable for access control over time.
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Organizational challenges: People moving between different teams and departments leading to a blurring of lines between different roles and access levels.
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Impact of old vs new licenses: The lack of negotiation opportunities under the new system has brought roles and authorizations suddenly into the spotlight.
The solution: Our four-step fix
The best way to optimize the client’s SAP licensing position was to assess their current roles and authorizations and remediate overprovisioned access accordingly. To do that, our SAP experts worked closely with their team following our four-step process:
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Initial assessment: Using the client’s STAR report, we first developed a full understanding of existing license mapping and user types and took a deeper dive into what that would mean under the FUE model. It was key to run this report and remediate any issues internally first before sharing it with SAP—this approach meant that the client could start their audit from the strongest position possible.
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Gap assessment: We conducted a rapid four-day gap assessment using Turnkey’s proprietary methodology and advanced analytics, combined with the client’s data and licensing rule set. This explored the ECC environment and usage patterns over the previous 12 months. We then identified quick wins and conducted target state modelling based on discrepancies between access provisioned and actual usage.
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Role remediation recommendations: Turnkey then explored what full role remediation across the entire organization would look like, which is vital for fully realizing benefits like license cost-savings, improved compliance, and better user experience in the long term. Our work addressed over-provisioned users and governance implementation, all underpinned by change management processes.
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Results validation: To complete the process, the client re-ran the STAR report to quantify the suggested improvements and the client’s overall return on investment. This report was then prepared for submission to SAP so that the correct licensing fees could be applied under the new system once we had completed the recommended remediation.
The results: Half the licenses, double the control
For this client, the ideal number of FUEs was reduced from the initial 1,300 to a target of 650. Considering the investment required to deploy SAP in large-scale organizations, this led to significantly lower license fees.
The client was also able to explore wider business benefits, including:
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Reduced risk by returning to the principle of ‘least privilege’ access.
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Compliance improvements by removing unnecessary access that circumvents vital checks and balances.
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Efficiency gains by reducing operational friction, speeding up processes, and lowering administrative overhead.
These results proved the value of right-sizing SAP licenses.
But effective license optimization isn't just about reducing numbers—it's about finding the sweet spot between current needs and future growth. After all, businesses don’t stand still, and licensing requirements may increase over time, especially as organizations expand.
That’s why our license reviews aren’t prescriptive. They’re designed to give you recommendations based on the full picture of your licensing position, with wider organizational strategy and objectives in mind. While we established a base FUE target of 650 based on usage alone for this client, they decided to purchase more licenses to future-proof their growth demand and take advantage of more compute.
The key learnings: What this means for you
For any organization planning a S/4HANA or RISE cloud migration, this case study emphasizes the value of running a license review at the earliest opportunity. It will save you the time, money, and stress of redefining roles and authorizations retrospectively. In this case, the insights gained also helped support the creation of a compelling RISE migration business case, helping key decision-makers understand the opportunity to simultaneously reduce their risk, improve their compliance, and ease pressure on the bottom line.
Turnkey are ready to help you ensure that every user has right-sized roles and authorizations in place ahead of your migration or next audit.
Contact us today to take the first step on your journey to reduced licensing costs, an improved security posture, smoother operations, and maximized organizational efficiency.
