SAP License Audits Contact Us
Home/White Papers/SAP Licence Optimisation Handbook

The SAP Licence Optimisation Handbook.

A fifty-six page operational handbook for SAM organisations seeking 22–34% recurring savings without contract renegotiation. The reclamation, reclassification, and engine-optimisation disciplines applied across 500+ SAP estates.

Research Paper 56 pages Published May 2026 Format: PDF Access: Gated
What You'll Learn

Six learning outcomes, drawn from active engagements.

  1. How to identify dormant users and reclaim the entitlement. The 24-month inactivity threshold, the deactivation workflow, and the 18% portfolio reduction typical of an unmanaged estate.
  2. How to reclassify Professional Users running ESS work. Transaction-pattern analysis against the SAP licence-type definition matrix — 12–22% portfolio reduction in our case file.
  3. How to pool engine consumption across system boundaries. Where the contract permits pooling, where it does not, and the savings unlocked by aggregating measurement across an SAP landscape.
  4. How to retire shadow ERP and reduce indirect-use exposure. The detection workflow, the migration economics, and the indirect-use position improvement that follows.
  5. How to time licence reclamation against renewals. Reclamation work delivers the highest cumulative value when timed against renewal cycles, not against audit triggers.
  6. How to build a standing licence-optimisation discipline. The SAM organisation, the periodic review cycle, and the governance model behind 22–34% recurring savings.
Table of Contents

Seven chapters. 56 pages.

Chapter IThe unmanaged SAP estate carries 28% recoverable fatpg. 7
Chapter IIDormant-user reclamation: the highest-velocity winpg. 14
Chapter IIIReclassification: matching the licence to the workloadpg. 22
Chapter IVEngine consumption: pooling and rationalisationpg. 30
Chapter VShadow ERP: detection, migration, and indirect-use reliefpg. 38
Chapter VIRenewal-cycle timingpg. 46
Chapter VIIBuilding the standing optimisation disciplinepg. 51
Who It's For

Four audiences. One reference document.

Head of SAM

The software asset manager responsible for the SAP licence portfolio. The handbook is the operational reference for the standing discipline.

Chief Information Officers

CIOs sponsoring the SAM function and accountable for the SAP technology cost line. The savings model is the executive-level case for investment in the discipline.

SVP Procurement

Procurement leaders pairing the optimisation work with renewal and contract restructuring. The timing chapter is the procurement-leadership reference.

Licence Administrators

The day-to-day SU01, SUIM, and USMM operators. The technical workflows are written for hands-on implementation.

We had been running SAP for fifteen years and assumed the licence position was about right. The optimisation work identified twenty-eight per cent recoverable entitlement in the first ninety days. Three years later we are still finding savings the SAM team can deliver against the original framework.

Vice President, Software Asset ManagementGlobal Insurance · Three-year programme
— Subscribe

SAP Audit Alerts · The weekly briefing

Every Wednesday. Field reports from active matters, decoded SAP communications, and what to look for in the next audit cycle. Work email only.