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The S/4HANA Migration Licensing Handbook.

A forty-page operational handbook for the licensing decisions made during, not before, the S/4HANA migration. Bridge licensing across dual-stack windows. Entitlement carryover. The phased-cutover license model.

Research Paper 40 pages Published May 2026 Format: PDF Access: Gated
What You'll Learn

Six learning outcomes from active matters.

  1. Bridge licensing across the dual-stack window. How to maintain entitlement on the legacy ECC system while S/4HANA stands up in parallel, without triggering a duplicate-license claim.
  2. Phased cutover and the licensing geometry. The license profile across pilot, ramp, scale, and stabilisation phases of a multi-year migration. The four geometries we run for different rollout shapes.
  3. Entitlement carryover, in operational detail. The four-step entitlement reconciliation procedure between contract vintages. The carryover language that survives the conversion event.
  4. Indirect-use migration: when integrations move first. How indirect-use exposure shifts when integrations migrate ahead of the underlying ERP. The three-phase document-flow scenario.
  5. Runtime engines through migration. Engine-by-engine carryover map for the 17 metrics that lack a native FUE equivalent. Which engines can be retired and which cannot.
  6. True-up timing and the conversion event. How to sequence USMM/LAW measurements through the migration window. The two cases where measurement-timing alone moves the conversion bill materially.
Table of Contents

Seven chapters. 40 pages.

Chapter IDual-stack windows and bridge licensingpg. 5
Chapter IIThe four phased-cutover geometriespg. 10
Chapter IIIEntitlement carryover, operationallypg. 16
Chapter IVIndirect-use during phased migrationpg. 21
Chapter VRuntime engines: carryover mappg. 27
Chapter VIUSMM/LAW measurement through migrationpg. 32
Chapter VIIThe conversion-event audit posturepg. 36
Who It's For

Four audiences. One reference.

Programme Directors

Migration programme leads sequencing technical and commercial milestones. The phased-cutover and bridge-licensing chapters are the operational reference.

Heads of SAM

SAM owners reconciling entitlement across the migration window. The carryover and measurement chapters are the discipline.

Enterprise Architects

Architects mapping integration migration sequence. The indirect-use chapter is the architectural reference.

Procurement Negotiators

Negotiators running the conversion commercial event. The audit-posture and measurement-timing chapters set the negotiation calendar.

We were nineteen months into a phased migration when SAP opened a true-up across the dual stack. The bridge-licensing geometry and the carryover language closed the claim without touching the migration timeline.

Group SAM DirectorGlobal Logistics Group ยท Settled Q4 2025
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