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USMM and LAW Measurement Playbook.

A forty-four page analyst playbook for SAM practitioners, in-house counsel, and procurement leaders. The USMM transaction, the LAW consolidation engine, the indirect-user logic, and the output-file reconstruction that closes audit gaps before they reach the negotiation table.

Research Paper 44 pages Published May 2026 Format: PDF Access: Gated
What You’ll Learn

Six learning outcomes, drawn from active engagements.

  1. How a 47% reduction in the apparent licence position was achieved on a Fortune 1000 LAW submission. The four reconstruction steps applied to ST03N transaction data, the role-mapping correction matrix, and the dormant-user purge that preceded any conversation with SAP.
  2. USMM and LAW versions compared. What version 7.x, 8.x, and the latest 9.x measurement engines actually count, where the logic differs, and which combination produces the lowest defensible licence position for a given estate.
  3. Indirect users in USMM, decoded. How the SU_USER table treats RFC-only users, batch users, ABAP report users, dialog-only users, and CUA-administered identities — and where the classification can be legitimately challenged.
  4. The USMM output file, line by line. Reading the .DAT export from the customer side: the user count blocks, the engine measurement blocks, the system landscape signature, and the seven fields that materially change the SAP-side interpretation.
  5. How to use LAW consolidation as a defensive instrument. When LAW consolidation reduces apparent licence consumption (de-duplicating shared users across systems) and when it amplifies it (capturing identities the customer would otherwise have classified separately).
  6. The annual self-declaration submission, sequenced. The internal review timeline, the data sources, the sign-off chain, and the protective language to attach to the submission cover note — including the three sentences that change SAP's downstream posture.
Table of Contents

Seven chapters. 44 pages.

Chapter IWhat USMM actually measurespg. 4
Chapter IILAW consolidation, version by versionpg. 9
Chapter IIIIndirect users in USMMpg. 15
Chapter IVThe output file, decoded line by linepg. 21
Chapter VReconstruction: cleaning the estatepg. 27
Chapter VIThe annual self-declaration submissionpg. 34
Chapter VIIA casebook of LAW disputes resolvedpg. 41
Who It’s For

Four audiences. One reference document.

Software Asset Managers

The SAM lead who owns the USMM and LAW process end-to-end. The reconstruction sequence in this paper is the technical core of a defensible self-declaration.

SAP Basis Leads

Basis administrators who run the USMM transaction. The output-file decoding chapter and the LAW version comparison address the technical mechanics directly.

In-house Counsel

Licensing counsel reviewing the annual self-declaration and the supporting documentation. The submission cover-note language is reproduced in chapter six.

Procurement Leadership

Procurement leaders who use LAW data in renewal and audit discussions. The defensive interpretation of the consolidated position is the negotiation foundation.

The LAW submission we had been making for four years inflated the apparent position by forty-seven per cent. We rebuilt it using the methodology in this playbook and entered the next audit on numbers we could defend line by line.

Head of Software Asset ManagementFortune 1000 Industrial Distributor · Cleaned 2025
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