No fear of third-party applications

Software houses such as SAP can charge fees in addition to existing license fees if third-party programs access their software for the purpose of data exchange.

It does not matter whether this process is automated or initiated by a user using a specific function in the third-party vendor's application.

In such a case, the correct course of action would be to inform SAP about the commissioning of the relevant software and to clarify whether or not further licenses need to be purchased.

However, many customers fail to do just that - because they think that this is a legal gray area, or because they assume that SAP will not become aware of this violation.

However, if SAP discovers activities that indicate indirect use of SAP applications, the manufacturer charges for them and can also claim high penalties for incorrect licensing - as happened recently in the case of beverage manufacturer Diageo.

SAP does offer the option of purchasing additional licenses. But the problem is that only fixed packages can be purchased. Customers who might then only need 2,000 licenses have to purchase a package with 10,000 licenses - a cost factor that is often underestimated.

But even if companies are aware of the risks, they face a number of hurdles: Classifying users correctly and assigning them the right license type based on their usage behavior is extremely complex and takes a lot of time - especially when it comes to accessing different SAP systems.

This is mainly due to the multi-layered licensing models that SAP keeps changing. However, since the costs for the different licenses can vary greatly, it is essential to assign each user a license type that corresponds to their usage behavior.

Managing an SAP environment is particularly time-consuming because it is often done manually. For administrators, this not only means an enormous amount of work - because of the moving environment and regular changes in the system, it is difficult to keep track of the correct licensing, and inactive users may go undetected.

Solution approaches

To avoid unforeseen and, above all, high costs in the future, companies should develop a strategy in advance, also to avoid such scenarios.

With an appropriate software asset management (SAM) tool with an SAP focus, companies remain agile when it comes to the correct licensing of SAP applications. This way, they can be sure that they are legally protected.

Stay up to date with every change

Solutions such as Snow Optimizer for SAP can help assess the risk from indirect usage and optimize the level of existing licenses. They provide the administrator with a recommendation as to which usage profile should be assigned to which user. On this basis, the administrator can decide whether a user is correctly and sufficiently licensed.

Such a tool can detect indirect usage based on various factors. Licenses can be managed so that every user accessing an SAP system with a third-party application uses the correct and cost-effective SAP license.

In addition, such a solution offers the advantage of almost completely automating processes. Inactive users can be identified quickly and easily and can also be officially set to "inactive".

At the same time, such a tool checks the personnel data from the HR system. If an employee has left the company, he or she is set directly to inactive.

A SAM solution with an SAP focus keeps your own licenses up to date at all times and high costs are no longer an issue. Third-party applications can thus be used without hesitation.