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From powder keg to cost-optimized license portfolio

In the past, SAP surveys consisted of rather arbitrary distributions of license inventories to the best of our knowledge. Detailed classifications according to authorizations or actual usage behavior were never required.
Sandmeier/Lindner, Sample Solutions
November 1, 2016
Licenses
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This text has been automatically translated from German to English.

Today threaten SAPAudits and the examination of functionally restricted rights of use and force the SAP-License Manager for the first time to check the Compliance.

Is in the fight against grown inconsistency, which leads to a Compliance-conflict and currently leads to perceived arbitrary demands of the SAP, License Management the right solution?

Yes - but not the classic License Managementas is the case, for example, in dealing with Microsoft is known and proven.

A License Management can manage licenses and control the license management process. The usual license management systems are used without Business-logic.

Automatic assignment is therefore only possible on the basis of master data such as authorizations, but not on the basis of actual usage behavior.

Modern licensing solutions, on the other hand, analyze the actual usage behavior of a SAP-user and mirror this against an interpretation of the SAPprice list, or against self-defined special user profiles.

For example, the Sample solution completely replaces the use of license management for "small" installations (< 1,000 users) and supplements classic license management tools with an intelligent set of rules.

SAP is available on In-Compliance laid out

Since it was never required, no customer is currently prepared to exchange entitlements for licenseCompliance to match.

Although changes in the SAP-Price Lists the possibilities of interpreting the user specifications, but make the subject very complex and overwhelm the SAP-User.

And SAP allows unlicensed components to be used without any warning to the end user.

The risk that is permanently present as a result of this generates SAP-measurement an unwanted voltage. The SAP-Price list is peppered with blurbs that represent a subjective risk assessment.

As a widely known example, let's mention the classic: self-services in the purchasing of an employee-user -.

  • Private person or job profile?
  • May a secretary order a pencil only for herself or for a department?

In transactional use, the two interpretations do not differ - but a fuzzy interpretation in the customer's interest leads to significantly cheaper licensing compared to a "pencil order-for-departments" at eight times the price of a Professional User.

Fuzziness can easily be interpreted in favor of the customer if you know the usage behavior of your users.

The result of Sample consists of a sharp and fuzzy interpretation of the SAP-price list and thus arrives at an individual interpretation of the user profiles per Company.

With the Variance analysis can be used to identify "outliers" and sharpen user profiles. In addition, cluster analysis enables the individual definition of special user profiles, e.g. for limited professional users.

The detailed analysis per license type is used as a valid basis for the allocation of always favorable user profiles with the consequence of cost optimization of the license inventory.

The results of the measurement can be directly imported into SAP be reimported or transferred to a License Management-tool for further processing.

Conclusion

SAP Tightens its handling of licenseComplianceto produce pressure and thus new license sales on the customer side.

Just turn the tables and use the blurs of the SAP-Price List and find your interpretation of the license types that correspond to a Audit while minimizing the value of the license.

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Sandmeier/Lindner, Sample Solutions


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