How to Measure SAP Digital Access Usage Accurately
Measuring SAP Digital Access usage accurately is critical to avoid compliance surprises and optimize costs.
This article outlines how global enterprises can leverage SAP’s tools and smart tracking to get a true picture of indirect usage – ensuring they aren’t overcounting or overpaying for SAP licenses.
Understanding SAP Digital Access Basics
SAP’s Digital Access license model charges for indirect usage by counting certain business documents created in SAP by external (non-SAP) systems. Instead of licensing every end user, it measures system-to-system activity.
There are nine defined document types (such as sales orders and invoices) that count under this model.
Each has specific counting rules – for instance, sales and purchase documents count each line item as one document, while a financial journal entry or goods movement is weighted at 0.2 (five of those equal one).
Only new documents created via an external interface count toward SAP Digital Access usage; viewing or updating existing records doesn’t incur a charge.
Knowing these rules is essential for measuring usage accurately, as they define exactly what to count and what to ignore.
Why Accurate Measurement Matters
Accurately tracking Digital Access usage isn’t just technical – it directly affects compliance and costs:
- Compliance Risk: If you don’t measure indirect usage, an SAP audit could find you’re consuming more than you licensed. Companies caught off guard (e.g., the Diageo case) have faced hefty, unbudgeted fees. By measuring in advance, you can spot and fix any compliance gaps before SAP does.
- Cost Optimization: Digital Access licenses are sold in blocks (for example, per 1,000 documents per year). Overestimating needs means paying for capacity you never use; underestimating risks a costly true-up later. Tracking actual usage allows you to purchase the right amount with a safe buffer. It also enables you to leverage SAP’s Digital Access Adoption Program (DAAP), which offers steep discounts (up to 90% off list price) on initial purchases when you have data to back up your request.
Tools and Techniques for Measuring Usage
SAP provides tools to gauge indirect usage, and they should be combined with manual analysis for accuracy:
- Digital Access Estimation Tool: An SAP program (available via support note) that scans your system for documents created through specified external accounts over a period. It gives a baseline count of indirect documents by type. Use it as a guide, not gospel – it often overestimates because it can’t tell context. For example, it might count an internal user’s document or double-count both an externally created sales order and the invoice that order later generates. Be ready to adjust the raw results.
- SAP Passport: A newer tracking mechanism that tags external calls with a “passport” indicator so SAP knows when a document was created indirectly. With Passport enabled (in newer SAP versions), you can get precise, real-time counts of documents created via external interfaces, separate from user activity. It’s very accurate and eliminates double-counting. However, it requires an up-to-date system, and not everyone has enabled it due to the effort involved. It’s optional – if feasible, it provides the best accuracy, but you can manage without it by using periodic analysis.
- Manual analysis: Don’t rely on automation alone. Inventory all external interfaces into SAP and use system logs to see what each is doing. Identify transactions initiated by technical accounts and count the number of documents generated by each interface. Then cross-check those figures with the business or IT owners of each integration to ensure they align with reality. This verification ensures that no interface is missed and that no obvious anomalies skew the count.
Read Top 5 Mistakes Enterprises Make with SAP Digital Access.
Avoiding Overcounting and Pitfalls
Even with good data, you must interpret it correctly. Watch out for:
- Double-counting flows: Count each business process only once. If an external trigger creates a Sales Order that then spawns a Delivery and an Invoice in SAP, count the Sales Order (the initial document) and not the follow-ons. Including downstream documents would overstate your usage.
- Events that shouldn’t count: Exclude anything that isn’t a new external document. Don’t count documents created by internal users or SAP’s processes (user licenses cover those), and don’t count mere updates to existing records. Only the creation of a new document via an external input should be counted.
Using Data to Optimize Licensing
Accurate usage data enables you to optimize SAP licensing accurately, rather than relying on guesswork.
SAP’s adoption program (DAAP) offers up to 90% off digital access list prices, drastically reducing the cost if you have a measured baseline.
For example:
| Document Volume (per Year) | Approx. Cost at List Price | Cost with 90% DAAP Discount |
|---|---|---|
| 100,000 documents/year | ~$100,000 | ~$10,000 |
| 1,000,000 documents/year | ~$1,000,000 | ~$100,000 |
Assumes $1 per document list price for illustration; actual prices vary.
This example demonstrates that measuring usage and leveraging DAAP can significantly reduce costs – allowing you to license only what you need at a fraction of the full price.
Recommendations
- Make it continuous: Treat Digital Access monitoring as an ongoing program. Assign a cross-functional team (licensing, SAP Basis, integration) to track indirect usage regularly, not just during audits.
- Map external touchpoints: Maintain an inventory of all external systems that interface with SAP. Evaluate new integrations for Digital Access impact before they go live.
- Use tools, then verify: Run SAP’s estimation report (and enable Passport if available) to get a baseline, but always validate its output. Filter out counts that don’t belong (internal transactions, duplicates, etc.) before making licensing decisions.
- Educate stakeholders: Ensure business and IT teams understand that connecting external systems to SAP has licensing implications. Early awareness can prevent costly surprises from new projects.
- Negotiate with data: Leverage your usage analysis when talking to SAP. Having clear, data-backed numbers puts you in a stronger position to secure discounts and favorable terms (such as DAAP deals or future growth provisions).
Read SAP Digital Access vs Indirect Access.
Checklist: 5 Actions to Take
- Catalog interfaces: List all external systems that interact with SAP and note which document types each one creates.
- Measure baseline usage: Run SAP’s Digital Access estimation tool (or ask SAP to help with an evaluation) to quantify how many documents were created indirectly in the last year.
- Refine the count: Analyze the tool’s output and adjust it. Remove events that shouldn’t be counted (internal user actions, duplicate documents from one process, etc.) to obtain an accurate total.
- Compare to licenses: Check your current Digital Access license allotment against the measured usage. If usage exceeds entitlements, plan to acquire more (ideally via DAAP’s discount); if it’s below, avoid over-buying at renewal.
- Monitor continuously: Integrate Digital Access usage checks into your regular ITAM or compliance routine (e.g. quarterly). Consider enabling automated tracking (such as Passport) to keep usage data up to date.
FAQ
Q: What counts as SAP Digital Access usage?
A: It means SAP business documents created by an external (non-SAP) application. For example, if an outside system creates a sales order or invoice in SAP, it counts toward Digital Access. Simply viewing data in SAP from outside doesn’t count – only creating new records does.
Q: How can we measure our Digital Access usage accurately?
A: By using SAP’s tools plus your checks. Run SAP’s Digital Access estimation report (or enable Passport for live tracking), then cross-check its output against system logs and your knowledge of each interface’s activity. This combined approach ensures nothing is missed or miscounted.
Q: How reliable are SAP’s measurement tools for Digital Access?
A: The estimation report is a useful baseline but not fully reliable on its own – it tends to overcount without context. The Passport method is far more precise (it flags actual external events), but it requires an updated system and has not been widely adopted yet. In practice, treat any automated result as a starting point and refine it with expert review.
Q: Can we avoid Digital Access fees by using named user licenses instead?
A: In theory, you could try to cover indirect use with named-user licenses (giving every external user or device a standard login), but it’s usually impractical and expensive. The document-based model exists because buying individual user licenses for large numbers of external users or automated processes didn’t scale. SAP expects most external usage to be licensed via Digital Access, and it’s generally more economical for high-volume scenarios.
Q: What if our Digital Access usage exceeds our licenses?
A: If you find you’re over your licensed document count, address it proactively. Work with SAP to license the excess – for example, by purchasing extra document blocks or enrolling in DAAP for a discounted package – before it becomes an audit issue. It’s much better to self-correct than to be found non-compliant in an audit.
Read more about our SAP Digital Access Advisory Service.
