Most SAP estates pay for user types nobody holds, engines nobody runs, and maintenance on both. We rebuild the position from contracts and measurements, then cut what the evidence says you do not need.
This engagement is bought by IT asset managers and CIOs who inherited an SAP estate described only by its invoices: named user counts set years ago, engine licenses bought for projects that ended, and a maintenance base that grows with uplift letters rather than usage. Nobody can say what is deployed, what is consumed, and what is simply paid.
It also serves organizations preparing for something: an audit cycle coming due, an S/4HANA or RISE decision that needs a baseline, or a cost program that has reached the SAP line and stalled for lack of evidence. The optimization register this engagement produces is the evidence.
SAP overspend concentrates in predictable places, and each is measurable:
The fix is a verified position: entitlements from contracts, usage from measurements, and a register of every action with its annual saving attached. Optimization then becomes execution rather than debate.
The engagement runs four workstreams: the entitlement and usage baseline is built from contracts and measurement data, user types and engines are right sized against actual activity, indirect access and shelfware are contained, and everything lands in a sequenced roadmap with savings per action.
| Deliverable | What it contains |
|---|---|
| Entitlement and usage baseline report | The verified license inventory matched against measured usage, with the gap and surplus position per product. |
| User optimization analysis | Reclassification recommendations per user population with the quantified annual saving and the measurement evidence behind each. |
| Engine and shelfware register | Engine consumption against entitlement, shelfware with its maintenance cost, and the termination or conversion recommendation per item. |
| Indirect access risk snapshot | Integration scenarios classified by exposure, so optimization decisions do not create tomorrow's audit finding. |
| Optimization roadmap | Sequenced actions with savings and dependencies, and the negotiation positions for executing reductions at renewal. |
Cutting SAP cost is easy to do badly. Reclassify users without evidence, or terminate the wrong engine, and the saving returns as an audit finding with interest. Every action in our roadmap carries its measurement evidence, so the optimized position is also a defensible one.
The practice spans the whole SAP lifecycle: audits defended, RISE deals negotiated, conversions modeled. Optimization findings feed those events directly; the same baseline that cuts todays maintenance becomes the conversion credit case in next year's S/4HANA negotiation.
We sell no tool and resell no licenses, so the register contains what the evidence supports rather than what a platform subscription needs to justify. Published results run 20 to 40 percent of SAP spend, with a university system saving 31 percent from usage review alone.
One fixed, all inclusive fee covers all four workstreams, up to four advisory calls, and email support through execution, or a contingency structure paid only from delivered savings.
Optimization results on the record, measured in signed renewals.
A university system cut SAP licensing costs 31 percent through a centralized usage review.
✓ Published case studyAn enterprise saved 8 million dollars on SAP support through license optimization and third party maintenance.
✓ Published case studyAn energy company rationalized its SAP BTP credit consumption against actual platform usage.
✓ Published case studyA European retailer converted to S/4HANA with its optimized baseline preserving conversion credit value.
Users classified above their measured activity, duplicate and dormant accounts, engines licensed beyond consumption, shelfware on full maintenance, and integration scenarios drifting toward indirect access exposure. Published results run 20 to 40 percent of SAP spend.
From measured activity, not job titles. Each reclassification carries its evidence from usage analysis, so the new classification holds up in the next system measurement instead of unraveling in the next audit.
Each item gets a recommendation: terminate to cut the maintenance base, convert where credit value exists, or hold where a planned project genuinely needs it. The default of paying maintenance on nothing ends either way.
Yes, at renewal, with a verified position behind the conversation. Terminations, reclassifications, and shelfware removal all reduce the base, and the engagement includes the negotiation positions for executing them against SAP's pushback.
Directly. The optimized baseline is the foundation of any conversion: it maximizes credit value, prevents oversized FUE counts, and stops shelfware from being carried into a new agreement at full price.
Done with evidence, it reduces it. Every action in the roadmap is audit tested by design, and the indirect access snapshot ensures cost decisions do not create compliance findings.
SAP contracts and order forms, USMM and LAW measurement results, system measurement history, and account activity data. Collection is guided and runs on your existing tooling.
Fixed price, all inclusive, or contingency from delivered savings. The baseline report typically lands within 10 business days of complete data, and the full roadmap inside two months for a typical estate.
A verified baseline, a register of savings with evidence attached, and the negotiation plan to bank them at renewal.
One letter a month. Negotiation moves, audit signals, and price book shifts.