Initial FUE counts ran 20 to 30 percent above a clean independent count
Across more than 120 RISE deals we benchmarked, the FUE baseline and the ramp schedule drove total cost more than the headline discount. Every percentage SAP concedes is applied to a count SAP assembled, which is why the count comes before the discount.
Prepared by Redress Compliance · August 14, 2026 · SAP advisory. More than 120 RISE deals benchmarked 2024 to 2025.
Executive summary
Initial FUE counts ran 20 to 30 percent above a clean independent count in most deals. Stale user lists, inactive accounts, and generous user type mappings inflate the baseline, and every discount that follows is applied to that inflated number.
RISE is priced on the FUE metric plus a sized infrastructure envelope, not a per user rate. The Full Use Equivalent converts named users and digital consumption into one weighted count, which makes the user type mapping itself a negotiation item.
The baseline and the ramp drove total cost more than the headline discount across the benchmark set. A ramp accepted as proposed loads the early years, and an uncapped uplift compounds the later ones.
Discount bands are not comparable without their basis. They move with FUE volume, term, timing, and whether the deal is a first purchase or an ECC conversion, so a percentage quoted without its baseline is a number without meaning.
Two cost lines hide outside the headline: digital access billed by document and application management services. Both belong in the model before signature, next to a written cap on the ramp and the uplift.
How a RISE price is assembled
| Element | How it works | Buyer note |
|---|---|---|
| FUE count | Named users and digital consumption converted into one weighted count | The dominant price driver; independently verify it before anything else |
| User type mapping | Different user types carry different FUE weights | The mapping is the hidden discount; correct it before the count freezes |
| Infrastructure envelope | Sized to the estate, not itemized | Size skeptically; the envelope renews with the deal |
| Term and ramp | The schedule spreads cost across the years | A ramp accepted as proposed loads the early years; cap it in writing |
| Discount | Moves with volume, term, timing, first purchase versus conversion | Read every percentage against the baseline it applies to |
| Digital access and AM | Documents billed on consumption; application management as a service layer | The two lines that most often surface after signature |
Run the arithmetic once and the priority order sets itself. Take a count that is 30 percent high and apply a 25 percent discount to it: the result is 97.5 percent of what a clean count would have cost at list. The entire concession disappeared into the inflated baseline, and the deal reports a healthy discount while paying nearly full price.
That is why two similar companies pay differently for RISE: the count, the envelope, the ramp, and the uplift vary deal by deal, and the headline percentage travels between deals while the baselines quietly do not.
The levers that move the number
- Build the independent FUE count first: measure real usage, remove inactive users, and map every user to the correct type, because that work moved total cost more than the discount conversation that followed it.
- Treat the user type mapping as the hidden discount. Weights differ by type, so a mapping corrected before the count freezes is worth points no negotiator recovers afterward.
- Cap the ramp and the annual uplift in writing, because the schedule and the escalator drove more total cost across the benchmark set than the headline percentage.
- Price digital access and application management before signature, since documents bill on consumption and the AM layer is a separate cost that belongs in the model, not in the surprise column.
- Benchmark against the basis, not the percentage: the useful question is never what discount others received, it is what baseline they started from.
The RISE migration cost analysis
The FUE counting method, the ramp and uplift clause set, the infrastructure envelope sizing, and the migration cost model behind the benchmarks.
Get the analysis →A discount is not a price
Every RISE negotiation we benchmarked eventually arrived at the same sentence: what discount did companies like us get? It is the natural question, and it is the wrong one, because it accepts the one number in the deal that SAP fully controls, the baseline the percentage is applied to.
The FUE metric makes that acceptance easy. A weighted composite of user types and document consumption cannot be sanity checked from a org chart or a payroll count. It has to be built, user by user, mapping by mapping, and whoever builds it owns the starting line of the entire negotiation.
In most of the 120 plus deals we benchmarked, the buyer did not build it. The initial count arrived 20 to 30 percent above what a clean, independent count later established, inflated by stale user lists, inactive accounts, and mappings that placed users in heavier types than their work required.
Now watch what that does to the discount conversation. The concession lands on the inflated base, the deal memo reports the percentage, and the arithmetic quietly returns the concession to the vendor: 25 percent off a 30 percent inflated count is 2.5 percent off the clean price. The negotiation was won in the counting room before the pricing call was ever scheduled.
The ramp and the uplift then decide the years the discount cannot see. A schedule accepted as proposed front loads cost against a migration that has not happened yet, and an uncapped escalator compounds against the count for the rest of the term. Across our benchmarks, these two terms moved more total cost than the headline percentage in the majority of deals.
The buyer side conclusion is a change of sequence, not of aggression. Count first, independently. Correct the mapping while it is still soft. Cap the ramp and the uplift in writing. Price digital access and application management into the model. And only then discuss the percentage, applied to a base you established. The RISE deep dive covers the migration sequencing, the SAP negotiation playbook the wider table, and the SAP practice the full library.
Watch the briefing · 4:24RISE with SAP Negotiations: Pricing a One-Way DoorLeaving RISE is a re-implementation and both sides know it. The FUE tier bands, skeptical sizing of every bundle layer, and selling your flexibility for terms that survive it.
- Percentile standing for your exact deal size and industry, from real closed transactions
- Scenario simulation before the call: test alternative terms and see the financial impact of each
- A negotiation playbook, talking points, and a two page executive brief on day one
What 120 plus benchmarked deals showed, 2024 to 2025
Across more than 120 RISE deals benchmarked between 2024 and 2025, the pattern was consistent regardless of industry or deal size:
Where initial FUE counts landed against a clean independent count in most deals, before any discount was discussed.
The FUE baseline and the ramp schedule drove total cost more than the headline percentage across the benchmark set.
Three patterns recurred. Counts inherited from stale user lists with inactive accounts still weighted in. Ramp schedules accepted as proposed, loading cost ahead of the migration. And benchmarks quoted as bare percentages, compared across deals whose baselines were never compared at all.
The buyer side move is to make the count the negotiation. The wider library sits in the SAP practice.
Your first five moves
- Commission the independent FUE count before responding to any quote: real usage measured, inactive users removed, every user mapped to the correct type.
- Compare SAP's count to yours line by line and open the negotiation on the gap, because 20 to 30 percent of the total usually lives there.
- Cap the ramp and the annual uplift in writing, sized to your migration plan rather than SAP's proposal.
- Put digital access and application management into the cost model now, priced and negotiated up front rather than discovered in year two.
- Demand every benchmark with its basis: volume, term, timing, and first purchase versus conversion. The SAP practice brings the closed deal baselines to the table with you.
Frequently asked questions
How is RISE with SAP priced in 2026?
On the Full Use Equivalent metric plus a sized infrastructure envelope, not a per user rate. The FUE metric converts named users and digital consumption into a single weighted count that prices the software, the envelope sizes the infrastructure, and the term and ramp schedule spread the cost across the years.
What is a Full Use Equivalent in a RISE deal?
The weighted unit SAP uses to convert named users of different types and digital document consumption into one count. Because different user types carry different weights, the mapping of users to types moves the count materially, which makes the mapping itself a negotiation item.
How accurate are initial RISE FUE counts?
In most deals we benchmarked, the initial count ran 20 to 30 percent above a clean independent count. Counts inherited from stale user lists, inactive accounts, and generous user type mappings inflate the baseline that every discount is then applied to.
What discounts are realistic on a RISE deal?
Bands depend on FUE volume, term length, timing, and whether the deal is a first purchase or an ECC conversion, so any quoted percentage should be read against the FUE baseline it applies to. A large percentage off an inflated count is not a real saving.
Can the FUE count be reduced before signing?
Yes. Measuring real usage, removing inactive users, and mapping users to the correct type often reduces the count materially, and across our benchmarks that work moved total cost more than the discount conversation that followed it.
Which hidden costs inflate a RISE total?
Digital access billed by document and application management services are the two lines that most often surface after signature. Both belong in the total cost model and both are negotiable up front, alongside a written cap on the ramp and the annual uplift.
Why do two similar companies pay differently for RISE?
Because the FUE count, the infrastructure envelope, the ramp schedule, and the negotiated uplift all vary deal by deal. That variance is why benchmarks matter and why the useful benchmark question is not what percentage others received but what baseline they started from.
RISE with SAP Negotiations: Pricing a One-Way Door
Leaving RISE is a re-implementation, and both sides know it. The FUE tier bands, skeptical sizing of every bundle layer, the traps that travel in threes (escalators, auto-renewal, credit forfeiture), the 20 percent renewal-uplift pattern, and selling your flexibility.
