An unnoticed, but not so rare issue is multiple licensing in SAP User Licences.
Which client hasn’t experienced that the SAP Licence Audit Workbench (LAW) result does not merge certain user licenses? Your company is then confronted with the problem of establishing compliance, this can result in additional costs, which were not budgeted for.
At first this scenario can seem far-fetched, however its an aspect of User Based Licensing and it can occur without you even noticing. It involves the intricate of the which users’ licenses are contained within which other licenses.
For example – a simple case: A Professional user, no matter when it was purchased, has an Employee license in its composition.
But does a Limited Professional, which can only be purchased under certain circumstances, also have a Worker license included? How does a logistics license relate to a worker license?
Clearly described, a Developer license does not include a Professional license.
Such user licensing scenarios create confusion and risk. It requires detailed knowledge in this matter to allocate user licenses correctly in your SAP system, furthermore in such a manner that is as cost effective as possible.
At VOQUZ Labs we have been aware of this problem for years and have developed a solution to this complicated license structure, combination licenses in our samQ software. This ensures ongoing compliance with no unpleasant surprises which may arise during validation of the SAP LAW report. Furthermore, it is important to find the best cost-optimized license variant, which can be automatically assigned. With samQ this automation exists and there is no additional manual effort required.
According to the SAP price and condition list, LAW can include a Professional with one Worker license and the next customer suddenly shows two licenses for it.
How can this be?
Quite simply, the question is when the Professional licenses were purchased and which license key (52, AX, CB) is used when issuing the license.
If the 52 (mySAP Professional) is used, then FX (Worker) is recognized as included in it and the user needs only one license, the 52.
In many companies, however, the Professional is still managed under AX (mySAP ERP Professional). In this case FX (Worker) is not considered and the person gets two licenses assigned by LAW.
Is this understandable? No, of course not and infinitely complex.
There are many examples similar to this which leads companies to license quantities that they do not actually need – surplus licensing.
In order to eliminate this status, companies have significant manual work effort or they must use software that solves this problem automatically.
One thing should not be underestimated. There are many examples where double licensing is necessary and the correct designation in the individual SAP systems must also be ensured.
In all other cases, you can avoid double licensing if you distribute the highest common license to the different systems, which is relatively cumbersome because the license keys are often related to the authorizations and are assigned that way.
So for example: Which employee receives a SAP Worker License in one system for 600€ list price and who gets a professional for 3.200€, because this user might also work in another SAP system and performs professional work there.
If one assigns the Professional as a lump sum, a Worker user can be overpaid with 2.600€ and with the maintenance of let’s say 22% the company pays 572€ too much every year.
If you allocate him a SAP Worker in the first SAP system and in the other he is a SAP Professional, there is a real possibility that the worker license is counted extra by the SAP LAW. In this case the company pays 600€ too much and with the same maintenance rate of 22% every year 132€ additional. This adds up very quickly when you have hundreds or thousands of end users.
We are sure that just reading this has caused some confusion with this topic, but that’s how complicated the situation is and there is a huge optimization potential in this detail but also real risk for compliance. Warning: Don‘t lose sight of the actual issue SAP Licensing is complex, there is far to much detail to manage manually and without a tool based solution automation and license savings will remain out of reach.
Peter Rattey is the founder of VOQUZ Labs. He invented samQ and is still intensively involved in samQ's further development. Peter is one of our most experienced advisors.
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