Question 1

How does SAP BTP and BTP consumption impact my licensing strategy?

Accepted Answer

Unlike SAP ECC or S/4HANA which use a user-based license model, SAP BTP has a consumption-based license model.

There are a number of BTP licensing models available including Cloud Platform Enterprise Agreements, a Subscription Model, and a Pay-as-you-go model. The licensing model you choose will depend on what BTP functionality you need access to, and how “heavy” a BTP user your organization will be.

As part of our license review, we will analyze your BTP usage (or likely future BTP usage) and advise you on the most cost-effective and low-risk option for you.

Question 2

What are the SAP S/4HANA Licensing implications for FinOps?

Accepted Answer

Moving from SAP ECC to S/4HANA means you will be moving to a subscription-based license model. Add to this challenge additional decisions you have to make around products like RISE and GROW, and licensing requirements for other solutions like BTP, DataSphere, and LoB applications, and it’s easy to see that licensing in the S/4HANA world is significantly more complicated from a FinOps perspective.

As part of our license review, we provide advice within your preferred FinOps framework and develop a cost optimization roadmap so you continue to reduce costs and increase value from your SAP investment over time.

Question 3

What are Full User Equivalents (FUEs) in SAP S/4HANA Licensing?

Accepted Answer

Full Use Equivalents or FUEs is an approach SAP uses to provide licenses for its products based on the level of permissions required by the user. These vary from developers and advanced users who require full access to the system down to Self Service Users who primarily require read access.

Designing your system and user roles with FUEs in mind can have a significant impact on your licensing costs. As part of our license review we provide advice to make the FUE model work in your favor, reducing costs while ensuring all your users have adequate license cover.

Question 4

What is document licensing and digital access in SAP S/4HANA?

Accepted Answer

Following a number of high-profile indirect access cases in SAP ECC, digital access is SAP’s new model governing the licensing and integration of 3rd party systems in SAP S/4HANA. Digital access is designed around document posting rather than users.

The volume of documents created becomes the scaling factor of your license fee. There are nine document types, two of which are discounted to 0.2 rather than a full cost.

That means that how you design your systems can have a huge impact on licensing cost – for example a process that posts 10 documents with one item each is less desirable that one document with all 10 items on it.

As part of your license review we ensure you’re covered from a legal standpoint in relation to digital access, and help you design your processes and configure your systems to reduce the licensing costs associated to digital access.

Question 5

Are there any SAP license estimators I can use during my S/4HANA migration?

Accepted Answer

There are many SAP licence estimator tools available through 3rd parties that will provide you RoM costs and licensing requirements across S/4HANA and other tools like Datasphere and BTP.

SAP also has functionality available through their help portal to help you estimate your license costs.

Licensing is a complicated topic, and the accuracy of any licensing tool will be dependent on the amount of information you put in.

Our approach to licensing review gives you more control over the level of detail included, from a light-touch review of your current license position to a forensic license position report and in-depth RoM License Cost.

Question 6

How do I prepare for SAP license renewal or license audit?

Accepted Answer

With the move to S/4HANA, whether you choose RISE, GROW, or a private cloud solution, you will likely have to renew your licenses on a yearly basis. This is different from the previous model of perpetual licensing in SAP ECC.

License renewal provides a good opportunity to review your license coverage, make sure it’s still sufficient, and explore if there are any cost savings to be made.

In addition to this, you will typically be required to undergo a license audit each year, or in events such as a significant change in your SAP usage. This could be a basic or enhanced audit at SAP’s discretion.

By running a regular license review with Resulting IT you can ensure your renewal process will run as smoothly as possible, optimizing costs over time.

We can also help you with any negotiation and provide license audit kits to equip you with the information and strategies needed to successfully navigate an audit period.

Question 7

What is a STAR report in SAP Licensing?

Accepted Answer

The S/4HANA Trusted Authorization Review (STAR) is an SAP service designed to help customers transition to the new licensing model in S/4HANA, and to help them optimize their license requirements.

SAP also provided services in which a license utilization manager will help you interpret your STAR report and further optimize your license usage.

Question 8

How does my SAP BOM (Bill of Materials) affect licensing?

Accepted Answer

The SAP Bill of Materials (BoM) plays a critical role in licensing by detailing all the products, modules, and entitlements a customer has purchased—whether actively used or not. In many cases, especially with bundles like RISE or GROW, customers receive pre-packaged licenses that may include components they don’t need or use. This often leads to “shelfware”—licenses that sit unused but still contribute to total contract value.

Without careful analysis, these bundled inclusions can inflate costs and complicate compliance.

A well-structured BoM review helps identify underutilised licenses, avoid unnecessary renewals, and ensures that organisations are only paying for what they truly need.

Question 9

How much does an SAP or S/4HANA license cost?

Accepted Answer

SAP doesn’t have fixed pricing like off-the-shelf software. Instead, the cost of an SAP or S/4HANA license depends on a few key factors:

What you’re using SAP for – Different products (like S/4HANA, BTP, or SuccessFactors) have different licensing models.
How many people will use it and how they use it – SAP licenses are often based on user types (e.g. occasional user vs. finance analyst), and each type costs differently.
Whether you buy it outright or subscribe to a cloud version – With options like RISE or GROW, SAP bundles software, infrastructure, and services into a subscription model.
Your negotiations with SAP – There’s usually room to negotiate based on what you need and your long-term commitment.

Companies might spend from hundreds of thousands to millions of pounds on SAP licensing, depending on their size and complexity. That’s why it’s important to review your SAP contract carefully—many organisations end up overpaying for things they don’t actually use.