1. The Various Types of
SAP Licenses
SAP® is a registered trademark of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries
Created by
Xpandion
Educational
Presentation

2. Moshe Panzer
CEO, Xpandion
Author

3. Ask the average SAP customer or novice SAP licensing consultant
what SAP license types they know of, and they’ll probably answer
“Professional,” “Limited Professional,” “Employee” and maybe “ESS”
(Employee Self Service).
But these aren’t all, thus this their negotiating power with SAP is limited.
SAP® is a registered trademark of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries

4. From our experience over the years with numerous licensing
projects, we have seen many, many types of licenses.
SAP® is a registered trademark of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries

5. SAP license types are
divided into three main
categories:
• Licenses for combined
SAP applications
• Licenses for individual, or
separated, applications
• External licenses for
applications that were
bought by SAP, but the
license types remain as
they were beforehand
The Various SAP License Types
SAP® is a registered trademark of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries

6. “Classic” SAP customers fall under this category. User licenses
such as “Professional,” “Limited Professional” and “Employee” are
defined as global licenses for a suite of products like SAP ERP, SAP
CRM, SAP BI, SAP APO.
These are employee-based licenses, meaning the organization
buys them for an employee and this employee can freely use
multiple SAP products as long as the license type covers them.
SAP® is a registered trademark of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries
Licenses for Combined SAP Applications

7. Licenses for Individual
or Separated Applications
Some SAP customers need additional licenses to use a specific
application. For example, if many external employees use a
portal, it would be a waste to buy global licenses for them.
Instead, the organization would buy a license for the portal itself
and give it to each employee.
SAP® is a registered trademark of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries

8. This category belongs to customers who migrated
to SAP after SAP had bought the company or
application that they were using. This often
happens with BusinessObjects customers.
In some cases, current customers who want to buy
applications that were recently purchased by SAP
are also required to obey the migrated licenses until
SAP includes them in regular license types.
SAP® is a registered trademark of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries
External Licenses for Applications That
Were Bought by SAP, But The License Types
Remain as They Were Beforehand

9. For a complete overview of the different SAP
license types, refer to SAP’s official guide and
Xpandion’s SAP Licensing Quick Guide.
SAP Licensing
Quick Guide
click here
SAP Official Guide
click here
SAP® is a registered trademark of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries

10. Some use specially created license types like “Manager,” “Top-User” and
“Safety.” These license types were “invented” by the local SAP office and
aren’t official SAP license types. You can’t find definitions for them in SAP
documentation and if you have them in your organization, check that they
are clearly defined.
An example of a good definition is something like: ““Top-User will be the
license type of an employee who uses one of all the SAP systems above
10,000 dialog steps per month.” When the definition of a specially
created license type is clear, nobody can argue with it and you can even
buy more if your company is expanding and needs extra licenses.
SAP® is a registered trademark of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries
“Specially Tailored” License Types

11. From the SAP System Measurement Guide, Version 7.0: “Named users
are also upstream and intermediary technical systems that exchange
information with the SAP software system, as well as the users of those
systems, if the users exchange information with the SAP software in
dialog or prompt mode. It makes no difference whether the software is
accessed directly or indirectly.”
Since 2013, SAP has been much more sensitive about indirect use and
looks for it more thoroughly during the annual audit. You must identify
indirect use and count it in your licensing quota.
SAP® is a registered trademark of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries
Beware of Indirect Use

12. In October of 2013, German court ruled that SAP
cannot restrict software resale citing that their terms
and conditions are anti-competitive. This will make big
changes in the way people use their SAP licensing and
overall licensing budget for obvious reasons.
SAP® is a registered trademark of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries
Are You Allowed to
Re-sell Unused Licenses?

13. If you need to buy licenses from SAP, know that there are more
license types beyond the common ones. Furthermore,
remember that in certain cases your local SAP representative
can tailor a special license for your situation. Don’t make the
mistake of thinking that everything’s set beforehand or that you
are locked into only buying brand new.
Negotiate Better
SAP® is a registered trademark of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries

14. SAP® is a registered trademark of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries
Re-inspect & Optimize
If you are currently in, or close to, an SAP licensing audit, you
might want to re-inspect your inventory to find unsuitable license
types. Remember that an unused license is a total waste, and
unsuitable license types can result in extra expenses. Your
licensing schema should fit your needs perfectly and support
your business requirements and future plans.

15. SAP® is a registered trademark of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries
Xpandion is the leading provider of
license optimization software solutions for SAP.
If you have any questions or concerns about your SAP licensing,
contact us now. click here.