SAP S/4 Hana Contract Conversion

The new SAP S/4 technology simplifies and accelerates business processes, increases customer satisfaction and opens up new business potential. Digital transformation in particular is a fundamental prerequisite for a successful future.

This is an opportunity that should also be seized in order to do away with obsolete processes and technologies, but above all to banish SAP products that are no longer used from the license portfolio. An opportunity that should not be missed.

It is clear that this change represents a project with a lot of effort and costs for all companies. For this reason, the S/4 migration should be well planned and prepared.

One of the first questions should be, "Which products should be used in the future?" Very roughly, these can be divided into the following product groups.

S/4 Hana products: SAP account managers are happy to help with the selection, but there are also useful SAP tools, such as the SAP Pathfinder or the SAP Transformation Navigator, that make life easier.

Regardless of this, however, a distinction must be made as to whether there is an ECC predecessor or not. This has an impact on the new processes and the license stock.

ECC products that will continue to exist: Not all ECC products will have a successor in the new S/4 world. This may still change over time, but the future contract must regulate how these licenses are handled, especially with regard to maintenance.

Third-party products: Regardless of the outcome of the licensing discussion on the subject of indirect use at SAP, one thing is certain: software products from different manufacturers will continue to communicate with each other in the future.

That is the purpose of computer programs. However, with the technology shift to the cloud, there will be more questions to answer. Where is the digital core located? In the SAP cloud or non-SAP or on-premises?

SAP cloud products: Sooner or later, SAP customers will not be able to avoid introducing cloud-based SAP products. Here again, the customer has a choice: public or private cloud.

These are usually left out of the SAP Contract Conversion and are treated specially because they are not part of the actual license stock.

Licenses can be billed in three ways: Purchase plus maintenance, rent or according to consumption. Depending on the type of purchase, the measurement also changes.

This applies regardless of where the SAP systems are operated (on-premises, private cloud or public cloud). However, each license type has its own measurement tools. In this context, one should definitely take a look at "License Utilization Information Application (LUI)".

Special attention should also be paid to the new SAP S/4 Hana users. This is where a lot of optimization potential lies hidden. With S/4, there are three new user licenses: Professional Use, Functional Use and Productivity Use.

Your organization and usage should fit these new license types. It is foreseeable that this will not be the case for every customer. It may be possible to negotiate with SAP the functional scope of these three new license types. It is important to know: Not every user needs an "SAP Professional Use" license.

The Contract Conversion

• Contract analysis: What do you have in your inventory?
• Tool-based usage analysis: What do you use?
• Tool-based needs analysis: What will be needed in the future?
• Cost analysis: Which model saves more?

Only those who know their past and present can seize their opportunities and successfully shape the future. Buy only the licenses you really need. The Contract
Conversion offers you the opportunity to do so.