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SAP S/4 Hana Contract Conversion

The migration to S/4 does not only have technological benefits, but also offers companies the opportunity to redesign their traditional processes. Also potentially interesting: updating your licenses with contract conversion.
Guido Schneider, Aspera
May 29 2019
Licenses
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SAP’s new S/4 technology simplifies and speeds up business processes, improves customer satisfaction, and taps into new business potentials. Especially digital transformation is a fundamental prerequisite for a successful future. The migration to S/4 Hana not only gives companies a chance to get rid of outdated processes and technologies; it also gives companies an opportunity to update their licenses through contract conversion. This is an opportunity that companies should not waste.

However, it will not be easy to take this opportunity, with all the migration effort and costs surrounding S/4 Hana. Companies therefore need to thoroughly plan the migration. One of the first questions companies should ask themselves is, “Which products will we use in the future?” The products can be grouped as follows.

S/4 Hana products: SAP account managers will be eager to help with the selection, but there are also useful tools which facilitate the decision, like SAP Pathfinder or SAP Transformation Navigator. However, companies have to differentiate if they already operate an ECC predecessor or not, as this impacts the new processes and licenses and ultimately the contract conversion.

ECC products that will continue to operate: not every ECC product has a successor in the new S/4 world. This is subject to change, of course, but future contracts have to define how companies manage their licenses nonetheless.

Third-party products: whatever will come of the discussion centered around SAP’s licensing model Indirect Access, third-party systems will certainly continue to play a big part in every SAP environment. However, technological innovations like the cloud pose ever new questions. Where will the digital core be? In the SAP or non-SAP cloud or on-prem?

SAP cloud products: sooner or later, SAP customers will have no choice but to introduce cloud-based SAP products. Here, too, the customer has a choice: public or private cloud. These are usually excluded from SAP Contract Conversion and are treated specially, as they are not part of the actual license portfolio. The licenses can be billed in three ways: purchase plus maintenance, rental 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, you should definitely take a look at the "License Utilization Information Application (LUI)". Licenses can be billed according to one of three ways: purchase and maintenance, lease, or dependent on utilization. All three of these have different parameters to deal with—whether the systems are operated in the private or public cloud, or on-prem. Consequently, they all have their own measurement tools. In the context of contract conversion, the License Utilization Information Application (LUI) becomes crucial.

The new S/4 Hana users are especially important, as they hold a lot of potential for optimization. S/4 has three types user licenses: professional use, functional use, and productive use. Companies should evaluate which licensing type works best for them. Many costumers may not need all of them, and SAP might be open to negotiate with them. It is also important to note that not every user needs a professional use license.

The Contract Conversion

  • Analyze your contract. Which licenses do you have?
  • Analyze your tools. Which tools do you actually use?
  • Analyze your need for tools. Which tools will you need in the future?
  • Analyze your costs. Which model is more cost-efficient?

Only if you know your past and present can you successfully shape your future. Use the opportunity for contract conversion that S/4 Hana migrations grant and only buy licenses that you really need.

https://e3mag.com/partners/aspera-gmbh/

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Guido Schneider, Aspera

Guido Schneider was an SAP licensing expert at Aspera until June 2020.


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Working on the SAP basis is crucial for successful S/4 conversion. 

This gives the Competence Center strategic importance for existing SAP customers. Regardless of the S/4 Hana operating model, topics such as Automation, Monitoring, Security, Application Lifecycle Management and Data Management the basis for S/4 operations.

For the second time, E3 magazine is organizing a summit for the SAP community in Salzburg to provide comprehensive information on all aspects of S/4 Hana groundwork.

Venue

FourSide Hotel Salzburg,
Trademark Collection by Wyndham
Am Messezentrum 2, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
+43-66-24355460

Event date

Wednesday, June 10, and
Thursday, June 11, 2026

Early Bird Ticket

Regular ticket

EUR 390 excl. VAT
available until 1.10.2025
EUR 590 excl. VAT

Venue

Hotel Hilton Heidelberg
Kurfürstenanlage 1
D-69115 Heidelberg

Event date

Wednesday, April 22 and
Thursday, April 23, 2026

Tickets

Regular ticket
EUR 590 excl. VAT
Subscribers to the E3 magazine
reduced with promocode STAbo26
EUR 390 excl. VAT
Students*
reduced with promocode STStud26.
Please send proof of studies by e-mail to office@b4bmedia.net.
EUR 290 excl. VAT
*The first 10 tickets are free of charge for students. Try your luck! 🍀
The event is organized by the E3 magazine of the publishing house B4Bmedia.net AG. The presentations will be accompanied by an exhibition of selected SAP partners. The ticket price includes attendance at all presentations of the Steampunk and BTP Summit 2026, a visit to the exhibition area, participation in the evening event and catering during the official program. The lecture program and the list of exhibitors and sponsors (SAP partners) will be published on this website in due course.