The sum is more

In addition to the regular license measurements, SAP removed the "Limited Professional User" with a list price of 1,600 euros from the price list at the beginning of this year. This summer, there was a request to redefine own users and adapt them according to the current price list.

The deadline for the action was Friday, August 14. Who has been intimidated? The strategy is in fact multi-level and the story is not over yet.

Offering new users (see footnote) seems logical because it allows more granular role assignments to be created.

For new customers, this price list may be a help. For existing customers it is a trap: The Limited Professional User has proven itself and is perfectly sufficient for most tasks in an R/3 and ERP 6.0 environment.

With the conversion, SAP is forcing existing customers to redefine their users, which means firstly that the new terms and conditions become valid through the conversion of the license agreement and secondly that the inexpensive individual functions then add up to a higher price than that of the Limited Professional User (1,600 euros) - the whole is simply more than the sum of the individual parts.

SAP once wanted to leave the R/3 4.6c version behind and do big business with mySAP ERP 2004. The then DSAG head Alfons Wahlers boldly demanded an R/3 version 4.7.

Later, the version was called "R/3 Enterprise" and is still successfully used today by many existing customers. Now DSAG head Marco Lenck and DSAG board member Andreas Oczko should demand the retention of the Limited Professional User - emphatically!

The R/3 and ERP legacy customers who work successfully "on premise" need this type of user. Otherwise, disaster looms.

Assuming the new user types come into use: the existing customer will quickly realize that he has only been given limited authorizations. And SAP will pay attention to what the user does.

Workflow processes are to be analyzed with a license measurement: If an approval and release process takes place (manager function), the "normal" user types are not sufficient.

It is almost certain that the next time the SAP sales representative visits, a relicensing will be due. But to which license? The Limited Professional User is no longer available!

It's an open secret in Walldorf: SAP's goal is nearly 90 percent coverage by Professional Users. Even if the existing customer gets a 50 percent purchase discount, in the following year his 22 percent maintenance fee "explodes" - calculated on the basis of the list price of 3,200 euros. One can forecast that SAP will almost double support revenue - with the same service.