Understanding SAP’s FUE Measurement Model
As many organisations evaluate a move to SAP Cloud ERP Private, there is still a significant gap in understanding how licensing — particularly Full Use Equivalents (FUEs) — will impact them. As part of our efforts to support organisations transitioning from ECC to SAP Cloud ERP Private, we have hosted several webinars and roundtables on this topic and received numerous questions.
To help educate the wider community, we have compiled and published these questions for anyone interested in learning more about FUEs.
- Has SAP made the new FUE measurement more or less strict than how SAP user licenses were previously classified?
- Is there a direct correlation between a Full Professional User licence in ECC and an Advanced FUE in RISE?
- How does SAP determine how many FUEs your organisation needs?
- If an organisation’s SAP role design results in FUE consumption exceeding their contracted entitlement in the first month of their RISE engagement, will this trigger a true-up cost?
- What happens if SAP updates the STAR rule set during your subscription period?
- Is the STAR measurement based on SAP authorisation objects assigned to users (and not used access)?
- How can an organisation carry out FUE remediation using Soterion without removing necessary access and disrupting the business?
- Do users in the non-PRD systems count towards the organisation’s FUE count?
- We have noticed a difference between the results from the FUE totals from the SLIM report and SAP for Me portal. Which one is correct?
- Does the FUE/STAR licensing model apply to S/4HANA on-premise, or only to RISE with SAP?
- Isn’t the FUE concept going away?
- Do custom SAP authorisation objects have any impact on FUE licensing?
- How are custom transactions and Fiori apps considered in FUE classification?
- If an organisation subscribes to a fixed number of FUEs, can it reduce its contracted FUE volume during the subscription period?
- Should organisations remediate their SAP role design before moving to RISE, or wait until they are on RISE?
Question 1: Has SAP made the new FUE measurement more or less strict than how SAP user licenses were previously classified?
Answer: In our view, the current FUE rule set(commonly referred to as the STAR ruleset) provided through note 3113382 (Version1.69) is relatively lenient. In many cases, commonly used activities such as ACTVT 01 (Create) and 02 (Change) for the SAP authorisation object F_BKPF_BUK are classified as Self-Service. This means that many users performing FI posting transactions do not need to be classified as Advanced. For a more detailed explanation, please read our blog: https://soterion.com/blog/sap-fue-optimisation-the-star-rule-sets-surprising-leniency/
Question 2: Is there a direct correlation between a Full Professional User licence in ECC and an Advanced FUE in RISE?
Answer: No. Many commentators have alluded to this, but it is not the case. In many cases former Full Professional users are Core FUE users in RISE, and vice versa.
Question 3: How does SAP determine how many FUEs your organisation needs?
Answer: SAP determines the number of FUEs an organisation requires as part of the RISE commercial process by analysing the organisation’s current SAP landscape and user population. This typically includes running the STAR measurement programme against the existing ERP system (for example ECC) to understand the authorisations currently assigned to users. The process is detailed in SAP Note 3113382.
Because SAP recognises that existing role designs often contain significant over-assignment of access, the initial FUE proposal is not based on the STAR measurement alone. SAP also considers factors such as the current number of licensed users, the organisation’s size, industry, and expected future usage when developing the proposed FUE entitlement.
The outcome of this process is a negotiated FUE baseline that forms part of the RISE contract. In practice, many organisations find that the proposed FUE numbers are conservative and can be optimised through detailed analysis and role remediation.
Question 4: If an organisation’s SAP role design results in FUE consumption exceeding their contracted entitlement in the first month of their RISE engagement, will this trigger a true-up cost?
Answer: In practice, this does not typically trigger an immediate true-up in the first month of a RISE engagement. From what we are seeing, SAP generally allows a period of grace for organisations to review and remediate their role design and authorisations if the initial measurement shows FUE consumption above the contracted entitlement.
That said, this is handled on a case-by-case basis and depends on your commercial relationship and engagement with your SAP account team. The expectation is that organisations will actively work to address any over-consumption within a reasonable timeframe
Question 5: What happens if SAP updates the STAR rule set during your subscription period?
Answer: Updates to the STAR rule set during an active RISE subscription can be a sensitive topic. In principle, if a change to the STAR rule set results in an increase in an organisation’s measured FUE consumption, SAP is contractually entitled to require additional FUEs.
In practice, however, we expect SAP to apply a degree of pragmatism. Based on what we are seeing, SAP is likely to allow organisations a reasonable period of time to review and adjust their role design and authorisations to align with any updates to the rule set, rather than enforcing an immediate true-up.
We have also heard of organisations seeking to include contractual protections in their RISE agreements, whereby FUE measurements are tied to a specific version of the STAR rule set for the duration of the subscription. While we cannot independently verify this in all cases, it is certainly worth discussing with your SAP account manager to understand whether such a provision can be included in your agreement.
Question 6: Is the STAR measurement based on SAP authorisation objects assigned to users (and not used access)?
Answer: Correct. The FUE measurement model is based purely on authorisation objects and values assigned to end users. Classification does not consider usage of these authorisation objects. For the details of which authorisations are measured, this rule set is made publicly available on SAP Note 3113382.
Question 7: How can an organisation carry out FUE remediation using Soterion without removing necessary access and disrupting the business?
Answer: Soterion’s SAP License Manager analyses both the authorisations assigned to users and the authorisations they actually use. This usage insight is critical for identifying access that can be safely removed without affecting day-to-day business activities. By combining assigned and used access analysis, organisations can remediate roles with confidence and minimise the risk of business disruption.
Question 8: Do users in the non-PRD systems count towards the organisation’s FUE count?
Answer: In general, only users in production systems are counted toward your organisation’s FUE consumption.
The SAP for Me portal may display users from non-production systems for visibility and analysis, but these users do not typically contribute to the contractual FUE count.
The main exception is Developer users. Developer FUE classification is based on development activities, which are usually performed in development systems. As a result, SAP analyses activity in development environments to identify Developer users. On how SAP measures Development users, please refer to SAP Note 3333812
In summary:
- Production users → counted toward FUE
- Non-production users → typically not counte
- Developer users → identified based on development system activity
Question 9: We have noticed a difference between the results from the FUE totals from the SLIM report and SAP for Me portal. Which one is correct?
Answer: Yes, some organisations have observed differences between the FUE totals shown in the SLIM report (SLIM_USER_CLF_HELP) and those displayed in SAP for Me.
Ultimately, the SAP for Me portal is the official source used by SAP for contractual measurement and compliance. If any discrepancies are identified, it is important to review the underlying data and engage with SAP to clarify the cause and confirm the official position.
Question 10: Does the FUE/STAR licensing model apply to S/4HANA on-premise, or only to RISE with SAP?
Answer: The FUE/STAR licensing model primarily applies to RISE with SAP (SAP Cloud ERP Private Edition). Organisations running S/4HANA on-premise generally remain on the traditional named user licensing model.
Some on-premise customers choose to use the STAR rule set as an internal guideline for user licensing classifications. However, it is important to remember that this does not replace the contractual licensing model for S/4HANA on-premise. It is worth noting that the SAP Note 3113382 includes a rule set referencing S/4 HANA on-premise license types.
Question 11: Isn’t the FUE concept going away?
Answer: No — the FUE concept is not going away for SAP Cloud ERP Private (RISE with SAP). The confusion around this topic usually relates to SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition.
For SAP Cloud ERP Private Edition (RISE), the Full Use Equivalent (FUE) model remains the primary user-licensing mechanism and continues to be how SAP measures user consumption.
In contrast, SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition uses a different commercial model that is more bundle- and package-based, rather than relying on the STAR rule set and FUE measurement.
Question 12: Do custom SAP authorisation objects have any impact on FUE licensing?
Answer: Based on the current STAR rule set, FUE classification is driven by SAP standard authorisation objects and activities. Custom (customer-developed) authorisation objects are not included in the STAR rule set and therefore do not directly influence FUE classification.
Question 13: How are custom transactions and Fiori apps considered in FUE classification?
Answer: Custom transactions and Fiori apps are not evaluated directly for FUE licensing. SAP does not measure transactions themselves; it measures the underlying SAP authorisation objects and activities assigned to users.
If a custom transaction or Fiori app uses standard SAP functionality that requires authorisations included in the STAR rule set, the user may still be classified based on those underlying authorisations. In this way, custom developments can indirectly influence FUE classification
Question 14: If an organisation subscribes to a fixed number of FUEs, can it reduce its contracted FUE volume during the subscription period?
Answer: In most cases, no. RISE with SAP is a subscription-based contract, and the FUE entitlement, and associated cost, is typically fixed for the duration of the agreed term
However, organisations can still optimise their role design and reduce actual FUE consumption during the subscription period. This becomes valuable at renewal time, when lower consumption can be used to negotiate a reduced FUE entitlement and lower subscription costs for the next contract term.
Optimisation can also create headroom within the existing subscription. If FUE consumption is reduced well below the contracted entitlement, organisations can onboard additional SAP users without needing to purchase extra FUEs, provided they remain within their contracted FUE limit.
Question 15: Should organisations remediate their SAP role design before moving to RISE, or wait until they are on RISE?
Answer: This largely depends on whether the organisation is planning a system conversion (brownfield) or a new implementation (greenfield)
- Brownfield (system conversion): Because the existing roles are typically migrated into S/4HANA, we generally recommend starting remediation while still on ECC. Addressing over-assigned access early helps reduce FUE risk, simplifies the conversion, and ensures you begin the RISE journey with a cleaner and more sustainable role design. Some adjustments will still be required during the move (for example to accommodate Fiori and new functionality), but the majority of the work can be completed upfront.
- Greenfield (new implementation): If roles will be rebuilt from scratch, it often makes sense to design them during the RISE project itself. This allows organisations to apply a “licensing by design” approach, building the new role model with FUE classification and long-term optimisation in mind from the outset.
In practice, many organisations take a hybrid approach, but the key principle is to ensure that FUE considerations are incorporated as early as possible in the transformation journey.
Have a licensing question we didn’t cover?
Reach out to the Soterion team at [email protected] — we’d be happy to discuss your specific environment and provide a personalised view of how FUE impacts your SAP landscape.
Optimise Your SAP Licensing Strategy
Understanding SAP’s evolving FUE-based licensing approach is key to maintaining compliance and cost control. With the Soterion License Manager, organisations can gain deep visibility into their SAP authorisation landscape, simulate user classifications, and optimise their FUE allocations before SAP audits or renewals. Whether you’re planning your move to RISE with SAP or simply aiming to reduce unnecessary licensing costs, Soterion helps you stay ahead of the curve with accurate, actionable insight. Email [email protected] if you are interested in seeing first-hand how Soterion’s License Manager can assist.
