What is your Organisation’s SAP User License Tolerance Level?
Introducing a smarter way to manage FUE over-allocation and SAP User license creep!
With SAP’s transition to subscription-based licensing under the STAR model, there is now increased financial visibility and accountability tied to user access in SAP Cloud ERP Private. As a result, organisations must adopt a more deliberate and controlled approach to assigning user access. What was once a technical consideration has now become a financial one – overly generous access can directly impact license costs.
But here’s the challenge: most companies have no clear way to measure or control the extent to which their SAP license usage is overstated. That’s where the concept of a License Tolerance Level comes in.
What Is a License Tolerance Level?
A License Tolerance Level defines the acceptable variance between:
- The number of FUEs calculated from your current SAP role design, and
- The number of FUEs actually required is based on real system usage.
Think of it as a financial control threshold. For example, if your system analysis shows that your current role design results in 500 FUEs, but actual usage indicates you only need 300, you’re over-licensed by 200 FUEs—or 66%.
A defined License Tolerance Level helps your organisation answer key questions:
- How much license over-allocation are we willing to accept?
- At what point does this become a priority remediation issue?
- Are we tracking this regularly, or only when a renewal or audit is due?
Why This Matters More Than Ever
Under the STAR model, users are classified based on authorisation assignments, not actual activity. This means your SAP licensing cost is often disconnected from how the system is being used.
Small changes in access—like adding an advanced authorisation to a shared role—can cause hundreds of users to shift license category and consume more FUEs. This is referred to as license creep, and without a way to measure and manage it, it can silently increase your costs over time.
Introducing KPI-Based License Governance
By setting a License Tolerance Level, your organisation gains a new KPI for financial governance:
- Target FUE Over-Allocation Ratio: e.g., no more than 20% over actual usage
- Maximum True-Up Buffer: e.g., maintain a 10% buffer under the contracted limit
- Clean-Up Cycle Frequency: e.g., quarterly analysis of unused access contributing to FUE counts
These KPIs move license management out of the once-a-year audit cycle and into continuous improvement, aligned with your financial goals.
From Theory to Practice: How Soterion Helps
Soterion’s SAP License Manager makes it easy to define, monitor, and report against your organisation’s License Tolerance Level.
We deliver three critical data points:
- FUEs based on the current role design
- FUEs post clean-up/remediation
- FUEs based on actual system usage
This gives you a measurable view of where you stand—and where the gaps are. It’s the foundation for KPI-driven license governance.
A Smarter Way Forward: Redefining Job Role Standardisation
If you don’t define your own License Tolerance Level, SAP effectively defines it for you, through STAR measurements that may overstate your requirements.
By setting internal thresholds, tracking license creep, and remediating proactively, you take control of both compliance and cost. License management becomes measurable, repeatable, and strategic.
Want to understand your current FUE over-allocation and define your License Tolerance Level?
Let’s run a quick assessment and give you a measurable starting point. Contact info@soterion to arrange your SAP License Assessment today.
Who is Soterion?
Soterion specialises in SAP Security and License Management, offering both market-leading technology and deep advisory expertise. With a proven track record in delivering robust, scalable, and easy-to-administer SAP authorisation solutions, we understand the practical challenges organisations face in managing access, compliance, and governance.
We pride ourselves on designing solutions that are not only technically sound but also intuitive and low in support overhead—ensuring ease of administration for IT teams and usability for business stakeholders. Our focus is on removing complexity and empowering business users to take ownership of their access risk management activities with confidence and clarity.
Soterion’s access control solution can be used very effectively during project phases to provide data-driven insights, simulate role designs, and validate access risk. This enables us to deliver audit-ready solutions that align with broader business objectives, including data privacy (privacy by design), license optimisation (licensing by design), and scalable governance frameworks that support organisational growth.
If you have any questions or would like to see a demo, feel free to reach out to us by emailing [email protected]
