Describing SAP Cloud ERP Licensing

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to describe the licensing model of SAP Cloud ERP, starting with the SAP Business Suite strategy and diving into the details of the capabilities associated with each user type and its entitlements.

SAP Business Suite Introduction

SAP Business Suite helps you drive innovation – in a growth economy or an evolving one – by uniting core business applications, data, and AI capabilities.

SAP Business Suite is not just another portfolio of solutions—it’s a transformation engine that creates a virtuous cycle of innovation and continuous improvement.

No matter how advanced AI becomes, it needs trusted data and reliable processes to deliver real value. That’s where SAP stands apart:

Unparalleled Applications: Our end-to-end business suite connects every corner of your organization, ensuring each transaction is part of a single, integrated framework. This guarantees that your processes – such as order-to-cash or procure-to-pay – are smooth, consistent, and ready for AI-driven improvements.
Unmatched Data: By harmonizing information from SAP and non-SAP sources into a unified SAP Business Data Cloud, we give AI agents a 360-degree perspective. This eliminates wasted time on reconciling definitions or data sets, as everything is instantly ‘understood’ within its business context.
Unrivaled AI: Bringing the right data to specialized agents orchestrated by Joule enables continuous optimization across business lines. Instead of isolated automation, you achieve an interconnected system that learns, adapts, and improves at scale.

This synergy – between applications, data, and AI – creates a self-reinforcing cycle of innovation. It is this dynamic interaction that drives the SAP Business Suite forward:

SAP Business Suite represents the future of enterprise management—a comprehensive, integrated set of solutions designed to seamlessly connect and optimize every function across your enterprise.

Overview of SAP Business Suite

Comprehensive Vision: The SAP Business Suite represents the culmination of our vision – a comprehensive, integrated set of solutions designed to seamlessly connect and optimize every function across your enterprise.
Synchronous Architecture: This architecture ensures that every corner of your business operates in sync, unlocking agility, efficiency, and innovation at scale.
1. Core Components
  - SAP Cloud ERP and SAP Business Data Cloud: At its core are SAP Cloud ERP and SAP Business Data Cloud, underpinned by the SAP Business Technology Platform, which allows you to extend the solution to meet your unique requirements and integrate it into your existing landscape.
2. Extended Capabilities
  - Line-of-Business Applications: The suite extends to line-of-business applications that support operational, customer, and employee processes beyond core ERP seamlessly.
  - Industry-Specific Solutions: Industry-specific needs are addressed with platform-based solutions, including those from our partner ecosystem, which are also natively integrated.
3. AI Integration
  - Powered by AI: The suite is powered by AI, utilizing both embedded processes within the applications and platform-based AI tools to leverage the valuable source of business data at the center.
4. Empowerment and Opportunities
  - Business Empowerment: Fueled by holistic business processes, around the world’s most powerful business data and meaningful AI, SAP Business Suite empowers you to scale, innovate, and deliver exceptional value – faster and easier than ever.
  - Future Preparation: With the SAP Business Suite, businesses are not just prepared for today’s challenges – they’re equipped to seize tomorrow’s opportunities.

Each buying center has a suite package with defined configuration of capabilities, driving our applications, data, and AI portfolio together.

The New Era of Enterprise Management

Interconnected Functions: This is the new era of enterprise management in action – one where every function isn’t just optimized but interconnected. Leaders aren’t solving problems in isolation. Instead, their decisions draw upon a rich, unified data foundation and AI-driven insights that span the entire enterprise.
1. Transformation Integration
  - Collective Advantage: SAP Business Suite seamlessly integrates applications, data, and AI across all functions, transforming individual strengths into a collective advantage.
  - Informed Decisions: Decisions made in one area of the business enhance activities in another, allowing processes and insights to flow freely. This enables real-time collaboration, adaptability, and sustainability.
2. Dynamic, Ever-Evolving System
  - Empowerment and Innovation: The result is a dynamic, ever-evolving system that empowers your organization to anticipate market shifts, innovate rapidly, and seize new opportunities.
3. SAP Business Suite Packages
  - Line of Business Packages: The suite consists of various packages, including entry-point Line of Business Packages tailored for each buying center. These are complemented by add-on packages and products providing advanced features.
4. Advanced Capabilities and Integration
  - AI and Technology Platform: SAP offers a rich set of AI capabilities, including the digital assistant Joule, as well as solution integration and extensions via the SAP Business Technology Platform. This ensures comprehensive and seamless operational enhancements across the enterprise.

SAP Cloud ERP Licensing Components

SAP Cloud ERP is licensed by subscribing to a set of eight user types, each providing access to different capabilities. Core to the offering are the SAP Finance Base and SAP Finance Premium packages.

SAP Finance Base: Provides core financial, sales, and procurement functionality for organizations seeking foundational ERP capabilities.
SAP Finance Premium: Includes all Finance Base capabilities, plus additional entitlements covering advanced features designed for organizations with more complex financial and operational requirements.

In addition, we offer:

Supply Chain Management Offerings
- SAP Supply Chain Base: Provides core supply chain capabilities for organizations seeking integrated support across product-, distribution-, and asset-centric operations.
- SAP Supply Chain Premium: Includes all Supply Chain Base capabilities, plus advanced capabilities for organizations with more complex supply chain and operational requirements.
Finance and Supply Chain Management Combination Offering
- SAP Finance Base and Supply Chain Base: For super users needing broad authorization in both scope areas. This combination license avoids paying the full price for each Base license.
Limited Access User
- SAP Finance and Supply Chain self-service: For occasional users performing tasks like time entry or workflow approvals.
- SAP Finance and Supply Chain operations: For users engaged in core processes such as sales, inventory, or procurement.
- SAP Finance and Supply Chain developer: For users developing apps, extensions, workflows, and automations.

It should be noted that this follows a nested model, where a high-level user inherits the capabilities of a lower-level user. In other words, an operational user has access to all the capabilities of a self-service user, plus additional functionalities. Similarly, a Finance Base User can access everything that an operational user can do and more.

Nested Model: Higher level licenses include lower-level license capabilities.

Each user type has access to a specific set of capabilities, with higher-level users including additional limited entitlements.

The diagram above outlines in detail the capabilities associated with each user type.

SAP Finance Base and SAP Finance Premium Packages

SAP Finance is available in two user-based packages: SAP Finance Base and SAP Finance Premium. While both packages offer access to the same capabilities within the SAP Cloud ERP solution, they differ in the added entitlements. These entitlements provide customers access to several advanced solutions beyond SAP Cloud ERP with limited entitlements, with those highlighted in bold being most relevant to the procurement process.

Product Name	Description
SAP Finance Base
SAP Multi-Bank Connectivity, corporate base connection package and transactions	Create a multi-bank, digital channel between your ERP system and your banks, featuring embedded EBICS and Swift connectivity.
SAP Market Rates Management	Access market data and seamlessly integrate it with your systems.
SAP Document and Reporting Compliance, cloud edition	Ensures consistency between real-time document submissions and statutory reports, facilitating the transition to continuous transaction controls and the adoption of legal mandates.
SAP Taulia solutions for SAP Finance	Use this platform to convert accounts receivable into cash, enhance your balance sheet, and offer protection against inflation.
SAP Digital Access	Allow third-party applications to access and post transactions using our open architecture and public APIs.
SAP Build Developer User	Enable personalization and efficiency at scale with a unified application development and process automation solution.
SAP Build Base User	Access workflows and apps created by the SAP Build Developer User.
SAP Finance Premium
Includes entitlements from Finance Base+
SAP Project and Resource Management	Share project information with internal and external participants and staff projects with the right resources.
SAP Subscription Billing	Deploy highly innovative and effective sales processes in a flexible and scalable environment that leverages other SAP cloud services.
Concur Expense Professional **	Utilize SAP Concur solutions to connect all your expense, travel, and vendor invoice spending in one system to manage spending end-to-end, gain visibility into transactions, improve compliance, and simplify processes for everyone.
Procurement Expansion Package	Implement this SAP Business Suite package to bundle purchasing and fulfillment, catalog management, and supplier collaboration capabilities, streamlining the procure-to-pay process.
SAP Business Network Supplier Portal	Automate and digitalize supplier interactions to simplify the order-to-invoicing process. Extend purchasing processes to suppliers in the cloud, enabling access to the world’s largest digital business network.
SAP Ariba Central Invoice Management	Provide a centralized view of all invoices from across your organization across all channels using this unified invoice solution.
SAP Sales Cloud Version 2	Use this AI-driven customer relationship management (CRM) solution for sales automation, lead management, and analytics.
SAP Enterprise Service Management (ESM)	Employ this strategic approach to unify, standardize, and automate services within and across departments, aligning with individual processes and workflows to drive efficiency across the organization.
SAP Extended Price Management by Vistex*	Set and optimize pricing with full gross-to-net transparency to safeguard margins. Align pricing with strategic financial objectives to maximize value.
SAP AI Unit *	Enable generative AI supported processes with a single metric.

* Optional Component: May not be included in the order form.

** Limited Offer: Available under a separate agreement.

Note

Each entitlement comes with defined limited use, as specified in the order form with its own metric. In other words, the use of these features is not restricted to SAP Cloud ERP users. Instead, it is often measured by a separate metric (e.g., SAP Digital Access measures documents created by third-party systems, which can be triggered by users outside the SAP Cloud ERP user community).

SAP Supply Chain Base and SAP Supply Chain Premium Packages

SAP Supply Chain is available in two user-based packages: SAP Supply Chain Base and SAP Supply Chain Premium. While both packages offer access to the same capabilities within the SAP Cloud ERP solution, they differ in the added entitlements. These entitlements give customers access to several advanced solutions beyond SAP Cloud ERP, with those most relevant to the procurement process highlighted in bold.

Product Name	Description
SAP Supply Chain Base
SAP Integrated Development	Reduce time to market by digitalizing product development from design to operate for discrete manufacturers and design to consume for process manufacturers.
SAP Supply Chain Premium
SAP S/4HANA Cloud for EHS environment management	Empowers companies to assess, monitor, analyze, and optimize their environmental impact on air, water, and waste.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud for EHS workplace safety	Assess and mitigate environment, health, and safety (EHS) risks, manage incidents, and oversee operational change processes.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud for product compliance	Protect revenue, reduce risk, and drive sustainability by streamlining and automating global product compliance processes.
SAP Sustainability Footprint Management	Calculate corporate and product carbon footprint at scale.
SAP Sustainability Data Exchange	Drive scalability, standardization, and trust in carbon data exchange across your supply chain.
SAP Responsible Design and Production	Calculate extended producer responsibility (EPR) obligations, plastic taxes, and corporate commitments to optimize material choices.

Conclusion

The SAP Cloud ERP solution within the SAP Business Suite is licensed through various user types. Core to this offering are the finance packages: SAP Finance Base and SAP Finance Premium. Together with the optional limited access user types (self-service and operations), you can manage a wide range of end-to-end processes for a finance-centric ERP scope, including order-to-cash, procure-to-pay and project management.

With SAP Finance Base, you can enhance bank relationships via SAP Multibank Connectivity and make accounts receivable more efficient through SAP Taulia. The SAP Finance Premium package extends beyond finance by including solutions such as SAP Concur, SAP Ariba, and SAP Sales Cloud V2, among others, to expand ERP capabilities and access more advanced features.

With SAP Supply Chain Base, you will be able to digitize the manufacturing and distribution operations as well as develop new market offerings. SAP Supply Chain Premium will support you in your sustainability requirements and in complying with existing regulations across the entire supply chain.

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