Digital Access in the past and present
In the past, software companies could predominantly license access to software solutions based on direct human access, as humans were the primary users, and solutions were contained within the company's on premise server(s). Today, it's common to find organizations with a mixture of cloud and on premise solutions targeting specific business areas that need to be integrated with each other, often from different providers. Instead of humans being the primary software users, we find other devices and technologies sending the highest volume of access requests. Because of this shift, the licensing model needed to change accordingly.
We categorize accessing the digital core, meaning all deployments of SAP S/4HANA, including SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition and SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, into three categories:
- Direct Human Access
- Digital Access / Indirect Human Access
- SAP Application Access
Direct Human Access
Direct human access refers to a human with a unique user ID logging into any deployment of SAP S/4HANA directly and creating documents. The individual user ID covers all activities in the digital core, and therefore will continue to be licensed on the number of users. However, some humans access SAP S/4HANA indirectly through a non-SAP intermediary software. This could include a non-SAP front-end, a custom solution, or any other non-SAP application, and is considered indirect human access. In the case of process automation, access to SAP S/4HANA with attended third-party bots is considered direct human access when the bot is acting on behalf of a human.
Digital Access / Indirect Human Access
The Digital Access license model combines indirect human access with nonhuman devices, automation bots, automated systems, or other third party solutions accessing SAP S/4HANA and creating documents. This is an outcome-based license where humans or non-humans create a specific set of documents through intermediary non-SAP software. Pricing is based on the number of documents associated to nine specific document types. It's important to understand the document types themselves are not counted for digital access, it's the creation of document items for these nine document types. The pricing model is also tiered to make the software affordable for companies of all sizes. In the case of process automation, access to SAP S/4HANA with unattended third-party bots requires additional licensing through Digital Access.
SAP Application Access
SAP application access is when SAP S/4HANA is accessed through an SAP line of business (LoB) application, an industry application, or SAP solution extensions (Solex). You might think documents created through these applications would be considered Digital Access, but they aren't because each application is licensed separately, and therefore all documents created through them are covered within the license of each individual application. To explain it differently, the applications are not creating documents within SAP S/4HANA, they are creating documents within the original LoB, industry, or Solex application and transferring the created documents to SAP S/4HANA.
An alternate use case is if the application happens to already be included in the license purchased for the core ERP software. For SAP S/4HANA Cloud (public and private editions), SAP Build Process Automation is included in both the GROW and RISE with SAP packages. Because of this, process automation bots within SAP Build (attended or unattended) are considered SAP application access and do not require additional licensing.
Document Types relevant for Digital Access License
The creation of some document items are weighted differently than others. Please refer to the graphic to see how document items are weighted for the different document types. Additional information can be found in the SAP Help Portal here.
Note
- Only creation of document items for the 9 document types are counted for the Digital Access license. Viewing (read), updating (write), and deleting documents are not counted. Document items created for document types outside the list of nine types are not counted either.
- Only the total number of document items is counted for the license, regardless of type.
Measuring & Reporting on Digital Access
Existing SAP ECC (Enterprise Central Component) and SAP S/4HANA customers considering any deployment of SAP S/4HANA can take advantage of the Digital Access Evaluation Service provided by SAP's Global License Audit and Compliance (GLAC) team at NO COST. This service is designed to help customers determine the estimated initial number of digital access documents.
Measuring digital access documents uses the SAP Passport technology, which is already in place for end-to-end system tracing and monitoring in distributed system landscapes. Please refer to the technical prerequisites for measurability and the conversion options for existing licenses.
Customers who have implemented any deployment of SAP S/4HANA can keep track of their ongoing digital access document consumption with two reporting tools:
- Use the License Compliance Digital Access app in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition.
- Use the report RSUVM_DAC in SAP S/4HANA or SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition.
Note
Check which role is required for your business user to access an application on the Fiori launchpad by looking up the relevant app in the SAP Fiori Apps Reference Library.