SAP Named User licensing — the single largest source of audit exposure.

Each Named User class maps to a defined activity profile.

SAP's Named User classes are activity-based, not seniority-based. The classification is determined by what the user actually does in SAP transactionally, not their job title or organisational level. The classes published in the SAP price list:

• Professional User. Operational and administrative roles in any SAP module — finance, controlling, sales, procurement, supply chain operations. Highest list price.
• Limited Professional User. Restricted-scope operational use — typically read-mostly access with limited create/change rights in defined modules. Approximately 30–50% of Professional list price.
• Employee User. Self-service and limited-activity users — leave requests, expense reports, time entry, payslip access. Approximately 5–10% of Professional list price.
• Employee Self-Service User. Pure self-service. Display-and-self-update only. Trace-of-Professional list price.
• Developer User. SAP development workbench (SE38, SE80) users only. Separate price line, lower than Professional.

How former SAP auditors re-classify users against actual transaction usage.

The defensible classification methodology runs against the SAP STAD / ST03 / SM20 transaction usage logs, mapped to the Named User class definitions in the customer's contract. The work is technical but reproducible: pull 90+ days of transaction usage by user, group transactions by module, classify each user against the lowest Named User class that supports their actual activity, then validate against role assignments in PFCG.

The output is an authoritative user-class assignment that withstands audit. The leverage is two-fold: in audit, the classification reduces the asserted gap; in renewal, the classification informs the right-sized Named User mix and FUE conversion ratio.

Active vs inactive

SAP licensing is required for active users only. SAP's definition of "active" defaults to "any login in the measurement period". Customer-friendly practice is to deactivate (lock) users with no login in 90+ days before USMM measurement. The licences are recoverable for the next active user.

Five plays that typically save 15–30% of the SAP user-licence line.

1. Move ESS-only users from Employee to Employee Self-Service. Frequently a 60–80% reduction on that user cohort.
2. Move display-only users from Professional to Limited Professional. Heavy users of FBL3N, ME23N, VA03 frequently qualify.
3. Lock and recover inactive users. Re-pool licences against active hiring rather than purchasing new Named User entitlement.
4. Eliminate duplicate user IDs. Single physical user, multiple SAP IDs across systems — properly mapped via LAW Sender/Receiver, the duplicates are not double-counted.
5. Classify Developer Users correctly. Frequently mis-tagged as Professional. Developer-licence pricing is a smaller line item.