SAP audit practices – everything you should know to be in control

An SAP license audit is a yearly formal process that end users are contractually obliged to undergo, where they are expected to demonstrate that the number of licenses purchased matches the number of licenses installed and used. The main purpose of the audit is to protect the intellectual property rights of SAP, but also to compensate SAP in case its products are overused.

This article provides an overview of the SAP audit process, including information about the SAP audit team (GLAC) and the SAP audit types.

SAP audit team - Global License Auditing and Compliance team (GLAC)

In 2018, SAP established a new team known as Global License Auditing and Compliance team. This team includes the former Global License Auditing and Services team (essentially, license auditors and measurement experts) with license compliance managers and executives, and a newly appointed team of Supplementary Audit Support Experts (SAS Experts).

• License auditors and measurement experts (LAW, USMM, Engines) are based in three locations: Ireland, China and India. The scope of their work is defined by what SAP refers to as ‘Market Units’, these being the various geographical business regions identified by SAP, and the language support available at a given SAP site. For example, French and Spanish customers are audited by SAP experts based in Ireland, Australian customers are audited by SAP China, etc.
• License compliance managers and executives and SAS experts are based in customers’ locations. In Sweden, for example, SAP has a license compliance manager and SAS expert that supports the Scandinavian customers.

When talking about the GLAC team members, we should not forget about the license audit business team based in Waldorf, Germany (SAP headquarters). This team is responsible for the auditing procedure, the structures, and the technical development of measurement tools.

SAP audit types

SAP differentiates between two types of audits, as described below:

• Basic audit (sometimes referred to as ‘’standard audit’’, addressed to most end users)
• Enhanced audit (performed remotely and/or onsite, addressed to selected customers)

Basic audit

The basic audit is conducted by the license auditors located in Ireland, China or India. These auditors collaborate strongly with a given license compliance manager who is responsible for ensuring that the audit activities correspond with SAP’s procedure and directives. The number of basic audits undertaken is subject to SAP’s yearly planning, and it is worth noting that not all customers are audited annually. Rather, the license compliance managers, together with auditors and experts from the audit business team, target selected customers (e.g., large enterprises; customers who have purchased new products; customers who are classified as ‘’high risk’’ as a consequence of a previous audit). Nevertheless, be aware that a first license audit will usually take place not later than two years after signing a contract with SAP (unless specified differently in the contractual agreement). After the first audit, subsequent audits should occur annually, though again, this is subject to the available SAP resources.

The whole auditing process starts with a Measurement Request Email sent to the customer by the license auditor. This email is addressed to the contact person within the organization that is responsible for auditing activities. This communication contains the following information.