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SAP Clean Core and FUE Optimization: How to Reduce Licensing Costs in RISE with SAP

Released on

Wednesday, July 15, 2026

Christian Achenbach

5:11

RISE with SAP and SAP S/4HANA Cloud are changing how you manage your ERP landscape. The goal is clear: move faster, stay flexible and reduce complexity. That’s why SAP Clean Core has become such an important concept. A clean core helps you keep your SAP S/4HANA Cloud system standard, easier to update and ready for innovation.

But Clean Core is not only an IT architecture topic. It also creates a valuable opportunity to improve SAP license management. For SAP License Managers, SAM Managers and ITAM Managers, the question is no longer only, “How clean is our SAP core?” It is also, “Are we paying for the SAP licenses our users really need?”

What SAP Clean Core Means for SAP Licensing

SAP Clean Core encourages you to keep the ERP core standard and move extensions to approved platforms like SAP Business Technology Platform. You reduce custom code, simplify upgrades and stay ready for continuous innovation.

At the same time, many SAP environments still carry years of complexity in user roles, authorizations and license assignments. That complexity can directly affect SAP licensing costs, especially in RISE with SAP contracts.

Under RISE with SAP, subscriptions are measured in Full Use Equivalents (FUEs). Users who are assigned broader business capabilities than they need may consume more FUE capacity than necessary. Reviewing authorizations helps you identify these cases and supports more accurate license assignments.

Why FUE Optimization Starts with Authorizations

Traditional SAP license management often looks at user classifications, historical license assignments or manual reviews. These methods can miss what really matters: what users are authorized to do in SAP.

An authorization-based analysis gives you a more accurate view of each user’s licensing requirements. By analyzing SAP authorizations, you can determine the license category that best aligns with each user’s assigned business capabilities. This helps you uncover over-licensed users, reduce unnecessary FUE spend and support stronger SAP license compliance.

For example, a user may be assigned a high-value license because of outdated role design. But if their current authorizations align with a lower license category, you may have a clear optimization opportunity.

How Clean Core and Authorization Analysis Connect

SAP Clean Core and authorization-based license optimization share the same goal: reduce complexity. Clean Core helps simplify your SAP S/4HANA Cloud architecture. Authorization analysis helps simplify and control your SAP licensing model.

Together, they support a smarter SAP transformation strategy.

Clean Core programs often include redesigning business roles, removing obsolete authorizations, retiring custom code and standardizing business processes. That creates an ideal opportunity to validate license assignments and eliminate unnecessary FUE consumption before the new environment goes live.

This creates a direct connection between:

SAP Clean Core strategy
SAP S/4HANA Cloud transformation
RISE with SAP contract management
FUE optimization
SAP authorization management
SAP license cost reduction

Instead of treating license optimization as a separate yearly task, you can make it part of your continuous SAP governance model.

How We Support SAP Clean Core and FUE Optimization

We help you connect Clean Core principles with SAP license optimization. USU Software Asset Management analyzes SAP authorizations and helps identify the most appropriate license assignment for each user. This helps you reduce unnecessary FUE consumption, improve SAP license transparency and prepare better for renewals, audits and contract negotiations.

Our solution is SAP Certified for Clean Core with SAP S/4HANA Cloud. That means you can optimize SAP licenses while supporting your cloud strategy and keeping your SAP core clean.

You don’t need to choose between innovation, compliance and cost control. With the right SAP license management tool, you can support all three.

Reduce SAP Licensing Costs Without Compromising Clean Core

RISE with SAP gives you a path to modernize your ERP landscape. SAP Clean Core helps keep that landscape flexible, standard and ready for change. Modernizing your ERP landscape is also an opportunity to modernize how you manage SAP licenses.

Authorization analysis helps you understand what your users really need, reduce FUE spend and keep licensing aligned with your SAP S/4HANA Cloud environment.

For SAP License Managers, SAM Managers and ITAM Managers, this is a practical way to turn Clean Core into measurable business value.

See How Much You Can Save on SAP Licenses

Want to reduce FUE consumption and keep your SAP core clean?

Book a demo with our SAP license management experts. We’ll show you how USU Software Asset Management analyzes SAP authorizations, identifies optimization opportunities and helps you control SAP licensing costs with confidence.

Bring your questions. We bring decades of SAP license management experience.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can we optimize FUE consumption without disrupting our RISE with SAP go-live timeline?

Yes. Authorization analysis can run in parallel with your transformation. Cleaning up role assignments before go-live prevents over-licensed users from entering the new environment from day one — avoiding costs that are hard to undo post-migration.

How does FUE-based licensing differ from traditional SAP named-user licensing?

Unlike named-user models tied to individual accounts, FUEs pool business capabilities across your organization. This means one over-authorized user can consume disproportionate FUE capacity — making role-level authorization review especially impactful.

Does achieving SAP Clean Core automatically reduce our FUE consumption?

Not automatically. Clean Core simplifies architecture, but license costs depend on user authorizations — not code quality. You still need an authorization-based analysis to identify over-licensed users and align assignments with actual business capabilities.

How should we prepare for SAP license audits under a RISE with SAP contract?

Maintain continuous visibility into user authorizations rather than reacting to audit notices. Proactive monitoring lets you correct over-licensing before it's flagged, strengthens your negotiating position, and reduces the risk of unexpected true-up costs.

Is SAP license optimization a one-time project or an ongoing process?

It should be ongoing. User roles evolve, staff change, and business processes shift — all of which affect license requirements. Embedding authorization reviews into your SAP governance cycle ensures FUE consumption stays aligned with actual usage over time.