Executive Clarity · SAP Contract Terms

Digital Access

MovableMoves with pressure, volume, timing or escalation. Expect a fight, expect to win something.

What it governs

SAP's document-based licensing model for indirect scenarios, charging by documents created rather than by users.

Why SAP moves on it — or doesn't

Introduced as the answer to indirect-use disputes, and priced in document tiers. Whether it is cheaper than user licensing depends entirely on document volume, which most customers have never measured.

The lever

Measure document volumes before choosing the model, and negotiate the conversion terms and the baseline year. Ask what happens to the price when volumes grow.

In SAP's published documents

Usage metric Document, nine document types: Sales, Purchase, Invoice, Manufacturing, Material, Quality Management, Service & Maintenance, Financial, Time Management. Each counts as 1 except Material and Financial documents at 0.2; documents created automatically from another document type are not counted; block size 1,000. On-premise the same counting rule sits in the Software Use Rights. In the public edition, Base includes 100,000 and Premium 500,000 documents per contract year as a bundled entitlement.

Source: Service Description Guide (private edition), section 11; Software Use Rights (on-premise), section 2.36 — SDG enGLOBAL.v.9-2026 · SUR enGLOBAL.v.7-2026 · public-edition Supplement enGLOBAL.v.7-2026 · also SAP Software Use Rights (enGLOBAL.v.7-2026). Checked 2026-09-17 against the SAP Trust Center; editions change — re-verify before relying on it.

Before you rely on this. A judgement, not legal advice. SAP's standard terms change — verify the current wording of this term in the standard documents published at the SAP Trust Center before using it in a live negotiation.
Also rated movable
  • Audit — SAP's right to verify licence compliance, the notice required, frequency, and who bears cost.
  • Conversion Credit — Credit granted for terminating existing licences, applied against a new purchase; the terminated licences' maintenance base is removed.
  • Fee Increase — SAP's right to raise support or subscription fees at renewal, usually capped by reference to a published index.
  • Initial Term — The first committed period, after which renewal mechanics take over. On-premise support terms commonly run to 31 December of the following full calendar year, which makes the real first term anywhere from 12 to 24 months.

This entry was generated with AI assistance from SAP contract vocabulary that is publicly available through search, and reviewed for plausibility, not completeness. General guidance only — verify the current wording and your own position before relying on it.