Key Takeaways
- The GROW vs RISE decision has five distinct phases — each with specific deliverables and risks. Skipping phases creates the commercial vulnerabilities SAP exploits.
- Phase 1 (landscape assessment) is where most enterprises under-invest — the quality of this phase determines the quality of every downstream decision.
- Engaging independent advisory in Phase 2 (commercial analysis) before SAP's formal proposal is received maximises negotiating leverage.
- The contract red-line review in Phase 4 is mandatory — SAP's standard contract language contains dozens of provisions that favour SAP over the customer.
- Post-go-live licence hygiene (Phase 5) is as important as pre-signature analysis — compliance drift happens quietly and creates renewal leverage for SAP.
- Most enterprises complete this checklist in 90–120 days from initial assessment to contract signature. Rushing it costs significantly more than investing in it.
The GROW with SAP vs RISE comparison requires a structured approach. Enterprises that approach the decision reactively — responding to SAP's timeline and agenda — consistently achieve worse commercial outcomes than those that set their own pace and process. This checklist gives you the structure you need to remain in control.
This is the action plan article in the GROW vs RISE series. For the structural comparison, see the complete GROW vs RISE enterprise guide. For risk management, see the key risks and mitigation guide. For cost reduction strategies, see the cost reduction strategies guide.
Independent SAP licensing advisory — not affiliated with SAP SE.
Phase 1: Landscape and Requirements Assessment (Weeks 1–4)
Before engaging SAP commercially, you need an accurate picture of your current landscape. This phase is about gathering facts, not making decisions. The quality of your Phase 1 output determines the quality of every decision that follows.
Phase 1 Checklist
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Document your current SAP landscape
List every SAP system in scope: ECC version, S/4HANA version, application components active, database platform, hosting environment (on-premise, co-location, cloud). Include system sizes (SAPS ratings, memory, disk) and uptime requirements.
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Audit your current SAP user base
Extract a complete list of all active SAP users from SU01 or equivalent. Record each user's current licence type, last login date, assigned roles, and department. This is the foundation for user-type optimisation in negotiations.
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Catalogue custom ABAP objects (if on ECC or on-premise S/4HANA)
Run ABAP Test Cockpit (ATC) to identify custom code that is incompatible with S/4HANA. Quantify the remediation scope. This is critical for RISE decisions — it determines the true migration cost.
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Map your integration landscape
Document every system that connects to your SAP landscape: what data it reads or writes, the connection mechanism (RFC, BAPI, IDoc, REST API, SFTP), and the approximate transaction/document volume per day.
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Define your business requirements and constraints
Document the business processes that are non-negotiable, the customisations that cannot be replaced by SAP standard, the regulatory requirements that govern data residency and audit, and the timeline constraints driven by maintenance end dates or business events.
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Assess competitive alternatives
Identify at least one credible alternative to GROW or RISE that addresses your core requirements. Even if you ultimately choose SAP, the existence of a documented alternative dramatically improves your negotiating leverage.
Independent Landscape Assessment
Our team conducts Phase 1 landscape assessments for enterprises preparing for GROW or RISE negotiations — including user-type analysis, custom ABAP scope reviews, and integration landscape mapping. Book a free consultation to discuss the assessment scope.
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Phase 2: Commercial Analysis and Proposal Review (Weeks 5–8)
Phase 2 is where the negotiation strategy is built. The goal is to understand SAP's pricing structure deeply enough to identify every optimisation opportunity before SAP's formal proposal arrives — and to engage independent advisory while there is still maximum leverage.
Phase 2 Checklist
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Engage independent SAP licensing advisory
Appoint an independent advisor with no SAP commercial relationship before SAP's formal proposal arrives. The advisor should review SAP's pricing methodology, identify user-type optimisation opportunities, and model the 5-year TCO. Our RISE with SAP advisory service provides this as a fixed-fee engagement.
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Build your own TCO model
Model the 5-year TCO for both GROW and RISE (if both are under consideration), including: licence fees, implementation costs, support costs, BTP consumption, add-on module costs, infrastructure (for RISE), and migration costs (for RISE). Do not accept SAP's TCO model — it is built to favour SAP's preferred commercial outcome.
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Conduct user-type analysis
Map each user from your Phase 1 audit against SAP's user-type definitions. Build a defensible counter-proposal to SAP's default user-type recommendations. Document the business justification for each reclassification — SAP will challenge unsupported reclassifications.
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Model BTP consumption requirements
Build a specific BTP credit consumption model for your planned BTP services (Integration Suite, Analytics Cloud, Build, Work Zone). Establish the right-sized credit allocation that provides 110–120% of modelled consumption — not SAP's default over-allocation.
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Benchmark support cost reduction potential
Assess your internal SAP support capability and historical incident volume. Quantify the case for a support cost reduction from the standard 22% Enterprise Support rate. Document your self-service model and incident reduction commitments as supporting evidence.
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Assess hyperscaler credit offset opportunity (RISE only)
Identify any existing hyperscaler committed spend agreements (AWS, Azure, GCP). Engage the hyperscaler account team to confirm credit transfer eligibility to SAP RISE infrastructure. Include this offset in your commercial negotiation strategy.
Phase 3: Negotiation Strategy and Execution (Weeks 9–14)
Phase 3 is the active negotiation. The key principle: SAP expects enterprises to accept the first proposal. Every concession you extract is available — SAP's teams have authority to offer discounts, user-type flexibility, BTP credit reductions, and support cost reductions. They simply will not offer them unless challenged.
Phase 3 Checklist
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Issue a formal counter-proposal based on your analysis
Do not negotiate verbally from SAP's document. Issue your own written counter-proposal covering user-type mix, BTP credit allocation, support cost rate, price escalation cap, and key contractual provisions. A written counter-proposal signals seriousness and forces SAP's commercial team to engage at a commercial level rather than a sales level.
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Establish your walk-away position
Define the specific commercial terms below which you will not proceed — and communicate them clearly. SAP's negotiating teams test enterprises for walk-away discipline. Vague statements of preference are ignored; specific, documented positions are respected.
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Leverage the competitive alternative
Reference your credible alternative in writing to SAP. Do not present it as a bluff — SAP's commercial intelligence teams will verify whether the alternative is real. Only reference alternatives you are genuinely prepared to pursue if SAP does not improve its commercial terms.
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Control the timeline
SAP's quarter-end and year-end deadlines create discount opportunities. However, SAP uses artificial urgency to pressure premature signature. Understand SAP's fiscal calendar (fiscal year ends January 31st) and negotiate to align your decision with a quarter end where possible — but only when you are genuinely ready to sign.
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Escalate if necessary
If SAP's field team lacks authority to approve your commercial requirements, request escalation to SAP's Global Account team or regional Deal Desk. Significant enterprise commitments are approved at higher levels — the field team's "final offer" is rarely final when escalation is requested with appropriate justification.
Active Negotiation Support
Our team participates directly in GROW and RISE negotiations on behalf of enterprise buyers — attending commercial discussions, reviewing real-time proposal changes, and advising on negotiating positions. If you are in an active negotiation, book a consultation today.
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Phase 4: Contract Review and Execution (Weeks 15–18)
Phase 4 is the legal and contractual review. SAP's standard contract language contains dozens of provisions that favour SAP over the customer. The Master Agreement, Order Forms, Supplemental Terms, Service Level Agreement, and Migration Statement of Work all require independent review before signature.
Phase 4 Checklist
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Review infrastructure substitution rights (RISE)
Identify and either remove or limit SAP's right to substitute the underlying hyperscaler provider without customer consent. Infrastructure changes affect your security architecture, compliance posture, and internal tooling.
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Negotiate data portability provisions (RISE)
Insert specific data portability commitments: export format, timeline, completeness obligations, and SAP's cooperation on exit. These provisions are not in SAP's standard contract and must be added as a contractual exhibit.
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Confirm all negotiated commercial terms are in the Order Form
Verify that every verbally agreed term — user-type mix, BTP credit allocation, support cost rate, price escalation cap, implementation scope commitments — is accurately reflected in the executed Order Form and supporting exhibits. Verbal commitments are unenforceable after signature.
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Review the SLA carefully
SAP's RISE SLA contains performance commitments and exclusions. Understand the availability guarantee, maintenance windows, incident response times, and escalation paths. Negotiate any SLA provisions that do not meet your operational requirements before signing.
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Review auto-renewal and change-of-scope provisions
Most GROW and RISE contracts include automatic renewal with a 90–180 day notice period for non-renewal. Ensure renewal notice requirements are calendared and that the change-of-scope provisions allow for user-count adjustments within defined windows.
Phase 5: Post-Go-Live Licence Hygiene (Ongoing)
The work doesn't end at contract signature. Post-go-live licence hygiene is essential to maintaining your commercial position and avoiding the compliance drift that SAP exploits at renewal.
Phase 5 Ongoing Checklist
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Quarterly user review
Review active users, their roles, and their licence type assignments every quarter. Remove inactive users, reclassify users whose activity profiles have changed, and address any new user populations that should be at a different licence tier.
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Monitor FUE/BTP consumption monthly (RISE)
Track FUE consumption and BTP credit usage monthly against contracted entitlements. Flag any consumption trajectories that will exceed the contracted ceiling before the end of the contract year — negotiating additional entitlement proactively is substantially cheaper than addressing a compliance gap retroactively.
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Annual renewal preparation (12 months in advance)
Begin preparing for renewal 12 months before the contract end date. Commission a fresh user-type analysis, benchmark infrastructure costs against direct hyperscaler pricing (RISE), and build a renewal negotiation strategy before SAP initiates renewal discussions. See our licence optimisation service for renewal support.
Related Articles in This Series
Frequently Asked Questions
How far in advance should we start the GROW or RISE procurement process?
We recommend starting the full process at least 6–9 months before your target go-decision date. This allows sufficient time for Phase 1 landscape assessment (4 weeks), Phase 2 commercial analysis (4 weeks), Phase 3 negotiation (6 weeks), and Phase 4 contract review (4 weeks), with time for iteration on each phase. Enterprises that start the process less than 3 months before their target decision date consistently feel time pressure that SAP exploits to reduce the quality of negotiations.
What if SAP has already sent us a proposal and we're under time pressure to respond?
Even if SAP has sent a proposal and set a response deadline, you are not obligated to respond by SAP's timeline. SAP's deadlines are commercial constructs, not contractual requirements. You have the right to take the time needed to review the proposal properly. The most important immediate action is to engage independent advisory — our team can conduct an accelerated review of the commercial terms and identify the highest-priority negotiation points within days rather than weeks. Contact us now if you are in an active proposal situation.
Does this checklist apply to both new purchases and renewals?
Yes, with adaptation. For new GROW or RISE purchases, all five phases apply in sequence. For renewals of existing GROW or RISE contracts, Phase 1 is replaced by a current-state licence analysis (user-type review, compliance gap assessment, FUE/BTP consumption review), Phase 2 focuses on benchmarking current costs against market alternatives, and Phase 3 is the renewal negotiation. Phases 4 and 5 apply equally to renewals. The key principle for renewals: begin Phase 1 analysis no less than 12 months before the contract end date.
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Former SAP executives, auditors, and contract managers — now working exclusively for enterprise buyers. 25+ years of combined SAP licensing expertise. Independent advisory — not affiliated with SAP SE. About us →
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