$10M Saved: A Full SAP RISE Contract Re-Engineering, From FUE Sizing to Final Negotiation

How correcting an oversized FUE license count, optimizing the Bill of Materials, resetting the project plan, and benchmarking discounts and hyperscaler incentives turned an oversized SAP RISE proposal into a right-sized, fully negotiated 5-year contract.

$10M Saved

TOTAL TCO REDUCTION ACROSS THE 5-YEAR SAP RISE CONTRACT THROUGH FULL-LIFECYCLE OPTIMIZATION

4,001 → 2,416 FUE

LICENSE COUNT CORRECTED VIA SAP STAR REPORT VALIDATION

49% → 65%+

TARGET DISCOUNT BENCHMARKED ACROSS KEY SKUS

~40%

REDUCTION IN FUE LICENSE COUNT FROM SAP'S ORIGINAL SIZING

$300K+

HYPERSCALER CLOUD INCENTIVES NEGOTIATED TO OFFSET SI COSTS

12–15 Mo

REALISTIC TIMELINE VALIDATED VS. AN UNACHIEVABLE RUSHED PLAN

Multiple

BOM SKUS REMOVED, DEFERRED OR RE-PHASED

Client Snapshot: A large global automotive manufacturing group migrating its core SAP ECC environment to SAP RISE (S/4HANA Cloud, Private Edition) ahead of SAP's 2027 ECC support deadline.

The Challenge

SAP proposed a RISE contract sized on a Full Use Equivalent (FUE) count of 4,001 licenses and an aggressive Bluefield migration timeline, without independent validation of actual usage, Bill of Materials fit, or achievable discounting — leaving the client exposed to paying for licenses, SKUs, and a project schedule it didn't actually need.

Our Approach

Rizen ran a full-lifecycle optimization of the client's SAP RISE proposal — correctly valuing and crediting the client's existing on-prem entitlements into the new contract, right-sizing the FUE band using SAP's own STAR report methodology, optimizing the Bill of Materials line by line, resetting the project plan and cost allocation to a realistic timeline, benchmarking target discounts, and negotiating hyperscaler incentives — before negotiating every key contractual term directly with SAP.

Service Elements Applied

On-Prem → Full Use Equivalent CreditCorrect RISE Contract T-Shirt SizingBill of Materials OptimizationProject Plan & Cost Allocation OptimizationDiscount BenchmarkingHyperscaler Incentives & RebatesFull Contractual Term Negotiation

The Results

$10M saved across the 5-year RISE contract: full-lifecycle optimization — from sizing through final negotiation — cut the total cost of the client's SAP RISE migration by $10M.

A realistic project timeline protected the contract from rush costs: Rizen's assessment showed the originally proposed go-live was unachievable given the environment's complexity, and reset the plan to a realistic 12–15 month schedule before it could inflate the TCO.

FUE count corrected from 4,001 to 2,416: Rizen used SAP's own STAR report process to validate actual usage, removing licenses the original proposal never should have counted.

Target discounts benchmarked and negotiated up: Rizen benchmarked achievable discount levels against comparable RISE deals and negotiated key SKUs to a materially higher target discount range.

On-prem entitlements converted to Full Use Equivalent credit: existing on-prem licenses were properly valued and credited into the RISE contract, rather than the client paying twice for capacity it already owned.

Hyperscaler incentives brought in to offset implementation costs: Rizen negotiated cloud investment credits and rebates from the client's hyperscaler, worth an estimated $300K or more, to help offset systems integrator costs.

Bill of Materials optimized SKU by SKU: lower-priority SKUs were removed or deferred where the business case didn't support immediate purchase, and usage-metric ramp-ups were re-phased to match the actual rollout.

Every key contractual term negotiated directly with SAP: price protection, audit rights, and surrender-value credit for shelfware on the retiring on-prem contract were all secured as part of the final agreement.

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