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samQ enables Weleda to perfectly coordinate Named User licenses based on actual SAP usage
Weleda AG is a leading manufacturer of anthroposophic medicinal products, hygiene products, and certified natural cosmetics. Weleda is active in over 50 countries on every continent. Around 2,000 employees work to ensure the success of the Swiss company, which has been dedicated to social, ecological, and economic responsibility since 1921.
The following is a conversation between VOQUZ and Thomas Jünger, a project leader in the Project and Process Management department of the SAP division at Weleda AG in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany.
VOQUZ: Mr. Jünger, could you describe your SAP landscape at Weleda? How big should we imagine it is?
Thomas Jünger: We have approximately 200 SAP users, and we make use of three systems: Business Warehouse, SAP FI, and HR. Some of our users are obviously active in more than one of the three systems, but our configuration is definitely not as complex as a vast landscape with thousands of SAP users. We can still do a lot of things manually, but sooner or later we reach the limits of what can be done that way.
VOQUZ: What was difficult about license management in your opinion?
Thomas Jünger: What makes SAP license management so challenging is mainly that it’s hard to determine, based on the SAP license description, which activities are covered by which licenses. This makes it harder to compare user activities with license terms. What’s more, you have to be well-versed in licensing to be able to respond to SAP’s arguments during license negotiations.
VOQUZ: Is that why you decided to seek outside help from VOQUZ?
Thomas Jünger: Exactly. In preparing for licensing mee-tings with SAP we wanted to determine whether there were things we could optimize. With system evaluation fast approaching, we wanted to act quickly and find out which license an employee needs based on what they do, that is, independently of the license they were previously given. To enable us to identify these opportunities for optimization, we decided on the license management tool samQ.
VOQUZ: What was it about samQ that convinced you?
Thomas Jünger: The results. We needed specific, valid numbers relatively quickly, and samQ gave us exactly that – fully automatically and in the shortest possible time. We knew immediately where we stand and how an optimal situation would look like. VOQUZ provided us with spontaneous and very fast support in this area. I called, and one week later we already had a license expert at our office. It was really something.
VOQUZ: What happened then?
Thomas Jünger: We started by doing a test installation that we could play around with. Then we did the fine-tuning with a VOQUZ license expert here at our office. Together we reviewed our license situation and the results of the test run in order to discuss possible steps and opportunities for optimization. The results convinced us to deploy the tool in our production system.
VOQUZ: What were you able to find out?
Thomas Jünger: Most of our SAP users have a Professional or Limited Professional license, as well as various licenses in the different systems. Based on the usage data we provided, samQ discovered that some of those licenses weren’t needed at all.
We also had a whole bunch of ESS licenses lying around unused, and we realized that some users who used to have Professional or Limited Professional licenses could get by just fine with an ESS license. This allowed us to free up some of the expensive licenses and assign them to SAP users who actually need them.
VOQUZ: How has license distribution changed?
Thomas Jünger: I had counted on us having to buy between five and ten additional Professional licenses. That turned out not to be the case, however, because thanks to samQ we obtained a cross-system overview and were able to redistribute the licenses. Several Professional licenses were freed up in the process. This means we didn’t have to buy any more licenses, of course. Additional licenses were made available thanks to user optimization functionality, which systematically identifies users who haven’t logged in in a long time (for example, 90 days). samQ helped us avoid additional costs.
VOQUZ: Does that mean you’ve already undergone a license evaluation since deploying samQ?
Thomas Jünger: Yes, that’s right. samQ enabled us to make our results transparent, so we were well prepared for the license evaluation.
VOQUZ: How did the evaluation go?
Thomas Jünger: SAP accepted the results without further ado. No questions were asked after the evaluation. The data we provided was correct, and we really didn’t have to buy a single license. That was great, of course.
VOQUZ: One last question. What do you value most about samQ?
Thomas Jünger: Apart from the rapidity and reliability of the figures, I especially appreciate that the comparison can be repeated regularly and that I can obtain a monthly or even daily report on updates to license assignments based on which transactions are called. This means I can stay completely up to date on the license inventory and know well in advance what to expect from the results of an SAP system evaluation.
VOQUZ: We’re happy to hear that. Thank you very much for speaking with us today!
