RISE with SAP: What Still Belongs to You (Including FUE)

20 August 2026
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RISE with SAP is the offering that takes S/4HANA to the cloud as a subscription: in a single contract, SAP delivers the software, the infrastructure (on a hyperscaler such as AWS, Azure, or GCP), and operation services. It sounds like it solves everything — and that is exactly where the risk lives: “as a service” does not mean “without responsibility”.

In this article, therefore, we explain RISE with SAP in plain language, show what remains yours, and cover a topic almost nobody addresses: FUE licensing — where, in practice, we have watched money leak away.

In one sentence — RISE with SAP is like renting a furnished apartment: the building, the structure, and the maintenance belong to the landlord (SAP); however, deciding who gets a key, what comes in and out, and how much electricity is used — that is still you.

What RISE with SAP covers — and what stays with you

The model is called shared responsibility. SAP takes care of the infrastructure, the database, the patches, and the contracted availability. On your side, however, remain:

  • Application security. Access, roles, segregation of duties (SoD — whoever buys does not approve), and data protection.
  • Identity. Single sign-on (SSO) and user governance between SAP and the rest of the company.
  • Integrations. Banks, payment methods, legacy, and third-party systems.
  • Consumption and cost. The contract has tiers — and, therefore, someone must watch what pushes you into the tier above.
SAP handles (in RISE) infrastructure and data center HANA database and patches contracted availability basic technical operation Still YOURS application security and SoD identity and SSO integrations with everything around consumption, sizing, and cost (FinOps) the contract transfers the operation — not the responsibility for your business
Shared responsibility: the right half is where RISE projects stumble — and where Inove acts.

FUE: the licensing nobody explains

In RISE with SAP, users are licensed in FUE (Full Use Equivalent) — a “currency” that converts each user type into a weight: an advanced user is worth 1 FUE, a functional user a fraction, and a self-service user much less. The contract, in turn, defines how many FUEs you bought.

In practice, we have watched money leak through two drains: mistyped users (people classified as advanced who do self-service work) and invisible consumption — for example, workflow approvals counting as advanced use for someone who only clicks “approve”. In one RISE environment we optimized, retyping users and adjusting the workflow design eliminated the FUE overage — without, moreover, removing access from anyone who needed it.

Critical point — HANA memory sizing also has price tiers in RISE. Therefore, volume management (DVM/archiving + NSE) holds back database growth and avoids climbing a tier at renewal. Licensing + memory are the two levers of FinOps in RISE.

How Inove helps

We take care of the half that is still yours: cybersecurity and SoD, identity and SSO, integrations, contract FinOps (FUE + sizing), and application support around S/4HANA in the cloud. As a result, you enjoy the best of RISE with SAP — without discovering holes later.

Our long-standing vision: we want our clients to be happy and free of IT headaches — including inside RISE.

Where to start

  1. Responsibility map — in black and white: what belongs to SAP, what belongs to you.
  2. FUE X-ray — the real user typing versus the contract.
  3. Security and identity — SoD and SSO designed for the RISE environment.
  4. Continuous FinOps — licensing and sizing watched all year, not only at renewal.
Infographic: responsibility map in RISE with SAP
What SAP handles × what is still yours — in black and white.

Read next

Already on RISE with SAP, or evaluating it? Talk to Inove Solutions — we X-ray your contract and your foundation.

Frequently asked questions

What does RISE cover and what stays with the customer?

SAP delivers the software, the infrastructure on a hyperscaler and the technical operation of it. What stays with the customer is everything that is a decision: who has access, what goes into production, how data is used, how much is consumed and what gets customised.

Does internal IT stop being necessary under RISE?

No — it changes role. It moves from keeping machines up to governing: access, change, integration, cost and evidence. Companies that treated RISE as full outsourcing tend to discover this at the first audit.

What is an FUE?

It is the unit the licence is counted in, converting different user types into a single measure. The contract is sized in it — and the overage appears when the real distribution of users differs from the one that was signed.

What should be assessed before signing?

Three things that get expensive later: the initial sizing of memory and volume, because growing mid-term is costly; the split of responsibilities in writing, especially during an incident; and the exit plan, the clause nobody reads and everybody needs.