Description

A focused course, tailored for you

The SAP Authorisations Specialist's SoD and Audit Defence Course

Build clean roles, prove SoD, and survive the audit walkthrough without rebuilding the authorisations concept under deadline pressure.

The SoD conflict report is three hundred lines long, the auditor walkthrough is on the calendar, and the business will not give up access. This is the course for the specialist sitting in that seat.

$199 one-time

Tailored to your situation. Access within 24 hours. 30-day money-back.

Includes a hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access, generated for your specific situation.

Why this course

SAP Security and Authorisations Specialists carry a specific kind of pressure. The role design decisions made three years ago are still live in production, sitting under composite roles that nobody fully documents. Every new module rollout brings a fresh authorisations request that the functional consultant has already promised to the business. SU24 proposals do not match what SU53 traces show. SoD rulesets imported from a prior GRC implementation flag thousands of users, most of whom are false positives, but you cannot tell the auditor that without proving it line by line. The walkthrough question is always the same: show me how a user with this role cannot post a vendor invoice and approve the payment. The honest answer requires a role redesign, but the redesign window never opens because the next go-live is always two weeks away. This course is for the practitioner running production authorisations who needs to defend the design that exists, fix what can be fixed without a full rebuild, and produce evidence the auditor will accept.

What you walk away with

Redesign a derived-role hierarchy without breaking existing user assignments.
Defend an inherited GRC SoD ruleset to an external auditor line by line.
Produce the org-level user access analysis an auditor actually accepts.
Run SU24 maintenance on new transactions without breaking SU53 traces.
Map your authorisations concept to ISO 27001, SOC 2, and SOX ITGC evidence requirements.

The 12 modules

Module 1. The authorisations concept on one page

Document the existing concept in the format an auditor reads first: master, derived, composite, single roles, naming convention, org-level distribution, business-role-to-technical-role mapping. This module produces the artefact every audit cycle asks for and the design conversation every new module rollout needs. Includes a one-page template you fill against your own landscape and a worked example from a typical ECC-to-S/4HANA mixed environment.

Module 2. Reading SU24 against business reality

SU24 proposals are the foundation of every PFCG role. Most landscapes carry inherited SU24 maintenance that no longer matches the transactions in use. This module walks the process for auditing SU24 against actual usage data from STUSOBTRACE and ST03N, identifying gaps where the proposal under-authorises or over-authorises, and the change procedure that keeps the next role generation clean. Worked examples on MIRO, FB60, ME21N.

Module 3. Derived-role hierarchies that survive org changes

Derived roles are the standard answer to multi-org-unit access, but a brittle derivation breaks every time a new plant or company code is added. This module covers how to design org-level fields that flex, how to handle the bukrs/werks/vkorg combinations cleanly, and how to mass-maintain derived roles when the business adds a new entity. Includes the PFCG mass change patterns that do not corrupt the master role.

Module 4. Composite roles versus business roles in GRC

Composite roles solve one problem and create another. GRC ARA treats composites differently than single roles in SoD analysis. This module walks the trade-off between composite-only assignment, business-role-driven assignment via GRC, and the hybrid model most landscapes actually run. Covers the SoD reporting consequences of each model and what to tell the auditor when the ruleset returns false positives because of composite layering.

Module 5. Segregation of duties rulesets that defend in audit

Inherited SoD rulesets carry thousands of rules, most of which the previous GRC consultant copied from the SAP-delivered ruleset without tuning. This module covers how to audit your own ruleset against the actual business risks in your landscape, how to retire rules that produce false positives, how to add rules for industry-specific risks, and how to document the ruleset change history so the auditor accepts the current state.

Module 6. Mitigating controls the auditor accepts

When the business refuses to remove an SoD conflict, the answer is a mitigating control. Mitigating controls fail audit when they are documented in GRC but not actually performed, when the control owner is the same person doing the conflicted activity, or when the evidence cannot be produced on demand. This module walks the design and documentation of mitigating controls that survive a walkthrough, including the monthly review evidence the auditor will request.

Module 7. User provisioning with GRC Access Request Management

Provisioning is where the authorisations concept meets joiner-mover-leaver reality. This module covers the GRC ARM workflow design that catches SoD at request time rather than after assignment, the approver-versus-risk-owner split that makes audit defensible, the fallback procedure for emergency access, and the firefighter ID design that does not become the unintended permanent access path.

Module 8. Emergency access and firefighter ID hygiene

Firefighter IDs are the standard SAP audit finding. They are configured, they are used, the logs are not reviewed, and the auditor calls it out. This module covers the firefighter ID design that limits scope to a real emergency window, the log-review workflow that produces evidence the auditor accepts, and the periodic-recertification process that keeps the firefighter inventory clean.

Module 9. Periodic user access review without the spreadsheet

User Access Review (UAR) campaigns are usually run in spreadsheets even when GRC is in scope, because the GRC-driven campaign produces output the business owners cannot interpret. This module covers UAR campaign design that business owners will actually complete, the role-owner-versus-line-manager split, the evidence the auditor wants from a completed campaign, and the remediation workflow that closes the loop on removed access.

Module 10. S/4HANA Fiori catalogues and the authorisations concept

The S/4HANA Fiori model adds catalogues, groups, and tile-level authorisations to the standard PFCG concept. This module covers how the Fiori catalogue model maps to existing PFCG roles, how to maintain the catalogue-to-role mapping without duplicating the authorisations concept, how to handle SoD analysis across the Fiori plus PFCG model, and the typical pitfalls in the S/4HANA conversion that produce authorisations regressions.

Module 11. Cross-mapping the concept to ISO 27001, SOC 2, and SOX ITGC

Auditors map SAP authorisations to specific clauses in their framework. ISO 27001 Annex A.9 access control, SOC 2 CC6 logical access, SOX ITGC change-and-access controls. This module covers the mapping document that connects your authorisations concept to each framework, the evidence artefacts each clause expects, and the answer to the recurring question about how the SAP-internal SoD ruleset relates to the financial-statement-level SoD framework.

Module 12. The audit walkthrough rehearsal

Final module: the walkthrough simulation. Given the artefacts produced in modules one through eleven, this module walks the typical audit walkthrough end to end. The questions you will be asked in the order they will be asked. The screens to have ready. The evidence to produce on demand. The honest answers to the questions where the design has known gaps and the remediation roadmap to present alongside them.

How this addresses your situation

Specific modules that map to what you said you are dealing with.

The SoD conflict report has flagged three hundred users and the audit walkthrough is next Thursday: modules 5, 6, and 12 produce the defence pack.

The S/4HANA conversion is bringing Fiori catalogues into a landscape that was built on classic PFCG: modules 1, 2, and 10 close the gap.

A new plant or company code is being added and the derived-role hierarchy is about to be mass-maintained: modules 3 and 4 produce the design pattern.

An external audit is scheduled and the inherited GRC ruleset has never been tuned against actual business risks: modules 5, 9, and 11 produce the audit-ready evidence.

What you get with this course

Twelve written modules in the Art of Service learning environment.
Downloadable PFCG role-design templates and SU24 maintenance worksheets.
Worked GRC SoD ruleset examples and mitigating-control documentation templates.
The hand-built authorisations playbook scoped to your specific landscape, delivered alongside course access.
A cross-mapping reference document for ISO 27001, SOC 2, and SOX ITGC clauses against the SAP authorisations concept.

What you will have in hand by Day 1, Week 1, Month 1

Within 24 hours of purchase: course access in the Art of Service learning environment plus the hand-built implementation playbook scoped to your landscape.

Modules one through four: documentation of the existing concept and SU24 baseline.

Modules five through eight: SoD ruleset tuning, mitigating controls, provisioning, and firefighter hygiene.

Modules nine through twelve: periodic review, Fiori catalogue mapping, framework cross-mapping, and walkthrough rehearsal.

Before and after

Before

Every audit cycle is a scramble. The SoD ruleset produces thousands of conflicts that nobody can explain, the business resists every removal request, and the auditor's walkthrough questions land on design decisions that were made by someone who left two years ago. The remediation plan from last cycle is still half-open.

After

The authorisations concept is documented on one page. The SoD ruleset has been tuned against actual business risks, false positives have been retired, and mitigating controls are documented with evidence the auditor accepts. The walkthrough rehearsal has already happened internally, and the gaps that remain have a remediation roadmap presented alongside the design.

What happens if you do not address this

Audit findings on SAP authorisations escalate. A first-cycle finding becomes a material weakness in the next cycle when remediation has not progressed. A material weakness draws the attention of the external financial-statement audit and the SOX programme. The specialist sitting in the seat carries the documentation burden either way; the choice is whether the documentation is produced under audit pressure or built ahead of it.

Who it is for

SAP Security and Authorisations Specialists, GRC Access Control administrators, S/4HANA migration security leads, and authorisations consultants embedded inside customer landscapes. Practitioners who write PFCG roles, run SU24 maintenance, configure GRC ARA rulesets, and answer audit questions on segregation of duties.

Who this is NOT for. Generalist IT auditors with no PFCG exposure, business process owners who do not touch the authorisations concept directly, executives looking for a board-level SAP risk summary. The course assumes hands-on familiarity with PFCG, SU24, SUIM, and the standard SAP transaction code landscape.

How it arrives

Text-based course in the Art of Service learning environment, plus downloadable PFCG role-design templates, SU24 maintenance worksheets, and worked GRC SoD examples for every module, plus the hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access.

Time investment. Roughly two to three hours per module for the practitioner working through the worked examples against their own landscape. Total course time of thirty to forty hours, completable across one quarter alongside production work.

Why $199 is the right number

Vendor-led SAP authorisations training covers the standard PFCG and GRC mechanics but stops short of the audit-defence pack. SAP-delivered ruleset content arrives untuned and produces the false-positive problem this course solves. Generalist GRC consultancy engagements scope to a project and leave when the project ends; this course is built for the practitioner who will still be sitting in the seat when the next audit cycle starts.

FAQ

Is this aligned to a specific SAP version?

The course covers both classic ECC plus PFCG and S/4HANA plus Fiori catalogues. The authorisations concept fundamentals are version-agnostic; the S/4HANA-specific work is in module ten.

Does the course require GRC Access Control to be installed?

Modules four through nine reference GRC ARA, ARM, and EAM directly. The concepts translate to non-GRC landscapes, and the templates work without GRC, but GRC examples are the default working assumption.

What does the hand-built implementation playbook contain?

A scoped document for your specific landscape: an inventory of your existing PFCG roles by category, a recommended SoD ruleset tuning plan, a mitigating-control template list keyed to your business processes, and the audit-walkthrough question pack tuned to your industry and audit firm.

Is there a refund?

Thirty-day money-back guarantee. If the course and the playbook do not match the seat you are sitting in, full refund.

30-day money-back guarantee. If after a week of working through the materials this is not what you needed, reply to the receipt email and a full refund is processed. No questions, no forms.

Within 24 hours your account in the learning environment is provisioned and the tailored implementation playbook is delivered alongside it.