Saturday, January 31, 2026

SAP Cloud Terminology

SAP Cloud terminology refers to the specialized vocabulary, acronyms, and service names used to describe SAP’s cloud ecosystem. Since SAP transitioned from a traditional on-premise model to a so called "Cloud First" strategy, many older terms have been renamed or evolved. Below list below doesn’t meant to be complete or exhaustive. It just serves as a quick intro into cloud terminology that SAP has. Not need to mention that these terms and their definitions are subject to change. Thus, always consult with SAP official sources. Such as SAP Trust Center that is official repository where SAP hosts all legal, compliance, and service-level documentation.

The most critical thing to know is that SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) is the foundation for almost all SAP cloud services.

Core Platform Terminology

SAP BTP (Business Technology Platform) - The "operating system" for the SAP cloud. It’s a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) that hosts everything from databases to AI.

Hyperscalers - The underlying infrastructure providers (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud) that host SAP’s cloud services.

Subaccount - A structural unit within BTP used to manage applications, services, and users.

Environments or Runtimes - Within BTP where developers deploy code. Basically, they are two: Cloud Foundry and Kyma. Cloud Foundry is for standard web apps. Kyma is for Kubernetes-based containerized apps.

Agreement - Is the legal and structural framework that governs how a customer uses and pays for SAP cloud services. There are three types of them:

·        BTPEA - BTP Enterprise Agreement - "consumption-based" agreement, customer commits to a certain amount of cloud credits and spends them on any service you want.

·        CPEA - Cloud Platform Enterprise Agreement - The predecessor to BTPEA. It works similarly with a "commit-to-consume" model using credits.

·        PayG - Pay-As-You-Go - Agreement with no upfront commitment. You are billed monthly based on exactly what you used.

Unit – Typically refers to the standardized measurements used to quantify how much of a service customer is using. However, as per multiple commercial models, the unit can refer to three distinct layers of the BTP platform: Capacity Units, Units of Measure, or Cloud Credits.

Credits (Cloud Credits) – It is a prepaid digital currency used to pay for cloud services. The credits are bought upfront. One credit usually equals a specific monetary value (e.g., $1 or €1) as per a list price.

Entitlements - Are rights to use specific resources. If Credits are the money in customer’s wallet, Entitlements are the items the customer is actually allowed to buy and the "limits" on how much of them can be used.

Quota - Numeric limit of BTP service (e.g., 64 GB of RAM, or 2 instances of a database).

Usage - Is the actual consumption of services.

Usage Metrics - Are the specific units of measure used to calculate how much of customer balance (Credits or Subscription) is consumed. Usage Metrics may differ in case of different BTP services.

Capacity Unit (CU) - Is a ratio of services consumed via the Cloud Service and is calculated as set forth in the respective Product Supplement, Service Description Guide or Service Use Description.

Service

Usage Metric

Meaning

SAP HANA Cloud

Capacity Units

Combines RAM, CPU, and Storage into one power unit.

Integration Suite

Messages

Volume of data being moved between systems.

SAP Build Apps

Active Users

Number of people building or using apps.

Object Store

Gigabytes (GB)

Physical space files occupy.

SAC

Capacity Units

Compute, memory, credits.

DataSphere

Capacity Units

Multiple factors such as Data Lake usage, storage, memory, compute and more

BDC

Capacity Units

Those of SAC, DataSphere and on top of that DataBricks related as well: serverless SQL compute, SAP Object Store requests, and more

 

Cloud Package - Means a defined set of Cloud Services that are subject to a single subscription fee and collectively deemed a Cloud Service.

Content - Means any business logic, code, data models, configurations, user data, applications or other electronic materials created by customer.

Cloud Service - means any distinct, hosted, supported and operated on-demand solution provided by SAP.

Service Description Guide (SDG) - Is a legally binding document that defines:

·        Usage Metrics: Exactly what constitutes a "unit" (e.g., what counts as a "Document" vs. a "Record").

·        Service-Specific Terms: Rules that only apply to one specific tool (e.g., data retention limits for AI services).

·        SLAs: The guaranteed uptime for each specific service (e.g., 99.7% vs 99.9%)

Test, Demonstration and Development Cloud Services (TDD Cloud Services) - Refers to a specific category of licenses and environments designed exclusively for non-productive use.

General Terms and Conditions for SAP Cloud Services (GTC) – Is the foundational legal document of an SAP cloud contract. While the Order Form tells what customer bought and the Service Description Guide tells how it works, the GTC defines the legal "rules of engagement" between the customer and SAP.


More Information:

SAP Agreements

General terms and conditions

Service-level agreements

Service Description Guide

SAP Business Technology Platform Supplemental Terms and Conditions

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