How to Measure SAP Maturity KPIs Across the 8 FLASH Dimensions
Posted on February 12, 2026 by Laeeq Siddique
Most organisations track SAP performance. Very few of them are measurements of actual SAP maturity.
For CIOs and transformation leaders, however, it’s common to fall back on operational KPIs such as system availability, ticket volume or time to close each month as measures of SAP success. But those metrics alone don’t address a much more strategic question:
Is our SAP landscape ready for digital transformation, S/4HANA and the cloud?
This is why the right SAP KPI examples become instrumental.
When calibrated to digital maturity, SAP KPIs cease to be rear-view operational measures and become leading signals of transformation success. In this guide, we’ll walk through how you can use SAP KPI examples to measure the digital maturity of various key spheres — and how leaders can leverage those findings to make changes for the better.
Why SAP KPIs Are More Important for Digital Maturity: Not Reporting
At an executive level, SAP transformation KPIs need to be more than performance reporting. They should:
- Reveal capability gaps
- Signal transformation readiness
- Predict risk and value realisation
- Support investment and roadmap decisions
Digital maturity is not a single metric; it’s about behaviours, capabilities, and outputs. The proper SAP maturity KPIsexamples can communicate to leadership where the business is being empowered by SAP, but also where it’s being restricted.
SAP KPIs vs Classic IT Numbers: A Crucial Difference
Many institutions actually mix KPIs from SAP and IT metrics.
| Traditional SAP Metrics | Digital Maturity SAP KPIs |
| System uptime | Business process automation rate |
| Ticket volume | Root-cause resolution maturity |
| Batch job success | Real-time processing adoption |
| Transport count | Change failure rate |
| Data volume | Data quality and governance KPIs |
Digital maturity KPI’s are about being able, not doing.
SAP KPI Examples And How They Drive Assessment of Digital Maturity
Basically, any digital maturity assessment scores SAP, where they have a different scale for many of the following areas – Architecture, Process, Data, Integration, Governance and People.
There are three executive questions that SAP KPI examples respond to for each dimension:
- How mature are we today?
- Where are the biggest risks?
- What should we prioritise next?
Let’s unspool this by dimension.
SAP KPI Examples for the Architecture and Landscape View
Scalability, cost and readiness for S/4HANA and cloud are impacts through architecture maturity.
Key SAP KPI Examples:
- % of custom code complying with clean-core principles
- Overhead and unused SAP transactions for the obsolete or not used for more than 3 months
- System consolidation ratio (Franchises versus Business Units)
- Peak response time for core transactions on average across the system
What These KPIs Reveal:
High commercialisation and fragmented environments imply low architectural maturity that leads to higher cost and risk of migration.
Business Process Maturity: Relevant SAP KPI Examples
One of the best indicators for success in SAP transformation KPIs is undoubtedly process maturity.
Key SAP KPI Examples:
- % of processes in line with SAP standard
- Manual vs automated process ratio
- Process cycle time (e.g., Order-to-Cash) from end to end
- Process exception rate
Executive Insight:
Low automation and high exception rates at the same time indicate a lack of process maturity, which can be followed by over-customisation in S/4HANA.
Levels of Data and Information Maturity: Example KPI’s (from SAP)
Data maturity is a reliable sign of how good analytics, forecasting and AI outcomes will be.
Key SAP KPI Examples:
- Master data error rate
- Duplicate master records percentage
- Data ownership coverage ratio
- Fix the data quality first
Strategic Impact:
Weak data KPIs forecast low adoption of S/4HANA analytics and limited SAP BTP and AI value.
Real-Time Examples of KPIs: KPIs that relate to Integration and Connectivity in SAP
Integration maturity measures how effectively SAP functions as part of a digital ecosystem.
Key SAP KPI Examples:
- Number of point-to-point integrations
- Percentage of integrations using APIs
- Integration failure rate
- Average integration recovery time
Why It Matters:
High P2P integration numbers and failure rate testify to brittle architectures not well adapted for cloud scaling.
Example of SAP BTP and Innovation KPIs
Innovation maturity is a measure of how SAP supports expansion, rather than just operations.
Key SAP KPI Examples:
- Side by side vs Core mods
- SAP BTP service adoption rate
- Integration and extension services reuse rate
Executive Value:
These KPIs reflect whether SAP is a lever or a drag on innovation.
Examples of Security and Compliance SAP KPIs
Security maturity saves operations and reputation.
Key SAP KPI Examples:
- Role conflict rate
- Number of critical authorisation violations
- The time to grant or terminate the access
- Audit results in the SAP systems
Risk Indicator:
When access provisioning is sluggish and conflict rates are high, it means that there are governance gaps in place that can slow down cloud migrations at the time.
KPI Examples for Governance and Operating Model
Governance maturity determines long-term sustainability.
Key SAP KPI Examples:
- Change failure rate
- SAP change approval lead time, on average
- Per cent of SAP spend governed
- Unplanned changes per release cycle
Leadership Insight:
Weak governance KPIs are often the reason SAP costs go up as agility goes down.
Skills and Readiness of the Organisation: SAP KPI Examples
Physical human maturity is an issue ignored at one’s peril.
Key SAP KPI Examples:
- % of SAP team (includes EBM and regional team as well) trained in S/4HANA and BTP
- Dependency ratio on external consultants
- The time needed to solve difficult SAP tickets
- Change adoption rate post go-live
Transformation Risk:
Post-go-live instability is predictable by high consultant dependence and a low degree of training coverage.
Mapping of SAP KPI Cases into Maturity Levels
It is when SAP KPIs are matched to maturity levels that they become truly potent.
| Maturity Level | KPI Pattern |
| Initial | High manual effort, reactive metrics |
| Managed | Stabilised but siloed KPIs |
| Defined | Standardised, comparable KPIs |
| Optimised | Predictive and value-driven KPIs |
| Intelligent | Real-time, outcome-focused KPIs |
Executives need to aspire to KPI advancement, not merely adding more and more KPIs.
SAP KPI Examples: Misuses To Avoid
However, even the best-intentioned KPI programs falter when:
- Too many KPIs are measured without any understanding
- The metrics are very IT-centric
- KPIs are not connected to business results
- No sense of ownership or plans of action
Decisions should be made based on KPIs, not just dashboards.
Implement SAP KPI Samples in the Digital Maturity Program
A pragmatic step for leadership teams:
- Choose KPIs from the dimensions of maturity
- Baseline current performance
- Identify capability gaps
- Set target maturity KPIs
- Track improvement over transformation phases
This transforms SAP KPIs from scorecards to traits and process performance levers, not results from slim reporting tethers.
How SAP KPI Examples Predict Success with Transformation
Leading businesses that utilise maturity-driven SAP KPIs typically deliver:
- More accurate S/4HANA roadmaps
- Lower migration risk
- Faster value realisation
- Better SAP investment governance
SAP transformation KPIs uncover problems early while they are at their cheapest to resolve.
Final Words: Elitist Industries
If you want to support artists and not calculators, well, count what actually counts.
Digital transformation isn’t a flop because companies don’t have SAP KPIs. It doesn’t work because they aren’t watching the right ones.
The right SAP KPI examples tied to digital maturity provide executives with a sense of clarity, confidence and control. They also turn SAP from an expense (cost centre) into a strategic capability.
Whether you’re evaluating SAP digital maturity, strategising for S/4HANA or going broad with SAP BTP, the correct KPI framework can reveal risks and opportunities that are too crucial to overlook.
Begin with the right SAP maturity KPIs examples, then follow your newfound analysis to its next logical step.