Redefining SAP Authorization Architectures Through Business Process Risk Assessment, Toxic Access Combination Analysis, and Migration-Oriented Role Consolidation

Abstract

SAP authorization architectures require rigorous evaluation to identify excessive privileges, conflicting business responsibilities, and security weaknesses before migration from SAP ECC to S/4HANA. This study investigates how business process risk assessment, toxic access combination analysis, and migration-oriented role consolidation can strengthen enterprise access governance while maintaining operational continuity. The research addresses the challenge of inherited authorization complexity, where accumulated permissions, overlapping responsibilities, and inadequate role maintenance increase exposure to fraud, compliance violations, and unauthorized transactions. A mixed-method methodology combines quantitative access risk scoring, transaction usage analysis, and segregation of duties conflict assessment with qualitative examination of business processes, authorization policies, and control requirements. The proposed framework categorizes access conflicts according to business criticality, potential financial impact, misuse likelihood, and existing mitigating controls, enabling security teams to prioritize remediation systematically. Role redesign follows least privilege principles, functional responsibility mapping, and transaction dependency analysis to eliminate redundant access without disrupting essential workflows. The findings demonstrate the value of integrating risk classification with role rationalization to improve authorization transparency, strengthen audit readiness, and reduce the likelihood of transferring legacy access weaknesses into the target environment. The principal contribution is a structured governance methodology connecting risk identification, remediation prioritization, role redesign, and migration preparedness within a unified assessment process. The approach offers practical guidance for SAP security architects, internal auditors, compliance specialists, and enterprise transformation teams. Its broader significance lies in establishing a repeatable foundation for controlled authorization management, sustainable segregation of duties enforcement, and improved security governance throughout enterprise system modernization.