Case Study: Large Publishing Company achieves SoD-free SAP S/4HANA access and major SoD reductions with Protiviti

National publisher turns growing pain into an opportunity for excellence in SAP S/4HANA user access design

Large Publishing Company faced urgent segregation-of-duties (SoD) conflicts after migrating a newly acquired business onto SAP S/4HANA and a CRM platform, with external auditors demanding remediation by year-end. To meet the deadline and build long-term sustainability, the company engaged Protiviti to lead a targeted access redesign and SoD remediation effort, leveraging a customized ruleset and integration with the existing GRC Access Control system.

Protiviti implemented a simplified, best-practice access architecture: customized S/4HANA rules integrated into GRC, clear access ownership, an automated emergency-access process, a 10% pilot go‑live, and a governance committee to sustain changes. The work delivered measurable impact—role access became 100% free of SoD conflicts and user-level SoD violations fell by 82.5% in S/4HANA and 97.7% in the CRM system—winning auditor approval and enabling smoother operations moving forward.