SoD Tools Comparison: Best Segregation of Duties Software for SAP

Choosing the right SoD tool can make the difference between spending months on manual access reviews and having a clear, actionable remediation path within days. The market for Segregation of Duties tools has evolved significantly, with options ranging from heavyweight enterprise suites to specialized, high-performance analyzers.

This guide breaks down what to look for in SoD tooling, compares the leading solutions, and explains where MTC Skopos fits in the Segregation of Duties software landscape.

What is a SoD Tool?

A SoD tool (Segregation of Duties tool) is software designed to detect, analyze, and help resolve access conflicts in enterprise systems. In the context of SAP SoD, these tools examine user authorizations, role assignments, and transaction access to identify situations where a single user can perform conflicting actions, such as creating a vendor and approving payments to that vendor.

Effective Segregation of Duties tooling goes beyond simple detection. Modern SoD tools should provide:

• Conflict Detection: Identify all users with access to conflicting transaction combinations
• Risk Scoring: Prioritize conflicts based on business impact and regulatory requirements
• SoD Remediation: Provide actionable guidance on how to resolve conflicts
• SoD Mitigation: When remediation isn't possible, enable monitoring controls through usage analysis
• Simulation: Test proposed changes before implementing them

The SoD Tool Market Landscape

The Segregation of Duties tools market can be divided into three categories:

1. Enterprise GRC Suites

Tools like SAP GRC Access Control and Pathlock offer comprehensive governance, risk, and compliance capabilities. They include SoD analysis as part of broader access governance, provisioning, and emergency access management features.

Best for: Organizations needing end-to-end access governance with workflow integration and provisioning capabilities.

Trade-offs: Higher implementation complexity, significant infrastructure requirements, per-user pricing that scales with your SAP landscape.

2. Specialized Risk Analysis Tools

MTC Skopos, Access Informer, and IBS Schreiber (CheckAud) focus specifically on access risk analysis and SAP Segregation of Duties detection. These tools prioritize depth of analysis and speed over breadth of features.

Best for: Organizations that need fast, detailed SoD analysis without the overhead of a full GRC platform.

Trade-offs: Typically don't include provisioning or workflow capabilities (though they often integrate with provisioning tools).

3. Cloud-Native Solutions

Soterion and cloud deployments of Pathlock represent the newer generation of cloud-first SoD tooling. They offer SaaS deployment with regular updates and reduced infrastructure burden.

Best for: Organizations preferring subscription-based cloud services with vendor-managed infrastructure.

Trade-offs: Data leaves your infrastructure, which may conflict with privacy requirements or internal policies.

Key Features to Evaluate in SoD Tools

Analysis Speed and Scalability

How long does it take to analyze your entire SAP landscape? Some Segregation of Duties tools require hours to process large user populations. For organizations running regular audits or continuous monitoring, slow analysis creates operational bottlenecks.

MTC Skopos is engineered for speed, using a high-performance Rust engine that completes full SAP SoD analysis in minutes rather than hours, even for environments with tens of thousands of users.

SoD Remediation Capabilities

Detection is only half the battle. The real value of SoD tooling lies in helping you fix problems. Look for tools that provide:

• Specific recommendations: "Remove role X from user Y" rather than "consider reviewing user access"
• Impact analysis: Understanding what else breaks when you make a change
• Prioritization: Which conflicts matter most and should be addressed first

MTC Skopos includes an Advanced Remediation engine that generates concrete, actionable SoD remediation steps. The algorithm works through four phases, from simple role removal to role splitting, always trying the least disruptive fix first. Read more about how this works in our Advanced Remediation deep dive.

SoD Mitigation Through Did-Do Analysis

Not every conflict can be remediated. Business requirements sometimes mean users legitimately need conflicting access. In these cases, SoD mitigation through monitoring becomes essential.

Did-do analysis (also called execution analysis) tracks whether users with conflicting access actually execute both sides of the conflict. A user who can create a vendor AND approve payments presents a different risk than a user who actually does both.

MTC Skopos provides extensive did-do analysis capabilities, allowing you to:

• Identify which conflicts represent theoretical vs. actual risk
• Focus remediation efforts on conflicts with real transaction execution
• Document mitigating controls for auditors (monitoring users who haven't exercised conflicts)
• Track when previously inactive conflicts become active

This shifts SoD mitigation from periodic sampling to continuous, data-driven monitoring.

Multi-ERP and Cross-System Analysis

Modern enterprises rarely run just SAP. Effective Segregation of Duties software should analyze risks across your entire ERP landscape, not just within a single system.

MTC Skopos supports SAP Segregation of Duties analysis natively and extends to any ERP platform including Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, Odoo, and custom systems. This enables identification of cross-system SoD conflicts that single-system tools miss entirely.

Deployment Model and Privacy

Where does your sensitive authorization data go? Cloud-based SoD tools require uploading user access information to third-party infrastructure. For many organizations, especially those in regulated industries, this creates unacceptable risk.

MTC Skopos runs entirely on-premise as a portable desktop application. Your SAP security data never leaves your infrastructure. There's no installation, no server infrastructure, no cloud dependencies, just download and run.

Comparing Leading SoD Tools

For a complete feature-by-feature comparison, see our detailed GRC Tools Comparison page.

When to Choose Each Type of SoD Tool

Choose an Enterprise GRC Suite if:

• You need integrated provisioning and workflow capabilities
• You want emergency access management (firefighter IDs)
• Your organization has standardized on the vendor's platform
• You have the budget and resources for a significant implementation project

Choose a Specialized SoD Tool like MTC Skopos if:

• You need fast, deep SAP SoD analysis without GRC overhead
• You're a consultant or auditor working across multiple client environments
• You want to be operational the same day you decide to evaluate
• Privacy requirements prevent sending data to cloud services
• You want transparent, predictable pricing that doesn't scale with user count
• You need advanced SoD remediation capabilities that go beyond simple reporting

Choose a Cloud-Native Solution if:

• You prefer SaaS deployment and vendor-managed infrastructure
• Your organization has embraced cloud-first IT strategies
• You're comfortable with authorization data in third-party systems

SoD Resolution: From Detection to Clean State

The journey from "we have SoD conflicts" to "we've resolved our access risks" typically follows this path:

1. Initial Analysis

Run your Segregation of Duties tool against your SAP environment to establish a baseline. MTC Skopos can complete this initial analysis in minutes, providing a comprehensive view of all conflicts.

2. Risk Prioritization

Not all conflicts are equal. Prioritize based on:

• Business criticality of the conflicting transactions
• Regulatory requirements (SOX, etc.)
• Did-do analysis results (is the user actually executing both sides?)

3. SoD Remediation Planning

For conflicts that can be eliminated, develop a remediation plan. MTC Skopos's Advanced Remediation engine automates this, generating specific steps for each conflict:

• Remove unnecessary role assignments
• Split roles that combine conflicting access
• Reassign users to less risky role combinations

4. Simulation and Validation

Before implementing changes, simulate them. Will removing this role create new conflicts? Will it break business processes? Simulation capabilities prevent costly trial-and-error.

5. Implementation

Execute the remediation plan. For SAP environments, this means adjusting role assignments through SU01/PFCG or your provisioning tool.

6. SoD Mitigation for Remaining Risks

Some conflicts can't be eliminated, the business needs that access combination. For these, implement SoD mitigation controls:

• Document the business justification
• Establish monitoring through did-do analysis
• Set thresholds for acceptable activity
• Create alerts when users with mitigated conflicts execute both transactions

7. Continuous Monitoring

SoD isn't a one-time project. New users are created, roles are modified, and access accumulates. Regular analysis catches new conflicts before they become audit findings.

Why MTC Skopos for SAP Segregation of Duties

We built MTC Skopos to address specific frustrations with existing SoD tooling:

Speed matters. Waiting hours for analysis results kills productivity and makes iterative remediation impractical. MTC Skopos completes full SAP SoD analysis in minutes.

Remediation guidance, not just reports. Most tools tell you what's wrong but leave you to figure out how to fix it. Our Advanced Remediation engine provides specific, actionable steps.

Did-do for real mitigation. When conflicts can't be eliminated, you need to monitor them. Extensive did-do analysis makes SoD mitigation practical and auditable.

No infrastructure burden. Download the application, export your SAP data, and start analyzing. No servers, no installation, no dependencies.

Transparent pricing. Flat-rate licensing means your costs don't explode as your SAP landscape grows. Starting at CHF 2,000/year with no per-user fees.

Privacy by design. Your authorization data stays on your infrastructure. For consultants and auditors, this means analyzing client systems without security concerns.

Getting Started with SoD Analysis

Whether you're evaluating Segregation of Duties tools for the first time or looking to replace an underperforming solution, the key is getting hands-on quickly.

MTC Skopos offers a 14-day trial that lets you analyze your actual SAP environment, not a demo system with artificial data. Export your SAP roles and users, run the analysis, and see your real SoD landscape within an hour of starting.

Conclusion

The right SoD tool depends on your specific needs. Enterprise GRC suites offer breadth, cloud solutions offer convenience, and specialized tools like MTC Skopos offer depth and speed.

For organizations that need fast, thorough SAP Segregation of Duties analysis with practical SoD remediation and SoD mitigation capabilities, MTC Skopos delivers professional-grade analysis without the complexity and cost of enterprise platforms.

The difference between struggling with SoD and mastering it comes down to having the right tooling, software that finds conflicts quickly, explains how to fix them, and monitors what can't be eliminated.

Ready to see your SAP SoD landscape? Explore MTC Skopos features or contact us for a demonstration.