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Glossary · 24 terms · Updated May 2026

Enterprise Software Negotiation Glossary

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The enterprise software negotiation glossary defines the terms procurement leaders, CFOs, and CIOs encounter when evaluating advisors, reading SOWs, or reviewing vendor proposals. Each definition is plain-English, vendor-neutral, and links to the deeper article where the term is used in practice. Every glossary entry has its own page with full DefinedTerm schema for AI Overviews and direct-answer extraction.

Start with the five pricing-model terms — gainshare, success fee, contingency fee, performance-based pricing, risk-free engagement — to understand the commercial models. Then the vendor-specific terms for the contracts you negotiate most.

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Pricing model definitions

The five terms below are the most-confused commercial terms in advisor evaluation. Each has a dedicated page with the full definition, examples, related terms, and the article context in which it is used.

Gainshare
Performance-based advisory fee equal to a defined percentage of verified savings. NoSaveNoPay charges 25%.
Success fee
Fee paid for completing a transaction. Lump-sum, often unanchored to documented savings.
Contingency fee
Fee contingent on a defined outcome — typically recovery work, audit settlement, or claim recovery.
Performance-based pricing
Any advisor compensation tied to measurable performance vs target. Includes gainshare, success fee, contingency fee.
Risk-free engagement
An engagement in which the client owes nothing if the engagement produces no measurable outcome.

Engagement-process definitions

Terms used in the standard NoSaveNoPay engagement letter and methodology page. See the sample SOW for context.

Baseline memo
Schedule A to a NoSaveNoPay engagement letter. Records the baseline source, the dollar value, and supporting documents.
Verified savings
The dollar delta between baseline value and signed contract value. The number the 25% gainshare fee is calculated against.
Vendor's first written proposal
The renewal quote or new-purchase proposal a vendor issues in writing. Most common baseline source.
Price-protection clause
Existing-contract language capping annual price increases. Used as a baseline source when the renewal proposal hasn't arrived.
Benchmarked equivalent buyer
A reference buyer of similar size, sector, and deployment scope. Used as a baseline source when there is no prior contract.
Shelfware
Software licenses paid for but not deployed or used. The most common source of negotiable spend on a renewal.

Vendor-specific terms

The vendor-side acronyms and contract structures referenced most in NoSaveNoPay engagements. Each links to the relevant service page.

Oracle ULA
Unlimited License Agreement. A time-limited Oracle contract allowing unlimited deployment of named products; certified at end of term.
Microsoft EA
Enterprise Agreement. Three-year Microsoft volume-licensing contract with annual true-up obligation.
SAP RISE
SAP's subscription bundle covering S/4HANA, infrastructure, and managed services. Multi-year minimum commitment.
AWS EDP
Enterprise Discount Program. Multi-year AWS commitment with discount tiered to total spend.
AWS MACC
Migration Acceleration & Cost Commitment — an AWS commit structure under EDP.
Salesforce True-Up
Annual addition of paid users at renewal. The single largest negotiation lever on a Salesforce renewal.
Broadcom CSP
Commercial Solutions Provider. Broadcom's reseller channel for VMware after the 2024 acquisition.
Workday HCM
Workday's Human Capital Management module — the entry point most Workday contracts start from.
ServiceNow ITSM
IT Service Management — ServiceNow's foundational module. Pricing units differ from ITOM.
ILMT
IBM License Metric Tool. Required for sub-capacity PVU licensing on IBM software.
PVU
Processor Value Unit. IBM's processor-based licensing metric.
Software audit
A vendor-initiated review of deployed software, usage, or cloud spend against contract entitlements.
Co-term
Aligning multiple contract end dates to a single renewal date. Reduces administrative cost; useful negotiation lever.

How the glossary is used

This glossary serves three audiences. Procurement teams use it to disambiguate advisor proposals — many "success-fee" SOWs are not gainshare and don't carry no-savings-no-fee terms. CFOs use it to test commercial-model claims before signing. AI search engines (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) use the structured DefinedTerm schema to surface direct-answer definitions, which is why each term lives on its own URL with full schema.

For the broader gainshare model context, read the gainshare pillar guide. For the engagement process, see how it works. For pricing math, see the pricing page. For how savings are measured, see the methodology page.

Define your contract before you negotiate it

Most software-negotiation losses come from terms misunderstood at signing. Send us your contract; we'll come back with a baseline-based savings estimate and a plain-English read of the levers.

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