Wel­come to the first edi­tion of Your SAP Invest­ment Unleashed, a new col­umn from Kris­ten Schef­fler, Vice Pres­i­dent of Cus­tomer Evo­lu­tion for North Amer­i­ca, SAP, and VerNeil Mesech­er, Sr. Direc­tor of Cus­tomer Engage­ment Events Liai­son for North Amer­i­ca, SAP. Togeth­er, they’re part of SAP Cus­tomer Evo­lu­tion, an orga­ni­za­tion focused on sup­port­ing, guid­ing, edu­cat­ing, lis­ten­ing to, and enabling cus­tomers to get the most out of their SAP investments.

Through numer­ous years of engag­ing with the greater SAP com­mu­ni­ty, it’s become clear to us that many SAP cus­tomers and part­ners remain unaware of all the enti­tle­ments they receive from their exist­ing SAP invest­ments at no addi­tion­al cost. Below are only a few of the ques­tions that we fre­quent­ly address with SAP customers: 

What do cus­tomers get out of the main­te­nance or sub­scrip­tion fees they pay? Out­side of resolv­ing tick­ets, how does SAP Sup­port active­ly sup­port users? What resources are already avail­able from SAP to help orga­ni­za­tions upgrade sys­tems, appli­ca­tions, and process­es? How can SAP sup­port exist­ing land­scapes as cus­tomers pre­pare for the next steps in dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion? And how will SAP sup­port cus­tomers at all stages of their tech­nol­o­gy jour­neys — on-premis­es and in the cloud — as dead­lines for end of main­stream main­te­nance loom? For that mat­ter, what does ​“end of main­stream main­te­nance” even mean?

In our inau­gur­al install­ment of ​“Your SAP Invest­ment Unleashed,” a new col­umn designed in col­lab­o­ra­tion with ASUG to explore hot top­ics in the SAP ecosys­tem, we’re dis­cussing end of main­stream main­te­nance, as well as end of life/​support, and dif­fer­ences between the two. We’re pas­sion­ate about our cus­tomers and part­ners and look for­ward to open­ing this dia­logue with each of you. 

What Does ​‘Main­stream Main­te­nance’ Mean?

With main­stream main­te­nance for the lat­est three enhance­ment pack­ages of SAP ERP 6.0 — includ­ing SAP ERP Cen­tral Com­po­nent (ECC), a plat­form first intro­duced around 30 years ago—end­ing Dec. 31, 2027, fol­lowed by an option­al extend­ed main­te­nance phase until Dec. 31, 2030, many SAP cus­tomers are inquir­ing about options avail­able to them for stay­ing in main­te­nance and next steps for upgrad­ing or migrat­ing their systems.

• For cus­tomers on SAP ERP 6.0 with enhance­ment pack­ages 1 to 5, or with­out enhance­ment pack­ages, main­stream main­te­nance ends ear­li­er, on Dec. 31, 2025. For more infor­ma­tion about main­te­nance time­lines for SAP ERP 6.0, includ­ing how you can find your release and enhance­ment pack­age lev­el, click here.

In dis­cussing this top­ic, it’s impor­tant to first dis­tin­guish between ​“end of main­stream main­te­nance” and ​“end of life/​end of sup­port.” SAP cus­tomers may hear the term ​“end of life/​end of sup­port” used fre­quent­ly, but the fact is most SAP solu­tions do not go into end of life; instead, they reach end of main­stream main­te­nance. Let’s get into the exist­ing main­te­nance phas­es, break them down, and clear up any confusion. 

SAP Main­te­nance Phas­es Explained

There are four dis­tinct main­te­nance phas­es defined under SAP’s main­te­nance strat­e­gy: main­stream main­te­nance, cus­tomer-spe­cif­ic main­te­nance, extend­ed main­te­nance, and pri­or­i­ty one sup­port.

Main­stream maintenance

Main­stream main­te­nance is ini­tial­ly offered for all SAP soft­ware releas­es. Main­stream main­te­nance begins as soft­ware is first made gen­er­al­ly avail­able to cus­tomers. Dur­ing the main­stream main­te­nance peri­od, you receive sup­port as accord­ing to your sup­port agree­ment with SAP. Toward the end of main­stream main­te­nance, you have three options: upgrade, enter cus­tomer-spe­cif­ic main­te­nance, or request extend­ed maintenance.

• Upgrade: Typ­i­cal­ly, SAP rec­om­mends upgrad­ing your soft­ware before it reach­es the end of its main­stream main­te­nance. The deliv­ery of new releas­es of licensed soft­ware, as well as access to SAP’s upgrade tools, are all cov­ered by your SAP sup­port con­tract. (To iden­ti­fy and review avail­able upgrade paths, as well as to select upgrade approach­es, vis­it the Upgrade Infor­ma­tion por­tal at SAP Support.)

Cus­tomer-Spe­cif­ic Maintenance

Cus­tomer-spe­cif­ic main­te­nance is gen­er­al­ly offered for all SAP releas­es, except SAP Busi­ness One and SAP Busi­nes­sOb­jects solu­tions not based on SAP NetWeaver and SAP Pre­dic­tive Ana­lyt­ics. Dur­ing cus­tomer-spe­cif­ic main­te­nance, cus­tomers con­tin­ue to receive many fea­tures of SAP sup­port for rel­e­vant releas­es, but SAP no longer adapts the releas­es to new or changed exter­nal require­ments. (Such require­ments are, for exam­ple, legal changes or sup­port for new tech­nolo­gies.) Soft­ware deployed at the customer’s site can enter cus­tomer-spe­cif­ic main­te­nance in three scenarios:

1. Customer’s main­stream main­te­nance con­tract term ends.
2. Main­stream main­te­nance ends, and extend­ed main­te­nance is not offered.
3. Main­stream main­te­nance ends, and extend­ed main­te­nance is offered, but the cus­tomer does not choose to take advan­tage of it.

• In cus­tomer-spe­cif­ic main­te­nance — which most SAP releas­es enter auto­mat­i­cal­ly after end of main­stream main­te­nance, with­out cus­tomers need­ing to apply for addi­tion­al con­tracts — some restric­tions apply to the scope of sup­port. In cus­tomer-spe­cif­ic main­te­nance, the cus­tomer con­tin­ues to pay the annu­al sup­port fee for the sup­port option they have (such as SAP Enter­prise Sup­port). Cus­tomer-spe­cif­ic main­te­nance cur­rent­ly does not have an expiry date.

Extend­ed maintenance

Extend­ed main­te­nance pro­vides a sim­i­lar scope of sup­port to that pro­vid­ed dur­ing main­stream main­te­nance, at an addi­tion­al cost. It is cur­rent­ly avail­able for SAP Busi­ness Suite 7, SAP S/4HANA 1709, SAP S/4HANA 1809, and SAP S/4HANA 1909. Let’s break down the details of each below.

• For SAP Busi­ness Suite 7, extend­ed main­te­nance is offered for core appli­ca­tions and relat­ed add-on prod­ucts from Jan. 1, 2028, to Dec. 31, 2030. This three-year extend­ed main­te­nance is option­al and requires a sep­a­rate con­tract in addi­tion to your sup­port agree­ment; it comes at an added cost, on top of the respec­tive main­te­nance fee. Cus­tomers can request a quo­ta­tion for extend­ed main­te­nance through SAP for Me, their SAP account exec­u­tive, or their part­ner con­tact. For more infor­ma­tion, see SAP Note 2881788 (login required).
• For on-premis­es ver­sions of SAP S/4HANA 1709, SAP S/4HANA 1809, and SAP S/4HANA 1909, extend­ed main­te­nance is avail­able for core appli­ca­tions and relat­ed add-on prod­ucts from Jan. 1, 2023, until Dec. 31, 2025 (1709); Jan. 1, 2024, until Dec. 31, 2025 (1809); and Jan. 1, 2025, until Dec. 31, 2025 (1909). As long as sup­port fees are paid, these ver­sions will auto­mat­i­cal­ly tran­si­tion to cus­tomer-spe­cif­ic main­te­nance once extend­ed main­te­nance con­cludes. Extend­ed main­te­nance for on-premis­es ver­sions of SAP S/4HANA 1709, 1809, and 1909 is avail­able at an addi­tion­al cost and with a spe­cif­ic main­te­nance adden­dum, based on a valid main­te­nance con­tract. Cus­tomers can request a quo­ta­tion for extend­ed main­te­nance through their SAP account exec­u­tive, SAP con­tact per­son or part­ner contact.
• Extend­ed main­te­nance is cov­ered by the reg­u­lar annu­al sub­scrip­tion fee and does not require a spe­cif­ic main­te­nance adden­dum for cus­tomers with a sub­scrip­tion to any of the below offer­ings or their predecessors:
  • SAP S/4HANA Cloud, pri­vate edition
  • SAP S/4HANA Cloud, pri­vate edi­tion, tai­lored option
  • SAP S/4HANA Cloud, extend­ed edition
  • HEC Sub­scrip­tion for SAP S/4HANA

For more details on SAP S/4HANA extend­ed main­te­nance for on-premis­es and pri­vate cloud edi­tions, see SAP Note 3246630 (login required).

SAP Pri­or­i­ty One Support

Pri­or­i­ty one sup­port is offered by SAP after end of main­stream main­te­nance for select­ed releas­es of the for­mer SAP Busi­nes­sOb­jects port­fo­lio and SAP Pre­dic­tive Ana­lyt­ics. This option­al offer­ing gives cus­tomers more flex­i­bil­i­ty in decid­ing when to upgrade, with­out addi­tion­al pay­ment or a spe­cif­ic main­te­nance adden­dum. Depend­ing on the customer’s sup­port con­tract, pri­or­i­ty-one sup­port could be engaged dur­ing the renew­al peri­od, or the cus­tomer could receive pri­or­i­ty-one sup­port by default if they are con­tin­u­ing to run a release dur­ing its pri­or­i­ty-one sup­port peri­od. Dur­ing pri­or­i­ty-one sup­port, cus­tomers can con­tin­ue to cre­ate cas­es as per the stan­dard process; prod­uct sup­port will accept and ana­lyze prob­lem cas­es of all pri­or­i­ty cat­e­go­riza­tions. Report­ed cas­es will be ana­lyzed in the fol­low­ing ways:

1. If the soft­ware error is already known, an SAP Note will have been made avail­able for cus­tomers, doc­u­ment­ing the prob­lem that exists with­in the rel­e­vant release and out­lin­ing the solu­tion avail­able to the customer.
2. If the error is not yet known. fur­ther pro­cess­ing is per­formed. For more infor­ma­tion, see SAP Note 2078591 (login required).

SAP Busi­nes­sOb­jects releas­es not based on SAP NetWeaver and SAP Pre­dic­tive Ana­lyt­ics have access to main­stream main­te­nance and pri­or­i­ty-one sup­port, auto­mat­i­cal­ly mov­ing from one to the oth­er. All oth­er SAP and Sybase releas­es have access to main­stream, extend­ed, and cus­tomer-spe­cif­ic main­te­nance. Pri­or­i­ty-one sup­port is con­sid­ered the final phase of main­te­nance and sup­port; at its con­clu­sion, a prod­uct will have reached its end-of-life.

Addi­tion­al con­tent on these con­cepts can be accessed through the links below, with SAP S‑user logins:

• Main­stream, Cus­tomer Spe­cif­ic, and Extend­ed Main­te­nance breakdown
• SAP Release Strat­e­gy (login required)
• SAP Busi­ness Suite Main­te­nance Strat­e­gy (login required)
• SAP S/4HANA Main­te­nance Strategy
• Prod­uct Avail­abil­i­ty Matrix (login required), which pro­vides infor­ma­tion about SAP soft­ware releas­es: release types, main­te­nance dura­tions, planned avail­abil­i­ty, and upgrade paths. The Prod­uct Avail­abil­i­ty Matrix (PAM) also offers infor­ma­tion about plat­form avail­abil­i­ty, includ­ing data­base plat­form and oper­at­ing systems.

Intro­duc­ing SAP Cus­tomer Evolution

If you’ve made it through the above and are still with us, we’d like to take a few more moments to intro­duce you to our orga­ni­za­tion: SAP Cus­tomer Evo­lu­tion. Our orga­ni­za­tion’s mantra is as fol­lows: We com­mit to leav­ing no installed base cus­tomer behind on their inno­va­tion jour­ney. What does that mean for you? 

SAP Cus­tomer Evo­lu­tion is a non-quo­ta-car­ry­ing orga­ni­za­tion whose pri­ma­ry focus is to sup­port, guide, edu­cate, lis­ten to, and enable you to get the most out of your exist­ing SAP invest­ment while assist­ing with cur­rent inno­va­tions or trans­for­ma­tion projects. SAP Cus­tomer Evo­lu­tion works with cus­tomers to build rela­tion­ships, serve as trust­ed advi­sors, and deeply under­stand cus­tomers’ busi­ness and IT needs, so as to iden­ti­fy and rec­om­mend rel­e­vant cus­tomer-spe­cif­ic enti­tle­ments to help cus­tomers make the right choic­es as it relates to their future states — whether that is on-premis­es, cloud, or hybrid. 

SAP Cus­tomer Evo­lu­tion is world­wide, with a team of indi­vid­u­als ded­i­cat­ed to the North Amer­i­can regions and avail­able to meet vir­tu­al­ly or in-per­son, at a local ASUG chap­ter or event. Much like ASUG, SAP Cus­tomer Evo­lu­tion is here to help you get the most out of your SAP Investment. 

Nur­tur­ing cus­tomer rela­tion­ships beyond trans­ac­tion­al engage­ments is imper­a­tive, and our orga­ni­za­tion is com­mit­ted to help­ing you ful­ly real­ize the val­ue of SAP’s ser­vices, sup­port, and solutions. 

Cus­tomers are con­sis­tent­ly telling us: ​“We don’t want SAP to sell us its shiny, new solu­tions with­out first under­stand­ing our busi­ness, part­ner­ing with us, and help­ing us deter­mine the best out­comes and val­ue for our busi­ness. We don’t want SAP to focus sole­ly on one part of our busi­ness but to look at our busi­ness holis­ti­cal­ly, pro­vide informed feed­back, and col­lab­o­rate on an over­all roadmap for trans­for­ma­tion, instead of indi­vid­ual solu­tions (ERP, HR, or Sup­ply Chain). We can­not define our busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion if we are only look­ing at indi­vid­ual solu­tions.” If this res­onates with you, SAP Cus­tomer Evo­lu­tion is here to help.

Your SAP Invest­ment Unleashed is a new col­umn tai­lored to you, the SAP com­mu­ni­ty; we invite any feed­back, ideas, and top­ics that you would like to see addressed, so don’t hes­i­tate to con­nect with us. 

We want this to be a valu­able read, and one that you look for­ward to each month. Ahead, we plan to cov­er such top­ics as what end of main­stream main­te­nance means for SAP ECC, how to use enti­tle­ments through SAP for Me, cus­tomer per­spec­tives on the val­ue of SAP Sup­port tools, and more. Final­ly, as we move for­ward in this series, we want you to know that every­thing that we will be dis­cussing is already YOURS. You’ve paid for it, so let’s get you using it!

Your SAP Invest­ment Unleashed is intend­ed to answer your burn­ing ques­tions and address hot top­ics for the SAP com­mu­ni­ty. Please con­tact the authors with your ques­tions, and future edi­tions of this col­umn will address them. Kris­ten Schef­fler can be reached at kristen.​scheffler@​sap.​com, and VerNeil Mesech­er, Jr. can be reached at verneil.​mesecher@​sap.​com.