Your SAP Investment Unleashed: Unlocking SAP Safekeeper — Your Questions, Answered

In early 2024, SAP announced the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Safekeeper service. In speaking with customers who subscribed to the RISE with SAP S/4HANA offering, it was determined that some of these customers may not be able to upgrade their SAP S/4HANA instance before the end of mainstream maintenance date. The Safekeeper service was created to assist these customers in upgrading their system, while providing business continuity and peace of mind.

Customers facing the end of extended maintenance for older SAP S/4HANA Cloud releases (1503–1909) found Safekeeper to be a lifeline. It is allowing them to:

• Avoid falling into customer-specific maintenance with limited support.

• Take advantage of services to help with the upgrade.

• Gain usage of a sandbox environment.

One customer said, “The Safekeeper service will give us the breathing room we need to plan our upgrade properly without compromising system stability or support.”

Since the announcement, we have received a number of questions around this topic. The below captures those questions and the corresponding answers.

1. What is Safekeeper? Safekeeper is a paid service offering for customers with an active RISE with SAP S/4HANA agreement. It is designed specifically for RISE with SAP customers that enter customer-specific maintenance for older SAP S/4HANA releases. It includes upgrade services and infrastructure optimization while providing business continuity for the customer’s current system via updates and patches.
2. What is the value proposition for Safekeeper?
   1. It is designed for customers on the RISE with SAP journey that were not able to upgrade their SAP S/4HANA Cloud systems in time due to unforeseen internal and external challenges.
   2. SAP will provide governance and support to actively help customers upgrade, and mitigate limitations of Customer Specific Maintenance (CSM) for this period.
   3. It is timed to support SAP S/4HANA releases falling into CSM by the end of 2025.
   4. Safekeeper helps customers transition to a cloud operating model to reduce technical debt, adopt a clean core strategy, and streamline their business processes.
3. What is included with Safekeeper? SAP Safekeeper is comprised of three main areas: services for the transition, sandbox infrastructure, and notes and corrections. The services for the transition consist of either enhanced operations service for managed upgrades and updates or Cloud Application Service for Regression Testing. The sandbox infrastructure provides an additional non-productive tier that is based on the T-shirt size of the customer’s system landscape. Finally, notes and corrections includes but is not limited to the provision of patches for security, legal, and reported software issues.
4. Who can subscribe to Safekeeper? Customers who are on an active RISE with SAP S/4HANA agreement with systems reaching the end of mainstream maintenance are eligible for Safekeeper.
5. What products are in scope for Safekeeper? At this time, SAP S/4HANA releases 1503, 1605, 1709-2023, and add-ons subscribed via RISE are in scope.
6. Is it mandatory? No, it is not mandatory. Customers deciding not to utilize Safekeeper for their SAP S/4HANA release that is coming to the end of mainstream maintenance will automatically move into Customer Specific Maintenance. Details are outlined in SAP Note 52505.
7. How long can I use Safekeeper? Safekeeper is available at a minimum of 12 months and can be subscribed for up to 27 months per specific release, except for releases 1503 and 1605, which can be covered up to 48 months. For example: Safekeeper for release 1709 is available January 1, 2026, to March 31, 2028.
8. What add-ons are covered by Safekeeper? Information on add-ons that are covered under Safekeeper are found in SAP Note 3424346. This is regularly updated. It is also listed in the Product Availability Matrix (PAM). Some add-ons may have a longer mainstream maintenance date than the Safekeeper service. They will be covered by Safekeeper, however the add-on will not be listed in the note. Availability can be checked in the PAM.
9. When do I need to subscribe for Safekeeper? The quote must be accepted 90 days before Safekeeper begins in order to provide both SAP and the customer ample time to prepare for the Safekeeper service.
10. When does Safekeeper begin? Beginning January 1, 2026, for releases 1503, 1605, 1709, 1809, 1909, and 2020, customers subscribed to Safekeeper will receive their infrastructure and transition services to aid their upgrade to a currently supported version of SAP S/4HANA, as well as patches and updates to ensure business continuity for their existing SAP S/4HANA system in customer specific maintenance.
11. Can Safekeeper be extended? The maximum term is 27 months from the start date of CSM for the applicable SAP S/4HANA version, except for releases 1503 and 1605, which can be covered up to 48 months. No extension beyond this is possible.

As always, if you have questions, you can contact me directly or reach out to your Account Executive.