On February 4, 2020, SAP has announced an innovation commitment for SAP S/4HANA until the end of 2040. This means that until 2040, there will be always at least one release of SAP S/4HANA in maintenance.

At the same time, SAP will provide mainstream maintenance for SAP Business Suite 7 core applications until end of 2027. This offboarding phase will be followed by optional extended maintenance until end of 2030.

SAP will provide mainstream maintenance until the end of 2027 for SAP Business Suite 7 core applications, which are also core applications of SAP Business All-in-One, including: 

• SAP ERP 6.0, 
• SAP Customer Relationship Management 7.0, 
• SAP Supply Chain Management 7.0, 
• SAP Supplier Relationship Management 7.0 applications, 
• SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA.

Following mainstream maintenance, SAP will offer customers choice on maintenance for SAP Business Suite 7 core applications from 2028 onwards:

• Customers needing support for their Business Suite 7 core applications in longer conversion phases to SAP S/4HANA can choose the extended maintenance offering. This comes with a premium of two percent points on the maintenance basis for all support offerings for the scope of SAP Business Suite 7. It will be available for three years from the beginning of 2028 until the end of 2030.   
• Customers who do not opt for the extended maintenance, or where extended maintenance has ended, will receive customer specific maintenance for their SAP Business Suite 7 applications. 

Additional context can be found in the related press release as well as in the SAP News interview with Michael Kleinemeier, former member of the Executive Board, and Thomas Saueressig member of the Executive Board, SAP Product Engineering, about the long-term maintenance commitments for SAP S/4HANA and SAP Business Suite 7.

For more information on SAP's release and maintenance strategy, visit the dedicated pages on the SAP Support Portal:

SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA

SAP Note 2881788: End of SAP Business Suite 7 mainstream maintenance (log-in required)

SAP Note 1648480: Maintenance for SAP Business Suite 7 software including SAP NetWeaver (log-in required)

SAP Note 52505: Support after end of mainstream maintenance or extended maintenance (log-in required)

SAP Release Strategy (log-in required)

Product Availability Matrix (log-in required)

SAP offers fast track to innovation using a flexible path to the cloud

Since introducing the cloud extension model in 2013 SAP has been helping customers transition their landscapes from an on-premise to a hybrid cloud strategy non-disruptively, including offerings from SAP companies like SAP Ariba and SAP SuccessFactors (see a list of eligible solutions).

Based on their existing investments in SAP software, customers can decide to reallocate elements of their installed on-premise solutions to the respective public cloud or private managed cloud solutions from SAP, replacing on-premise license and maintenance with public cloud or private managed cloud subscription. Such transactions assume an expanded investment with cloud solutions from SAP, given the substantial added value from this new hybrid scenario.

Consume cloud innovations at your own pace

SAP removes barriers and enables customers to drive speed-to-value and unlock opportunities to lower total cost of ownership, taking care that existing investments are protected and exploring new options with innovative cloud solutions from SAP at their own pace.

The hybrid solution can be fully integrated offering seamless delivery and support as well as full control over the application landscape, including on-premise and cloud applications. With this integrated approach, customers gain the flexibility, choice and efficiencies needed to innovate for growth across their entire business in the cloud.

The cloud extension model helps companies of any size create entirely new experiences for their customers, empower employees at scale, optimize the use of resources and unlock value for their business.

SAP believes that every customer has a different approach to adopt these cloud innovations based on unique business requirements. This cloud extension model is an optional model that flexibly supports many different entry points for a cloud strategy.

For more information, please visit the SAP Newsroom or download one of the following assets:

Cloud Extension Model Rules

• HEC/SCP Specific Cloud -This document describes the key elements of the cloud extension model related to SAP HANA®, SAP HANA® Applications and the SAP Business Suite on SAP HANA® subscription models deployed on SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud.
• Generic Cloud - This document describes the key elements of the cloud extension model related to public cloud offerings from SAP companies Ariba and SuccessFactors.
• List of Cloud Solutions - List of SAP Cloud solutions, such as Ariba, or SuccessFactors, in scope of the cloud extension model.
• Customer Examples - Examples of recent cases where SAP customers extended their SAP on-premise landscapes with SAP Cloud solutions, also highlighting the key business rationales.

Customers and partners who have questions based on their individual contracts are encouraged to contact their respective SAP account team or local SAP representative for an assessment of their current license contracts.

Flexibility and choice for changing business requirements SAP introduces On-Premise Extension Model

With the on-premise extension model SAP provides customers and partners with the same flexibility and choice to adapt to their changing business requirements based on their existing on-premise SAP solutions. SAP is proactively redefining how customer application landscapes can be enhanced and modernized.

Customers can decide to evolve their existing on-premise landscape with other solutions from the SAP on-premise portfolio. Customers can replace existing on-premise licenses and maintenance with selected solutions from SAPs innovative on-premise portfolio. For example, customers can reallocate investments into the future of real-time businesses based on in-memory computing with SAP S/4HANA®.

The on-premise extension model requires the new maintenance resulting from the reallocation to, at a minimum, remain the same.

This model supports customers in extending their SAP on-premise application landscape into business processes where additional coverage with SAP's innovations helps maximizing the value from the investment in SAP. Customers can leverage this model to determine which on-premise solutions from SAP´s innovation portfolio fit best with their business needs.

Additionally, customers and partners still have the opportunity for enhanced value from hybrid cloud / on-premise solutions, where only SAP can deliver end-to-end seamless, secure and reliable business processes and hybrid support based on the SAP ONE Support program. SAP ensures customers have flexibility and choice to direct investments to the point of maximum return and to adopt the latest SAP innovations at their own pace.

With the on-premise extension model, SAP shows clear responsiveness to customer demands for having the opportunity to choose between cloud, on-premise and hybrid solutions with high flexibility.

For more information, please see the following document:

• On-Premise Extension Model Rules - This document describes the key elements of the on-premise extension model

Customers and partners who have questions based on their individual contracts are encouraged to contact their respective SAP account team or local SAP representative.

Requests outside Cloud or On-Premise Extension

Customers that are not looking to realize the opportunities from the additional flexibility and innovation offered through the cloud and on-premise extension models - can abandon usage rights of certain existing software licenses and request the corresponding maintenance termination without purchasing new SAP on-premise or SAP Cloud solutions.

Such a request will lead to a rediscounting of the customer's individual maintenance base for the product family in which the reduction is requested. This will span across all contracts in which the product family is included.

This re-discounting will be done based on volume list price discounts only. For further information, refer to your SAP Account Executive.

For more information, please see the following document:

• Other requests outside cloud and on-premise extension models - This document describes the key elements for other requests out side cloud and on-premise extension models

SAP cannot predict the economic attractiveness of this model, as original contract terms may vary substantially. Customers will need to work directly with their SAP account team to assess this option.