CUSTOMER Document Version: 2017 Edition SAP Release and Maintenance Strategy
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CUSTOMER
Document Version: 2017 Edition
SAP Release and Maintenance Strategy
Content
1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 SAP Release and Maintenance Strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.1 Release and Maintenance Strategy for On-Premise Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Availability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Shipment Phases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Maintenance Strategy Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Maintenance Phases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Upgrade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18Integration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Product Availability Matrix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2 Release and Maintenance Strategy for Cloud Solutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Cloud Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Release Cycle and Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Release Communication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.3 Release and Maintenance Strategy for Mobile Apps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282.4 Availability and Maintenance Details for SAP Releases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3 Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2 C U S T O M E RSAP Release and Maintenance Strategy
Content
1 Introduction
We design our release and maintenance strategy to:
● Support the planning of SAP® software implementations and upgrade projects● Provide insight into our strategy for our software products and cloud offerings● Describe how we make our standard software and cloud services available to customers● Show which maintenance strategy rules apply to which software products● Explain how various software product versions integrate with each other
_______________________________________________________________________________________
This document provides an overview on the release and maintenance strategy of SAP for customers and partners, structured by on-premise, cloud and mobile.
Related Information
Table 1:
SAP Solution Explorer SAP Portfolio
Improvements and Innovations SAP Road Maps
Product Availability Matrix (PAM) Influencing and Adopting SAP Products and Solutions
Software Download Center Innovation Discovery
Upgrade Paths and Tools
SAP Release and Maintenance StrategyIntroduction C U S T O M E R 3
Disclaimer
The SAP Release and Maintenance Strategy reflects the status of SAP’s release planning as of the date of publication of the respective section. It contains only intended strategies, developments, and/or functionalities of SAP solutions, applications, and technologies and is not intended to be binding upon SAP to any particular course of business, product strategy, and/or development; its content is subject to change without notice.
These pages are not subject to your license agreement or any other service or subscription agreement with SAP.
SAP assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in this material. SAP does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information, text, graphics, links, or other items contained within this material. These pages are provided without a warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or noninfringement.
SAP shall have no liability for damages of any kind, including without limitation direct, special, indirect, or consequential damages that may result from the use of these materials. This limitation shall not apply in cases of intent or gross negligence. The statutory liability for personal injury and defective products is not affected. SAP has no control over the information that you may access through the use of hot links contained in these materials and does not endorse your use of third-party Web pages nor provide any warranty whatsoever relating to third-party Web pages or their content.
All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the publication date, and they should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions.
4 C U S T O M E RSAP Release and Maintenance Strategy
Introduction
2 SAP Release and Maintenance Strategy
Overview
Table 2:
On-Premise Software Cloud Solutions Mobile Apps
Our strategy for on-premise software, which determines the availability of new software releases, the length and conditions of their maintenance, and the rules that apply in cases of dependencies between individual software releases.
Our strategy for making cloud solutions available to customers, which includes maintenance, functional extensions, and integration of the software.
Our strategy for making mobile apps available to customers.
● Availability [page 6]● Shipment Phases [page 7]● Maintenance Strategy Rules [page
8]● Maintenance Phases [page 15]● Upgrade [page 18]● Integration [page 18]● Product Availability Matrix (PAM)
[page 19]
● Cloud Solution Offerings [page 20]
● Release Cycle and Support [page 22]
● Release Communication [page 25]
● Availability [page 28]● Functional Enhancements and
Maintenance [page 28]
The strategy described in this section applies to standard releases.
Related Information
SAP Maintenance StrategyGet Involved EarlySAP Support Package StacksProduct Availability Matrix (PAM)
SAP Release and Maintenance StrategySAP Release and Maintenance Strategy C U S T O M E R 5
2.1 Release and Maintenance Strategy for On-Premise Software
Release and Maintenance Strategy12
SAP cannot support third-party software after the suppliers’ support has expired. In such cases, customers may have to upgrade to more recent releases of the respective third-party software, provided those releases are supported by the release of the SAP software in question.
● Availability [page 6]● Shipment Phases [page 7]● Maintenance Strategy Rules [page 8]● Maintenance Phases [page 15]● Upgrade [page 18]● Integration [page 18]● Product Availability Matrix (PAM) [page 19]
2.1.1 Availability
The objective of the SAP Release Strategy is to align the availability of SAP software products. Usually, software releases are shipped in a defined sequence:
● Enhancements to SAP Business Suite software may be delivered as follows: ○ Enhancement packages for SAP Business Suite core applications and the SAP NetWeaver® technology
platform○ Releases of add-ons and stand-alone applications for lines of businesses, industries, and enablement for
new technologies○ Continuous improvements through the SAP Notes service as well as feature packages and support
packages● Enhancements to SAP BusinessObjects™ business intelligence (BI) solutions not running on SAP
NetWeaver may be delivered in major or minor releases. Major releases contain major new functionality, and architectural platform changes are possible; minor releases include new and improved business functions that can be implemented and adopted quickly. The interfaces remain stable between major and minor releases. For example, a major SAP BusinessObjects BI platform release and the minor releases that follow it are referred to as an “SAP BusinessObjects BI platform release family” (see figure in “Maintenance Strategy Rules” [page 8]). After the availability of a new major SAP BusinessObjects BI platform release, stand-alone or add-on software products that work with or are based on that release will be adapted to it over time. SAP BusinessObjects products running on the SAP NetWeaver platform follow the common SAP Release and Maintenance Strategy for SAP software products.
1 The strategy described in this section applies to standard software releases. Other release types such as, for example, “standard-related custom development project releases,” “custom development project releases,” "focused business solutions," and "early adoption releases," follow a different release and maintenance strategy.
2 In exceptional cases, specific software releases may be exempted from individual maintenance strategy rules. These exceptions never apply to core application releases and their enhancement packages or to releases of the SAP NetWeaver technology platform.
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● Enhancements to the SAP Business One® application may be delivered in major or minor releases.○ Major releases contain major new functionality or architectural platform changes or both.○ Minor releases include new and improved business functions or corrections or both that can be
implemented and adopted quickly. The interfaces remain stable between major and minor releases. A major SAP Business One release and the minor releases that follow it are referred to as an “SAP Business One release family” (see figure in the “Maintenance Strategy Rules” section [page 8]).
● Updates to the SAP HANA® platform are called “revisions” and may be delivered several times a year. A revision may contain corrections and new technical features. These updates are downward compatible.
We may deliver several add-on releases (a sequence of releases as shown in the “Maintenance Strategy Rules” section [page 8]) that might build on a specific SAP software release (for example, the SAP Global Trade Services application offers several releases for the same SAP NetWeaver main release).
We may support a specific software release with various content shipments. The release cycle of a content shipment from SAP typically follows the release cycle of the release it supports. Some content shipments deliver a sequence of releases supporting a certain release.
2.1.2 Shipment Phases
SAP software releases (except content releases) and corresponding enhancement packages are generally introduced into the market in two shipment phases: controlled and unrestricted (see figure below).
In some cases, we may offer beta shipments (before the release-to-customer, or RTC, date) prior to the controlled shipment phase. Beta shipments may be used for testing purposes only. They are not available for productive use. The content and the planned RTC date of software releases made available under a beta shipment might be subject to change. Therefore, customers should not place undue reliance on a beta shipment and the features or functionalities presented therein and should not rely upon them in making purchasing decisions.
Initially, most new releases become available in a controlled shipment phase. This begins with the RTC date. During this time, the SAP Early Adopter Care program (formerly called SAP Ramp-Up) supports productive use of the software with customers while performing a knowledge transfer to consultants and partners globally and gathering feedback from customers, especially on new features.
Starting with the RTC date:
● Customers participating in SAP Early Adopter Care can use the new release in their production operation.● SAP provides corrections for this new release.● SAP communicates the planned maintenance duration for this release.
With the successful conclusion of the program, the unrestricted shipment phase of an SAP software release begins on the general availability date (see figure below). During the unrestricted shipment phase, the release is available to all customers.
SAP Release and Maintenance StrategySAP Release and Maintenance Strategy C U S T O M E R 7
Figure 1: Shipment Phases
The default release represents the most recent release in mainstream maintenance and in the unrestricted shipment phase. When customers order an SAP software product, they receive the default release unless they explicitly specify a different release in mainstream maintenance.
During the maintenance period of a release, we may offer support releases that contain all previously available support packages to facilitate and expedite implementation and upgrade projects.
2.1.3 Maintenance Strategy Rules
Maintenance Strategy Rules
Maintenance strategy rules for various types of software:
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Table 3:
SAP S/4HANA® – on-premise software products
(for example, SAP S/4HANA)
● SAP S/4HANA provides innovations on a regular basis through releases and feature packages.
● The last feature package stack for a given release before a new release is shipped is usually the starting point of the maintenance-only phase. During a maintenance-only phase, SAP provides corrections but no new innovations for the release. After the end of mainstream maintenance, the release enterscustomer-specific maintenance.
Figure 2: Overview of Release and Maintenance Strategy for SAP S/4HANA
Maintenance deliveries such as feature packages or support packages for SAP S/4HANA follow the same rules as other SAP standard products (see “Maintenance Phases”). There are currently no planned enhancement packages for SAP S/4HANA.
For some business scenarios available today within SAP Business Suite software, SAP now offers compatible copies of related SAP Business Suite core applications and add-on software products (compatibility packs) that also run in an SAP S/4HANA software environment. A compatibility pack lets customers run these scenarios in an installation of SAP S/4HANA for a defined period of time.
SAP Business Suite core applications
(SAP ERP; SAP Product Lifecycle Management (SAP PLM);3SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM); SAP Supply Chain Management (SAP SCM); SAP Supplier Relationship Management (SAP SRM)
At least seven (7) years of mainstream maintenance are provided for core application releases.
SAP NetWeaver Maintenance dates for SAP NetWeaver releases are aligned with the maintenance dates for the core application releases.
Enhancement packages Maintenance dates for enhancement packages follow each underlying release.
3 The SAP PLM application is part of and shipped with the SAP ERP application or corresponding enhancement packages and follows the maintenance durations of the relevant SAP ERP software releases and enhancement packages.
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SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) platform release family
The following maintenance durations apply for every release family of the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform:
● Seven (7) years of mainstream maintenance● Two (2) years of priority-one support
Mainstream maintenance begins with the release-to-customer date for the major release and covers any subsequent minor releases in the release family that might be shipped (see figure below).
Each release in a release family has a mainstream maintenance period of at least two (2) years after the release-to-customer date.
As soon as a new release enters unrestricted shipment, the previous release is maintained for at least one (1) more year.
At the end of the seven (7) years of mainstream maintenance, priority-one support begins for the last shipped release within a release family. The last release closes the nine-year maintenance cycle for this release family.
Figure 3: Nine-Year Maintenance Cycle for an SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform Release Family
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Add-on software products
(based on, for example, core applications, SAP NetWeaver, or an SAP BusinessObjects BI platform release)
Maintenance dates for add-on software product versions are aligned with the maintenance dates of the business application release they are based on.
For some add-on software products, SAP plans to provide several subsequent releases for the same underlying release. In this case, the maintenance period of the release sequence covers the entire maintenance period of the underlying release (see example in figure below), specifically:
● Maintenance dates for the last release of the sequence are aligned with the maintenance dates for the underlying release.
● All other releases within the sequence may have shorter mainstream maintenance than the underlying release (but at least two [2] years) and do not offer extended maintenance or priority-one support.
Figure 4: Sample Release Sequence with Maintenance Durations for an Add-On Release If Extended Maintenance Offered for the Underlying Release
Other stand-alone software products
SAP provides other stand-alone software product versions at least two (2) years of mainstream maintenance.
Content shipments SAP may support a specific release with one or more content shipments.
Maintenance dates for those content shipments are aligned with the maintenance dates of the supported SAP software release.
A content shipment may deliver a sequence of releases supporting a specific SAP software release. When it does, the maintenance period for the release sequence covers the entire maintenance period of the release that the content shipment supports and the following rules apply:
● Maintenance end dates for the last release in the sequence are aligned with the maintenance end dates of the supported SAP software release.
● All other releases within the sequence may have shorter maintenance periods, and there is no extended maintenance or priority-one support.
● All releases within a sequence have maintenance durations of at least one (1) year.
SAP Release and Maintenance StrategySAP Release and Maintenance Strategy C U S T O M E R 11
SAP Business One
(stand-alone and add-on software products)
SAP provides at least five (5) years of mainstream maintenance for an SAP Business One release family and related add-on software products.
For the SAP Business One release family, the five-year mainstream maintenance period begins with the general availability date of the major release (for example, x.0) and covers any subsequent minor releases (for example, x.1 and x.2) of the release family in question (see figure below). The following conditions apply:
● As soon as a new release within an SAP Business One release family has passed the general availability date, the maintenance of the preceding release is discontinued.
● Extended maintenance is not offered for SAP Business One releases and applications.
The maintenance duration per remote support platform release will be limited to at least one (1) year, starting with the general availability date. As soon as a new remote support platform for an SAP Business One release has passed the general availability date, the maintenance of the preceding release is discontinued.
Figure 5: Five-Year Maintenance Cycle for an SAP Business One Release Family
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SAP HANA Within the release and maintenance strategy for SAP HANA, we differentiate between the SAP HANA platform, SAP HANA editions, and SAP software products powered by SAP HANA:
● The SAP HANA platform is an SAP technology product that integrates a number of components, including a database, studio, and clients.
● SAP software products powered by SAP HANA follow the common release and maintenance rules of SAP software products.
● SAP HANA editions are license bundles that consist of the SAP HANA platform as a foundation but may add additional SAP software products to support certain scenarios or may restrict the usage to certain scenarios.
Maintenance Strategy for the SAP HANA Platform
The maintenance strategy for the SAP HANA platform is as follows:
● The SAP HANA platform remains in mainstream maintenance as long as SAP application releases that are built on top are in mainstream maintenance, extended maintenance, or priority-one support.
● SAP ships updates with support package stacks, which are delivered from within one delivery stream and without additional ramp-up. We plan to release these approximately twice a year.
● Some software components of the SAP HANA platform provide new capabilities as part of support packages called “revisions” – for example, the SAP HANA database, SAP HANA studio, SAP HANA clients, the application function library software development kit (SDK), SAP liveCache technology, and a hardware configuration check tool.
● These updates are strictly downward compatible. We may consider incompatible changes due to legal or security reasons, but we follow a strict exception approval process. Details about these changes are normally documented in SAP Notes.
● Downward-compatible software component versions can be replaced by a higher version in the lifecycle of the software product version they are built into, similar to the SAP kernel (SAP Note 787302) and the SAP GUI interface (SAP Note 147519)
Figure 6: Support Package Stack (SPS) Structure for the SAP HANA Platform
Revision Strategy
To address the needs of a growing number of our customers running mission-critical applications on top of SAP HANA, we introduced an additional maintenance stream for SAP HANA with temporary availability, a clear focus on stabilization, and an additional validation.
The revision strategy (see figure below) comprises:
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● Support package revisions (bug fixes, performance improvements, and new capabilities). In general, new capabilities are delivered with the initial revision of a support package stack (for example, revision 80, 90, 100).
● Maintenance revisions (only major bug fixes)
Customers may now choose to:
● Maintain SAP HANA with the latest support package revision ● Stay temporarily on certain maintenance revisions (based on the last revision before a
new support package stack for the SAP HANA platform is released)
Figure 7: Revision Strategy for the SAP HANA Platform
SAP plans to provide bug fixes and security patches for every support package stack until the over next support package stack is released or for about one year. Afterwards, customers must adopt regular more recent support package stack to receive further fixes.
Possible update paths from maintenance revisions to support package revisions are described in SAP Note 1948334.
Update Strategy for the SAP HANA Platform
Building on the availability of maintenance revisions for SAP HANA, customers can opt either to keep a previous SAP HANA support package stack running until SAP end the provisioning of bug fixes and security patches or to immediately adopt the new stack upon release. This depends on the individual and unique customer needs for adopting new features and capabilities of SAP HANA
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For more information and recommendations for update strategies, see SAP Note 2021789 (HANA 1.0) or SAP Note 2378962 (HANA 2.0).
Downward-compatible software components
Downward-compatible software component versions can be replaced by a higher version in the course of the life of the software product version in which they are built. Therefore, such software component versions are usually not maintained for the entire maintenance period of the software product version into which they are built.
Examples include:
● SAP kernel – see SAP Note 787302● SAP GUI – see SAP Note 147519
2.1.4 Maintenance Phases
There are four distinct maintenance phases: mainstream maintenance, priority-one support, extended maintenance, and customer-specific maintenance.
Mainstream Maintenance
Mainstream maintenance is offered for all SAP software releases. Mainstream maintenance begins with the release-to-customer date and continues throughout the unrestricted shipment phase. Usually, the end of mainstream maintenance for an SAP software release is later than (or equal to) the end of mainstream maintenance of the predecessor release and after general availability of a successor release. SAP generally provides corrections for the entire mainstream maintenance period, such as:
● SAP Notes – provides instructions on how to remove known errors from SAP software. SAP Notes include a description of the symptoms and the cause of the error as well as the release in which the error occurs and support package level in which the error is corrected.
● SAP security notes – expert advice from SAP regarding important action items and patches to improve the security of customer systems. Security patches are made available each month on “SAP Security Patch Day.” For more information, as well as the SAP Security Patch Day schedule, see SAP Security Notes → SAP Security Patch Day.
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● Support packages4– bundle of software corrections available for all SAP software development environments (for example, ABAP® and Java programming languages). Support packages may include legal changes.
● Support package stacks (SPS) – sets of support packages and patches for the respective software release that must be used in the given combination. Support package stacks should be seen as an entity in themselves; customers must heed the minimum requirements and dependencies between individual components and apply the support packages and patches specified in the support package stack together. For more information, a list of supported releases, and the current support package stacks, see SAP Support Package Stacks on SAP Support Portal.
● Feature packages and feature package stacks (FPS) – deliver nondisruptive innovation for generally available product versions as well as bundling software corrections and legal changes. A feature package delivery comes as a feature package stack. As with a support package stack, it must be used in the given combination. A feature package stack should be seen as an entity in itself – customers must heed the minimum requirements and dependencies between individual components and apply the feature packages and patches specified in the feature package stack together. Feature packages are not provided for all product versions. SAP decides case by case whether a feature package phase is offered after general availability of a product version for a defined time period.
Figure 8: Product Version with a Feature Package Phase
For those releases for which we provide enhancement packages, technology updates will be provided for the latest three (3) enhancement packages and support packages will be provided at least for the last enhancement package that is in the unrestricted shipment phase.
If enhancement packages are offered for a software product, we recommend that customers apply the latest enhancement package and the most recent support package stacks regularly (see figure below). The advantage is that you receive the most recent corrections and legal changes within one package and are able to activate new functionality flexibly.
4 Including service packs for releases of SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions
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Figure 9: Possible Update Paths for Enhancement Packages
We strongly recommend regular application of support package stacks for SAP software products at least once a year. Corrections that are provided in a given support package are usually not made available for previous support packages.
Priority-One Support
After the end of mainstream maintenance, we offer priority-one support for selected releases of the SAP BusinessObjects portfolio that are not based on the SAP NetWeaver technology platform. During priority-one support, the scope of support for unknown errors is limited to the handling of priority-one incidents only. Priority-one support is an optional offering that gives our customers more flexibility in deciding on the right time for an upgrade. Priority-one support does not require an additional payment or a specific maintenance addendum. Depending on the type of the customer’s support contract, the switch to priority-one support will occur during the renewal period or the customer will receive priority-one support by default if continuing to run a release during its priority-one support period.
Extended Maintenance
Extended maintenance is offered for selected SAP software releases. The scope of support for the extended maintenance period is usually similar to the scope of support provided during mainstream maintenance. We publish information on the availability and scope of extended maintenance in advance. Customers can request a quotation for extended maintenance by completing a form in the Maintenance section on SAP Support Portal.
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Customer-Specific Maintenance
Customer-specific maintenance is offered for all SAP releases except for SAP Business One and SAP BusinessObjects solutions not based on SAP NetWeaver. Software deployed at the customer’s site can enter into the customer-specific maintenance phase in one of three ways:
● Customer’s extended maintenance contract term ends.● Mainstream maintenance period ends, and extended maintenance is not offered.● Mainstream maintenance period ends, and extended maintenance is offered, but the customer does not
choose to take advantage of the offer.
A release enters into customer-specific maintenance automatically. There is no need to apply for an additional contract. During this phase, customers receive support services similar to those offered in the mainstream maintenance phase, with some restrictions. For example, we do not deliver new support packages or updates to cover legal changes, and technology updates are limited. Problem resolution is customer specific, which means customers are charged for solving problems not yet known to SAP. For more information, see SAP Note 52505 or the Maintenance section on SAP Support Portal.
2.1.5 Upgrade
We provide upgrade paths for SAP software releases and the corresponding content releases and access to upgrade procedures to the current release. Usually, customers can upgrade directly from one release to any other subsequent release as long as the releases are in the mainstream maintenance phase. Depending on technological constraints, an upgrade to a release that is several releases beyond a customer’s current release may have to be performed in more than one step.
To facilitate smooth upgrades, we provide a sufficient overlap of two (2) successive releases to make sure that the time in which customers can upgrade from one release to the next is at least one (1) year for SAP software releases.5 For content releases, the overlap is at least six (6) months. In this way, customers have a sufficient window of opportunity to upgrade from one release to the next without leaving mainstream maintenance support.
2.1.6 Integration
Our release strategy supports integration between SAP software releases. Integration is the prerequisite for stable cross-application functionality and offers maximum flexibility for continuous improvement.
The first release of an SAP software product can be integrated with a defined set of releases of other software products. A follow-up release usually supports at least the same set as its predecessor as long as the releases within this set are in mainstream maintenance, extended maintenance, or priority-one support:
● Functionality supporting the customer’s current business scenarios will remain available after an upgrade of an SAP software product. Details and exceptions are indicated within master guides, migration guides, or release notes.
5 An exception applies SAP Business One releases. For more information, see the Maintenance Strategy Rules [page 8] section.
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● To take full advantage of new or enhanced functionality that extends support for the customer’s business scenarios and broadens their scope, customers may be required to upgrade more than one software product within their application landscape. Typically, you only need to upgrade the software products that deliver the new or enhanced functionality.
In terms of compatibility, the following rules apply for content shipments from SAP:
● An upgrade of a software release usually requires an upgrade of the corresponding content release.● After an upgrade of the underlying SAP NetWeaver technology platform or SAP Solution Manager solution, all
functionality supporting customer business scenarios that was available and supported by a specific content release will still be running – and previously activated objects or custom objects will continue to work as before.
2.1.7 Product Availability Matrix
Through the Product Availability Matrix (PAM), SAP regularly publishes the following information about SAP software releases:
● Release type (for example, standard release, early adoption release, or focused business solution release)● Planned availability● Maintenance durations● Upgrade paths● Platform availability, including database platforms and operating systems
For more information, see Product Availability Matrix.
2.2 Release and Maintenance Strategy for Cloud Solutions
SAP's strategy for making cloud solutions available to customers, which includes maintenance, functional extensions, and integration of the software, is detailed in the following sections.
● Cloud Solutions [page 20]● Release Cycle and Support [page 22]● Release Communication [page 25]
Delivering cloud solutions is a key pillar in our product strategy.
SAP cloud offerings support a large variety of business scenarios and lines of business. We provide solutions such as SAP Hybris® Cloud for Customer, SAP S/4HANA® Cloud, SAP Business ByDesign®, SAP SuccessFactors® HCM Suite, Ariba® Network, Concur® solutions, and SAP Fieldglass® solutions. Customers get a combined and integrated offering based on various cloud solutions and hybrid business scenarios combining cloud services with on-premise solutions. Overall, all cloud solutions follow similar quality and integration standards. However, there are minor differences, for example, in the way customers are informed about new features or the frequency of new feature offerings.
Compared to on-premise software products, cloud solutions are not installed in the customer’s system landscape and operated by customers themselves. They are operated through a cloud infrastructure from an SAP location
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and made available to users over the Internet as a cloud service. This means that SAP takes care of the ongoing operations, maintenance, and installation of updates (corrections and new or enhanced business functionality), so customers can focus on their business and consume new features promptly and more frequently.
In addition to cloud services that provide business functionality, SAP also offers infrastructure and platform cloud services. Infrastructure cloud services such as SAP HANA® Enterprise Cloud or platform services such as SAP Cloud Platform are not covered within this “SAP Release and Maintenance Strategy” section.
2.2.1 Cloud Solutions
The key element of a cloud solution is a centrally managed service that provides business functionality without the need to install software or to maintain and operate it at the customer side (see table below). The cloud solutions from SAP described in the tables below are based on the example of the SAP Hybris Marketing solution, SAP S/4HANA® Cloud for Professional Services and SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Enterprise Management.
Table 4: Cloud Solutions
SAP Solutions SAP Ariba Solutions SAP SuccessFactors Solutions
Concur Solutions SAP Fieldglass Solutions
Cloud solutions from SAP
SAP Ariba
solutions include purchasing, invoicing, sourcing, contract management, catalogs, spend visibility, and supplier management. Procurement content is available to SAP customers as a catalog solution.
SAP SuccessFactors solutions
focus on HR and talent management including core HR and payroll, workforce analytics and planning, collaboration, recruiting, and learning management.
Concur solutions
provide integrated travel and expense management.
SAP Fieldglass solultions
address flexible labor management.
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SAP Solutions SAP Ariba Solutions SAP SuccessFactors Solutions
Concur Solutions SAP Fieldglass Solutions
On-premise integration:
For selected use cases, back-end integration is offered – for example, SAP S/4HANA for central finance foundation, an open hub destination in the SAP Business Warehouse application (SAP BW), or the implementation service for SAP Business Planning and Consolidation .
There is native integration with the SAP ERP application and SAP S/4HANA, leveraging similar data models on the semantic layer.
On-premise integration:
For selected use cases, we offer back-end integration options for SAP Ariba solutions (for example, with SAP Ariba Catalog, SAP Ariba Sourcing, and SAP Ariba Contracts).
On-premise integration:
Back-end integration is possible for selected use cases, such as on premise payroll with the SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central solution with SAP ERP.
On-premise integration:
Back-end integration is possible. The Concur Travel & Expense solution offers back-end integration to the SAP ERP Financials and the SAP ERP Human Capital Management solutions.
On-premise integration:
For selected use cases, back-end integration is supported by vendor and contractor management software with SAP Fieldglass solutions. This is the case for either APIs with SAP Fieldglass solutions or SAP ERP through a third-party add-on that offers integration for master data, procurement, contractor onboarding and offboarding, as well as invoicing.
With cloud solutions, customers do not need to worry about installing updates and upgrades. All aspects of technical and functional infrastructure are part of the service provided and centrally managed. Cloud services are provided on a subscription basis, and customers receive the right for usage and support for the duration of the subscription period. More information about cloud solutions from SAP is available here.
Cloud solutions provide integration capabilities to the customer’s local back-end systems. The degree of back-end integration depends on the respective subscription to the cloud service. From a release and maintenance perspective, it is important to differentiate whether this is local (whereby the installation of the integration software is part of the subscription contract) or handled separately as an individual on-premise software product.
SAP Release and Maintenance StrategySAP Release and Maintenance Strategy C U S T O M E R 21
Figure 10: Cloud Services with and without Back-End Integration Capabilities
We offer integration software for SAP Ariba solutions as part of the subscription. Customers have the right to use it as long as they have subscribed to the respective service. SAP also offers integration software as add-ons, which are traditionally on-premise products and must be licensed separately (perpetual license, on-premise maintenance). We also offer integration capabilities for Concur solutions that are charged by the individual core transaction fee.
Depending on the specific cloud service, an option exists for access through mobile devices. If mobile apps are used, they follow the release and maintenance policy for mobile apps [page 28]. Some examples of SAP:
SuccessFactors mobile apps are Mobile Touchbase and Mobile Org Chart as well as those for the SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting and SAP SuccessFactors Learning solutions, and the SAP Jam™ collaboration platform. Mobile enhancements are also offered for cloud solutions such as SAP HybrisCloud for Customer, SAP Business ByDesign® and Concur.
2.2.2 Release Cycle and Support
As subscribers to a cloud solution, customers consume functional enhancements and fixes without local implementation effort. Similar to on-premise software products, functional enhancements are provided on a regular basis and called releases. The key difference is that these solutions are implemented centrally.
SAP shares detailed information about the planned timeline, envisioned new functionality and possible impact beforehand to all customers that have subscribed to our cloud solutions so they should be enabled to plan accordingly.
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In some cases, a test period may be provided beforehand to allow customers to evaluate what is coming. The number of customers that can participate in this approach at any time is usually limited. This phase takes place before the general availability of the new functionality for all customers (see table below).
Table 5: Release Cycles for some major SAP Cloud Solutions
SAP S/4HANA Cloud SAP Ariba Solutions SAP SuccessFactors Solutions
Concur Solutions SAP Fieldglass Solutions
Quarterly Release
SAP S/4 HANA Cloud releases follow a predefined quarterly schedule.
Monthly Release
SAP Ariba solutions, which include solutions and Ariba Network, deliver innovation to customers on a monthly basis.
Each release communication details whether the planned release contains major new features, enhancements, or fixed defects.
Quarterly Release
SAP SuccessFactors solutions follow a fixed quarterly release window.
Monthly Release
Concur provides monthly updates for all cloud services, including Concur Expense, Concur Travel, Concur Mobile, Concur Invoice, Concur Request, Concur TripLink, and Concur Intelligence.
For SAP Fieldglass solutions, deployments for major releases are on the second Fridays of March, July, and November. Minor releases are deployed on the second Fridays of January, May, and September. Service packs can be deployed on a weekly basis.
During a test period, customers can explore the new functionality in their individual configuration in a nonproductive environment. For cloud solutions that integrate with an on-premise software product that requires integration-specific on-premise software for this integration, programs such as SAP Early Adopter Care provide guidance during the restricted-use phase. For more information on SAP Early Adopter Care, see SAP Customer Influence.
After the restricted-use phase, the unrestricted-use phase begins on the general availability date communicated to customers beforehand. For more information, see “Release Communication” [page 25]). The general availability date marks the point in time when the cloud solution is available for productive use for the first time.
While SAP continuously updates its cloud solutions through releases which may contain new business functionality as well as error corrections, some releases may contain more major enhancements (for example architectural changes) than other releases during the year. For example, a cloud solution may generally offer less or no architectural enhancements for their Q4 and Q1 releases to reduce test efforts for its customers as Q4 and Q1 may be particularly busy times for the respective customers' industry or line of business.
In-between releases containing corrections for issues are continuously provided through fixes and patches (see table below).
SAP Release and Maintenance StrategySAP Release and Maintenance Strategy C U S T O M E R 23
Table 6: Examples
SAP S/4HANA Cloud SAP Ariba Solutions SAP SuccessFactors Solutions
Concur Solutions SAP Fieldglass Solutions
One service for all customers.
All customers are on the same version:
● Critical issues are resolved through hot fixes
● Other important issues are addressed through a biweekly collection of hot fixes
One service for all customers.
All customers are on the same version:
● Critical issues are resolved through hot fixes
● Other important issues are addressed with defect fixes deployed in the monthly releases
One service for all customers.
All customers are on the same version:
● Critical issues are resolved through emergency fixes
● Other important issues are fixed through weekly patches
One platform for all customers.
All customers are on the same version:
● Critical issues are resolved through hot fixes
● Other important issues are addressed with defect fixes as part of the monthly cloud releases
One service for all customers.
All customers are on the same version:
● Critical issues are resolved through emergency
● Other important issues are fixed through weekly patchesCritical issues are resolved through emergency fixes
For a comprehensive overview on available SAP support offerings for cloud solutions, see SAP Support Offerings & Programs.
In general, cloud services are available and maintained as long as customers are subscribed to them.
Support for Integration Components
Integration-specific, on-premise components for SAP cloud solutions, SAP Ariba solutions, SAP SuccessFactors solutions, Concur solutions, and SAP Fieldglass solutions are generally maintained as long as the corresponding cloud solution is offered. If new software interfaces connecting the cloud solution with an on-premise software product are required to use new or enhanced functionality provided by the cloud solution, the appropriate integration-specific, on-premise component will be enhanced accordingly.
A cloud solution may be integrated with a defined set of on-premise SAP software product releases. For this integration, additional on-premise components, which enable the integration between the cloud product and the corresponding on-premise software product may be required. Such on-premise components are currently named integration components or cloud connectors and are either technically add-ons to the corresponding on-premise software product or standalone on-premise products. If these connectors are provided as on-premise software products (provided under a separate license), they follow the on-premise release and maintenance rules. After an update of the cloud solution, it usually supports at least the same set as before as long as the on-premise software releases within this set are in mainstream maintenance, extended maintenance, or priority-one support.
If customers would like to take full advantage of new or enhanced functionality, they may be required to update integration-specific on-premise components or the corresponding on-premise SAP software product which integrates with the cloud solution. If customers prefer to use already-existing functionality only, no upgrade or update is enforced as long as the corresponding on-premise software releases are in mainstream maintenance.
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2.2.3 Release Communication
SAP has defined release communication processes for SAP software, SAP Ariba solutions, SAP SuccessFactors solutions, and Concur solutions to inform customers prior to the general availability of a new release of a cloud solution. These communications generally include the planned timeline, date of availability, new functionality, and impact on existing functionality. The release communication processes for SAP software, SAP Ariba solutions, SAP SuccessFactors solutions, and Concur solutions may vary to a certain extent (see table below).
The release communication process as described may change over time.
Table 7: Release Communication of some major cloud solutions from SAP
SAP Solutions SAP Ariba Solutions SAP SuccessFactors Solutions
Concur Solutions SAP Fieldglass Solutions
Timely information to customers and partners with:
● Feature scope description
● Release notes● Release blogs● Videos (SAP Com
munity)● SAP Jam access
for the SAP Activate innovation adoption framework.
Four (4) weeks prior to go-to-market date:
Advance release notice
● Planned general availability date communicated
● Description of planned features with change impact
Eight (8) weeks prior to go-to-market date:
Release information document
● Summary of planned new features and enhancements
Up to four (4) months in advance of the affected release:
● Large, impactful features often described in the release notes as “Coming soon” items
10-12 weeks prior to go-to-market date:
Release preview document
● Summary of planned new features and enhancements
SAP Release and Maintenance StrategySAP Release and Maintenance Strategy C U S T O M E R 25
SAP Solutions SAP Ariba Solutions SAP SuccessFactors Solutions
Concur Solutions SAP Fieldglass Solutions
Additional communication is planned.
10 day prior to go-to-market date:
Release notice
● Planned general availability date communicated
● Description of planned features with change impact
Four (4) weeks prior to go-to-market date:
Release information document, second edition
● Details of all planned new features and enhancements
● Target group: client-side customer administrators
Two (2) weeks prior to go-to-market date:
Preview release notes
● Describe the planned features and enhancements targeted for the monthly release. If issues exist in the release cycle, some of the features mentioned in the preview may be dropped from the release.
One (1) week prior to go-to-market date:
● Describe the features and enhancements in the monthly release. There is low probability that features mentioned in the draft may be dropped from the release.
Three (3) weeks prior to go-to-market date
● Draft release notes available
● Client preview testing
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SAP Solutions SAP Ariba Solutions SAP SuccessFactors Solutions
Concur Solutions SAP Fieldglass Solutions
After successful go-to-market date:
Deployment complete
● Deployment complete notification
After successful go-to-market date:
Final release notes
● Describe the features and enhancements in the monthly release67
● Client admin release summary – Abbreviated version of the release notes is provided for client admins.
Up to 30 days post release:
● Release notes addendum (if required)
● Translated release notes and addendum
Online community:
http://scn.sap.com/community/s4hana
Online community:
http://connect.ariba.com
Online community:
http://community.successfac-tors.com/
Specific release information within online community: http://community.successfactors.com/t5/custom/page/page-id/Release?blogid=ProductUpdates
Online community:
http://www.fieldglass.com/community/forum
We provide new releases of cloud solutions from SAP and SAP Ariba solutions in a defined frequency. The exact date is narrowed down in advance notifications that start with a planned release window and later on give details of a precise date. Part of these customer notifications is a description of the planned new functionality and impact on existing functionality. This also becomes more detailed over time as the general availability date approaches.
We provide new releases for SAP SuccessFactors solutions according to a published release plan that details in advance when the next upcoming releases will be available. Similar to SAP software and SAP Ariba solutions, we also communicate the planned functional scope of the upcoming release beforehand.
We provide a release calendar for Concur solutions for the entire upcoming year, usually in October. The calendar shows planned dates of the releases, along with the planned dates of when the preview, draft and final release notes will be posted or when the release presentations will be available.
6 Concur Expense, professional edition; Concur Invoice; Concur Intelligence; and Concur mobile solutions – release presentation posted the Tuesday before the release.
7 Concur Travel & Expense, professional edition – release presentation posted the week after the release.
SAP Release and Maintenance StrategySAP Release and Maintenance Strategy C U S T O M E R 27
2.3 Release and Maintenance Strategy for Mobile Apps
This section describes how SAP makes our mobile apps available to customers.
For integrated business scenarios, a separate on-premise software product is also needed in addition to a mobile app to enable back-end connectivity to one or more SAP software systems. Typically, these integration products are add-on software product versions and follow the common on-premise release and maintenance rules for SAP on-premise software products.
Availability
Mobile apps are available to customers on the SAP Service Marketplace site, SAP Store, and external third-party mobile app stores. Usually, new mobile app releases are available directly to all customers. In specific cases, they may be introduced through the SAP Early Adopter Care.
Functional Enhancements and Maintenance
In the event that functional enhancements and corrections are provided by SAP, they are delivered as new versions of the mobile app.
The scope of the maintenance services for mobile app releases that may be offered by SAP at our sole discretion would only encompass mainstream maintenance (for example, no extended maintenance for an additional fee or customer-specific maintenance).
2.4 Availability and Maintenance Details for SAP Releases
SAP announced on October 14, 2014, a decision to extend mainstream maintenance for core application releases in SAP Business Suite 7: SAP ERP 6.0, SAP CRM 7.0, SAP SC 7.0, and SAP SRM 7.0 as well as SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA 2013 to December 2025. This long-term maintenance and support perspective demonstrates our commitment to predictability and protection for our customers’ investments, giving them additional choice, flexibility, and time to develop their individual approach for innovations and the cloud. For more information about the announcement, which also includes the continued delivery of innovations for the on-premise versions of SAP Business Suite 7 and SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA as well as prolonged commitments related to SAP Enterprise Support services pricing, see the Maintenance 2025 details on the SAP Support Portal: https://support.sap.com/maintenance-2025.
This mainstream maintenance prolongation also applies to enhancement packages. For add-ons to the SAP Business Suite core application releases, we decide on a case-by-case basis whether mainstream maintenance for existing add-on releases is extended or whether new add-on releases are shipped to cover the time frame to 2025 in a release sequence consisting of several add-on releases to the same underlying release, as described in the “Maintenance Strategy Rules” [page 8] section.
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For a limited number of releases, mainstream maintenance cannot be extended from 2020 to 2025. For more information, including the restrictions for the mainstream maintenance extension to 2025, including those for SAP NetWeaver, see SAP Note 1648480.
As announced in July 2012, the lower range of the version interoperability for central SAP NetWeaver platform systems (SAP Enterprise Portal, SAP Process Integration, and SAP BW) in conjunction with SAP Business Suite 7 innovations 2013 core applications (as of enhancement package 7 for SAP ERP 6.0, enhancement package 3 for SAP CRM 7.0, enhancement package 3 for SAP SCM 7.0, and enhancement package 3 for SAP SRM 7.0) has been shifted upwards to at least SAP NetWeaver 7.3. For more information, see SAP Note 1951805 and the Version Interoperability Strategy information on SAP Community.
For the latest availability and maintenance information as well as upgrade paths and technical release information, see the Product Availability Matrix (links below). For an overview of renamed software products and versions, see the Renaming section in the Product Availability Matrix. Technical information about components in individual SAP software releases are included in master guides and installation and upgrade guides and can be accessed at https://service.sap.com/instguides.
Access the Product Availability Matrix
Your Licensed Products in the Product Availability Matrix
Related Information
Master GuidesRenaming Section in the Product Availability Matrix
SAP Release and Maintenance StrategySAP Release and Maintenance Strategy C U S T O M E R 29
3 Glossary
A list of terms that are used in the SAP Release and Maintenance Strategy is provided here.
For a longer list of technology-related terms, see SAP Help Portal.
For a list of corporate terms used at SAP, see our glossary.
A
add-on release – SAP application release that is technically dependent on and can be installed only on top of another SAP application
application – software unit supporting a specific collection of business processes required to address defined business needs
B
beta shipment – beta programs designed for customers interested in working with SAP to validate and experience our upcoming solutions. Working closely with the SAP team, participants are able to review solutions that are not yet released to the market, test the solutions based on their business processes and requirements, and provide feedback for future releases. Access to the solutions is provided under a test and evaluation agreement and can be used for testing purposes only. Productive usage is not allowed and is not supported under the maintenance and support agreement.
C
cloud solution – a service offered to customers that is managed by SAP or partners and made available to business users over the Internet
compatibility pack – a compatibility pack provides customers with a separate usage right for selected SAP Business Suite core applications and related add-on products. This pack always relates to at least one SAP license material and allows customers to deploy a compatible copy of licensed SAP Business Suite software into an SAP S/4HANA installation. The usage right is limited in time and specifies which features and functions are released for SAP S/4HANA. Details are set forth in the Software Use Rights Documents. A compatibility pack is not an independent software package or software product.
content shipment – complementary software for SAP applications that supports the customers’ integration, implementation, and configuration activities
30 C U S T O M E RSAP Release and Maintenance Strategy
Glossary
controlled shipment phase – first phase of a release delivery, which may be rolled out within the framework of the SAP Early Adopter Care program. The program determines how many customers receive the release and increases distribution in a controlled way. This phase is followed by the unrestricted shipment phase.
core applications – set of SAP Business Suite software applications that include the SAP ERP, SAP Customer Relationship Management, SAP Product Lifecycle Management, SAP Supply Chain Management, and SAP Supplier Relationship Management applications
customer-specific maintenance – maintenance phase after mainstream and extended maintenance have expired, with reduced scope of support
D
default release – most recent release in the unrestricted shipment phase, which begins on the general availability date. When ordering an SAP application, customers receive the default release unless a different release in mainstream maintenance is explicitly specified.
E
enhancement package – an optional package that allows customers to take advantage of ongoing business innovation while keeping the core systems stable
enterprise services – services that organizations can use to compose or integrate applications to enable new business processes and business scenarios
enterprise services bundle – collection of enterprise services delivered as a discrete bundle that can be used to extend the functionality of SAP ERP or other core applications
extended maintenance – optional maintenance phase offered for selected releases of SAP software after mainstream maintenance has expired, with a scope of support similar to mainstream maintenance
F
feature package – packages that deliver nondisruptive innovation for generally available product versions, also bundling software corrections and legal changes. A feature package delivery comes as a feature package stack. Like a support package stack, it must be used in the given combination. Feature package stacks should be seen as an entity in themselves – customers must heed the minimum requirements and dependencies between individual components and apply the feature packages and patches specified in the feature package stack together.
SAP Release and Maintenance StrategyGlossary C U S T O M E R 31
G
general availability date – point in time when a release becomes generally available to all customers
I
in-advance shipment – an add-on shipped as decoupled from the enhancement packages of the SAP Business Suite core applications and consolidated in future enhancement packages. Installing an in-advance shipment raises the version of a software component to the latest available enhancement package. All in-advance shipment functionality can be activated selectively with business functions.
industry application – software unit supporting a specific collection of business processes required to address the needs of a specific industry
industry solution map – graphical representation of the end-to-end business processes of a typical company within a specific industry from the customer’s perspective
integration – interoperability of a defined set of SAP software releases within a customer’s system landscape
Internet of Things (IoT) – A fusion of the digital world and the physical world that brings together different concepts and technical components. Everyday objects and machines have sensors that can “communicate” with each other over the Internet, making new models possible for business processes, collaboration, miniaturization of devices, and mobile communications.
L
legal change – correction to SAP software to adapt existing functions in an SAP software release to changed legal and regulatory requirements
M
mainstream maintenance – maintenance phase that includes full scope of support. It can be followed by an extended maintenance, customer-specific maintenance, or priority-one support phase.
maintenance – software support comprising (depending on maintenance phase), support for legal changes and corrections delivered through the SAP Notes tool, support packages, problem support, and access to information and online service channels
maintenance strategy – a set of rules that determines the length and conditions of maintenance for SAP software releases. Detailed rules can differ depending on the type of application.
managed cloud – deployment model that implies resources are dedicated to one customer and accessed through a virtual private network (VPN). The infrastructure is owned, managed, and operated by the cloud provider in the cloud provider’s data center. SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud is SAP’s managed cloud service.
32 C U S T O M E RSAP Release and Maintenance Strategy
Glossary
master guide – document containing information on how to install SAP software to support business scenarios and that includes links to all other documents required to complete the task
P
powered by SAP HANA – an SAP offering powered by SAP HANA runs on the SAP HANA platform. More than 100 SAP applications are currently “powered by SAP HANA.” Partner solutions or applications that are powered by SAP HANA are certified by SAP to run on the SAP HANA platform. These applications take advantage of the distinctive capabilities of SAP HANA.
priority-one support – an optional maintenance phase offered after the mainstream maintenance phase expires for specific releases of the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform and SAP BusinessObjects business intelligence solutions
private cloud – deployment model that implies resources are dedicated to one customer and accessed through the Internet. The infrastructure is owned, managed and operated by the customer, a third-party, or both, and is on the premises of the customer, cloud provider, or a third party.
public cloud – Provides consumers access to a provider’s software applications running on a cloud infrastructure. The resources are located on the premises of the cloud provider, not of the customer, and are shared by multiple customers accessing them through the Internet.
R
release – SAP software that has a version number, is shipped at a particular time, and has defined maintenance phases. The terms “release” and “product version” are often used as synonyms.
release road map – long-term schedule on how and when new releases for SAP software are planned to be available
release sequence – a sequence of product versions that are add-on application releases to the same technology platform or core application release
release-to-customer (RTC) date – date that marks the initial availability of a release to customers and the beginning of a controlled shipment phase
release type – defines a framework for behavior and characteristics that the software product will comply with, depending on the deployment mode (on-premise, cloud, mobile)
remote function call (RFC) – call of a function module that runs in a different system (destination) from the calling program. We distinguish between synchronous, asynchronous, and transactional function calls. The called system is accessed via the RFC interface.
SAP Release and Maintenance StrategyGlossary C U S T O M E R 33
S
SAP Business Suite – an SAP NetWeaver–based family of integrated core applications, industry applications, and supplementary applications
SAP Early Adopter Care – successor program to the SAP Ramp-Up and General Availability Care programs that connects customers with products and innovations to help them simplify, innovate, and digitize – fast. The program gives our customers a channel to SAP’s development organization, enabling two-way communication, improving transparency, and allowing stakeholders to react to and minimize project risk. At the same time, SAP Early Adopter Care can help improve SAP products, drive company strategy to increase adoption, and better serve all SAP customers.
SAP HANA maintenance revision – revision that contains only major bug fixes in key scenarios supported by SAP HANA; is based on the last revision before a new support package stack for the SAP HANA platform is released, targeting customers with a clear focus on stabilization; and is released on demand and focuses on production and business-critical scenarios supported by SAP HANA. Theprovisioning of new maintenance revisions ends with availability of an SAP HANA data center service point, approximately three months after the release of a successor support package stack. From this date, customers must adopt the regular support package revisions to receive further fixes.
SAP HANA support package revision – individual software corrections and updates available for SAP HANA. Revisions are cumulative and strictly downward compatible; they contain bug fixes, performance improvements, or new capabilities (as part of the support package stack for the SAP HANA platform) as well as all fixes that were delivered through SAP HANA maintenance revisions. They are targeted to customers looking for the latest capabilities in SAP HANA.
SAP HANA support package stack – set of support packages and revisions for all components included in the respective SAP HANA software release. Customers must heed the minimum requirements and dependencies between individual components and apply the support packages specified in the support package stack together. Typically, new usage scenarios and features for SAP HANA are introduced with a support package stack.
SAP HANA data center service point – outlines certain revisions that have been running in production enterprise applications at SAP before they are released to customers. Those revisions are planned approximately three months after the release of the latest support package stack and are intended to allow better planning of maintenance windows for production environments running on SAP HANA.
SAP Ramp-Up – program replaced by SAP Early Adopter Care.
service pack – a bundle of software corrections intended for wide distribution that contains fixes for issues of priority one, two, and three. These were adopted from the former BusinessObjects support policy. Service packs also contain platform updates and are released on a predefined schedule.
software component version – indicates the release of a software component. It is a technically distinguishable unit of software and is installed and patched as a whole. A software component version is the smallest unit that can be delivered, maintained, and deployed.
software product version – indicates the release of a product. It is defined mainly from a delivery point of view. There are two types of product versions: stand alone and add-on. A product version consists of one or more software component versions.
stand-alone release – SAP application release that can be deployed independently of other application releases
support package – bundle of software corrections available as a support package for the ABAP programming language or a Java support package
34 C U S T O M E RSAP Release and Maintenance Strategy
Glossary
support package stack – sets of support packages and patches for the respective software product version that shall be used in the given combination. Support package stacks should be seen as an entity in themselves; customers must heed the minimum requirements and dependencies between individual components and apply the support packages and patches specified in the support package stack together.
support release – release offered after the beginning of the unrestricted shipment phase, if required, and that contains a collection of all previously available support packages
switch framework – SAP technology to activate industry business function sets and generic business functions within SAP ERP
T
technology update – update to SAP software to support new or changed technologies – for example, to enable compatibility with new database versions, operating system versions, or browser versions or to integrate a release in new releases of other applications to support new scenarios
U
unrestricted shipment phase – phase of release delivery during which all customers can obtain the release. The phase follows the controlled shipment phase.
update – process during a maintenance phase by which corrections are applied to software. This is generally performed by importing support packages into the customer’s system. In contrast to an upgrade, updates do not change software component versions.
upgrade – replacement of an existing application component with a newer software component version of that same application
SAP Release and Maintenance StrategyGlossary C U S T O M E R 35
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