Already on S/4HANA? Releases 2020 and 2021 are leaving mainstream maintenance. We take you to the latest release with a tested plan, a short downtime window and a fallback.
Each S/4HANA release gets mainstream maintenance for a fixed time. After that, there are no new legal changes, tax updates or security fixes for your release — and new SAP® innovations need a current one.
| Release | Mainstream ends | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| S/4HANA 2020 | 31 Dec 2025 | Out of mainstream — upgrade now |
| S/4HANA 2021 | 31 Dec 2026 | Plan the upgrade this year |
| S/4HANA 2022 | 31 Dec 2027 | Plan for 2027 |
| S/4HANA 2023 | 31 Dec 2030 | Optional feature upgrade |
| S/4HANA 2025 | 31 Dec 2032 | Latest release |
Dates as published by SAP® for on-premise and private cloud releases. Check SAP®'s release strategy for your exact feature pack.
Back in mainstream maintenance — tax, legal and security updates keep coming.
Newer Fiori apps, embedded analytics and the AI features SAP® only ships for current releases.
Use the upgrade to retire unused custom code and move extensions toward clean core.
SUM with near-Zero Downtime Maintenance (nZDM) or ZDO keeps the business window short.
Upgrade path, add-ons and custom code checked against the target release — with QTS and SAP®'s maintenance planner.
Target release and feature pack, downtime strategy (SUM, nZDM or ZDO), code freeze and fallback.
Sandbox from a production copy first, then DEV, QAS and PRD — with regression tests in between.
Hypercare after go-live, fixes for remaining findings and a plan for the next release.
Most upgrades follow the same pattern. We put it into a package with a clear scope, so you know what happens, when and what it costs.
Usually three to six months from check to go-live, depending on custom code, add-ons and how many systems are in your landscape.
With SUM and the right downtime option (nZDM or ZDO) the business downtime usually fits into one weekend. We measure the real runtime in the sandbox upgrade first.
In most cases, yes — S/4HANA can be upgraded across several releases in one step, as long as your add-ons and custom code support the target. The maintenance planner confirms it for your system.
You need regression tests for your key processes. We help you set up a focused test plan, and QTS shows where custom code is affected so tests can focus there.
No — for ECC 6.0 the move to S/4HANA is a conversion, not an upgrade. See our brownfield migration together with GOLIVE.
Tell us your current release and landscape — we come back with a path, a timeline and a fixed quote.