Lesson 5 of 6
Where the authoritative dates live and how to verify them
10 min
Listen to this lesson
Most of the dates in this course were misquoted somewhere in 2025 or 2026: by a vendor selling a migration, by a slide copied from a 2019 deck, or by a news article that summarized a summary. SAP itself changes terms, as the December 2025 Compatibility Scope update and the October 2026 transition-option update show. A deadline map is only as good as its sources, so this lesson shows where each kind of date lives and how to check it.
The source hierarchy
| Date you need | Where to check | What to record |
|---|---|---|
| ECC and Business Suite 7 maintenance | SAP News, February 2020 announcement; SAP Note 1648480; PAM entry for SAP ERP 6.0 | EHP level, phase, end date, note version |
| Support after maintenance ends | SAP Note 52505 | What customer-specific maintenance includes |
| Transition option | SAP Note 3591251; SAP Support Portal page on the ERP private edition maintenance strategy; SAP News update of October 13, 2026 | Eligible products, prerequisites, term |
| Compatibility Scope | SAP Note 2269324 and its matrix attachment | Item ID, alternative, use-right end for your contract type |
| Solution Manager | SAP Support Portal page for SAP Solution Manager 7.2 | Mainstream date and the functions covered by extended maintenance |
| PI/PO, BW, BPC, SCM, GTS | PAM (support.sap.com/pam) for the exact product version | Version, mainstream date, extended date |
| SAP S/4HANA release maintenance | PAM entry for your release; release strategy pages | End of mainstream for your release |
Where each kind of date lives. The PAM and SAP Notes need an S-user.
A verification routine
- Write the claim exactly, for example "BW 7.5 mainstream maintenance ends December 31, 2027".
- Identify the precise product version in use from the system (System > Status, component list), not from a diagram.
- Look up that version in the PAM and note the mainstream and extended dates.
- Check the relevant SAP Note and record its version number and date; notes are updated in place.
- Compare with your contract: is extended maintenance or a subscription in force?
- Record the result in the date register with the source, version, date checked and who checked it.
- Set a review date, at least every six months and after every SAP announcement.
Common traps when quoting dates
| Trap | Example | How to avoid it |
|---|---|---|
| Product family instead of version | "BPC ends in 2027" when BPC 10.1, 11.1 and 2021 have different dates | Always look up the exact version in the PAM |
| Old slide, new terms | A 2023 deck still says compatibility packs end in 2025 | Check the current version of the SAP Note and its change date |
| Headline year without type | "Solution Manager ends 2027" without saying which functions get extended maintenance | Record the date type and scope with every date |
| Vendor date treated as SAP date | A vendor blog says LO-VC ends in 2027 | Find the statement in an SAP Note, the PAM or an SAP page, or label it unverified |
| Contract ignored | Assuming the longer cloud-subscription date for an on-premise license | Confirm the contract type with the account team |
Five ways a correct-looking date ends up wrong in a steering pack.
Also note what this course could not settle from public sources, and say so in your own register. Sources disagree on the newest BPC version's mainstream date and on LO-VC beyond the S/4HANA simplification list. (GTS 11.0 is now settled: SAP offered no extended maintenance, and from January 1, 2026 it is in customer-specific maintenance.) "Unverified, check with SAP" is a perfectly good register entry. A confident wrong date is not.
The date register
Grace keeps the register as a simple table in SAP Cloud ALM next to the program's risks, so every date has an owner and a review date. A row looks like this:
| Field | Example: Contoso BW row |
|---|---|
| Product and version | SAP BW 7.5 (illustrative course data) |
| Date type | Mainstream maintenance end; extended optional |
| Dates | December 31, 2027; extended to December 31, 2030 if contracted |
| Source | PAM entry and SAP NetWeaver 7.5 maintenance strategy; checked by Sam |
| Contract position | No extended maintenance contracted |
| Successor decision | Under evaluation: BW/4HANA versus SAP Datasphere |
| Next review | Six months, or on any SAP announcement |
One row of Contoso's date register.
What would you do?
A partner deck shown to Contoso's steering group says "BPC ends 2027, migrate to our planning product now". Contoso runs BPC 10.1 for NetWeaver for consolidation, and a sister company runs BPC 2021 for BW/4HANA. Dan asks whether the slide is right for either. What do you do?
- Contract first, then SAP Notes and the PAM, then SAP pages and news; analysts are context only.
- Key notes: 2269324, 3591251, 52505 and 1648480; record their version because notes change in place.
- Look up the exact product version from the system, not from a diagram.
- Keep a date register with source, checker and a review date.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. What does SAP Note 52505 describe?
2. Where do you look up the dates for a specific product version?
3. Why record the version of an SAP Note in the register?
4. What answers "what do we actually use" for compatibility items?