First it was 2025, then 2027. With extended maintenance until 2030 and a specific transition option until 2033, the SAP deadline seems to keep moving further into the future. Understandably, you may think that the transition from SAP ECC to S/4HANA can wait a little longer. But that extra time is not available to every organisation under the same conditions.
Whichever route you choose, your data needs attention now. Duplicate customer records, outdated supplier data and missing registration numbers will not disappear with a new ERP system. So what do the different deadlines mean, and how can you avoid taking your existing data problems with you to S/4HANA?
When does support for SAP ECC end?
The maintenance period depends on your SAP version. For SAP ERP 6.0 (ECC) with enhancement packages 6, 7 and 8, two dates are important:
- End of 2027: regular maintenance ends.
- End of 2030: optional extended maintenance ends. This comes with a two-percentage-point surcharge on the maintenance base.
Different maintenance periods apply to older versions. So check which version your organisation uses and which agreements apply to it.
ECC will not suddenly stop working after 2030. However, extended maintenance will end. The customer-specific maintenance that remains available after that provides more limited coverage. Continuing to use ECC therefore requires a conscious decision.
Has the SAP deadline been extended to 2033?
SAP offers a separate transition option for large, complex environments. This runs from 2031 through 2033, but it is not a general extension for your current ECC system.
Among other things, the following conditions apply:
- Your systems must be migrated to SAP ERP, private edition on SAP HANA, before the end of 2030.
- A minimum system size of 2 TB applies.
- You must purchase an additional service package: the max success plan.
Not all connected products are covered by this option. This route therefore also requires action before 2030. Check with SAP or your implementation partner which conditions apply to your environment before finalising your migration plans.
A migration also takes your data problems with it
Suppose the same supplier appears under three different names in your system. Your purchasing volume is spread across multiple records, so you do not have a complete overview. If you migrate this data to S/4HANA without checking it, the problem will remain.
Simply merging records is not a solution either. Similar names may belong to different locations or legal entities. You first need to know which company each record represents.
Incorrect data can lead to distorted reporting, additional manual work or a risk check being performed on the wrong organisation. The more you automate, the more important it becomes to have reliable underlying data.
Interesting read: Your supplier database is not what you think it is: that could cost you money
Prepare your Business Partner data for S/4HANA
In SAP S/4HANA, the Business Partner (BP) is the single, mandatory starting point for customer and supplier master data. One organisation can have both a customer and a supplier role.
The process SAP provides to get there from ECC is called Customer Vendor Integration (CVI). During CVI, you are essentially determining which real-world company is behind each record. ECC rarely knows this reliably.
That is why you should first check which records belong to the same organisation. Reliable external business information helps you confirm the identity and fill in missing data. The D-U-N-S® Number gives you an external, stable answer to the question of which company is behind a record; corporate family information makes relationships between companies visible. The overview below shows where it helps at each stage.
What can you do now?
Start with a defined group, such as active suppliers or your most important customers. This helps you identify the problems you are dealing with and where you can achieve the greatest improvement.
- Find duplicate records. In ECC systems, the same company often appears multiple times, created by different sales organisations or company codes with minor spelling differences. Matching based on name and address is vague and unreliable. If you first match each record to Dun & Bradstreet, records with the same D-U-N-S® Number are very likely duplicates. You can then merge or block them before they become duplicate BPs.
- Check data quality. Identify outdated information and missing data. Start with information that is important for procurement, invoicing and risk checks.
- Confirm the business identity. With CVI, one BP can have both the customer and supplier role, but only if you know that the customer record and supplier record refer to the same entity. A shared D-U-N-S® Number is the most reliable way to demonstrate this and link them to a single BP.
- Correct poor-quality data. The D&B match provides the verified legal name, registered address, postcode, legal form and often the VAT or Chamber of Commerce number. This allows you to directly correct missing or invalid fields that cause errors in MDS_PPO2 and cause the synchronisation run to fail.
- Identify inactive records. D&B flags companies that are no longer active, so you can archive them instead of converting them.
- Set up data management processes. Define which data is mandatory, who reviews exceptions and how changes are processed.
Track how many records are complete and how many potential duplicates still need to be investigated. Also involve the teams that use the data every day. They know which errors cause additional work in practice.
Keep business data up to date with dataxess for SAP
A cleansed database is a good starting point, but companies continue to change. With dataxess for SAP you can search for companies in the Dun & Bradstreet Data Cloud, create enriched Business Partners and supplement existing records. Changes, such as a new address or new directors, can be compared with your SAP data and then synchronised.
This keeps business information up to date within your daily processes and provides a reliable data foundation for further automation and AI applications. The solution integrates via SAP BTP and follows Clean Core principles, without customisation within the SAP core.
Want to see how it works? Watch our webinar about dataxess for SAP and see the product in action.
Interesting read: Altares Dun & Bradstreet launches dataxess for SAP for reliable Business Partner data
Start now and avoid a rush in 2030
Whether SAP will move the timeline again, nobody knows. What is clear is that reliable Business Partner data is the foundation for your transition to S/4HANA and the processes that follow. A deadline can move, but good preparation does not become outdated.
Want to get your customer and supplier data in order and keep it up to date within SAP? Discover dataxess for SAP or talk to our experts about how you can use reliable business data in your SAP environment.
