SAP ECC

The ERP system that is the backbone of your business

SAP ECC, which stands for ERP Central Component, is an on-premise enterprise resource planning system. SAP ECC is also known as SAP ERP 6.0, and has been one of the world’s most popular enterprise resource planning systems for nearly 20 years. However, mainstream maintenance—in other words, support and updates—will be ending for SAP ECC in the next couple of years. How will the end of maintenance affect your ERP system?

Which SAP ERP version and EhP are you using?

To determine how the change affects you, you’ll need to know:
Which SAP version
And Enhancement Package (EhP) you’re currently using.
If you’re not sure, the best way to check is to follow the steps in this SAP blog.

When does maintenance end for your SAP ERP 6.0 EhP?

EhPs 0 through 5: Mainstream maintenance ended on 31 December 2025
EhPs 6 through 8: Mainstream maintenance ends on 31 December 31 2027, with optional extended maintenance available—at an additional cost—until 31 December 2030

What are your options?

Start your migration process to another ERP
Upgrade your current SAP ECC environment to include enhancement package 8 for continued support until the end of 2027
Opt for SAP Customer-Specific Maintenance

Maintenance ending soon? Here’s what to expect

Once mainstream maintenance ends, SAP will no longer be able to offer customer support for your ERP system. You also won’t receive any security patches, legal updates, or functional enhancements from SAP. Essentially, if you encounter a bug with your system, it will be up to you to fix it yourself.

Why choose Aiden

About Aiden

Who we are

We are a human-oriented IT partner: Technology made human. With SAP and Mendix expertise and personal commitment, we make technology work for your business and its people.

What we do

We deliver ERP and low-code solutions that streamline and automate business processes. From core systems to integrations and extensions, we advise, implement, and configure solutions that deliver real value.

How we work

We guide projects from kick-off through delivery and ongoing support, ensuring new solutions are immediately ready for use. We provide support for configuration, integration, and adoption within your organisation.

Why Aiden

We combine human-centred guidance with specialist IT expertise. As a local partner, we provide a single point of contact for SAP, Mendix, industry-specific software, integrations, cloud services, and Managed Services.

How to Guide: Moving to SAP S/4HANA Cloud

An ERP migration often feels like moving house: exciting, full of opportunities, but also challenging. How do you ensure a smooth transition? What should you take into account? Boost the chances of success in your migration project with this how-to guide detailing the steps involved, the choices to be made and the stakeholders to include.

Download whitepaper

What Aiden can help you with

SAP ECC supports key business processes like finance, logistics, HR, and procurement. Each company needs to decide for themselves how to approach the end of mainstream maintenance. Aiden can help you start this process by assessing your current situation and collaboratively defining a roadmap.

Migration & Clean Start

Start migrating to a modern ERP system, designed to meet today’s business challenges. You also gain new features like advanced analytics, real-time data processing, and a scalable, future-ready foundation.

Start your migration

Clean Core

Often a clean core is thought to be a system devoid of core customisation. However, being truly ‘clean’ actually means that those developments need to adhere to the latest best practices and guidelines. There are a range of ways that Aiden can support with creating and maintaining a clean core.

Learn more

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have questions about SAP ECC? Here are the most common questions and their answers.

Don’t see your question?

To keep ERP ECC running optimally and to introduce new features, SAP released periodic enhancement packages. These are essentially updates that let you expand the functionality of SAP ERP ECC based on your business requirements, without needing a full system upgrade.

This on-premise solution has several names, but SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) is essentially SAP ERP. ERP 6.0 refers to SAP ERP with version ECC 6.0.

There are 8 EhPs for SAP ECC, each offering new features and improvements:

Base version (EhP 0): Standard SAP ECC.
EhP 1–5: Incremental updates, including usability improvements, industry-specific features, and advanced HR and finance capabilities.
EhP 6–8: Innovations in HCM, logistics, and finance, with a focus on preparing for the new version of the SAP ERP: SAP Cloud ERP.

Without support from SAP, it will become increasingly costly—and risky—to stick with your old ERP ECC system. Here are some challenges you’re likely to encounter:

Operational costs: Your ERP will become less efficient over time, which has a major impact on operations and competitiveness. Plus, you’ll wind up paying more for custom fixes to keep your system running.
Regulatory compliance: Without mainstream maintenance, you won’t have access to legal updates, which puts you at risk of compliance issues.
Security: Legacy systems are more vulnerable to evolving cyber threats.
Business growth: Outdated systems don’t give you the flexibility and scalability you need to remain competitive.

Not sure if you are ready to migrate yet? Here are the two options available to those who want to stay on their existing system as long as possible:

Upgrade to enhancement package 6 or higher: Be aware, you will get extended maintenance plus 2% MT fee from 2028 until 2030
Opt for SAP Customer-Specific Maintenance: This has reduced support, no legal/tax changes, restricted security patches, and compliance of IT systems may be at risk

Be aware of the risks involved in these choices.

There is also an option to purchase continued maintenance from SAP. However, be aware that this has reduced support, no legal/tax changes, restricted security patches, and compliance of IT systems may be at risk.