SAP ECC: Compatibility Packs Expire Dec 31, 2025; Act Now
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For thousands of customers still on SAP ECC: Compatibility Packs expire Dec 31, 2025; act now to avoid a breach of contract. Starting January 1, 2026, using expired packs will constitute a contractual violation and the code may be deactivated in future updates. Companies have only three options: execute a rapid technical upgrade, perform a hybrid system conversion, or rebuild entirely on S/4HANA. Inaction guarantees findings from SAP auditors and the eventual removal of expired code. The current rush is causing more defects for late movers, while businesses that acted early are realizing big improvements and savings from the new system.
What happens to SAP ECC Compatibility Packs after December 31, 2025?
Upon expiration on December 31, 2025, usage rights for most SAP ECC Compatibility Packs will be void. Any continued use constitutes an immediate contract breach and risks technical deactivation in future SAP updates. Businesses must migrate to S/4HANA, decouple processes, or face significant penalties and functional losses.
Three weeks is not a migration window – it is a litigation window.
This guide outlines the deadline mechanics, key migration paths, and the financial calculations organizations are using to decide between a last-minute conversion and a controlled shutdown of affected systems.
1. What actually expires on 31 December 2025
On January 1, 2026, the usage rights for most SAP ECC Compatibility Packs terminate. Using these packs after this date is a licence violation. SAP may also technically disable the functionality in future support packages, meaning the transactions will cease to work entirely for non-compliant customers.
| Scope | Expiry | Consequence after expiry |
|---|---|---|
| SD, MM, FI, CO, WM, IS-Oil, etc. Compatibility Packs | 31 Dec 2025 | Immediate licence violation; functionality may be technically disabled in 2026 support packs |
| CS, LE-TRA, PP-PI packs | 31 Dec 2030 | Still available, but only if you are already on RISE with SAP or SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition |
| ECC 6.0 maintenance | 2027 / 2030 (select countries) | Separate timeline – does not extend Compatibility Pack rights |
Even a last-minute conversion must follow the complete SAP Activate methodology, including blueprint, build, and test phases. With limited time, most companies cannot finish a full migration. CIOs must now choose between temporarily decoupling obsolete processes or pursuing a "slim-line" conversion that migrates only essential functions.
2. The three escape hatches still open
-
Technical upgrade (brownfield)
- Upgrade the database to HANA and convert existing code while retaining all historical data. This is the fastest path (6-9 months) but also carries forward existing technical debt.
-
System conversion (hybrid)
- Combine a technical upgrade with selective data archiving and re-implementation of poorly customized modules. This approach adds 3-4 months but preserves critical audit trails.
-
Greenfield re-implementation
- Start with a clean S/4HANA installation, migrating only open items and master data. This is the longest path (12-18 months) and is only feasible if the business can temporarily freeze processes reliant on expired packs.
In November 2025, 59 % of the former ECC base is already live on S/4HANA, up from 46 % in January. The remaining 41 % – roughly 14 000 systems – is now negotiating inside a three-week compliance cliff.
3. Penalty math versus ROI math
While SAP’s official penalty structure is unpublished, licence audits typically demand two years of back-maintenance plus a 25% premium. For a company with a €50M annual support contract, this could mean an unexpected €12.5M invoice. This penalty contrasts sharply with the significant ROI of an S/4HANA migration, as documented by Forrester:
| Metric | Pre-migration | Post-migration (Year 1) |
|---|---|---|
| Financial close | 8.3 days | 2.4 days |
| Order-to-delivery | 14 weeks | 9 weeks |
| Working capital per €1 b revenue | Baseline | - €22 m |
| 5-year ROI | – | 547 % |
A "slim-line" conversion, which defers about 15% of legacy functions, can still achieve approximately 70% of the potential ROI. This is because core S/4HANA features like the universal journal, embedded analytics, and Fiori workflows deliver the most significant business value.
4. The 21-day cut-over checklist (what teams are doing right now)
- Day - 21 to - 15: Export compatibility usage list via SAP Solution Manager; lock transport of affected objects.
- Day - 14 to - 10: Freeze master-data changes; create production snapshot for conversion rehearsal.
- Day - 9 to - 5: Run SI-Check, remediate custom code, and perform one-shot data archiving; sign off on emergency user access.
- Day - 4 to - 1: Execute mock conversion, parallel finance reconciliation, and complete business acceptance testing.
- Go-live night: Execute 12-hour system freeze, HANA DB migration, S/4 conversion, and smoke tests.
- Hyper-care: Maintain a 24×7 war-room until the first period-end close (up to 15 days).
Companies that completed their migration in October averaged 2.3 critical defects during hyper-care. Those starting in December are projected to face 5-7 defects due to compressed testing schedules. This surge in defects represents the hidden cost of delaying migration.
5. What happens if you do nothing
While SAP won’t take immediate punitive action on January 1, 2026, auditors will flag the contract breach during your next annual review. More critically, 2026 support packages will remove the Compatibility Pack code entirely, causing those transactions to fail. Hopes for a blanket extension were dismissed by SAP’s senior vice-president Maura Hameroff in February 2025, who called the packs "redundant." The only exceptions are for three specialized modules, and only for customers on RISE with SAP cloud contracts.
6. Fast-track enablers adopted in 2025
- Low-code test automation: Streamlines regression testing cycles from four weeks down to six days.
- SAP Advanced Data Migration by Syniti: Enables overnight loading of a billion records, a task that previously took a full weekend.
- Embedded AI on S/4: Post-migration, machine-learning agents can automate up to 65% of manual ERP tasks (e.g., matching, clearing, dunning), shortening the average payback period to just 11 months.
There is no secret migration path or last-minute reprieve. The decision for remaining ECC customers comes down to a simple calculation: which is cheaper – the penalty invoice or an expedited conversion? The companies that have already done this analysis are in their data centers now, executing their go-live plans under a strict code freeze.