SAP S RELEASE STRATEGY For All Major Shipments from 2005 Onward Update: January 2006

Transcription

1 SAP S RELEASE STRATEGY For All Major Shipments from 2005 Onward Update: January 2006

2 Copyright 2006 SAP AG. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the express permission of SAP AG. The information contained herein may be changed without prior notice. Some software products marketed by SAP AG and its distributors contain proprietary software components of other software vendors. Microsoft, Windows, Outlook, and PowerPoint are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. IBM, DB2, DB2 Universal Database, OS/2, Parallel Sysplex, MVS/ ESA, AIX, S/390, AS/400, OS/390, OS/400, iseries, pseries, xseries, zseries, z/os, AFP, Intelligent Miner, WebSphere, Netfinity, Tivoli, and Informix are trademarks or registered trademarks of IBM Corporation. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. UNIX, X/Open, OSF/1, and Motif are registered trademarks of the Open Group. Citrix, ICA, Program Neighborhood, MetaFrame, WinFrame, VideoFrame, and MultiWin are trademarks or registered trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc. HTML, XML, XHTML and W3C are trademarks or registered trademarks of W3C, World Wide Web Consortium, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Java is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. JavaScript is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc., used under license for technology invented and implemented by Netscape. MaxDB is a trademark of MySQL AB, Sweden. SAP, R/3, mysap, mysap.com, xapps, xapp,, and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trade marks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serves informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary. These materials are subject to change without notice. These materials are provided by SAP AG and its affiliated companies ( SAP Group ) for informational purposes only, without representation or warranty of any kind, and SAP Group shall not be liable for errors or omissions with respect to the materials. The only warranties for SAP Group products and services are those that are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services, if any. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. 2

3 Disclaimer and Online Version of SAP s Release Strategy This brochure reflects the status of SAP release planning as of December Content is subject to change without notice. For up-to-date information on individual SAP offerings, please refer to the online version of this brochure on SAP Service Marketplace at SAP assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in this document. SAP does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information, text, graphics, links, or other items contained within this material. This document is provided without a warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or noninfringement. SAP shall have no liability for damages of any kind including without limitation direct, special, indirect, or consequential damages that may result from the use of these materials. This limitation shall not apply in cases of intent or gross negligence. The statutory liability for personal injury and defective products is not affected. SAP has no control over the information that you may access through the use of hot links contained in these materials and does not endorse your use of third-party Web pages nor provide any warranty whatsoever relating to third-party Web pages. 3

4 CONTENTS Disclaimer and Online Version of SAP s Release Strategy SAP s Release Strategy at a Glance Strategy in New Topics in The SAP Go-to-Market Approach SAP Portfolio SAP Applications Enterprise Services Architecture SAP Industry Solution Maps and SAP Application Maps SAP s Release and Strategy Release Strategy in General Release Strategy in Detail Strategy in General Strategy in Detail Release Sequence Product Availability Matrix Release Planning in Detail Release Planning and Strategy for General-Purpose Applications mysap Business Suite Mobile Business Solutions SAP Billing Consolidation Release Planning and Strategy for Industry-Specific Applications Technical Realization of SAP Solution Portfolios for Industries Industry-Specific Applications Release Planning and Strategy for SAP xapps Composite Applications General-Purpose SAP xapps Industry-Specific SAP xapps SAP xapps for Compliance SAP xapps for Analytics Composite Applications for Personal Productivity Mendocino

5 4.4 Release Planning and Strategy for SAP Auto-ID Infrastructure Release Planning and Strategy for Special Offerings for Small and Midsize Enterprises SAP Business One All-in-One Packages from SAP and Partners Special Topics SAP Solution Manager Tools and Methodologies for Midsize Enterprises SAP Best Practices Offerings SAP ASAP Focus Upgrade Offerings from SAP Support Offerings from SAP SAP Standard Support SAP Premium Support SAP MaxAttention SAP Support Package Stacks Content Shipments Business Content from SAP Implementation Content from SAP SAP Graphical User Interface Glossary

6 1 SAP S RELEASE STRATEGY AT A GLANCE 1.1 Strategy in 2005 SAP has significantly simplified its release and maintenance strategy in This strategy determines the availability of new SAP releases, the length and conditions of their maintenance, and the dependencies among individual releases. It provides planning reliability for your implementation and upgrade projects as well as for optimal use of SAP applications and the platform. Synchronized releases ensure the simultaneous availability of all these releases on one common technological basis:. Interim release shipments are possible. Software to support new business scenarios is delivered on the same synchronized release plan., applications of the mysap Business Suite family of applications, and SAP solution portfolios for industries follow a maintenance strategy: Five (5) years of mainstream maintenance at the standard maintenance fee One (1) year of extended maintenance at an additional 2% fee Two (2) years of extended maintenance at an additional 4% fee per year The brochure represents an outlook on SAP s simple and flexible release strategy for applications since the application-oriented release and maintenance strategy was first introduced in June. The intended readers of SAP s Release Strategy are SAP customers, especially IT managers, SAP sales, SAP consultants, and anyone interested in a technical overview of the SAP product portfolio. Customers deploying SAP software that was released before this date are asked to consult SAP s Release Strategy for All Major Shipments up to 2005 in SAP Service Marketplace at New Topics in 2006 The 2006 update of SAP s Release Strategy includes the following new topics: The SAP go-to-market approach for 2006, including a strong focus on special offerings for small and midsize enterprises Release and maintenance strategy of content shipments Release planning and maintenance strategy for releases in 2006 Please note that other SAP applications such as SAP xapps composite applications or SAP Business One can follow their individual release and maintenance cycles. In the past, the SAP release and maintenance strategy was more component-oriented than application-oriented. Thus, former versions of the brochure SAP s Release Strategy displayed a more fragmented planning approach. With applications as bigger units of upgrade and integration planning, the complexity of the upgrade planning process has been reduced, making integration planning simpler. However, if in the future, experience shows that this approach does not fulfill customers needs, SAP will be able to adjust the strategy easily, due to the flexibility of the platform. It is SAP s goal to balance flexibility and quality in the way that serves your needs best. 6

7 2 THE SAP GO-TO-MARKET APPROACH The primary SAP go-to-market approach is by industry. SAP strives to support customers in a specific industry with bestpractice industry processes as well as with the ability to innovate processes in an industry context. SAP understands that the requirements of large multinational conglomerates are different from those of small and midsize companies. Therefore, SAP provides solutions that are tailored in scope and flexibility to the needs of the small and midsize enterprises. 2.1 SAP Portfolio The SAP portfolio comprises the following: For large enterprises, SAP offers more than 25 tailored solution portfolios for industries that include applications and each industry s best practices. Solution portfolios for industries are created by SAP through the assembly of general-purpose applications, industry-specific applications, service-enabled composite applications, and (potentially) partner products. They can also include support for best industry practices and consulting. These portfolios support industry-specific business processes using software that is tailored to various roles in a business. For the technical realization of solution portfolios for industries, please see section For small and midsize enterprises, SAP offers SAP Business One, mysap All-in-One qualified partner solutions, and all-in-one packages. All SAP applications (with the exception of SAP Business One) are based on and powered by the platform. A large ecosystem of independent software vendors also provides applications that leverage the SAP platform and are thus powered by. today represents a composition platform that allows customers, partners, and SAP to easily create, change, and extend business processes. Using SAP Business One integration for, which provides a generic platform and base technology for integration capabilities, SAP Business One and mysap Business Suite are seamlessly integrated, enabling many large enterprises to use SAP Business One for their subsidiaries. Both SAP applications and are delivered as releases according to the strategy explained in chapter SAP Applications SAP applications are the main building blocks of SAP solution portfolios for industries. They provide the software foundation with which organizations address their business issues. SAP delivers the following types of applications: General-purpose applications The mysap Business Suite family of applications consists of mysap ERP, mysap Customer Relationship Management (mysap CRM), mysap Product Lifecycle Management (mysap PLM), mysap Supply Chain Management (mysap SCM), and mysap Supplier Relationship Management (mysap SRM). These applications can be licensed individually or together as a suite. Further general-purpose applications include SAP solutions for mobile business and the SAP Billing Consolidation application. Industry-specific applications Industry-specific applications are delivered as add-ons to mysap Business Suite applications or to. They perform targeted, industry-specific business functions, such as the SAP Apparel and Footwear application for the consumer products industry and the SAP Reinsurance Management application for the insurance industry. 7

8 SAP xapps composite applications perform functions spanning multiple applications, departments, and organizations. They are designed to reuse, integrate and orchestrate enterprise services that, in turn, are provided by. They deliver highly flexible business processes with a focused user experience that makes them instantly usable. Examples include general-purpose and industry-specific SAP xapps composite applications, SAP xapps for compliance, and SAP xapps for analytics. Composite applications are also available for personal productivity. The platform is the foundation of SAP s approach to a service-oriented architecture. In addition to complying with all relevant standards around Web services (universal description, discovery, and integration [UDDI], simple object access protocol [SOAP], Web service description language [WSDL], and so on), provides support for IT practices that enable customers to map their business problems to IT solutions by using combinations of preintegrated functions. For example, the IT practice of user productivity enablement combines key functionalities including an enterprise portal, knowledge management, and collaboration to address increased productivity for users. IT practices enable customers to take a phased approach to adopting a full-fledged enterprise services architecture as they are composed of small deployable functions that customers can implement today. With IT practices, companies can start small while laying the foundation for strategic business process innovation. 2.3 Enterprise Services Architecture Enterprise services architecture (ESA) is the unifying design describing how individual businesses industry by industry achieve sustainable growth through innovative, differentiated, and flexible business processes. These processes are the result of industry expertise, know-how, and co-innovation with a large partner ecosystem, an ecosystem that shares and leverages industry-specific business semantics of enterprise services using an open service-oriented architecture (SOA). The principles of ESA can be applied to a customer s entire IT landscape. SAP and its partners are using ESA to design their latest set of solutions. ESA makes Web services work in an organization. It combines flexible composite applications running on top of as well as applications and enterprise services integrated by SAP NetWeaver. As such, is the enabling platform for ESA. Customers can continue to leverage existing investments in software and skills as they gain benefit from more flexible business processes. IT practices are composed of a comprehensive set of components (such as Application Server, Portal, Business Intelligence, Exchange Infrastructure, SAP NetWeaver Master Data Management, Mobile, and SAP Auto-ID Infrastructure) and tools (such as Adaptive Computing Controller, SAP Composite Application Framework, Developer Studio, and Visual Composer). 8

9 2.4 SAP Industry Solution Maps and SAP Application Maps SAP has developed over 50 industry solution maps (see Figure 1) that depict the key business processes that a company engages in to address its business requirements. The maps orient typical business scenarios and processes along an industry value chain for a typical company in an industry and show relationships with suppliers, partners, customers, and channels the extended enterprise. Users can drill down into the business scenarios and processes to access additional descriptive information that includes the value these processes bring to an organization, availability of SAP and SAP partner solutions that support the business processes, and relevant information on available content to accelerate the implementation. Application maps provide an overview of business processes that are supported by an SAP application. SAP application maps describe how functions supported by an SAP application address customers business issues. By drilling down into individual processes, users can access descriptive information about the process as well as relevant information about the supporting application and available content to accelerate the implementation. The example depicted in Figure 1 illustrates terminology and the relationship between an industry solution map and an application map. The order-to-delivery activities of a company comprise a business scenario that can be broken down into several business processes, such as order processing and outbound delivery. Order processing, a business process within this business scenario, is supported by a specific SAP application. On the industry solution map, the scenario spans the phases of Manufacturing and Sales & Distribution in the value chain. Industry Application Value Chain Engineering Procurement Manufacturing Sales & Distribution Time to Market Customer Service Customer & Channels Process Group Sales Service Marketing Planning Quotation and Order Management Supplier Collaboration Analytics Build to Order Business Process Order Processing Check Availability Perform Credit Check Business Scenario Sales & Marketing Order to Delivery Business Process Order Processing Outbound Delivery... Figure 1: SAP Industry Solution Map and SAP Application Map 9

10 3 SAP S RELEASE AND MAINTENANCE STRATEGY SAP s release and maintenance strategy defines how SAP delivers and maintains SAP applications and the platform. For all SAP applications and, SAP s release strategy assures the following: Aligned availability Availability of country, language, and platform versions Possibilities for you to participate in different phases of shipment Well-defined upgrade paths SAP s maintenance strategy provides the following: Aligned maintenance between SAP applications and A three-phase maintenance model to satisfy different customer needs Well-defined timelines for different maintenance phases Thus, SAP s release and maintenance strategy provides planning reliability for your implementation and upgrade projects as well as for optimal use of SAP applications and, which can reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO). 3.1 Release Strategy in General The release strategy is based on the following principles: You can opt for the entire mysap Business Suite, individual SAP applications (including business content from SAP, see section 5.6.1), or. SAP always provides access to the current release of an SAP application or and to procedures to upgrade to the current release. SAP applications and have their individual release cycles. Usually, SAP delivers a new release of first, and shortly afterwards, new releases for SAP applications follow synchronously. The release cycles of business content releases from SAP usually follow the ones of their corresponding applications. A new release of an SAP application can always be integrated with any release of any other SAP application that is still in mainstream and extended maintenance. This approach offers you maximum flexibility for continuous improvement. 3.2 Release Strategy in Detail The release strategy defines rules for delivering releases of SAP applications and. Releases of SAP applications and are introduced to the market in several phases. They have a predefined scope in terms of country, language, and platform versions. SAP applications and have a defined upgrade path: SAP provides upgrade procedures to the latest release from all former releases that are still in mainstream maintenance or extended maintenance. A new SAP application release can be integrated seamlessly with all releases of other SAP applications that are still in mainstream maintenance or extended maintenance. After an upgrade of an SAP application, all previously used scenarios (referring to the scenarios shown on the industry solution map in Figure 1) are still available. However, if you want to take full advantage of the latest version of a scenario or of a new scenario on an industry solution map, you might need to upgrade more than one SAP application within your landscape. Figure 2 shows that you only need to upgrade the SAP applications on which new scenarios rely. SAP publishes the list of possible application releases within master-guide documents in SAP Service Marketplace. 10

11 Solution Map Introduction of Additional Scenarios 2005 Solution Map Application Releases Needed for New Scenarios mysap SCM 2005 mysap PLM 2005 Customer Landscape mysap SCM mysap CRM mysap PLM mysap ERP 2005 Customer Landscape mysap SCM 2005 mysap CRM mysap PLM 2005 mysap ERP Restricted Shipment and Ramp-Up The restricted shipment phase for a new release begins with the release-to-customer date, which marks its initial availability. As of this date, you can use the new release in your production operation, and SAP provides corrections, such as SAP Notes and legal changes, support packages and support package stacks (see section 5.5). During this phase, the availability of platform and language versions may still be restricted. The restricted shipment phase is guided by the SAP Ramp-Up program, the standard process for launching new application releases onto the market, involving field, support, and development. Participating in SAP Ramp-Up provides a safe way for you to implement new SAP software as soon as it becomes available. Figure 2: Integration The following paragraphs describe the different shipment phases for releases in more detail. SAP-Internal Validation Before a new release is delivered, an SAP-internal solution validation takes place. The SAP production unit, an internal SAP organization, functions as a first customer and validates the new release. This goes far beyond testing of the new release. The SAP production unit implements SAP applications in order to test functions supporting business scenarios that ultimately combine to form solution portfolios for industries. At this stage, the integration behavior of the new release is tested to ensure that it can be integrated seamlessly into an existing system landscape. From a customer s point of view, the release is checked for completeness and for error-free operation of a range of functions. Once the release is ready to be used in production operation, it becomes available initially in a restricted shipment phase. During ramp-up preparation, SAP identifies target industries as well as customers who will implement and use the new release in closely monitored and documented projects. During ramp-up, the number of customers using the new release increases in a controlled manner. You gain the following benefits from participating in SAP Ramp-Up: Obtaining and immediately using a new release with increased functions and other new technological developments Dedicated SAP coaching, support, and knowledge transfer Sharing of information within the global SAP community of SAP Ramp-Up experts, which allows you to benefit from the experiences of others, to reduce costs, and to speed up implementation Support from a dedicated SAP Ramp-Up back-office team that delivers extra coaching exclusively for SAP Ramp-Up implementation projects Project scoping during which SAP conducts a feasibility check to determine the potential project risk The SAP Ramp-Up program is conducted globally and not targeted for a particular region. Feedback on business process improvements from SAP Ramp-Up customers is considered before the unrestricted shipment phase begins. 11

12 Unrestricted Shipment With the successful conclusion of the SAP Ramp-Up program, the unrestricted shipment phase of an SAP application begins usually several months after the release-to-customer date. The default release date marks the beginning of the unrestricted shipment phase. During this phase, all customers can obtain the release. All language and platform versions planned for this release are available. If required, a support release is offered shortly after the beginning of the unrestricted shipment phase. The support release already contains all previously available support packages in order to smooth and speed up implementation and upgrade projects. Once it enters into unrestricted shipment, the most recent release of an SAP application is declared the current default release. When ordering an SAP application, you will receive this default release unless you explicitly specify a different release that is still in mainstream maintenance in your order. The current default releases are also delivered as part of mysap Business Suite. 3.3 Strategy in General The maintenance strategy for mysap Business Suite applications is based on the following principles: SAP offers three successive maintenance phases: mainstream maintenance, extended maintenance, and customer-specific maintenance. SAP provides support packages during mainstream maintenance and extended maintenance. The delivery frequency of support packages is dependent on the maintenance phase. SAP provides legal changes to adapt the SAP application to new or changed legal requirements during mainstream and extended maintenance. As part of its release strategy, SAP announces the planned duration of the mainstream maintenance period for a release as soon as the release is announced. 3.4 Strategy in Detail For all mysap Business Suite applications, SAP usually applies the maintenance strategy: Five (5) years of mainstream maintenance One (1) year of extended maintenance at an additional 2% fee Two (2) years of extended maintenance at an additional 4% fee Number of Customers Beginning of Validation SAP-Internal Validation Figure 3: Shipment Phases Release to Customer Restricted Shipment (incl. Ramp-up) Time Unrestricted Shipment Thereafter, the application release enters into customer-specific maintenance. Mainstream and extended maintenance durations for a release of a mysap Business Suite application are valid for all industryspecific applications that are delivered as add-ons to a release of a mysap Business Suite application or of. However, if there are several releases of an industry-specific application for the same underlying release, only the latest release of the industry-specific application will be supported until the end of mainstream maintenance and during extended maintenance of the underlying release. for a release has the same duration as maintenance for the mysap Business Suite that builds upon it. 12

13 Back-End Application Release Release 1 >= 6 Months Release 3 Sequence of Business Content Releases Release 2 Release 1 >= 1 Year Release Release 1 Time Release-to-Customer Date Extended Figure 4: Content Strategy Please note that SAP cannot support underlying third-party components for which suppliers support has expired. In such cases, you may have to upgrade to more recent versions of, for example, your operating system and database (provided that these more recent versions are sufficiently compatible to be supported by SAP in the given release). There are some exceptions to the strategy: Some SAP xapps composite applications and SAP Business One do not yet follow the strategy: Mainstream maintenance is defined individually for each SAP xapp release; mainstream maintenance for SAP Business One releases is generally two years. Extended maintenance is not offered; instead, these releases enter customer-specific maintenance directly after the end of mainstream maintenance. Additionally, some few releases of general-purpose applications and industry-specific applications are exempt from following the maintenance strategy. For these releases, SAP offers only mainstream maintenance and customerspecific maintenance. The SAP strategy for business content (see section ) adheres to the strategy in the following ways (see Figure 4): The maintenance periods of business content from SAP are aligned with the maintenance periods of the corresponding SAP application; that is the back-end application. One release of an SAP application might be served by a sequence of business content releases from SAP. Business content releases from SAP within such a sequence have a maintenance duration of at least one year. The earliest maintenance end of one business content release from SAP within such a sequence is six months after availability of the successor business content release from SAP. Only the maintenance of the last business content release from SAP is aligned with the end of extended maintenance of the corresponding back-end application release. 13

14 In terms of compatibility, the following rules apply for business content from SAP: Upgrade of an SAP back-end application release usually requires an upgrade of the corresponding business content release from SAP. Upgrade of does not require an upgrade of any business content releases from SAP. Business content releases from SAP built on a certain release run on all subsequent releases. Despite these general rules, some specific rules apply to the maintenance of the different types of business content from SAP (see section 5.6.1). Mainstream Mainstream maintenance begins with the restricted shipment phase and continues during the unrestricted shipment phase. SAP provides corrections, such as SAP Notes, legal changes, support packages, and support package stacks for the entire mainstream maintenance period. Corrections are provided at short intervals during the first year of mainstream maintenance. However, if the need for corrections decreases, the frequency at which SAP provides support packages and support package stacks may decline during the following years. Extended Over the entire extended maintenance period, the scope of support remains similar to the scope during mainstream maintenance; for example, extended maintenance covers the provision of support packages and legal changes. SAP publishes information on the availability and scope of extended maintenance in advance. You can order extended maintenance for your releases via an easy-to-use form in SAP Service Marketplace at Customer-Specific Software deployed at your site can enter into the customerspecific maintenance phase in one of three ways: The extended maintenance period ends. The mainstream maintenance period ends and no extended maintenance is offered. The mainstream maintenance period ends and extended maintenance is offered, but you do not choose to take advantage of the offering. A release enters into customer-specific maintenance automatically. There is no need to apply for an additional contract. 14

15 During the customer-specific maintenance phase, you receive support services similar to those in the mainstream maintenance phase, but some restrictions apply: No delivery of new legal changes No delivery of new support packages Limited technological updates (for example, no new SAP kernel releases to support new database and operating system versions) Direct upgrades to a current release may not be offered, which means that the upgrade may have to be performed in several steps Problem resolution is customer-specific, which means you may be charged for the cost of solving problems not yet known to SAP For more information, please see SAP Note at and SAP Service Marketplace at Mainstream (Standard Support Fee) Restricted Shipment Unrestricted Shipment Extended (+2% fee) Extended (+4% fee) Customer-Specific (Standard Support Fee) 5 Years 1 Year 2 Years t 3.5 Release Sequence Usually, you can directly upgrade from one release to any other release of the respective SAP application or as long as these releases are in the mainstream maintenance phase. Depending on technological constraints, upgrades to a release that is far apart from your current release may require several steps. SAP supports upgrades from releases in extended maintenance to higher releases in mainstream maintenance. However, SAP does not support upgrades to releases that are in extended maintenance or upgrades between releases that are in extended maintenance. To support smooth upgrades, SAP usually ensures that the overlap of two successor releases is at least one year; therefore, the window of time in which you may upgrade from one release to the next is at least one year. 3.6 Product Availability Matrix In the product availability matrix in SAP Service Marketplace, SAP regularly publishes the following information on SAP application releases and on releases: Availability mainstream maintenance extended maintenance Upgrade paths Platform availability including database platforms and operating systems For further information, please see SAP Service Marketplace at Figure 5: Phases 15

16 4 RELEASE PLANNING IN DETAIL The following section gives you a detailed overview of the release planning and maintenance strategy of SAP applications. For the release planning tables, the following applies: The application release is listed first, followed by the release on which it is technically based. The availability date refers to the release-to-customer date. The next two columns provide the dates for end of mainstream and extended maintenance. For detailed information on which components are part of the SAP application releases, please refer to the master-guide documents published in SAP Service Marketplace at mysap Supplier Relationship Management Purchasing & Inventory Management End-User Service Delivery mysap Product Lifecycle Management & Quality mysap ERP Analytics Procurement and Logistics Execution Product Development and Manufacturing Sales and Services Financials Human Capital Management Corporate Services Compliance Production & Project Management Distribution & Sales Order Management mysap Customer Relationship Management 4.1 Release Planning and Strategy for General-Purpose Applications mysap Business Suite For more information on mysap Business Suite, please see the SAP corporate Web site at For more information on enterprise services, please see the SAP corporate Web site at mysap Supply Chain Management Figure 6: mysap ERP and mysap Business Suite Mobile Business Solutions For more information on mobile business solutions, please see the SAP corporate Web site at Application Release Based On Availability (Release to Customer) Mainstream Extended Application Release Based On Availability (Release to Customer) Mainstream Extended mysap ERP 2005 mysap Customer Relationship Management 2005 mysap Product Lifecycle Management 2005 mysap Supplier Relationship Management 2005 mysap Supply Chain Management 2005 Shipment of enterprise services (ESA-enablement of mysap Business Suite) s s s s s mysap ERP mysap ERP 2005 October 2005 October 2005 October 2005 October 2005 December 2005 Q Q March 2011 March 2011 March 2011 March 2011 March 2014 March 2014 March 2014 March 2014 March 2011 March 2014 March 2010 March 2011 March 2013 March 2014 SAP Mobile Asset Management 3.0 SAP Mobile Asset Management 3.0 for utilities SAP Mobile Sales 5.0 for handheld devices (with SAP CRM 4.0) SAP Mobile Sales 1.0 for online SAP Mobile Time and Travel 2.0 January 2006 December 2006 September 2005 November December 2005 March 2010 March 2013 March 2011 n/a March 2010 March 2013 December 2009 n/a March 2010 March

17 4.1.3 SAP Billing Consolidation The SAP Billing Consolidation application is an electronic bill presentment and payment application for service providers that participate in B2B and B2C activities. Senders and receivers of invoices and other messages are connected to a central hub, establishing a network that offers a variety of services including message conversion, digital signatures, archiving, and presentment of invoices on banking portals for payment. Application Release Based On Availability (Release to Customer) Mainstream SAP Billing n/a December December 2008 Consolidation Release Planning and Strategy for Industry-Specific Applications Technical Realization of SAP Solution Portfolios for Industries SAP solution portfolios for industries are an assembly of products to fit the requirements of a customer in a given industry. SAP currently offers the following solution portfolios for industries: SAP for Aerospace & Defense SAP for Automotive SAP for Banking SAP for Chemicals SAP for Consumer Products SAP for Defense & Security SAP for Engineering, Construction & Operations SAP for Healthcare SAP for High Tech SAP for Higher Education & Research SAP for Industrial Machinery & Components SAP for Insurance SAP for Life Sciences SAP for Logistics Service Providers SAP for Media SAP for Mill Products SAP for Mining SAP for Oil & Gas SAP for Postal Services SAP for Professional Services SAP for Public Sector SAP for Railways SAP for Retail SAP for Telecommunications SAP for Utilities SAP for Wholesale Distribution For more information on SAP solution portfolios for industries, please see the SAP corporate Web site at With the software market maturing and focusing on TCO, there is growing pressure to streamline the delivery of industryspecific functions. Also, a number of generic functions in mysap Business Suite applications are valuable for all SAP customers. Therefore, SAP s goal is to have all industry-specific functions shipped as part of the mysap Business Suite applications, especially of mysap ERP, in the next few years. The switch framework is the prerequisite for this approach. This technology enables the optional usage of certain industry-specific functions while keeping the application core stable, ensuring maximum performance and enabling the reuse of functions. 1) For availability in regions other than EMEA, please consult your SAP solution management representative. 17

18 Solution portfolios for industries shipped in 2005 and 2006 can be technically realized in the following ways: Within mysap Business Suite applications As industry business function sets (I-BFS) or generic business functions (G-BF) within mysap ERP (to be activated via the switch framework) As industry-specific applications, that is, as add-ons to mysap Business Suite or As a combination of the above-mentioned possibilities Only the industry-specific applications are shipped separately from mysap ERP and carry their own version. Therefore, they are listed in section with their release and maintenance dates. All other parts of solution portfolios for industries follow the mysap ERP release and maintenance cycle. Over time, SAP retrofits industry-specific applications into mysap ERP and makes them available as an industry business function set. This industry consolidation in mysap ERP reduces upgrade costs and maintenance efforts. The following table shows how the individual solution portfolios for industries are technically realized at the moment (excluding general-purpose functions and offerings included in a solution portfolio for an industry). For SAP for Banking, for example, you can switch on a generic business function via the SAP switch framework, and you can opt for an industry-specific application (banking process platform from SAP, SAP Bank Analyzer, or SAP Syndications Management). Solution Portfolios for Industries SAP for Aerospace & Defense Functions Within mysap Business Suite Applications I-BFS 2 or G-BF 3 Within mysap ERP (Switch Framework) I-BFS Industry-Specific Application 4 SAP for Automotive I-BFS SAP Dealer Business Management SAP for Banking G-BF Banking process platform from SAP* SAP for Chemicals I-BFS SAP for Consumer Products SAP for Defense & Security SAP for Engineering, Construction & Operations SAP for Healthcare SAP for High Tech SAP for Higher Education & Research SAP for Industrial Machinery & Components SAP for Insurance G-BF I-BFS G-BF I-BFS I-BFS I-BFS I-BFS I-BFS G-BF SAP Bank Analyzer* SAP Syndications Management SAP Apparel and Footwear SAP Defense SAP Mobile Defense Solution SAP Reinsurance Management SAP Policy Management* 2) I-BFS = Industry business function set that includes further business functions. Industry business function sets are also called industry extensions. Only one industry extension can be activated via the switch framework. 3) G-BF = Generic business functions are also called enterprise extensions. Several enterprise extensions can be activated via the switch framework. 4) Industry-specific applications are add-ons containing industry functions. They can be add-ons to either or to a mysap Business Suite application: * Add-on to Add-on to a mysap Business Suite application 18

19 Solution Portfolios for Industries SAP for Life Sciences SAP for Logistics Service Providers Functions Within mysap Business Suite Applications I-BFS 2 or G-BF 3 Within mysap ERP (Switch Framework) Industry-Specific Application 4 SAP for Media I-BFS SAP Classified Advertising Management* SAP for Mill Products SAP for Mining SAP for Oil & Gas SAP for Postal Services SAP for Professional Services I-BFS I-BFS I-BFS G-BF SAP for Public Sector G-BF SAP for Railways I-BFS SAP for Retail I-BFS SAP for Telecommunications SAP for Utilities SAP for Wholesale Distribution G-BF I-BFS I-BFS G-BF SAP Oil & Gas Secondary Distribution Extended functions for U.S. federal agencies Application Release SAP for Automotive; SAP for Aerospace & Defense; SAP for Engineering, Construction & Operations; SAP for High Tech SAP ECC DIMP (SAP ERP Central Component for discrete industries and mill products) SAP for Automotive SAP Dealer Business Management 5.0 SAP Dealer Business Management 6.0 SAP for Banking SAP Deposits Management 4.0 The first version of the banking process platform from SAP 6 SAP for Banking SAP Bank Analyzer 4.2 SAP Bank Analyzer 5.0 Based On mysap ERP SAP ECC DIMP 5.0 mysap ERP 2005 s s s Availability (Release to Customer) September July 2005 Q October 2005 December 2006 October 2005 April 2006 Mainstream Extended March 2010 March 2013 March 2010 March 2011 March 2011 March 2011 March 2010 March 2011 March 2013 March 2014 March 2014 March 2014 March 2013 March Industry-Specific Applications The following table lists industry-specific applications that are shipped separately from mysap ERP and carry their own version. All other parts of solution portfolios for industries are shipped with mysap ERP and follow the release and maintenance cycle of mysap ERP. 5) The successor release for SAP ECC DMP 5.0 is mysap ERP ) The first version of the banking process platform from SAP is implemented during the upgrade from SAP Deposits Management 4.0 to the deposits functions of the banking process platform. The platform includes all existing functions and features of SAP Deposits Management. Data migration is not necessary. 19

20 Application Release Based On Availability (Release to Customer) Mainstream Extended Application Release Based On Availability (Release to Customer) Mainstream Extended SAP for Banking SAP Syndications Management 1.0 SAP for Consumer Products SAP Apparel and Footwear 5.0 SAP Apparel and Footwear 6.0 SAP for Defense & Security SAP Defense SAP Defense SAP Mobile Defense Solution 1.0 SAP for Insurance SAP Reinsurance Management 4.72 SAP Reinsurance Management 6.0 mysap ERP 2005 mysap ERP mysap ERP 2005 mysap ERP 2005 mysap ERP 2005 SAP R/3 Enterprise 47X200 mysap ERP 2005 December 2005 March 2011 March 2014 December December 2006 December 2005 December 2006 April 2006 August March 2006 March 2010 March 2011 December 2006 December 2007 June 2007 March 2009 March 2011 March 2013 March 2014 n/a n/a n/a March 2012 March 2014 SAP for Oil & Gas SAP Oil & Gas Secondary Distribution 4.72 SAP Oil & Gas Secondary Distribution 2005 SAP for Public Sector Extended functions for U.S. federal agencies 5.0 Extended functions for U.S. federal agencies 6.0 SAP for Public Sector Versorgungsadministration (pension administration) IS-Oil Downstream 4.72 mysap ERP 2005 mysap ERP mysap ERP 2005 SAP R/3 Enterprise 47X200 October Q September November 2005 November March 2009 March 2011 March 2010 March 2011 March 2012 March 2014 March 2013 March 2014 March 2009 March 2012 SAP for Insurance SAP Policy Management 3.0 SAP Policy Management 3.1 s October 2005 May 2006 December 2007 December 2007 n/a n/a SAP for Media SAP Classified Advertising Management SAP Classified Advertising Management s December Q March 2009 March 2011 March 2012 March ) SAP Classified Advertising Management is based on. However, it needs to follow the maintenance dates of IS-Media, as it is technically depending on IS-Media. Therefore, the maintenance timelines may differ from those of the underlying release. SAP Classified Advertising Management 1.0 is depending on IS-Media ) SAP Classified Advertising Management 2.0 is depending on IS-Media as part of mysap ERP ) This application is available for the German public sector. The successor release to SAP for Public Sector Versorgungsadministration 3.0 is mysap ERP 2005 (retrofit into the switch framework). 20

21 4.3 Release Planning and Strategy for SAP xapps Composite Applications General-Purpose SAP xapps For more information on general-purpose SAP xapps, please see the SAP corporate Web site at SAP xapps for Compliance For more information on SAP xapps composite applications for compliance, please see the SAP corporate Web site at and at Application Release Based On Availability (Release to Customer) Mainstream Application Release Based On Availability (Release to Customer) Mainstream SAP xapp Resource and Portfolio Management 4.0 SAP xapp Product Definition 2.0 s s October 2005 October 2008 November 2005 October Industry-Specific SAP xapps For more information on industry-specific SAP xapps, please see the SAP corporate Web site at Application Release Based On Availability (Release to Customer) SAP xapp Cost and Quotation Management 1.0 SAP xapp Cost and Quotation Management 2.0 SAP xapp Integrated Exploration and Production 1.0 SAP xapp Integrated Exploration and Production 2.0 SAP xapp Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence 11.5 SAP xapp Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence 12.0 s s December August 2006 December March 2006 September 2005 Q Mainstream December 2006 August 2008 December 2005 March 2011 October 2007 October 2008 SAP xapp Emissions Management 2.0 SAP Global Trade Services 3.0 SAP Global Trade Services 3.0 SAP Global Trade Services 7.0 SAP Global Trade Services 7.1 SAP Web AS 6.20 s s April 2005 April 2008 October November August 2005 October 2006 December 2008 December 2008 December 2010 December SAP xapps for Analytics For more information on SAP xapps composite applications for analytics, please see the SAP corporate Web site at Application Release Based On Availability (Release to Customer) SAP xapp Analytics 1.1 SAP xapp Analytics 2005 s s Mainstream Q August 2008 Q January ) Extended maintenance is not offered for SAP xapps composite applications; instead, these releases enter customer-specific maintenance directly after the end of mainstream maintenance. 21

22 4.3.5 Composite Applications for Personal Productivity Composite applications for personal productivity include both general-purpose and industry-specific composite applications that augment an existing solution offering by delivering highly flexible and user-centric support for departmental processes. They are rapidly deployable applications that address urgent business pain points. Composite applications for personal productivity do not have their own persistence and are generally smaller in scope compared with other composite applications that deliver complete sets of functions that build on underlying and new business objects. Application Release Based On Availability (Release to Customer) Composite applications for personal productivity (general-purpose) Composite applications for personal productivity (industry-specific) s s Q Q Mainstream Mendocino For more information on Mendocino, please see the SAP corporate Web site at tbd tbd 4.4 Release Planning and Strategy for For more information on, please see the SAP corporate Web site at For more information on Master Data Management, please see the SAP corporate Web site at Platform Release s Master Data Management 5.5 Availability (Release to Customer) March October 2005 Mainstream March 2010 March 2011 Extended March 2013 March 2014 March 2005 March 2010 March 2013 Availability dates for the next major release of will be communicated at a later date. Application Release Based On Availability (Release to Customer) Mendocino Q Mainstream tbd 11) Mendocino is the code name for the first jointly developed and designed application from Microsoft and SAP. It requires Microsoft Office 2003 and mysap ERP. 22