Executive Clarity · SAP Contract Terms

SAP Enterprise Support

HardMoves rarely and usually only at large deal size or board level. Trade for it, do not expect it free.

What it governs

The default support level for on-premise software: mission-critical support with response-time commitments, the Support Advisory Center, Continuous Quality Checks, SAP EarlyWatch Alert, application lifecycle tooling, and the right to a service-level credit when SAP misses its own targets.

Why SAP moves on it — or doesn't

The scope is a published schedule, identical across the install base; what SAP sells is uniformity. The commercial variable is not the scope but the price — the support percentage on the maintenance base — and that is negotiated in the order form, not here.

The lever

Use the schedule rather than negotiate it: the yearly Enterprise Support report, the CQC action plans and the service-level credits are entitlements most customers never claim. Credits must be claimed within a month of the quarter in which SAP failed, and they are small — a quarter of a percent of the quarterly fee per proven failure, capped at five percent.

In SAP's published documents

Scope in the schedule: mission-critical support with initial-response service levels (very high: within one hour, around the clock; high: within four hours in local office time), the Support Advisory Center, at least one Continuous Quality Check per year per solution, SAP EarlyWatch Alert monitoring, SAP Solution Manager Enterprise Edition. Service-level credit: 0.25% of the quarterly Enterprise Support fee per proven failure, capped at 5% per quarter, to be claimed within one month of the quarter.

Source: SAP Enterprise Support Schedule — enAU.v.4-2024 — a regional edition; the global English schedule was not surfaced by the Trust Center finder, so wording may differ by country. Checked 2026-09-17 against the SAP Trust Center; editions change — re-verify before relying on it.

Before you rely on this. A judgement, not legal advice. SAP's standard terms change — verify the current wording of this term in the standard documents published at the SAP Trust Center before using it in a live negotiation.
Also rated hard
  • Advanced Secure Support — A support portfolio for customers under strict security or data-privacy regulation: support delivered under additional controls on who may access the systems and from where.
  • Affiliate Use — Whether group companies may use the licensed software, and on what basis.
  • Assignment — Whether the agreement can be transferred, typically on a merger, acquisition or divestment.
  • Indirect Use — Access to SAP data or functions by people or systems that never log into SAP directly - through a portal, a middleware layer, a bot or a third-party application.

This entry was generated with AI assistance from SAP contract vocabulary that is publicly available through search, and reviewed for plausibility, not completeness. General guidance only — verify the current wording and your own position before relying on it.