Customers often ask whether SAP Enhancement Packages (SAP EHP) can simply be applied. The expectation behind SAP EHP is very high: SAP Enhancement Packages are supposed to ensure the flexibility customers love in the SAP standard during upgrades while simultaneously reducing effort.
This expectation is reflected in SAP’s marketing message, which positions Enhancement Packages as the solution for all customers who want to avoid SAP upgrades.
But let the facts speak: What can Enhancement Packages do, and what can they not?
SAP Enhancement Packages are functionality packages. Their advantages lie primarily in: upgrades of delivered functionalities (Business Functions) — with less effort and lower maintenance costs than classic SAP upgrades.
However, an SAP Enhancement Package can only deliver these advantages in a limited context: when no or very few customer developments/modifications are present. By customer developments/modifications I mean ABAP changes, modifications to modules/classes, customer-specific transactions/programs, etc. — everything that must accordingly be managed in the CIM model as customer-specific software artifacts.
What Enhancement Packages explicitly cannot do:
- Establish clear responsibilities back to customer-specific software artifacts (“separation of concerns”)
- Identify/version-manage customer-specific software artifacts (customizing and developments) that are in classic source SAP objects, and especially test their correct “impact”
Conclusion: When we put existing customer implementations in relation to the SAP standard — which customer can seriously do without their customer-specific, grown SAP “customizing” or “enhancements”? In practice, this is truly not easy. It becomes clear: the technical possibilities of Enhancement Packages set clear limits in terms of flexibility and customer-specific adaptation.
Nevertheless, SAP Enhancement Packages are a real option for SAP customers who want to move forward. But they must be understood for what they are — one upgrade option among many.
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