Introduction
The time for the 2608 upgrade of the SAP Cloud ERP Public Edition is quickly approaching. I will highlight a few key dates and major changes for this upgrade. The content is limited to the CBC Based 3 System Landscape.
Key Upgrade Dates
Here are the key dates related with this upgrade:
- July 18 – 19, 2026: T-Tenant Upgrades to 2608 with HFC02.
- August 1 – 2, 2026: Other tenants (Starter, Sandbox, Evaluation, etc.) upgrade to 2608 with HFC03; T-Tenant gets HFC03 as well for new feature preview.
- August 15 – 16, 2026: D/P-Tenants Upgrade to 2608 with HFC03+; T-Tenant gets HFC03+ as well.
Changes in the Hot Fix Collection Application during the 2608 Upgrade
There are changes in applying the Hot Fix Collection (HFC) during the upgrade as shown below.
Here are the changes:
- 2602 Upgrade
- D/P Tenant uses HFC04 to upgrade
- 2608 Upgrade
- Introduces a new HFC release called HFCxx+ with critical fixes, which is released one week after HFCxx.
- T tenant receives HFC02 first, and HFC03 two weeks later. This gives T tenant users two week in advance to preview the features introduced in HFC03 before D/P tenants are upgraded into HFC03+.
- D/P tenants use HFC03+ to upgrade instead of HFC03; T tenant receives HFC03+ at the same weekend.
Changes in the Hot Fix Collection Pattern after the 2608 Upgrade
Besides HFC changes during the upgrade, the pattern of applying new HFC after the upgrade has been changed as well, as shown below.
Here are the changes:
- After 2602 Upgrade
- T and D/P are applied the same HFC after upgrade, such as HFC08
- Corrections-only HFC is released two weeks later and applied to all D/T/P tenants, such as HFC09
- There is one week gap between HFCs
- There is a Monthly Global infrastructure maintenance (dark blue blocks)
- After 2608 Upgrade
- T/other Tenants are applied with HFC after upgrade, such as HFC05
- One week later, HFCxx+ is released with critical fixes. D/P is only applied with HFCxx+ (skips HFCxx), such as HFC05+.
- There are two weeks gap between HFCs, so that the system is more stable
- There are three new monthly maintenance:
- Standard Maintenance (dark green weekend for planned downtime activities)
- Online Software Change for P (light green weekend for including infrastructure and offline software change to T/D)
- Optional Maintenance (not shown but for unplanned & urgent activities)
To get the details about this forthcoming 2608 upgrade, please refer to the presentation listed in the reference SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, 3-System Landscape Upgrade & Maintenance Schedule (February 19, 20….
