1 November 2026 has passed. For shops still on OpenText Archiving and Document Access (ADA) for SAP 21.4, Core Archive for SAP 21.4, or Extended ECM for SAP 21.4, Current Maintenance for those releases ended on that date, as OpenText's Product Support Lifecycle page lists (per-version rows checked 7 November 2026). We wrote the ahead-of-date briefing in mid-October. This is the follow-up: the calendar turned, and the next move still has to be chosen on purpose.
Nothing switches off on 2 November. The support terms change. Panic helps nobody. Drift helps less.
What Sustaining Maintenance actually is. OpenText's Protect Software Maintenance Program Handbook uses Sustaining Maintenance (people often say Sustaining Support; the handbook's word is Sustaining Maintenance). After Current Maintenance expires, portal access for documentation and technical articles remains available. New Product Patches and Releases are not released for general use. The handbook also says OpenText has no obligation to deliver a resolution unless you are on a Current Maintenance release with the latest relevant updates, and that "migration to a Current Maintenance Release may be required in order to address an issue."
That is a status. It is not an architecture decision, not an S/4HANA plan, and not a substitute for naming the next release.
The paid bridge. OpenText's Extended Support Handbook sits on top of ordinary software maintenance. For eligible solutions in Sustaining Maintenance, Extended Support can restore Support Requests and Critical patches (security included) for up to two years from the Current Maintenance end date, with a 12-month minimum term. It adds no new functionality. Patches land only on the most recent update of that release. Buy it as a bridge with an exit date, or do not buy it.
Three products, three owners. ADA, Core Archive and Extended ECM for SAP often sit with different teams. A shared end date does not make them one project. When we last read the lifecycle page:
- ADA for SAP: 26.2 to 30 April 2031; 26.4 (released 1 October 2026) to 31 October 2031.
- Core Archive for SAP: 26.2, then the newest row, to 30 April 2031.
- Extended ECM for SAP: newest row under that name was 22.4, to 1 December 2027, with later releases under OpenText Content Management.
The 22.x rows for all three end during 2027. A short hop to 22.x can be a deliberate bridge. It should not happen because it was the installer default the week someone filed a ticket.
SAP's clock runs alongside. SAP mainstream maintenance for Business Suite 7 core applications, ECC 6.0 included, runs to the end of 2027 (optional extended maintenance to end of 2030). Put both calendars on one page: our OpenText for SAP maintenance calendar (McCloy Data estimates; confirm with OpenText).
A short check. We'd still give it to the SAP Basis or content platform lead, with finance's renewal owner in the room:
- Which of ADA, Core Archive and Extended ECM for SAP 21.4 are still in production?
- Is the written plan an upgrade, an Extended Support term with an end date, or a documented Sustaining Maintenance window?
- What is the target release's Current Maintenance end date next to your ECC or S/4HANA plan?
- Who opens the OpenText My Support ticket if a severity-one hits tomorrow?
Confirm your exact rows on OpenText's Product Support Lifecycle page (sign-in may be required; last verified here 7 Nov 2026). Sustaining Maintenance keeps documentation reachable. It does not move you forward. Pick the next release, or the bridge, and write the date down.
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