SAP’sclean coreapproach for S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition aims for a standardized, upgrade-friendly system. Recommended guiding principles include:

Establish an organizational structure, technical foundation, and transformation methodology for clean core(A): SAP advises setting up a governance structure, technical standards (e.g., extensibility via SAP BTP), and a methodology (e.g., SAP Activate) to ensure clean core adoption, minimizing customizations from the start.

Establish release management(C): Effective release management (e.g., via SAP Solution Manager or SAP Cloud ALM) ensures regular updates are applied smoothly, maintaining a clean core by avoiding conflicts with custom code and leveraging new standard features.

Define roles and responsibilities as part of a process transformation office(E): A dedicated transformation office with clear roles (e.g., process owners, IT architects) oversees clean core adherence, ensuring accountability for standardization and extensibility across teams.

Integrate clean core practices in the end-to-end value process chain(B) is a goal, not a distinct principle—it’s an outcome of other principles.Regular housekeeping tasks(D) (e.g., data archiving) supports operations but isn’t a core clean core principle, which focuses on design and governance. This is per SAP’s clean core strategy.