Track user assignment and process orders
Visual Studio subscriptions admins can track the number of Visual Studio subscriptions assigned in the Visual Studio Subscriptions Admin Portal. The portal shows any other subscriptions purchased through their Volume Licensing agreement or Microsoft Products and Services Agreement. The portal makes it easy to see how many licenses you purchased and how many are assigned.
Maximum usage
Your company's obligation to purchase Visual Studio subscriptions takes effect immediately when:
- A license is assigned to a user OR
- A user interacts with Visual Studio software.
Your complete purchase obligation is the peak number of subscriptions you assign to users. This level of subscription assignment is the high point either in daily user assignments or in individuals using Visual Studio software, whichever is higher. For some agreements, you can assign more subscriptions than you purchased. The excess subscriptions are charged in a later "true-up" process.
- Assigning Visual Studio subscriptions to more users raises the maximum usage level.
- Visual Studio subscriptions admins can change the assigned subscription level for an individual, which would constitute a decrease in one assignment and an increase in another. When you lower a subscriber’s assigned subscription level, the individual must immediately stop using and uninstall anything that is only in the higher-level subscription.
- Visual Studio subscriptions admins can reassign subscriptions from one subscriber to another 90 days after the original assignment.
Note
To avoid an artificially high level of maximum usage, always do this by first removing the existing subscription and then adding the new one.
- To help you monitor your organization's maximum usage, there's a Maximum Usage report in the Visual Studio Subscriptions Admin Portal.
Monthly Subscriptions, Open License or Open Value
You may be assigning subscriptions through programs like Open License and Open Value or through Visual Studio Marketplace on a monthly basis. If so, you must process your order for more users during the month in which users (employees or external contractors) begin interacting with Visual Studio-licensed software.
Enterprise, MPSA, and Select Agreements
Microsoft Enterprise Agreements (EA), MPSA, and Select Plus Agreements give you flexibility in how you use and license Visual Studio software over time. Visual Studio admins must make an annual true-up order to bring their software licenses up to the maximum usage established during the agreement period.
Resources
Need help? Contact Subscriptions Support.
See also
- Visual Studio documentation
- Azure DevOps documentation
- Azure documentation
- Microsoft 365 documentation
Next steps
Learn more about responsibilities for admins:
- Admin responsibilities
- Inventory of preproduction environment
- Manage large teams and external contractors
- Use Maximum Usage to track purchase commitments