October 2022 announcements

  • Article

This page provides the announcements for Microsoft Partner Center for October 2022.

Partners can now schedule migration to new commerce in their sandbox environment

Date: October 27, 2022

Summary

Partners can schedule the NCE migration ahead of time for a specific date or on renewal or can align with an existing new commerce subscription.

We expect to release this feature to production in about two weeks.

Workspace

APIs

Impacted audience

CSP direct-bill and indirect providers

Details

CSP partners can now schedule a migration for each legacy subscription in their sandbox environment.

Partners can use the new Partner Center API to schedule a migration upfront in their sandbox environment and in production when the feature reaches general availability in November.

Partners can also schedule a migration and align the end dates with their existing NCE subscriptions to simplify asset management and billing.

API documents for the NCE migration scheduling feature are:

Next steps

  • Start your testing on your sandbox tenant and keep us posted about any issues or concerns. We expect to deploy this feature to production in about two weeks.

New disabled state for new commerce license-based subscriptions

Date: October 26, 2022

Summary

Microsoft has introduced a new disabled state for some license-based subscriptions

Workspace

Customer

Impacted audience

Direct-bill partners, indirect providers, and indirect resellers transacting through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program

Details

Microsoft has enabled a new disabled state to help partners understand the different post-active states for new commerce license-based subscriptions. A subscription's term can end either by turning off auto-renew on a subscription or suspending a subscription before the end of the term. Previously both these paths led the subscription to expire, however these subscription states have subtle differences.

The disabled state helps partners better track these different post-active subscription states.

Next steps

  • Partners using the Partner Center portal will see some subscriptions as disabled instead of expired.
  • Review the documentation for disabled state in the subscription lifecycle state topic
  • Partners using the Partner Center APIs should ensure they're using the current, latest SDK released in July 2022.

New (beta) API for quickly and asynchronously retrieving billed usage data

Date: October 20, 2022

Summary

Microsoft has introduced a new API model for asynchronously retrieving reconciliation data.

The asynchronous API is an innovative way to quickly access reconciliation data in manageable chunks, eliminating the need to loop through millions of transactions for hours iteratively.

We've used valet key and asynchronous request-reply patterns to optimize our invoicing and reconciliation APIs to deliver the results asynchronously.

You can access the reconciliation data with all or some attributes using a token included in the API response.

Workspace

APIs

Impacted audience

All partners

Details

To view the steps to access the data asynchronously, see Invoicing and reconciliation API v2 (beta).

Known Limitation

The API is currently enabled to retrieve billed daily rated usage data in the sandbox and production environment.

This feature is in beta and might be improved in the future.

Next steps

Access your billed daily rated usage data using this API, and compare the results to results from the current API to ensure accuracy and consistency.

Keep the following points in mind:

  • Inform and request developers within your organization to make changes to your existing systems to integrate with this API.

  • Endpoints for billed and unbilled usage data are separate.

  • The billed usage API endpoint is now enabled in both the sandbox and production environments.

  • We'll announce when the unbilled usage API endpoint is enabled in both the sandbox and production environments, which we hope to do within the next few weeks.

Now live: Partner cohort analysis in referrals insights

Date: October 20, 2022

Summary

Partners cohort analysis for referrals in Partner Center, is now available.

Workspace

Insights

Impacted audience

Partners receiving leads and co-sell opportunities in Partner Center.

Details

Today, we're officially announcing the general availability of partner cohort analysis for partners receiving referrals in partner center.

This feature is powered by our machine learning (ML) model that considers more than 100 parameters to group partners together and provide comparative analysis.

This feature will help partners to:

  • Understand how other partners are performing.
  • Identify the areas where they're performing better.
  • Get recommendations for areas where they need to improve

Next steps

To learn more about how partner cohort analysis works, see Partner Cohort Analysis.

In this documentation you'll find:

  • Understanding of how the cohorts are created
  • Understanding of different sections
  • Definitions of metrics used for comparison

Now live: Azure savings plan for compute

Date: October 18, 2022

Summary

Microsoft's new Azure commitment-based offer, Azure savings plan for compute, is now available.

Workspace

General

Impacted audience

Licensing Solution Partners (LSPs) or partners transacting through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program

Details

Today, we're officially announcing the general availability of Microsoft's new Azure commitment-based offer, Azure savings plan for compute. It's a flexible pricing model that unlocks savings compared to pay-as-you-go pricing when you commit to spend a fixed hourly amount on select compute services for either one or three years.

This plan will help customers:

  • Save compared to pay-as-you-go prices on select compute services.
  • Automatically optimize savings across select services globally up to the hourly commitment.
  • Save on their terms by customizing the plan's term length, scope, billing frequency, and hourly commitment to fit their needs.

The new savings plan for compute will offer more flexibility for dynamic workloads. This flexibility will accommodate for planned and unplanned changes while allowing customers to spend a fixed hourly rate across select compute services.

With Azure savings plan for compute, partners can reduce their operational overhead, as compared to Reserved Instances, since the plan is automatically applied to the customers' usage. This easy-to-manage plan allows partners to continue to build trust and value with their customers and provide them with exceptional service.

At the time of launch, Azure savings plan will be available to CSP partners only through the Azure portal.

Next steps

Review the Operations Gallery collection to learn more about how Azure savings plan for compute works. In this collection you'll find:

  • FAQ
  • A comparison of Azure compute savings offers
  • Important information about the purchase and reconciliation of Azure savings plan for compute

Change log

  • October 18, 2022: Live announcement
  • September 28, 2022: Reminder of upcoming changes
  • September 1, 2022: Original announcement

Change in value-added tax (VAT) for Russian businesses billed by international organizations

Date: October 14, 2022

Summary

There's an announcement for partners regarding a change in VAT for Russian businesses billed by international organizations.

Workspace

Billing

Impacted audience

Direct-bill partners, indirect providers, and indirect resellers transacting through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program

Details

The full announcement is only available to Microsoft partners. Sign in to access the full announcement.

New timelines: Securing the partner ecosystem by transitioning to GDAP

Date: October 13, 2022

Summary

Microsoft is extending the previously announced timelines for key actions by partners to secure their ecosystems.

Workspace

Account settings

Impacted audience

Direct-bill partners, indirect providers, and indirect resellers transacting through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program and with advisors

Details

We're providing partners with more time to make the transition from delegated admin privileges (DAP) to granular delegated admin privileges (GDAP).

Starting January 17, 2023

  1. Microsoft will stop creating DAP relationships when a new customer or reseller relationship is created.
  2. Microsoft will start removing inactive DAP relationships that haven't been used in 90 days.

Starting March 1, 2023

  1. The Bulk Migration Tool to upgrade existing DAP connections that were granted by customers to GDAP will no longer be available.
  2. Microsoft will begin to transition remaining active DAP relationships to GDAP with limited Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) roles to perform least-privilege customer management activities. Partners will be required to perform more steps to continue to have access to Azure subscriptions after the limited roles are granted, as documented.

Important

To avoid disruption to your business, we recommend that you do not delay until March 2023 and take action now to transition to GDAP for the level of access that you require to manage your customers. The limited GDAP roles (Directory reader, Global reader, User administrator, License administrator, Service support administrator, and Helpdesk administrator) granted by Microsoft during the transition will only allow you to perform least-privilege activities. All other access permissions (for example, access to Exchange workloads) will be lost, and in order to perform all other activities, additional GDAP roles will be required to be granted by the customer.

Partners should continue taking steps to secure access by transitioning them to GDAP using the following steps:

  1. Review the DAP report, and remove DAP relationships that aren't needed.
  2. Use the bulk migration tool to transition to GDAP.
  3. Remove DAP when transition to GDAP is complete.

We're introducing a new journey map, which will help you navigate the transformational journey to zero trust. It provides milestones, actions required, and readiness materials to support you through this transformation. We'll inform you when there's new information available.

We appreciate those efforts and look forward to continuing to work with you to improve the security posture of our ecosystems.

Next steps

October Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) community update and reminders

Date: October 12, 2022

Summary

The CSP monthly update newsletter is now available, along with other CSP community resources that provide you with essential program updates.

Workspace

General

Impacted audience

CSP direct-bill partners and indirect providers

Details

This month's resources cover the following topics:

Launches

CSP Community Q&A reminder

The monthly CSP community Q&A session provides you with an opportunity to learn more and ask questions about changes affecting the program.

Register here to join upcoming calls.

Always available—Launch content on demand

Within the monthly CSP community collection, you can find:

For a consolidated view of all recent and active launches in a single place, visit the partner launch calendar. You'll find a timeline for each launch and links to published materials to help you learn more about that launch.

Need licensing readiness? The monthly CSP spotlight webinars cover the latest CSP licensing information available for all partners.

Next steps

Review the community resources and register for the Community Call Q&A.

Questions?

The monthly CSP community Q&A call is the best place to bring questions about operational change in the CSP program. You can submit a question up to 48 hours before the call. All launch-related questions will be answered in the call and/or in the Q&A document published after the call.

Questions on any other CSP topic? Visit the Partner Center support page.

Software price list now supports multiple European currencies

Date: October 11, 2022

Summary

Software price list now supports multiple currencies for European countries/regions.

Workspace

Pricing

Impacted audience

Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) direct-bill partners and indirect providers, based in EU/EFTA and UK, who sell software offers

Details

The European region supports more than one currency; however, prior to this update, partners based in Europe could only retrieve pricing data in the local market currency. Partners didn't have a way to know, prior to receiving the invoice, their unit price in other Euro currencies. See the following example:

Before change

Market Currency Unit Price
GB GBP 105

Beginning November 1, 2022, partners based within EU/EFTA and UK will retrieve software pricing reflective of multiple European currencies. For example, if the partner organization is based in Great Britain, rather than only retrieving a currency of "GBP," a partner will see five more currencies and their corresponding unit prices. This change will increase the row count in the software price list and increase the amount of data returned from the price sheet API endpoint for partners based in EU/EFTA and UK markets. See the following example:

After change

Market Currency Unit Price
GB EUR 117.42
GB SEK 1095.98
GB NOK 1129.8
GB CHF 130.41
GB DKK 876.29
GB GBP 105

Next steps

Change log

October 20, 2022:

  • Corrected:

    • "...partners based in Europe could only retrieve pricing data in Euros. Partners didn't have a way to know, prior to receiving the invoice, their unit price in non- Euro currencies."

      - to -

    • "...partners based in Europe could only retrieve pricing data in the local market currency. Partners didn't have a way to know, prior to receiving the invoice, their unit price in other Euro currencies."

  • Corrected:

    • GB currency value in the example table from EUR117.42 to GBP105.

  • Corrected:

    • "...rather than only retrieving a currency of "EUR," a partner will see five more currencies..."

      - to -

    • "...rather than only retrieving a currency of "GBP," a partner will see five more currencies..."

Partner earned credit (PEC) not appearing on some Azure subscription invoices

Date: October 11, 2022

Note

This announcement was updated on November 15, 2022.

To view the changes, see the Change log at the end of the announcement.

Summary

There was a data issue with Azure role-based access control (RBAC) since July 2022 that resulted in partner earned credit (PEC) for some Azure subscriptions not being reflected for a few subscriptions on a small number of invoices.

Workspace

General

Impacted audience

Billing admins of the impacted partners, who have been notified. This issue has only impacted a small subset of partners, so if your Billing admin hasn't received this notification, you haven't been impacted by this issue

Details

We recently learned that there was a data issue with Azure role-based access control (RBAC) since July 2022 that resulted in partner earned credit (PEC) for some Azure subscriptions not being reflected in the invoices.

This issue was corrected on October 11, and all subsequent RBAC changes have been correctly captured. We've issued a one-time credit on the October invoice for the impacted invoices for July, August, and September.

If you want to identify the affected subscriptions and earned credit amounts, use the reconciliation file for October (issued on November 6). Credits in arrears for previous months will have a price adjustment description of CustomerCredit instead of the usual 15.0% Partner-earned credit for services managed. There will be a separate customer credit line for each month where the earned credit wasn't correctly attributed.

This issue is now closed.

Next steps

No action is required.

Change log

November 15, 2022:

  • Updated Summary from:

    • "There was a data issue with Azure role-based access control (RBAC) since July 2022 that resulted in partner earned credit (PEC) for some Azure subscriptions not being reflected in the invoices."

      - to -

    • "There was a data issue with Azure role-based access control (RBAC) since July 2022 that resulted in partner earned credit (PEC) for some Azure subscriptions not being reflected for a few subscriptions on a small number of invoices."

  • Updated Impacted audience from:

    • "Some partners selling Azure subscriptions"

      - to -

    • "Billing admins of the impacted partners, who have been notified. This issue has only impacted a small subset of partners, so if your Billing admin hasn't received this notification, you haven't been impacted by this issue.

  • Updated Details from:

    "We recently learned that there was a data issue with Azure role-based access control (RBAC) since July 2022 that resulted in partner earned credit (PEC) for some Azure subscriptions not being reflected in the invoices.

    We're working on next steps and anticipate the data issue will be resolved by the end of October 2022. No action is required from partners."

    - to -

    "We recently learned that there was a data issue with Azure role-based access control (RBAC) since July 2022 that resulted in partner earned credit (PEC) for some Azure subscriptions not being reflected in the invoices.

    This issue was corrected on October 11, and all subsequent RBAC changes have been correctly captured. We've issued a one-time credit on the October invoice for the impacted invoices for July, August, and September.

    If you want to identify the affected subscriptions and earned credit amounts, use the reconciliation file for October (issued on November 6). Credits in arrears for previous months will have a price adjustment description of CustomerCredit instead of the usual 15.0% Partner-earned credit for services managed. There will be a separate customer credit line for each month where the earned credit wasn't correctly attributed.

    This issue is now closed."

Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) technical training in October

Date: October 11, 2022

Summary

Join us for the new CSP technical training call (previously known as technical preview) in October.

Workspace

Billing

Impacted audience

Direct partners and indirect providers

Details

A one-hour partner session that will cover the new asynchronous reconciliation API is coming soon. The agenda will include:

  • A step-by-step walk-through of our asynchronous design and how partners should access data.
  • A demonstration on how to use the software to call the API endpoints, process the data, and store it in a database.
  • The opportunity to ask questions and hear about the rollout.

Next steps

Register for the call.

Questions?

Contact Support if you have questions or need more information.

Singapore goods and services tax (GST) rate change to be implemented on January 1, 2023

Date: October 11, 2022

Summary

The first stage of the Singapore GST rate change, an increase from 7 percent to 8 percent, is on January 1, 2023.

Workspace

Pricing

Impacted audience

All Microsoft partners in Singapore, where Microsoft supplies, goods, and services are standard rated

Details

The Singapore Finance Minister, Mr. Lawrence Wong, had announced in the 2022 budget on February 18, 2022 that the GST rate change will be implemented in two stages:

Stage Rate change Date of implementation
1 7 to 8 percent January 1, 2023
2 8 to 9 percent January 1, 2024

The first stage, with an increase from 7 to 8 percent, will be implemented on January 1, 2023, while the second stage of the rate change from 8 to 9 percent will be implemented on January 1, 2024.

Starting January 1, 2023

  • All software and service invoices issued in 2022 with a GST rate of 7 percent that haven't been paid and whose delivery won't be completed by December 31, 2022, will be fully credited and rebilled with a GST rate of 8 percent, applicable to the entire transaction.*
  • All software and service invoices issued in 2023 will have a GST rate of 8 percent.*
  • All rebate incentives issued via credit note in 2023 will have a GST rate of 8 percent.
  • All physical device invoices will have a GST rate based on shipment date, that is, if shipped in 2022, the transaction will acquire a rate of 7 percent, and if shipped in 2023, transaction will acquire a rate of 8 percent.**

* For Cloud Solution Providers (CSP) and Web Direct, a GST rate of 7 percent can still apply for some product offerings for invoices issued from January 2023 onwards. Partners are advised to pay in accordance with the invoiced amount. No further action is required. More information and details will be provided at a later date.

** For customers who have prepaid in 2022, no additional payment will be needed.

Next steps

Share this communication with all the relevant people in your organization.

Questions?

If you have questions, reach out to your support teams. More information and details will be provided at a later date.

View the latest promotions and offers

Summary

The latest Global Promo Readiness Guide has now been published.

Workspace

Pricing

Impacted audience

Partners transacting through the Cloud Solution Provider program

Details

The latest Global Promo Readiness Guide, a consolidated view of all current and upcoming promotions, is now available on the Operations Readiness resource gallery. See active and upcoming promotions and offers at the Global Promo Readiness Guide collection.

Next steps

Review the latest monthly Promo Guide in the Operations Readiness resource gallery. Share this information with the appropriate contacts in your organization, and let us know if the guide is helpful by responding to the "Was this page helpful?" question at the bottom of the page.

Questions?

If you have questions, contact your Regional Operations Center using the Call Logging Tool (CLT) or via explore.ms. Follow the standard CLT process closely so that we can resolve your query as quickly as possible.

Microsoft Commerce Incentives (MCI) communication

Date: October 10, 2022

Summary

This communication is about new and updated Build Intent engagements in Modern Work, Security, and Azure solution areas.

Workspace

Incentives

Impacted audience

Partners enrolled in MCI and delivering MCI Build Intent engagements

Details

New engagements

Security

There are five new security usage workshops that help customers deploy and fully use the products that they already own:

  • Usage: Defend against threats with SIEM plus XDR
  • Usage: Mitigate compliance and privacy risks
  • Usage: Protect and govern sensitive data
  • Usage: Secure identities and access
  • Usage: Secure multicloud environments

For the latest information, see Investments and incentives.

Azure Migration and Modernization Program (AMMP)

There are 15 new AMMP partner-led engagements—small, medium, and large project sizes for each of the following:

  • AMMP partner-led for infrastructure and database migration
  • AMMP partner-led for migrating to Azure VMware solution
  • AMMP partner-led for virtual desktop infrastructure
  • AMMP partner-led for SAP migration
  • AMMP partner-led for app and data modernization

For the latest information, see AMMP.

New features

A new and improved claims view that was released in August 2022. The view aggregates all your existing claims across all MCI engagements, including completed and in-progress claims, and gives you the option to export your claims to Excel. Bookmark the claims view to start enjoying these benefits today.

Program execution notifications
  • Updates to proof of execution (POE) templates: Starting November 1, all claims submitted for the workshops listed must use the POE template versions published on October 1. Older versions won't be accepted for approval, so ensure that you download and review the latest delivery material ahead of each workshop. Workshops with significant changes to POE templates include but aren't limited to:
    • Sales: Defend against threats with SIEM plus XDR
    • Microsoft Viva
    • Microsoft Viva Insights
    • Modernize communications
  • Public sector disclosure requirement: Starting October 1, for public sector customers in the United States, Puerto Rico, and India, a public sector disclosure with acknowledgment from the customer should be uploaded to your claim to qualify for approval. Public sector customers in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region aren't eligible for this program. For details, refer to the Public Sector Disclosure section in the incentives guide.
  • Earning cap per partner ID: Each partner's PartnerLocalID (previously known as location Microsoft Partner Network or MPN ID) is limited to a maximum annual earning cap of USD400,000 (July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023) across all Modern Work and Security engagement claims submitted through the MCI platform. Partners will be expected to monitor their earnings through Partner Center. Microsoft reserves the right to cap claim approvals to adhere to this requirement.
Resources

Next steps

Share this information with the relevant people in your organization.

Questions?

For support, submit a query with the following information:

  • Problem summary: Enter a brief explanation of the issue.
  • Workspace: Incentives
  • Problem type: Enter "Engagements" to filter and select the most relevant subtopic.

Introducing the Dynamics 365 and Power Platform promotion for new Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) customers

Date: October 6, 2022

Summary

The Dynamics 365 and Power Platform New Customer Promotion for Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) customers is now available. It provides a 16.67 percent discount to customers who are new to Dynamics 365 and PowerApps product SKUs.

Workspace

Customers

Impacted audience

CSP indirect providers and resellers and direct-bill partners

Details

Microsoft created the Dynamics 365 & Power Platform New Customer Promo to enable partners to accelerate customer acquisition. This new promotion provides discounted Dynamics 365 and Power Platform solutions to support new customers who have started their digital transformation journey.

The Dynamics 365 and Power Platform New Customer Promotion provides a 16.67 percent discount to customers who are new to Dynamics 365 and PowerApps product SKUs.

This offer is valid from October 6, 2022 to June 30, 2023.

Next steps

For more information about available promotions, download the Global Promotions Readiness Guide. (The guide is saved to your default download folder, sometimes with no notification.)

Windows 365 for US Government general availability (GA) from October 1

Date: October 4, 2022

Summary

The GA of Windows 365 for the United States Government will take effect on October 1, 2022.

Workspace

General

Impacted audience

Direct and indirect resellers, and service partners in the United States

Details

More and more United States government agencies and contractors are choosing cloud computing solutions to meet their growing security and compliance needs. To support these customers, Windows 365 Government for Government Commercial Clients (GCC) and Government Commercial Cloud High (GCCH) are coming to GA as of October 1, 2022.

Windows 365 Government supports the following scenarios:

  • Contractors and computing resource access for other temporary users
  • Hybrid work arrangements
  • Secure/Privileged workstations (SAWs/PAWs)

Note: Although these new offerings are being designed to include the same feature set as Windows 365 Enterprise edition, there might be specific feature gaps because some dependent services aren't available in the Government clouds.

Next steps

Contact your partner development manager to learn more about Windows 365 Government, or visit the NextGen Windows Experiences Practice Development page.

Questions?

Contact Support if you have any questions or need more information.

Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit Feature Release October 2022

Date: October 4, 2022

Summary

We're excited to announce the latest improvements to Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit, a suite of intelligent, integrated solutions that help nonprofits accelerate mission outcomes by uniting people, processes, and data.

Workspace

General

Impacted audience

Microsoft partners

Details

New features in the October 2022 release are focused on improving the user experience and building more unified constituent profiles. New and updated features include:

  • Resource pages: Knowing where to start doesn't have to be a challenge. New resource pages help organizations get set up quickly in Fundraising and Engagement and Volunteer Management. Connect to training, documentation, and support resources within the application to facilitate user adoption and help strengthen staff capabilities.
  • Marketing insights: Build deeper constituent profiles and enable better collaboration between development and marketing departments. A new integration with Dynamics 365 Marketing, the Marketing insights tab in Fundraising and Engagement, shares valuable information about how constituents interact with marketing campaigns and events.
  • Improved donation import: Importing and validating donation datasets should be straightforward. Get a more holistic view of donors with a guided donation import process and lightweight data validation that aggregates data with an intuitive user interface.
  • Simplified deployment: Activating Fundraising and Engagement is now faster and easier with the new automated Azure deployment.
  • Salesforce data connector: Salesforce users can now take advantage of a vast array of data services, including analytics, AI, and machine learning in Azure, as well as the capabilities of the Power Platform to create compelling visualizations and act on insights. The connector also enables date to be injected back into Salesforce after it has been processed by Azure.

For more information, visit Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit Resources, and read the Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit blog.

More Partner Resources

Next steps

Questions?

Contact us by submitting an inquiry at How can we help?

MPNID is now PartnerID

Date: October 3, 2022

Summary

With the launch of the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program, MPNID (Microsoft Partner Network ID) is now PartnerID.

Workspace

General

Impacted audience

All partner center users

Details

With the launch of the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program, MPNID is now PartnerID.

This is a change in taxonomy only. There's no change to the value of the ID nor how we use the ID operationally. This update in taxonomy will roll out over time across Microsoft partner tools and sites, including Partner Center, from October 3, 2022 onwards.

Next steps

Familiarize yourself with this change and share the information with others.

New commerce license-based services price list for October 2022 includes an unpurchasable commercial product SKU

Date: October 3, 2022

Summary

The new commerce license-based services price list for October 2022 includes a commercial product SKU, which isn't purchasable yet. Disregard this product in the price list. It has been included in error.

Note: This announcement ONLY applies to the new commerce licensed-based October price list. All other price lists and months are unaffected.

Workspace

Pricing

Impacted audience

Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) direct-bill partners and indirect providers who sell license-based offers

Details

On October 1, 2022, CSP partners using the new commerce license-based price list should ignore the Windows Intune Workload Identities Premium SKU 0002, which isn't yet purchasable. It's expected to launch in the coming months.

Product Name Product ID SKU ID Term Duration
Workload Identities Premium CFQ7TTC0R9QB 0002 All term durations (month, one year, three year)

Next steps

Strengthen cybersecurity by activating the second part of your free subscription to Azure AD Premium Plan 2

Date: October 3, 2022

Summary

In October 2021, a free, 24-month subscription to Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Premium Plan 2 was announced for partners in the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program with delegated administrative privileges (DAP).

This promotion is redeemable through two 12-month subscriptions.

Beginning October 1, 2022, partners in the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program with Delegated Administrative Privileges (DAP) can activate a second free 12-month subscription of Azure AD Premium Plan 2 for up to 25 seats in their partner tenant.

Workspace

Customers

Impacted audience

Partners transacting through the CSP program

Details

A free, 24-month subscription to Azure AD Premium Plan 2 for partners in the CSP program with DAP to customer tenants was announced in October 2021.

Managed service providers can strengthen their security controls by taking advantage of premium security features such as Azure AD Privileged Identity Management (PIM) and risk-based conditional access capabilities, as well as viewing sign-in logs for a longer period at no extra charge.

  • Until October 1, 2022, partners in the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program could activate the first free 12-month subscription of Azure AD Premium Plan 2 for up to 25 seats in their partner tenant.

  • Now, starting October 1, 2022, partners in the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program with Delegated Administrative Privileges (DAP) can activate a second free 12-month subscription of Azure AD Premium Plan 2 for up to 25 seats in their partner tenant anytime before October 1, 2023.

The full announcement is available only to Microsoft partners and has been updated to include steps for receiving the second year of the promotion. Sign in to access the full announcement.

Resources

Next steps

Sign in to access the full announcement.

Now live: Changes to Microsoft's hoster licensing and products

Date: October 3, 2022

Summary

This month, Microsoft is introducing major revisions and upgrades that will benefit hosting partners and customers globally.

Workspace

Customers

Impacted audience

Hosters, Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) direct-bill partners, indirect providers, and resellers through their indirect providers, as well as all commercial licensing customers

Details

Starting October 1, 2022, Microsoft is introducing upgrades to its outsourcing and hosting terms that will benefit partners and customers globally. Partners can find details about these changes in this Microsoft partner blog post.

Added customer benefits will enable new scenarios for how they can license and run workloads with infrastructure outsourcers. Additionally, the CSP program will have a new program option called Cloud Solution Provider-Hoster so that eligible partners can build hosted solutions with Microsoft software to serve licensed customers.

CSP-Hoster partners can offer either:

  • Customer license-included hosted solutions through CSP-Hoster
  • The opportunity for customers to use their own licenses to access partner-provided solutions (BYOL)

In addition to these changes, there will be the following CSP offer updates:

  • New one- and three-year subscriptions to the Windows Server Datacenter edition will be available.
  • A monthly billing option will be available with one-year software subscriptions to affected products.
  • One-year software subscription prices will be aligned with offers sold under the Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA). Some prices might decrease while others increase. For more information, see the previous announcement.

Resources

Next steps

Review the resources about this topic, and share this information with the appropriate stakeholders in your organization.

Questions?

For more information on this change, view the resources listed in the previous sections. If you have any questions on the CSP-Hoster program, send us an email or submit a support ticket via the Partner Center Support page.

Change log

  • October 1, 2022: Changes are live
  • August 29, 2022: Announcement providing updates and session and training opportunities
  • May 18, 2022: Original announcement

Reminder: Removal of check payment instructions from NCE invoices

Date: October 3, 2022

Summary

From October 1, 2022, new commerce experience (NCE) partner invoices will no longer contain physical check remit instructions on the face of the summarized invoice.

Workspace

Billing

Impacted audience

Direct bill partners transacting through the Cloud Solution Provider program in the United States (including Puerto Rico) and Canada

Details

Effective October 1, 2022, Microsoft will remove the check payment option from new commerce invoices. This change affects only the United States (including Puerto Rico) and Canada.

Before December 1, 2022, current check payers are required to update their accounts payable or procurement system to pay Microsoft either through wire transfer or automated clearing house (ACH) going forward.

All new and prospective partners will be required to remit payments to Microsoft only via wire transfer or ACH.

Next steps

For more information regarding Partner Center billing, see Understand your bill and reconciliation file in Partner Center.

Questions?

If you have questions, create a support request at the Partner Center Support page.

Change log

  • October 1, 2022 – Reminder: Changes are now live

  • September 1, 2022 – Original announcement