What's New

Check out this page to stay up to date on VL Central

On this page you find updates and announcements outside the Partner call cadence. What's New contains breaking news about enhancements in VL Central and changes in launch dates, effective dates, or scope. It also points to more resources and readiness updates on the VL Central Hub.

For FAQ and important responses to partner feedback, check the Frequently Asked Questions Sections for the respective VL Central Workspace:

30 Sec. Flash Survey: VLC Contracts for Non-EA Programs

Tip

You Love VLC: Why? ... Improve VLC: Where/How?

VLCM/eAgreements is now read-only

Important

Effective 24 July 2026, the eAgreements (VLCM) tool is now read-only for all partners and all programs.

You can still sign in to VLCM to view, search, and download existing agreements — but VLCM no longer accepts new or amended package submissions. All non-EA package creation now takes place in VL Central Contracts (the Contracts workspace) on the VL Central Hub on Microsoft Learn. This is the next milestone in the partner enablement programme we began in April 2026, and the step immediately before full VLCM retirement.

TL;DR — Topics and links

What's changed

  • VLCM (eAgreements) has moved to read-only for all partner types — Distributor (DISTI), SPLA Reseller (SPLAR), ISV(R)-Distributor (ISV-D), and LSP / SSP / EDA — across all programs (Open Value, Open Value Subscription, Campus, SPLA, ISV Royalty, Select Plus, Select 6).
  • Sign-in, search, and download of existing agreements continue to work as before.
  • Creating or amending packages in VLCM is no longer available.

What you need to do

  • Use VL Central Contracts for all new non-EA package creation and amendments — follow the guide.
  • Complete any in-flight VLCM work directly in VL Central Contracts.
  • New to the Contracts workspace? Start with the Adoption Call recaps.

Timeline

Milestone Scope Status
VLCM read-only All partners, all programs Live — 24 July 2026
VLCM full retirement All partners, all programs 31 July 2026
COCP for OV/OVS Non-EA in VL Central Contracts Available now
WSA for non-EA Non-EA in VL Central Contracts Upcoming — date tb confirmed

Enablement resources

Questions?

  • Log a Case (using optional hashtag #nonEA@VLCcontracts) in VLC My Cases & Support.

Non-EA Programs in VLC Contracts Adoption Calls - July 2026 - Content Recap

  • Date: July 14, 2026
  • Workspaces: VL Central Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: Distributors (DISTI) | SPLA Resellers (SPLAR) | ISV Distributors (ISV-D) | LSP | SSP | EDA
  • Programs: Open Value (OV), Open Value Subscription (OVS), Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA), Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Royalty, Campus/EES (CASA), Select, Select Plus

Full Article: Volume Licensing Central | Partner Enablement | Call Recordings & Content

nonEA whatsnew

This article consolidates the JULY 2026 adoption-call content for distributors (DISTI), SPLA resellers (SPLAR), ISV royalty distributors (ISV-D), and Scale Solution Providers (LSP / SSP / EDA), combining the slides, spoken talk track, and chat Q&A from both time-zone sessions of the 14 July call. It covers migration status ahead of retirement, the revised eAgreements read-only dates, the new Change of Channel Partner functionality, the upcoming secure-authentication requirements, documentation, support, and a consolidated Q&A section reflecting partner questions raised across both sessions.

New this month — three spotlight topics:

  • eAgreements (VLCM) retirement — updated dates. The eAgreements Smart Client and web interface go read-only on 24 July 2026 (moved from 10 July) for all Non-EA programs, with full retirement by end of July. From 24 July, VL Central Contracts is the only place to create new Non-EA business; all historical packages, agreements, and customer data remain visible in VL Central.
  • Change of Channel Partner (COCP) comes to VL Central. For two-tier Open Value / OVS, the Change of Distributor request is now built into VL Central and goes live 24 July — partner-initiated and documents-based, with only the tool changing. For single-tier Select Plus and SPLA, COCP moves to a customer-initiated model, deferred to Q2 (approx. Sept–Oct); the manual form remains the interim path. ISV, Campus, and Select stay manual/form-based.
  • Coming in Q2: Entra ID / WSA secure authentication for Non-EA. Work-or-School Account (Entra ID / WSA) sign-in and cloud-scope enforcement will extend to Non-EA programs, partners, and customers in Q2 as part of Microsoft's Secure Future Initiative — and it is the prerequisite for single-tier customer-initiated COCP. Begin preparing your customers to provide a confirmed Entra ID rather than a plain business email.

The August 2026 adoption call is the final call in this series. Register for the August call. For step-by-step contracting guidance, see Create agreement package for Non-EA Programs.

Online Service Activation (OSA): Notification Contact Update for Open Programs

  • Date: July 17, 2026
  • Context: Online Service Activation (OSA) for Open programs — change to activation notification recipients (awareness only)
  • Partner Types: Distributors (DISTI) | Tier‑2 Resellers
  • Programs: Open Value (OV), Open Value Subscription (OVS), Open License (OPEN‑L)

Summary: Microsoft is updating who receives the Online Service Activation (OSA) notification for online services purchased through Open programs. Going forward, the Notification Contact on the licensing agreement receives the "Sign in and activate your online services" email and is the contact expected to complete activation. The Primary Contact continues to receive the same notification and is not being removed.

Note

The Primary Contact is not removed from the activation email. Both the Primary Contact and the Notification Contact receive the notification — the Notification Contact is now the contact expected to take the activation actions.

What's changing: Online services bought per seat under Open Value, Open Value Subscription, and Open License are delivered as Online Service Activation (OSA) keys — a 25‑character alphanumeric code used to extend a subscription's expiration date or add licenses. When an order is placed, an email titled "Sign in and activate your online services" is sent with a link and instructions to activate.

  • Previously: this notification was directed to the Primary Contact on the agreement only.
  • Now: the Notification Contact (NTC) also receives the notification and is the contact expected to act on it. The Primary Contact continues to receive the email.

In short, the scope of who is notified for OSA is expanding to include the agreement's Notification Contact, so the activation email reaches the right person to act on it.

Why this matters:

  • Activation notifications now reach the contact designated to act, reducing the risk of missed or delayed activations.
  • Partners have a clear answer when a customer or reseller asks who should act on an activation email: the Notification Contact (with the Primary Contact still copied).
  • The activation process itself is unchanged.

Next steps:

  • No action is required from partners. This is an awareness update — no new process, readiness, or training is needed.
  • Open License (OPEN‑L) is retired; customers with existing Open License agreements can continue to activate tokens until the end of 2026.

Learn more: Full, up‑to‑date activation steps are documented on Microsoft Learn — Online service activation for Open programs.

Non-EA Programs in VLC Contracts Adoption Calls - June 2026 - Content Recap

  • Date: June 16, 2026
  • Workspaces: VL Central Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: Distributors (DISTI) | SPLA Resellers (SPLAR) | ISV Distributors (ISV-D) | LSP | SSP | EDA
  • Programs: Open Value (OV), Open Value Subscription (OVS), Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA), Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Royalty, Campus/EES (CASA), Select, Select Plus
  • Full Article: Volume Licensing Central | Partner Enablement | Call Recordings & Content

nonEA vlc june promo

This article consolidates the JUNE 2026 adoption-call content for distributors (DISTI), SPLA resellers (SPLAR), ISV royalty distributors (ISV-D), and Scale Solution Providers (LSP / SSP / EDA). It covers what is changing, how to access the new workspace, the user experience, signing technology, documentation, support, and a consolidated Q&A section reflecting partner questions raised across both call sessions.

Enterprise Community Q&A Call - June 2026 - Content Recap

  • Date: June 12, 2026
  • Partner Types: All Volume Licensing Channel Partners
  • Programs: All legacy commercial Volume Licensing programs

This article consolidates the operational changes, readiness guidance, and roadmap items covered in the June 2026 Enterprise Partner Enablement community call. It is written for Volume Licensing partners — LSPs, SSPs, CSPs, distributors, SPLAR, and ISV-Distributors — who need a single, operationally focused reference for what is changing in Volume Licensing Central (VLC) and what to do before FY26 Q4 close.

Three spotlight topics anchor this release: the migration of the remaining Non-EA programs into VL Central Contracts, a set of WSA validation and cloud-scope improvements, and FY26 Q4 close readiness with a data-driven look at the most common processing holds. The update closes with a fast-paced roadmap of recent and upcoming launches, reference material, and a consolidated Questions and Answers section.

A New Partner Enablement Experience on Microsoft Learn

  • Date: June 2026
  • Partner Types: All Volume Licensing Channel Partners
  • Programs: All legacy commercial Volume Licensing programs

Important

The VL Central Hub on learn.microsoft.com now includes a dedicated Partner Enablement section alongside the existing What's New blog. This section is the new home for community-call and adoption-call registration, call content and recaps, call recordings, and video assets.

Call recaps are now published as structured Learn articles rather than as recordings on the retired event platform. Each recap consolidates the slides, the spoken content, and the chat Q&A onto one page, so you can:

  • Search the content and jump to the section you need rather than scrubbing through an hour of video.
  • Use Ask Learn and the "Summarize this article for me" function to get answers quickly.
  • Print the article to PDF or download it as Markdown for your own records.
  • Access both call recordings and demo videos for VL Central functionality in the same place.

Recaps are typically published within two business days after call(s).

WSA Validation Improvements in VL Central (May 2026)

  • Date: May 26, 2026
  • Partner Types: LSP | SSP | EDA | AOS-G
  • Programs: EA | EAS | SCE | AOS-G

Microsoft is releasing four targeted improvements in Volume Licensing Central (VLC) Contracts to reduce WSA‑related delays and improve reliability for Enterprise Agreement (EA) processing. These updates respond directly to partner feedback and are designed to support smoother May–June quarter‑close execution.

Important

Learn More: For full details, timelines, and guidance, partners should review the complete article in the NEW Partner Enablement section on Learn | MS WSA Guidance: Latest Improvements for WSA Validation in VL Central (May 2026)

Clearer WSA Validation Error Messages

The WSA validation experience now clearly distinguishes between:

  • Emails that are not associated with a Work or School Account, and
  • Cloud‑scope misalignment between the WSA and the customer’s environment.
    This removes ambiguity and helps partners and customers resolve issues more quickly.

Available: 29 May 2026

Reduction in MBSA‑Level WSA Holds on EA Agreements

Process and system improvements have significantly reduced scenarios where WSA‑related holds occur at the MBSA (Microsoft Business and Services Agreement) level during EA processing. Partners should already experience fewer WSA‑related holds associated with MBSA contacts, resulting in more predictable EA agreement progression.

Available: 22 May 2026

Reduction in Holds for Cross‑Cloud, Multi‑Tenant EA Scenarios

Enhancements have reduced holds in multi‑tenant EA configurations, particularly where lead and related enrolments span Commercial and Government cloud environments. This addresses a common source of friction for US customers operating across multiple cloud scopes and supports faster resolution during quarter close.

Available: 22 May 2026

Improved Handling of Tenant Sub‑Scope for Cloud Alignment

The contract system now more intelligently handles tenant sub‑scope details, reducing WSA validation holds in complex tenant and Azure scenarios, even when tenant metadata is incomplete or misaligned.

Available: 29 May 2026

Non‑EA VLC Contracts – May 2026 Partner Adoption Call Content Recap

  • Date: May 12, 2026
  • Workspaces: VL Central Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: Distributors (DISTI) | SPLA Resellers (SPLAR) | ISV Distributors (ISV-D) | LSP | SSP | EDA
  • Programs: Open Value (OV), Open Value Subscription (OVS), Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA), Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Royalty, Campus/EES (CASA), Select, Select Plus
  • Full Article: Volume Licensing Central | Partner Enablement | Call Recordings & Content
    vlc-noneacontracts-may2026-slide-00
    This article consolidates the May 2026 adoption-call content for distributors (DISTI), SPLA resellers (SPLAR), ISV royalty distributors (ISV-D), and Scale Solution Providers (LSP / SSP / EDA). It covers what is changing, how to access the new workspace, the user experience, signing technology, documentation, support, and a consolidated Q&A section reflecting partner questions raised across both call sessions.

Now Live in VLC Contracts: DocuSign for non-EA Program Packages

  • Date: May 7, 2026
  • Workspaces: VL Central – Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: LSP | SSP | Distributors (DISTI) | SPLA Resellers (SPLAR) | ISV Distributors (ISV-D)
  • Programs: Open Value (OV), Open Value Subscription (OVS), Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA), Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Royalty, Campus/EES (CASA), Select, Select Plus

Summary:

Starting May 7, 2026, DocuSign electronic signature is now available in the Volume Licensing Central (VLC) Contracts workspace for all Non‑Enterprise Agreement (Non‑EA) programs. This feature is fully integrated into the existing Non‑EA contract signing flow as an additional e-signature option alongside Adobe Sign, with no changes to the partner or customer experience aside from having a new provider choice.

What’s changing:

For all Non‑EA agreement packages in VL Central, partners can now select DocuSign as the e-signature method (including digital and qualified signatures (physical is already facilitated through Adobe!)) when sending contracts for signature. Adobe Sign remains available, but DocuSign is now integrated as an alternative e-sign provider within the VL Central Contracts workflow – just as it has been for Enterprise Agreements (EA) since March.

Why this matters:

The introduction of DocuSign for Non‑EA contracts brings multiple benefits for partners and customers:

  • Faster, more efficient deal signing: DocuSign’s integration accelerates contract execution and improves deal velocity by eliminating the need for manual or offline signing steps. This reduces friction in the signature process and helps contracts get signed and closed more quickly.

  • Customer choice and flexibility: Partners and customers now have the choice of e-signature provider (DocuSign or Adobe Sign) for all VL contract types. This ensures a consistent signing experience across EA and Non‑EA agreements, lets customers use their preferred e-sign tool, and prevents any experience gaps between programs.

  • No regional roadblocks: DocuSign provides critical coverage in regions like Mainland China where Adobe Sign is restricted. With DocuSign as an option, 100% of Non‑EA deals can be completed digitally inside VL Central, keeping the entire process electronic.

  • Seamless, compliant process: Supporting both DocuSign and Adobe Sign within VL Central keeps all signature activities inside the platform, strengthening audit traceability and compliance.

Next steps:

No special action is required from partners to start using the new DocuSign capability – it is automatically enabled for all Non‑EA program contracts in VL Central from May 7 onward. Partners can simply choose the “DocuSign” option when initiating signatures for Non‑EA agreements. We recommend reviewing Microsoft Learn for step-by-step guidance on creating Non‑EA contract packages and using the e-signature options. For additional context and training resources, you can also refer to our earlier announcements – Non-EA Programs in VL Central Contracts and the call to register for May 12 Adoption Calls – to ensure you are fully up to speed.

All Partners: Register for May 12 Adoption Calls: Non‑EA VL Programs in VL Central Contracts & eAgreements Retirement

  • Date: April 29, 2026
  • Workspaces: VL Central Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: Distributors (DISTI) | SPLA Resellers (SPLAR) | ISV Distributors (ISV-D) | LSP | SSP | EDA
  • Programs: Open Value (OV), Open Value Subscription (OVS), Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA), Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Royalty, Campus/EES (CASA), Select, Select Plus
May 12 09:00 AM GMT Asia/EMEA REGISTER
May 12 04:00 PM GMT Americas REGISTER

Review the full Adoption Call Series HERE

Full launch details: see article below

Non‑EA VL Programs Now Available in VL Central Contracts

  • Date: April 20, 2026
  • Workspaces: VL Central Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: Distributors (DISTI) | SPLA Resellers (SPLAR) | ISV Distributors (ISV-D) | LSP | SSP | EDA
  • Programs: Open Value (OV), Open Value Subscription (OVS), Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA), Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Royalty, Campus/EES (CASA), Select, Select Plus

Non‑EA VLC Contracts – April 2026 | Partner Adoption Call Content Recap

VLC nonEA APR call

Effective 7 April 2026, Microsoft has enabled the remaining seven Non‑Enterprise Agreement (Non‑EA) Volume Licensing programs in the VL Central (VLC) Contracts workspace. This launch brings nearly all Non‑EA contract creation and management activities from the legacy eAgreements / Volume Licensing Contract Management (VLCM) tool into the modern VL Central platform. This content review summarises the key information shared across the April 2026 Non‑EA Partner Adoption Calls – including what is changing, why it matters, how to get started, a demo walk-through, and answers to the most commonly raised partner questions.

What's Launching

Since 7 April 2026, VL Central's Contracts workspace supports the following seven Non‑EA licensing programs previously managed exclusively in eAgreements (VLCM):

  • Open Value (OV)
  • Open Value Subscription (OVS)
  • Campus (also known as CASA / Enrollment for Education Solutions)
  • Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA)
  • Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Royalty programme
  • Select
  • Select Plus

These programmes are transacted by the following partner types: Distributor (DISTI), SPLA Reseller (SPLAR), ISV(R)-Distributor (ISV‑D), and Scale Solution Provider (LSP / SSP / EDA).

With this transition, 99% of transactions previously performed in VLCM can now be executed in VL Central across four core capabilities:
Contract Action Description
Create New Package Start a brand-new agreement package for a Non‑EA programme
Create Renewal Package Renew an existing Non‑EA agreement
Extend Agreement Extend an existing OV, OVS, or Campus agreement
CICR Contact Information Change Request

Why This Matters: Benefits of VL Central Contracts vs. eAgreements (VLCM)

Moving to VL Central delivers a range of operational improvements for partners. The table below summarises the key differences between the legacy eAgreements (VLCM) tool and the new VL Central Contracts experience:
Dimension eAgreements (VLCM) VL Central Contracts
Platform Separate legacy Smart Client application (requires local installation) Modern web-based workspace on the same platform as EA Contracts, Orders, and My Cases
User Experience Older SmartClient interface with limited on-screen guidance Modern UI with clearer error handling and actionable recommendations
Automation More manual data entry; no auto-creation of drafts Auto-populated fields; draft package creation from existing artefacts; fewer manual steps
Security & Compliance Legacy security model Strengthened security via Work or School Account (WSA) and mandatory MFA; trade compliance controls built into the workflow
E-Signature Adobe Sign only Adobe Sign plus DocuSign (DocuSign launched 2 March for EA; coming in May for non-EA programs
Future Innovation No further development planned AI Assistant for Contracts (Preview for EA since 2 February 2026); expanded automation; single roadmap for all VL programmes
Deal Quality Higher error rates Real-time system validations and dynamic error-panel warnings that reduce mistakes before submission

All future improvements to VL Central will benefit all VL programmes on the platform, including the newly onboarded Non‑EA programmes – something that was not possible on the legacy tool, which was no longer receiving development investment.

Timeline and Milestones

The following schedule outlines the key milestones for the Non‑EA VL Central Contracts launch and the planned retirement of eAgreements (VLCM):
Date Milestone Details
7 Apr 2026 General Availability (GA) VL Central Contracts supports all 7 Non‑EA programmes. Partners can begin using VLC for new packages, renewals, extensions, and CICR
7–21 Apr 2026 Hypercare Support Intensive two-week support window with expedited issue resolution
14 Apr 2026 1st Adoption Call Adoption / Enablement / Q&A — 9:00 AM & 4:00 PM GMT
Apr–Jul 2026 Parallel Production Both VL Central and VLCM available for package creation. Partners encouraged to use VLC as primary tool
12 May 2026 2nd Adoption Call Adoption / Enablement / Q&A — 9:00 AM & 4:00 PM GMT
16 Jun 2026 3rd Adoption Call Close Support / Q&A — 9:00 AM & 4:00 PM GMT
30 Jun 2026 FY26 Q4 Close VLCM remains active through the critical Q4 close to ensure business continuity
14 Jul 2026 4th Adoption Call Aiming for / supporting full partner adoption — 9:00 AM & 4:00 PM GMT
11 Aug 2026 5th Adoption Call — VLCM Retirement Full adoption; VLCM retirement — 9:00 AM & 4:00 PM GMT
TBD VLCM Read-Only / Full Retirement Exact date to be confirmed; eAgreements becomes read-only for all Non‑EA transactions

Key point on the parallel run: Microsoft will not force a mandatory cutover before the FY‑end close (30 June 2026). Partners may continue to use eAgreements as a fallback for critical end-of-quarter transactions during this period. However, Microsoft strongly encourages partners to use VL Central as the primary tool from day one so that the transition is well established before eAgreements is retired.

After Q4, eAgreements is expected to be moved to read-only mode, with full retirement targeted for the July/August 2026 timeframe — exact dates will be communicated via the What's New page and the remaining adoption calls.

Access and User Provisioning

All active VL partner users of the Non‑EA partner types listed above who had at least one login in VLCM during the past quarter have been automatically provisioned for the VL Central Contracts workspace. This means:

  • You should see the "Contracts" workspace tile on your VL Central home page.
  • You will have access to the same PCNs (Partner Customer Numbers) and the same user role (Creator, Submitter, or Admin) as in VLCM.

If you do not see the Contracts workspace, take one of the following actions:

  1. Use the "Request Access" button (if visible) to send a request to your organisation's VLC Contracts / VLC Global Admin.
  2. Work with your organisation's VLC Admin(s) to get invited to VLC / VLC Contracts.
  3. Log a VLC support case to request access and user setup for your PCN(s).

For full guidance on user administration, the invite process, and admin roles, refer to the User Management documentation on the VL Central Hub: Admin Invite Flow – Microsoft Learn.

Demo Walk-Through: Creating a non-EA Program Agreement Package

Campus

Open Value

SPLA

The overall procedure is very similar across all Non‑EA programmes. Below is a summary of the key steps:

  • Open VL Central Contracts. Sign in to VL Central, select the Contracts workspace, and click "Create Package".

  • Select "I don't have a CPS ID." Non‑EA programmes do not use CPS quote IDs, so choose this option to begin a direct package flow. [learn.microsoft.com]

  • Choose the contract type: Select New Contract, Renewal, or Extension depending on your scenario. [learn.microsoft.com]

  • Search for the customer organisation. Enter the customer's name or Public Customer Number (PCN), click Search, select the correct organisation from the results, and click "Add Organization". [learn.microsoft.com]

  • Create the package and select the programme. Click "Create new package", then choose the applicable Programme from the dropdown (e.g. Campus) and the relevant Programme Type (e.g. Education Solutions or Consortium). For Campus agreements with programme type "Enrollment Only", the Master Agreement Number is a mandatory field. [learn.microsoft.com]

  • Complete all required fields. Work through each section using the left-hand section navigation. VL Central will auto-populate fields where possible (e.g. from existing customer data). The Error Panel on the right dynamically flags missing or incorrect information, guiding you to resolve any issues before you can proceed.

  • Submit for signature. Once all sections are complete and no errors remain, submit the package for customer e-signature (via Adobe Sign; DocuSign support for Non‑EA is coming in May 2026).

VLC nonEA APR UX

Tip

You can create draft packages for learning purposes without impacting live business. Since Non‑EA packages do not require CPS IDs, practising in VL Central will not consume or block any quotes. Delete test packages when done or simply leave them in Draft status.

For complete step-by-step instructions, screenshots, and programme-specific field requirements, refer to the official Microsoft Learn guide: Create agreement package for Non‑EA Programs.

Q&A Highlights from the April Adoption Calls

Q: Are agreements and packages visible across both eAgreements and VL Central? A: Yes. There is no manual synchronisation required. Both tools display the same backend data — any package created in VL Central is visible in eAgreements, and vice versa. You will not lose sight of in-progress deals regardless of which interface was used to create them.

Q: When should partners start using VL Central Contracts for Non‑EA agreements? A: Now. The functionality is live as of 7 April 2026. Partners are encouraged to begin creating new and renewal packages in VL Central immediately. During the parallel run period (through at least 30 June 2026), both VL Central and eAgreements remain fully available, so you can use the legacy tool as a fallback if needed for critical transactions. After fiscal close, Microsoft will begin phasing out eAgreements, with a move to read-only expected in the July/August timeframe.

Q: Can we practise in VL Central without affecting live business? A: Yes. Partners can create draft packages for learning purposes and either delete them or leave them in Draft status.

Q: Do all partner users already have access to the Contracts workspace? A: All active VL partner users from the relevant Non‑EA partner types (DISTI, SPLAR, ISV-D, LSP/SSP) with at least one login in eAgreements in the past quarter have been pre-provisioned with the same PCNs and user roles. If a team member does not see the Contracts tile, they should request access through their VLC Admin or by logging a support case.

Support

Support processes for agreement contracting and deals remain unchanged following this launch. Partners should continue to use the established channels to get help:

  • Log a case via VL Central — My Cases & Support. This is the primary channel for all support needs, whether deal-related, transactional, or tool-related. For documentation on the My Cases functionality, refer to: Overview of My Cases and Support – Microsoft Learn.

  • Use the hashtag #nonEA@VLCcontracts in the Summary (title) or Description field of your support case. This is not required to receive support — you will get assistance regardless. However, including the hashtag allows the launch and engineering teams to track all cases, questions, and feedback specifically related to Non‑EA VL Central Contracts, helping Microsoft identify patterns and improve the experience during the rollout.

  • Attend the remaining Non‑EA VLC Adoption Calls (May through August 2026) for live Q&A and the opportunity to bring feedback and questions directly to the enablement team.

  • Try "Ask Learn" on the VL Central Hub. The VLC documentation on Microsoft Learn is supported by the Ask Learn AI-powered assistant, which can help you quickly find answers based on the published documentation. Be specific about the workspace (e.g. Contracts) and programme (e.g. Non‑EA, SPLA, OVS) when asking questions for the best results.

Where to Find Authoritative Documentation and Updates

Resources and Next Steps
Resource Link Purpose
Non‑EA Packages Guide (MS Learn) Create agreement package for Non‑EA Programs Step-by-step instructions for all Non‑EA contract actions in VLC [non-EA VLC...ries APRIL | PowerPoint]
What's New Announcements VL Central Hub – Latest News Official updates, known issues, timeline changes
Launch Enablement Guide Launch Enablement Guide on MS Learn Consolidated view of upcoming VL launches and partner changes
Non‑EA Adoption Call Registration Register on Partner.microsoft.com Register for all 5 adoption calls (Apr–Aug 2026)
VL Central Portal aka.ms/VLCentral Access VL Central directly
My Cases & Support Via VL Central — My Cases & Support workspace Log support tickets for issues
Call Recordings Available via registration page after each session On-demand viewing post-call

Your Call to Action

  1. Start using VL Central Contracts for your Non‑EA programmes — explore the workspace and create a test draft package to become familiar with the new flow.
  2. Share this information with your wider VL organisation and invite your Non‑EA teams to register for the remaining adoption calls.
  3. Review the updated documentation on the VL Central Hub, particularly the Non‑EA Packages Guide for programme-specific detail.
  4. Keep an eye on the What's New page for any updates to timelines, known issues, or scope changes as the transition progresses.

Microsoft's live and on-demand VL partner engagement content is intended for use by the Microsoft VL partner audience only. Use or distribution of this content for other purposes or audiences is prohibited. © Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Automatic Product Selection Form (PSF) Generation for Server & Cloud Enrolment (SCE)

  • Date: April 14, 2026

  • Workspaces: VL Central Deals & Contracts

  • Impacted Audience: All LSP, EDA, and SSP partners managing SCE agreements in VL Central

  • Programs: Server & Cloud Enrollment (SCE)

Starting 5 May 2026, VL Central will automatically generate the Product Selection Form (PSF) for Server & Cloud Enrollment (SCE) contract packages. This enhancement eliminates the need for partners to manually create and upload PSF documents when building SCE packages in VL Central Contracts, bringing the SCE contracting workflow in line with how EA and EAS enrolments are handled today.

The system will auto-populate the PSF with the following details based on the quote and enrolment data:

  • Agreement or Enrollment Name
  • Agreement or Enrollment Number
  • Price Levels
  • Product Details

This change represents a significant step toward a fully streamlined, end-to-end SCE contracting experience in VL Central, reducing manual effort, improving data accuracy, and ensuring consistent population of agreement, enrolment, and pricing details across the deal-to-contract lifecycle.

Enhancements and benefits for VLC DEALS users

Automated PSF generation from the quoting workflow. When a Commercial Executive (CE) or partner creates an SCE quote in the VL Central Deals workspace, the Product Selection Form will now be automatically generated alongside the CPS (Customer Price Sheet) — replicating the existing functionality for EA and EAS programs. The PSF is produced based on data already captured in the quote, including offering levels, qualifying enrollment details, and product selections. Partners and CEs no longer need to prepare a separate PSF file outside of VL Central.

  • Offering levels flow automatically from Deals to Contracts. Since 12 January 2026, offering levels and qualifying enrolments (QE) set by the CE during deal creation already flow directly to the Contracts workspace — a process that is now similar to EA/EAS programs. Partners do not need to add QE or offering levels. The PSF automation builds on this foundation: the auto-generated PSF reflects the exact offering levels from the approved quote, ensuring full alignment between the deal and the contract package.

  • Elimination of duplicate data entry. Previously, partners were required to manually enter offering levels in the PSF document and upload the PSF document in the Documents section of the contract package — even though these values were already set at the deal stage. With automated generation, the quote serves as the single source of truth: product and pricing data flows seamlessly from deal creation through to the final contract package, removing a redundant data-entry step.

  • Faster deal-to-contract handoff. Removing the manual PSF step means SCE deals can transition from quote approval to contract signature more quickly. There is no longer a dependency on partners preparing and uploading a PSF document before the contract package can be finalised, helping accelerate overall deal velocity.

  • Reduced risk of data misalignment. Manually prepared PSFs were a common source of mismatches — for example, partners uploading a PSF with different offering levels than what the CE had entered in the quote, leading to processing holds and rework by Operations Service Centre agents. Automating PSF generation from the quote data eliminates this risk, reducing the likelihood of contract processing delays, holds, or re-signatures caused by inconsistent offering level or product data.

  • Consistent experience across licensing programs. The vision behind this change is to make the SCE quoting-to-contracting process as seamless as EA and EAS programs. With PSF automation in place, partners working across multiple Volume Licensing programs will experience a uniform workflow in the Deals workspace, regardless of agreement type.

Enhancements and benefits for VLC CONTRACTS users

No more manual PSF creation or upload. Starting 5 May 2026, partners using the VL Central Contracts workspace will no longer need to manually create, fill out, or upload a Product Selection Form when assembling SCE contract packages. During package creation for an SCE deal, VL Central will automatically generate the PSF document and include it in the package's Documents section — pre-populated with all required fields. This provides system support for PSF in SCE packages similar to EA/EAS enrollment package functionality.

  • Auto-populated PSF fields. The system-generated PSF will automatically include the correct:

  • Agreement or Enrollment Name — selected from available options such as Enterprise Enrollment, Enterprise Subscription Enrollment, Select Agreement, Select Plus Agreement, or MPSA. Selecting the correct agreement name ensures the PSF aligns with the customer's contractual agreement.

  • Agreement or Enrollment Number — auto-populated from the linked qualifying enrollment when applicable. A qualifying enrollment is an existing active enrollment that defines the price levels of the SCE enrollment. When a qualifying enrolment is added to the quote, no additional selection is required for the price level, as it is auto-populated based on the qualifying enrolment.

    • Price Levels — auto-determined based on the qualifying enrolment, removing the need for manual selection.
    • Product Details — including product line items as configured in the quote.

    Partners only need to review the auto-generated PSF for accuracy instead of drafting it from scratch.

  • Time savings. The manual PSF preparation process — which involved entering offering levels, product line items, and price level details into the PSF template, then uploading the completed document to the package — is fully eliminated.

  • Higher first-pass accuracy for submissions. System-generated PSFs draw directly from validated quote data, greatly reducing the chance of errors such as mismatched offering levels, incorrect product counts, or missing price levels. Contracts submitted with auto-generated PSFs are less likely to be placed on hold for PSF-related issues, contributing to higher first-pass success rates and improved deal quality.

  • Alignment with EA/EAS packaging behaviour. For EA and EAS contracts, VL Central already auto-generates required documents and populates product selection details in the package. SCE packages will now benefit from the same level of automation and parity. Partners familiar with the EA/EAS workflow will find the SCE process now operates identically — no program-specific manual requirements are needed for different agreement types.

  • Simplified offering level management. Since January 2026, partners no longer add or modify offering levels in the Offerings section of VLC Contracts for SCE — this is handled by the CE at the deal stage, and the values flow downstream automatically. With PSF automation, the last remaining manual step related to offering levels — entering them in the PSF document and uploading it — is also eliminated. Partners can now focus on reviewing the overall package rather than manually reconciling offering level data across documents

Next Steps

  • Review the SCE PSF Automation readiness documentation on the VL Central Hub on Microsoft Learn for step-by-step guidance on how automatic PSF generation works, including details on the Generate page interface and auto-populated fields.

  • Update your internal processes. For any SCE deals closing on or after 5 May 2026, partners should no longer manually prepare or upload PSF files. Update your internal process guides and training materials to remove the manual PSF step for SCE packages.

  • Stay informed on upcoming VL Central changes via the What's New page and the Launch Enablement Guide on Microsoft Learn.

  • Review the Volume Licensing Launch Calendar for the latest schedule of all upcoming VL Central launches and enhancements.

  • For questions or assistance, please contact your Microsoft account team or open a case in VL Central > My Cases & Support.

Action Required: DISTI, SPLAR, ISV-D and LSP/SSP/EDA Partners — Register Now for the Non-EA VLC Contracts Adoption Call Series

  • Date: April 13, 2026
  • Workspace: Volume Licensing Central (VLC) – Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: Distributors (DISTI) | SPLA Resellers (SPLAR) | ISV Distributors (ISV-D) | LSP | SSP | EDA
  • Programs: Open Value (OV), Open Value Subscription (OVS), Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA), Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Royalty, Campus/EES (CASA), Select, Select Plus

All seven non-EA VL Programs are now supported in VL Central Contracts

As previously announced in the Launch Calendar/Enablement Guide and Q2+Q3 Enablement Calls, as of April 7, 2026, all remaining non-Enterprise Agreement Volume Licensing programs are now supported in the VL Central (VLC) Contracts workspace. These programs now available in VLC are: 1) Open Value (OV), 2) Open Value Subscription (OVS), 3) Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA), 4) Independent Software Vendor (ISV), 5) Campus, 6) Select, 7) Select Plus, and Customer Information Change Request (CICR).

This means partners can now perform all non-EA contract management tasks — including creating new contract packages, creating renewal packages, extending existing OV/OVS/Campus agreements, and submitting CICRs — directly in VL Central.

Why this matters to you — eAgreements (VLCM) is retiring

The legacy eAgreements (VLCM) tool is on the path to full retirement due to Microsoft's Secure Future Initiative (SFI). Following the successful migration of EA/EAS/SCE contracting to VL Central in 2025, the remaining non-EA programs have now followed the same path. We are currently in a parallel adoption period where both eAgreements/VLCM and VLC Contracts are available for package creation through July 2026. After that:

  • eAgreements (VLCM) will go read-only and retire in Q1 FY27 (target: August 2026)

If your organisation transacts non-EA Volume Licensing programs, you must prepare now. This is a one-time, permanent change. Once VLCM is retired, it will no longer be available for contract package creation.

Who needs to pay attention

This change impacts partner types who have not typically participated in Enterprise Partner VL enablement calls. If you are in any of the following categories, this applies directly to you:

  • DISTI (Distributors) — transacting OV, OVS, and CASA programs
  • SPLAR (SPLA Resellers) — transacting the SPLA program
  • ISV(R)-Distributors (ISV-D) — transacting the ISV Royalty program
  • LSP/SSP/EDA partners — transacting Select, Select Plus, and Campus/CASA programs

Even if you have never joined a VL Central enablement session before, this series is specifically designed for you.

Introducing the Non-EA VLC Contracts Adoption Call Series (April–August 2026)

To support your transition from eAgreements to VL Central, we have launched a dedicated monthly Adoption Call series running alongside the parallel adoption period and through to VLCM retirement. These interactive sessions will walk you through the new VLC Contracts workflows, provide live demonstrations, share readiness timelines, and give you direct access to Microsoft experts for Q&A.

The first two sessions kick off on Tuesday, April 14, 2026 — offered in two time zones so you can choose the slot that fits your region:

Date Time (GMT) Focus
April 14, 2026 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM Introduction / Demo / Q&A
May 12, 2026 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM Demo / Enablement / Q&A
June 16, 2026 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM Close Support / Q&A
July 14, 2026 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM Full Adoption
August 11, 2026 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM Full Adoption & VLCM Retirement

Why attend

  • See VLC in action: Get live demonstrations of how to create new contracts, renewals, extensions, and CICRs in the VLC Contracts workspace for OV, OVS, SPLA, ISV, Campus/EES, Select, and Select Plus programs.
  • Understand the roadmap and deadlines: Learn the full transition timeline — from General Availability in April 2026, through the parallel production period (April–July), to the planned VLCM retirement in August 2026. Know exactly what to do and when.
  • Get answers in real time: Each session includes dedicated Q&A time with the launch team and product experts. Bring your questions about specific scenarios, blockers, or edge cases in your non-EA workflows.
  • Partner-specific guidance: Content is tailored to the non-EA licensing scenarios and partner types listed above. Distributors, SPLA Resellers, and ISV Distributors who are new to VLC Contracts will receive focused onboarding guidance.
  • Avoid business disruption: Proactively preparing during the parallel period ensures your organisation and your customers experience a smooth transition before eAgreements is permanently retired.

Call to action

Register now — secure your spot for the April 14 kick-off and the full series here:

➡️ Register for the Non-EA VLC Contracts Adoption Call Series

Share this with your teams — forward this registration link to your operations, licensing, and sales teams who work with non-EA Volume Licensing programs. This is especially important for colleagues who have not previously engaged with VL Central enablement sessions.

Additional resources

Don't wait until eAgreements goes read-only — register today and join us on April 14 to start your transition to VL Central Contracts.

License Mobility for Windows Server and SQL Server subscriptions

  • Date: April 1, 2026
  • Workspace: Volume Licensing Central (VLC) Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: All SSP partners who sell or support Windows Server or SQL Server subscriptions under the Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA)
  • Programs: Enterprise Agreement, Enterprise Agreement Subscription (EA, EAS), Cloud Solution Provider (CSP)

Microsoft is simplifying the product terms for Windows Server and SQL Server subscriptions purchased under the Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) through Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners.

Starting April 1, 2026, these subscriptions will be eligible for License Mobility rights, giving customers benefits equivalent to Software Assurance in legacy Volume Licensing.

With License Mobility rights, customers can run eligible server application workloads in shared environments and with authorized outsourcing partners. This simplifies licensing and delivers clearer customer value through the new commerce experience.

CSP perpetual licenses remain unchanged and do not gain License Mobility.

No action is required from partners or customers to activate this benefit. The updated product terms will take effect automatically on April 1, 2026.

Next Steps

  • Review the updated product terms.
  • Review the partner FAQ.
  • Update your sales scripts and customer-facing materials to reflect License Mobility rights for CSP subscriptions.
  • Understand the License Mobility eligibility distinction between subscriptions and perpetual licenses.

Secure Authentication (WSA ID), Role Segregation, COCP (EA), Cloud Scope – Guidance & Resources for LSP, SSP, AOS-G Partners

  • Date: March 24, 2026
  • Partner Types: LSP | SSP | EDA | AOS-G
  • Programs: EA | EAS | SCE | AOS-G

Microsoft has implemented Work or School Account (WSA) security requirements as part of the Secure Future Initiative (SFI) to strengthen identity protection and role management across Volume Licensing programmes. Since January 15, 2026, WSA IDs (Microsoft Entra accounts) are mandatory for specific contract roles on EA, EAS, SCE, and AOS-G agreements.

These changes coincide with the rollout of customer-initiated Change of Channel Partner (COCP), MAC role segregation, and cloud scope enforcement, creating a convergence of launches that has generated significant partner queries.

Common Issues – Partner Q&A

What is a Work or School Account (WSA), and why is it now required?

What it is: A Work or School Account (WSA) is an organisational account managed in Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory). It typically takes the form of user@company.com or user@company.onmicrosoft.com, managed by the customer's IT department.

Why it's required: As part of Microsoft's Secure Future Initiative, WSA enforcement ensures that only verified, organisation-managed credentials are used to access Volume Licensing assets and admin roles. This reduces the risk of unauthorised access from compromised personal accounts (Microsoft Accounts/MSAs) and provides a clear audit trail for role assignments.

Which roles require WSA:

  • Notices Contact (NTC): Mandatory WSA. This contact receives the VL Administrator role on the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre (MAC).

  • Online Service Manager (OSM): WSA required to receive the OSM role on MAC upon agreement activation (effective January 15, 2026).

All other legacy contact roles (Bill-to Contact, Key Viewer, License Position Viewer, Online Admin, Downloads, Software Assurance Manager) no longer receive automatic MAC roles. Customers must now assign these roles via self-serve in the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre.

Resources:

We are seeing an "Invalid WSA Account ID" error in VL Central. What does this mean?

The error “Invalid WSA Account ID” indicates that the email entered is not recognized as an active Work/School Account in the expected tenant or cloud. Common causes include:

  • Email not in Azure AD: The email address is not associated with any Azure AD account. In other words, the contact hasn’t been set up in Microsoft Entra ID.

  • Wrong cloud/tenant: The email might exist in Azure AD but in a different tenant or cloud than the one tied to the customer’s enrollment. For example, using a Commercial cloud email for a GCC High customer will fail validation (and vice versa).

  • Typo or old info: Sometimes it can be as simple as a typo in the email or using an alias instead of the user’s primary login ID.

How to resolve it:

Tip

Validate using VL Central: Partners can confirm WSA validity by going into VLC Contracts, editing or creating a package, and using the “Add Contact” -> Validate feature. Input the email and click the blue Validate Button – the system will confirm if it’s a valid WSA or not (without actually adding it to the package). This is a quick way to test if a customer-provided email will pass the requirement.

  • Validate using VL Central: Partners can confirm WSA validity by going into VLC Contracts, editing or creating a package, and using the “Add Contact” -> Validate feature. Input the email and click Validate – the system will confirm if it’s a valid WSA or not (without actually adding it). This is a quick way to test if a customer-provided email will pass the requirement.

  • If not valid – ask customer’s IT to create/confirm the account: In most cases, the fix is to have the customer’s IT admin either create a new Azure AD user for that email or provide an alternate email that is already in their tenant.

  • For example, if denverwater.org is the customer domain and “john@denverwater.org” comes up invalid, the customer’s Entra admin should ensure John has an Entra ID account (under denverwater.org tenant) with that email UPN. Once created and licensed (it can even be a free Azure AD account), that email will become a valid WSA.

  • It’s key that the account is created in the correct cloud: e.g., GCC High customers may need the contact’s identity in a GCC High tenant.

  • Double-check the cloud alignment: If the customer operates in a sovereign cloud (Government, Germany, etc.), ensure the WSA is also in that cloud environment. An account in a Commercial tenant won’t meet a GCC customer’s WSA requirement.

  • Typos and domain fixes: Make sure the email domain is exactly the one tied to the Azure AD. Sometimes customers use vanity domains; ensure the domain is registered in their tenant.

Tip

If partners or customers want an out-of-band way to confirm WSA IDs, they can ask the user to try logging in at office.com or https://admin.microsoft.com with that email: If it prompts for Work/School account and possibly accepts a password or redirects to their own organizational login, then it’s likely a WSA.
If it says “This account doesn’t exist” or goes to a Microsoft Account (Live login) screen, it’s not yet an Entra/Azure AD account.

Bottom line: Work closely with customers’ IT admins to get valid WSA emails for all required contacts before finalizing the contract. This avoids last-minute delays.

What is "cloud scope," and why does it matter for WSA validation?

What is cloud scope: Cloud scope refers to the Microsoft cloud environment where a customer or partner operates: Commercial (Public), Government Community Cloud (GCC), GCC High, or DoD.

Starting July 23, 2025, Microsoft enforced cloud scope validation at the PCN level for EA contracts. WSA accounts must exist in the same cloud environment as the customer's tenant and contract.

Why it matters: A WSA from a Commercial cloud tenant cannot be used on a GCC High contract, and vice versa. If there is a cloud scope mismatch, the system will reject the WSA as invalid even if the account itself is legitimate.

How to avoid cloud scope errors:

  • Confirm the customer's cloud environment before providing contact information.

  • For US-only customers transacting in both Commercial and US Federal/GCC/Fairfax/Gov cloud scopes: Separate PCNs are required for each cloud scope (since January 23, 2025).

  • Partners and customers accessing GCC High or DoD contracts must use WSAs from those specific cloud environments.

  • Customers can only access VL contracts on the same cloud as their Entra ID. Public/GCC users cannot access GCC High/DoD contracts, and vice versa.

Sign-in portals by cloud scope:

Resources:

My customer doesn't have a Microsoft Entra tenant or WSA accounts. What should they do?

Solution: Customers without an existing Microsoft Entra tenant can create a free tenant and provision WSA user accounts at no cost. This does not require purchasing Microsoft 365 subscriptions.

Steps for customers:

  1. Visit https://signup.microsoft.com to create a free Microsoft Entra ID tenant.
  2. Create user accounts for the individuals who will serve as Notices Contact and Online Service Manager on the Volume Licensing agreement.
  3. Provide these WSA email addresses to the partner for use in VL Central Contracts.

Alternative for customers with Microsoft 365 or Azure: If the customer already uses Microsoft 365, Microsoft 365 Admin Centre, or Azure, they already have a Microsoft Entra tenant and can use existing WSA accounts.

Resources:

What happened to the legacy contact roles (Online Admin, Key Viewer, Downloads, etc.)?

What changed: As part of the MAC role segregation initiative, the following legacy roles no longer receive automatic MAC roles when listed on VL contracts:

  • Bill-to Contact
  • Key Viewer (KEY)
  • License Position Viewer (LPV)
  • Online Admin (OLA)
  • Downloads (DLD)
  • Software Assurance Manager (SAB)

What this means:

  • Partners can no longer use these roles in VL Contracts for new, renewal, extension, or CICR (Change of Contact Information Request) packages.

  • Partners cannot view users with MAC roles in VL Central.

  • Customers must now assign all MAC roles via self-serve in the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre.

Who still gets automatic roles:

  • Notices Contact (NTC): Receives VL Administrator role (with WSA).
  • Online Service Manager (OSM): Receives OSM role (with WSA, effective January 15, 2026).

How customers assign roles: VL Administrators can assign roles to users with WSAs via the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre under Billing > Your Products > Volume Licensing > Role Assignments > Manage VL role assignments.

Resources:

How does customer-initiated COCP work, and what do I need to provide to my customer?

What changed: Since November 2025, Enterprise Agreement (EA) and Enterprise Subscription (EAS) customers can initiate Change of Channel Partner (COCP) requests directly via the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre or Azure portal. The legacy partner-initiated COCP process in eAgreements (VLCM) has been retired as of February 2026 (read-only).

What partners must provide to customers:

  1. Partner Public Customer Number (PCN): The customer needs your PCN to initiate the COCP request. You can find your PCN in any existing contract in VL Central Contracts. (The PCN you are using for your EA business and have all your Users in VLC mapped against.)

  2. Partner Notification Contact Email: Provide a verified (=contact must exist in VL Central) contact email from your organisation. This ensures you receive automatic notifications about the COCP request. If the customer enters an unverified email, you may not receive notifications* and must rely on the customer to inform you outside the system. (*but you/your team will still see all new COCP requests in VLC Contracts "Requests" tab)

How the process works:

  1. Customer initiates COCP in Microsoft 365 Admin Centre or Azure portal, providing your PCN and notification contact.

  2. You (the new partner) receive a notification and must accept or decline the request in VL Central Contracts under Requests > My customer requests within 10 days.

  3. Once you accept, the customer is notified of the effective date.

Resources:

My customer is experiencing delays in processing due to WSA or cloud scope errors. How can I escalate?

Proactive steps to avoid delays:

  1. Validate WSA before submission: Use the "Validate WSA" feature in VL Central Contracts before submitting packages.

  2. Confirm cloud scope alignment with the customer before providing contact information.

  3. Educate customers early: Share the resources in this post (see "Resources for Customers" section below) as soon as you begin the contracting process.

If an error occurs:

For processing holds or case escalations: Open a case in VL Central under My Cases & Support > +New Case. Include:

  • Agreement number or package ID

  • Screenshot of the error message

  • Confirmation that the WSA has been validated using VL Central or the Entra admin portal

  • Confirmation of cloud scope alignment

  • For urgent deals and close scenarios: Clearly indicate the deal urgency and effective date requirements in your case description. Escalate (within escalation rules) if required.

  • Do not escalate readiness or education issues (e.g., customer doesn't understand WSA) to Tier 2 or Engineering. These should be resolved using the shared guidance and resources.

Resources:

Resources for Customers

Partners can share the following resources with customers to help them understand WSA requirements and how to manage roles in the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre.

Understanding WSA and Sign-In

Creating a Microsoft Entra Tenant (for customers without Microsoft 365)

Managing Roles in Microsoft 365 Admin Centre

Initiating Change of Channel Partner (COCP)

Clarification: AOS-G Authorisation Partners and AOS-G Program

WSA Requirements Apply Equally to AOS-G

All changes related to Work or School Account (WSA) requirements and MAC role segregation apply to the AOS-G (Agreement for Online Services – Government) programme and all AOS-G authorisation partners.

Key points for AOS-G partners:

  1. WSA is mandatory for Notices Contact (NTC) and Online Service Manager (OSM) on AOS-G enrollments, just as it is for EA, EAS, and SCE programmes.

  2. Cloud scope alignment is critical: AOS-G customers operate in government cloud environments (GCC, GCC High, DoD, Azure Secret, Azure Top Secret). The WSA accounts provided must exist in the same government cloud environment as the customer's tenant and AOS-G enrollment. Cross-cloud WSAs will be rejected.

  3. Role inheritance changes: Only Notices Contact (with WSA) receives the VL Administrator role, and Online Service Manager (with WSA) receives the OSM role. All other legacy roles (Online Admin, Key Viewer, etc.) no longer receive automatic MAC roles. Customer IT admins must assign roles via self-serve in the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre (government cloud instance).

  4. Tenant setup for AOS-G customers: AOS-G customers must have a Microsoft Entra tenant in the appropriate government cloud. For Air Gap environments (Azure Secret, Azure Top Secret), specific tenant provisioning and onboarding processes apply.

  5. Processing and validation: Use the "Validate WSA" feature (see Partner Q&A above) in VL Central Contracts when submitting AOS-G enrolments and amendments to avoid processing delays.

Resources Summary

General VL Central Readiness:

WSA and Role Management:

Customer-Initiated COCP:

Support and Cases:

Understanding WSA and Signing In:

Creating a Microsoft Entra Tenant:

Managing VL Contracts and Roles:

Initiating Change of Channel Partner:

Cloud Scope and Government Cloud:

Microsoft Entra ID Documentation:

VL Central Training and Enablement:

FY26 Enterprise Partner Enablement call (March 2026) – Resources available

  • Date: 13 March 2026
  • Workspace: Volume Licensing Central – Contracts
  • Impacted audience: Partner operations teams and licensing solution providers
  • Programs: Enterprise Agreement (EA/EAS), Server & Cloud Enrolment (SCE) and other Volume Licensing programmes

The March FY26 Enterprise Partner Enablement call recording and slide deck are now available to download.
Partners can review the full recording through the Partner Operations EventBuilder portal and download the deck to learn more about the latest VL Central enhancements.

  • AI assistant in VL Central Contracts – The preview AI assistant in VLC Contracts allows partners to converse with VL Central using natural language.
    It helps quickly retrieve contract details, export key data to Excel and even create draft contract packages to reduce manual work.

    Call for feedback: Your feedback will shape upcoming AI capabilities, so be sure to check the call recording and share your ideas.

  • Custom Reports in VL Central – New custom report capabilities let you create and save tailored reports, export larger datasets and select up to 70 columns.
    These enhancements were driven by partner feedback and are available in the Reporting & Analytics workspace. Learn more in the recording.

  • Migration of all VL Programs from e‑Agreements (VLCM) to VLC – The Contracts workspace in VL Central eliminates the need to return to the legacy e‑Agreements tool. After the successful migration of EA to VLC,

    we call ALL VL PARTNERS' attention for the transition to VL Central for contract management across all remaining VL programmes. The call provides high‑level timelines for migrating the non‑EA programmes and details and we invite all LSP/SSP, Distributors, SPLAR, ISV(R)-D to

    REGISTER for our Non-EA VLC ADOPTION CALLS SERIES.

  • Customer‑initiated Change of Channel Partner (COCP) – Enterprise customers can now initiate COCP requests in the Microsoft 365 admin centre or Azure portal.
    Partners simply accept or decline the request in VL Central. The legacy COCP functionality in e‑Agreements is now read‑only. Listen to the call for practical guidance.

  • DocuSign e‑signature option – DocuSign has joined Adobe Sign as an additional e‑signature technology within VL Central Contracts.
    This offers customers greater flexibility and addresses Adobe Sign restrictions in some regions.

Call to action:

Review the call recording and slides via the EventBuilder portal to get a detailed demonstration of these features and timeline information.
Your feedback is essential – please share it through the channels mentioned during the call so we can continue to improve the VL Central experience.

Reporting & Analytics Workspace Enhancements - Custom Reports

  • Date: March 5, 2026
  • Workspace: Reporting & Analytics
  • Impacted Audience: Customers, Partners, SSP (LSP), EDA
  • Programs: Enterprise Agreement, Enterprise Agreement Subscription (EA, EAS)

We communicated that a series of fast follow enhancements would be introduced to improve the Select Plus and EA experience within the Reporting & Analytics Workspace in VLC.  

In October, we were excited to share the new Select Plus UI, enabling partners to view report data directly in the browser alongside the existing export functionality. We hope that this enhancement has delivered significant value. 

Effective March 5th, 2026, we’re now pleased to announce further improvements to enhance the EA experience.  

These include: 

  • Introduction of Custom Reports: Users are be able to independently create, customize, and save reports tailored to their needs using different reporting entities, and advanced configuration options.   
  • Faster, Flexible Report Exports: Excel export now supports larger datasets (>600K rows), reduced download times, and file renaming before exporting. Scheduled pricelist exports now allow dynamic selection of current/next month pricelists.  
  • Expanded Column Limits: Users can select up to 70 columns for custom and pricelist reports on UI, enabling comprehensive analysis.  
  • New Columns & Filters: Adjustment Reason, Coverage Length, Extended Amount, and enhanced filters (for example, reconciliation status, program name, sales location, participant types) are now available through Custom reports.   
  • Usability Updates: Addresses top partner feedback and improves flexibility. 

Note: We're introducing a clear separation between Customer PO Number, System PO, and Billing PO Numbers across Purchase Order, Invoice, and Purchase Order Line Items reports. This enhancement may result in column name changes, which could impact existing automation or integrations that rely on current column labels/values. 

For more information about the EA experience, review How to use the Reporting & Analytics workspace | Microsoft Learn 

These fast follow enhancements were selected based on partner feedback, and we’re confident they enhance the partner experience within the Reporting & Analytics workspace. We value your feedback and encourage you to keep sharing it with us. 

DocuSign E-Signature Option in VL Central - Update: General Availability March 2, 2026

  • Date: February 27, 2025
  • Workspace: Volume Licensing Central (VLC) Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: Customers, Partners, SSP (LSP), EDA
  • Programs: Enterprise Agreement, Enterprise Agreement Subscription (EA, EAS)

Effective 2nd March 2026 , Docusign will be introduced as an additional e-signature solution within VL Central (VLC), complementing the existing Adobe Sign capability. This enhancement provides customers and partners with greater flexibility in selecting their preferred signature method and is designed to improve signature velocity across agreement workflows. Users are able to seamlessly choose between Adobe Sign and Docusign while maintaining all existing security, compliance, and audit requirements across Volume Licensing programs.

Docusign integration also addresses Adobe Sign restrictions in China, ensuring uninterrupted contract execution for impacted regions. 

Resources:

AI Assistant for Contracts now in VL Central & Call for Feedback

  • Date: February 2, 2026
  • Workspace: Volume Licensing Central (VLC) – Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: Licensing Solution Provider (LSP) partners; Partner operations teams managing Enterprise Agreements
  • Programs: Enterprise Agreement (EA), Enterprise Agreement Subscription (EAS), Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE)

Note

Share Your AI Assistant Feedback and Ideas for next skills HERE!

Starting 2 February 2026, the Volume Licensing Central AI Assistant for Contracts is live for partners as a Preview feature. This AI-powered assistant in the Contracts workspace lets partners use natural language to streamline contract management tasks. It enables quick retrieval of contract details, one-click data export, and automated draft contract package creation – all within VL Central’s interface. Key capabilities in this preview include:

  • Contract inquiry: Use conversational prompts to quickly retrieve structured contract details – such as agreement information, participants, affiliate organizations, or tenant IDs – for any authorized enrolment. For example, a partner can ask “List all participants for enrolment 123456” and get the data instantly in the chat.

  • Export contract data: Instantly generate an Excel export of key contract info (participants, affiliates, tenants, etc.) for a given agreement with a single request. This makes it easy to analyse or share contract details externally.

  • Draft package creation: Automatically create a draft contract package for a renewal or new agreement using available artifacts (like a CPS proposal ID or expiring agreement number). The assistant assembles the draft in VL Central, saving time and improving consistency in contract preparation.

Note: This preview feature does not change any underlying contract workflows or policies – it’s an optional productivity tool on top of existing processes. Partners can continue to use VL Central as usual; the AI Assistant simply reduces manual effort (for example, fewer support cases to look up data, less manual drafting). Only partners with appropriate Contracts access (for example, Contract Viewer/Creator/Submitter roles in VL Central) can use the assistant, and it surfaces data for agreements the partner is authorized to view.

Action required:

  • Learn about the AI Assistant: We recommend that partners review the official documentation (see Resources below) to understand how to use these new AI Assist capabilities effectively. No mandatory process changes are required – this feature is available automatically for eligible users in VL Central.

  • Join the March partner call: Microsoft will host an Enterprise Partner Enablement call on March 10, 2026 to provide a live demonstration of the AI Assistant (Preview) and answer partner questions. Partners are encouraged to register for this call to learn best practices and ask questions (see registration link under Resources).

Resources:

If you have any questions or encounter issues with the AI Assistant, reach out via the VL Central My Cases and Support workspace.

Change of Channel Partner (COCP) – Legacy eAgreements (VLCM) Retirement for EA

  • Date: January 28, 2026
  • Workspace: Volume Licensing Central (VLC) – Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: Scaled Solution Provider (LSP) partners; Partner operations teams managing Enterprise Agreements
  • Programs: Enterprise Agreement (EA), Enterprise Agreement Subscription (EAS)

Starting end of February 2026 (after close), the Change of Channel Partner (COCP) functionality for EA programmes will be retired from the legacy Volume Licensing Contract Manager (eAgreements) tool. eAgreements will become read-only for EA COCP requests, meaning partners will no longer be able to initiate or process COCP requests for Enterprise Agreements in the old system. Going forward, all EA COCP transactions must be handled through the new self-service process in Volume Licensing Central (VL Central).

What’s changing: Since November 2025, Enterprise customers have been able to initiate COCP requests directly via the Microsoft 365 admin center or Azure portal, with partners then accepting these requests in VL Central’s Contracts workspace. This customer-initiated model is now becoming the exclusive method for EA partner changes. After February 2026, partners will not have the option to use eAgreements (VLCM) for COCP. Any in-progress COCP cases in eAgreements for EA will be viewable but cannot be modified or submitted in that tool. All new and pending EA COCP requests should be managed via VL Central.

What this means for partners:

  • COCP moves entirely to VL Central: Partners must use the VL Central Contracts workspace to handle all COCP requests for EA/EAS agreements. The legacy eAgreements interface will no longer support creating or editing COCP requests for these programmes.

  • Customer-initiated requests only: An EA customer’s admin now needs to initiate the partner change in their Microsoft admin portal. Partners can no longer initiate a COCP on behalf of a customer via eAgreements. Once the customer submits a COCP request, the new partner is notified and can accept or decline the request in VL Central. (Note: COCP requests expire if not accepted within 10 days, requiring the customer to re-initiate.)

  • No change for other programmes: This retirement applies only to Enterprise Agreement programmes. COCP processes for other volume licensing programmes (e.g. Open, Select Plus, SPLA) are unaffected and will continue under their current procedures.

Action required:

  • Inform your teams: Ensure your sales and operations teams are aware that after Feb 2026, all EA COCP changes must go through VL Central.

  • Prepare customers to initiate COCP: Proactively engage new EA customers about this change. Provide them with your organisation’s Public Customer Number (PCN) and an up-to-date partner notification contact email for COCP requests – the customer can't submit a COCP without a valid PCN, and a verified contact ensures you receive the request notification. Encourage customers to initiate any planned partner change via the Microsoft 365 admin centre or Azure portal well before the legacy tool is retired. [learn.microsoft.com]

  • Use VL Central for approvals: Make sure your partner contacts have access to the VL Central Contracts workspace and know how to review and accept incoming COCP requests. When a COCP request appears under Requests > My customer requests in VL Central, an authorized partner user should promptly accept or decline the request to avoid delays in processing.

  • Leverage available guidance: Review the resources below to familiarise your team with the new process and to assist customers with any questions.

Resources:

  • Partner guidance – Change of Channel Partner Request (COCP): Detailed partner documentation on the COCP process is available on Microsoft Learn: Change of Channel Partner Request (COCP) – Volume Licensing Central Contracts documentation. (Learn.microsoft.com) 

  • Customer guidance (Azure portal): Initiate a Change of Channel Partner (COCP) request in the Azure portal – step-by-step instructions for customers to initiate a partner change via the Azure Cost Management & Billing portal. (Learn.microsoft.com) 

  • Customer guidance (Microsoft 365 admin center): Initiate a volume licensing Change of Channel Partner request in the Microsoft 365 admin center – instructions for EA customers to start and track a COCP via the Microsoft 365 admin center. (Learn.microsoft.com)  

If you have any questions or encounter issues, please reach out via the VL Central My Cases and Support workspace.

Change in offering level selection for Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE)

  • Date: Friday 9th Jan, 2026
  • Workspace: Volume Licensing Central (VLC) Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: SSP (LSP)
  • Programs: SCE (Server Cloud Enrolment), enabling Special Pricing support and Amendments- and BEC order automation for government deals (GOV and SLG)

Starting 12 January 2026, the responsibility for adding offering levels and qualifying enrollments (QE) for SCE enrollments will shift from partners to Commercial Executives (CE) during deal creation.

For SCE-type enrollments created on or after 12 Jan 2026, responsibilities change as follows:

1. Offerings & Qualifying Enrollments (Handled by CE)

  • Offering levels and qualifying enrollments will be added by CE during the deal creation process. These details will automatically flow to the Contracts section. This process will be similar to EA/EAS programs

  • Partners do not need to add QE or offering levels.

 If offering levels or QE details appear incorrect:

  • Contact your CE to have them corrected in CPS

2. Customer Type (No Change)

  • Partners must continue to add the customer type

  • The process remains unchanged from today

3. PSF Documentation (Still Required)

  • Partners must continue to:

    • Manually enter offering levels in the PSF document

      • Upload the PSF document in the Documents section

      • The offering levels in the PSF must exactly match what appears in the Offerings section

 If there's any mismatch, reach out to your CE to correct the offering levels in CPS before proceeding

Introducing the Launch Enablement guide

  • Date: December 16, 2025
  • Workspace: Volume Licensing Central (VLC) Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: All partners
  • Programs: All

Get the latest launch updates across the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) offering and Volume Licensing (VL) in one place.

With the AI-enhanced, always-current Launch Enablement guide, you can easily access consolidated launch updates and official Microsoft Learn content to self-serve and stay informed.

The Launch Enablement guide equips you to:

  • Navigate a centralized experience: Launch updates will live in one place, replacing the monthly Partner Launch calendars and empowering you to find the right information in a single location.
  • Use AI-assisted discovery to find key information: Quickly surface what’s new, what’s changing, and who’s impacted.
  • Plan for changes with confidence: Turn updates into actions for sales, operations, and customer communications.

Next Steps:

Explore the Launch Enablement guide for the latest updates:

Integration of DocuSign as an Additional E-Signature Option in VL Central 

  • Date: December 4, 2025
  • Workspace: Volume Licensing Central (VLC) Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: Customers, Partners, SSP (LSP), EDA
  • Programs: Enterprise Agreement, Enterprise Agreement Subscription (EA, EAS)

Effective 2nd March 2026 (updated), Docusign will be introduced as an additional e-signature solution within VL Central (VLC), complementing the existing Adobe Sign capability. This enhancement provides customers and partners with greater flexibility in selecting their preferred signature method and is designed to improve signature velocity across agreement workflows. Users will be able to seamlessly choose between Adobe Sign and Docusign while maintaining all existing security, compliance, and audit requirements across Volume Licensing programs.

Docusign integration also addresses Adobe Sign restrictions in China, ensuring uninterrupted contract execution for impacted regions. 

Next Steps:

Check VLC Launch Enablement Guide | Microsoft Learn and VLC What's New | Microsoft Learn for detailed updates to follow.

Changes to MAC Volume Licensing Role Provisioning for New Contracts

  • Date: November 27, 2025
  • Workspace: Volume Licensing Central (VLC) Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: SSP (LSP), EDA
  • Programs: EA, EAS, SCE

Effective 15th January 2026, Online Service Manager (OSM) on new EA, EAS and SCE contracts will receive a Volume Licensing (VL) Online Administrator role in Microsoft 365 admin center (MAC). If a valid Work or School Account (Microsoft Entra ID) isn't provided for the OSM contact, then VL Online Administrator role in MAC is also not provided to them.

For more information on how to add WSA to a contact follow the guidance provided in Add Contact in an Agreement Package. For more details on changes to MAC VL roles, see MAC Role Segregation and Secure Authorization.

Change in offering level selection for Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE)

  • Date: November 24, 2025
  • Workspace: Volume Licensing Central (VLC) Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: SSP (LSP)
  • Programs: SCE (Server Cloud Enrolment), enabling Special Pricing support and Amendments- and BEC order automation for government deals ​(GOV and SLG),  

Starting January 12, 2026, Microsoft is updating how offering levels are selected for SCE‑type enrolments to ensure accuracy and streamline downstream processes. For SCE enrolments, partners must select only the offering level chosen by the CE when submitting the PSF. Any other selection isn't accepted going forward. Partners won't have the ability to add offering levels in the offering section of VLC Contracts.  ​

No outreach to customers is needed to set offering levels. Determining and setting the offering level will be the CE’s responsibility, which removes a step for partners and reduces rework. This change enables downstream automation, including special pricing, amendments and BEC order - reducing manual touchpoints and improving data quality.​

Next Step:

Check VLC Launch Enablement Guide | Microsoft Learn and VLC What's New | Microsoft Learn for ​detailed updates to follow.

MAC Role Segregation and Secure Authorization

  • Date: November 19, 2025
  • Workspace: Volume Licensing Central (VLC) Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: SSP (LSP), EDA
  • Programs: EA, EAS, SCE

Effective November 2025, we're updating the process for managing Volume Licensing (VL) roles on the Microsoft admin center (MAC) by retiring workflows that allowed sellers to manage MAC customer roles by making Agreement contact updates.

What to expect:

  • Work or School Account (WSA or Microsoft Entra ID) is Mandatory for Notices Contact (NTC) on a Contract. The WSA captured for NTC (or OSM) contact must always be an active WSA of the same cloud as the Organization PCN’s cloud scope.

  • Notices Contact (NTC) is provided VL Administrator role on MAC. Online Service Manager (OSM) is provided Online Service Manager role on MAC, only when a valid WSA is provided for them.

  • Bill-to Contact, Key Viewer (KEY), License Position Viewer (LPV), Online Admin (OLA), Downloads (DLD), Software Assurance Manager (SAB) agreement participants no longer receive any roles on MAC. Customer VL Administrator assigns all MAC roles to users with WSA via self-serve.

  • Partners must no longer use VL MAC customer roles (KEY, LPV, OLA, DLD and SAB) in VL Contracts for new, renew, extensions and CICR requests.

  • Partners can no longer view the VL MAC customer roles in Agreement management tools, like VL Central.

We're also enhancing the security and streamlining user management in MAC. VL administrators can only assign MAC roles to users with WSA in the same cloud as the Contract. MAC users can only access the VL contracts that are on the same cloud as your WSA. For more information, see Where to sign-in to view and manage your VL licenses.

When to expect these changes:

These changes will be effective for Customers outside United States (US) without any Non-EA/EAS contracts (like Open, Select-Plus etc) by 24th November 2025. For customers in US and remaining non-US customers with Non-EA/EAS Contracts, these changes will be effective 19th January 2026.

For more information on how to manage MAC roles follow guidance provided in Manage volume licensing user roles | Microsoft Learn

Customer-initiated Change of Channel Partner (COCP) process 

  • Date: November 15, 2025
  • Workspace: Volume Licensing Central (VLC) – Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: Enterprise Agreement (EA) / Enterprise Agreement Subscription (EAS) customers; Scaled Solution Provider (SSP) channel partners (LSP)
  • Programs: EA, EAS 

Starting November 15, 2025, Enterprise customers can initiate Change of Channel Partner (COCP) requests directly via the Microsoft 365 admin center or Azure portal, rather than having partners initiate the process. This empowers customers to kick off a partner change themselves and shifts the initiation responsibility from partners to customers. Once a customer initiates a COCP request and provides the necessary details, the nominated new partner is notified to accept or decline the request. Upon partner acceptance, Microsoft processes the change (typically within 24–48 hours), and the new partner becomes active on the agreement after a standard 90-day grace period (unless an earlier effective date is requested via a separate process). 

Details:

Scope and eligibility: The self-service COCP capability applies to Enterprise enrollments (EA and EAS) that are active and have an approved trade status.  

Customer experience: To initiate a partner change, an eligible customer admin goes to the Volume Licensing area of the portal (Microsoft 365 admin center or Azure portal) and uses the “Change partner” action on the desired contract/license ID. They must provide: 

  • The new partner’s Public Customer Number (PCN) – the customer cannot submit the request without a valid PCN. 

  • A partner notification contact email – an email for the new partner’s representative who will be notified of the COCP request. 

  • A reason for the change (e.g. unsatisfactory service, partner offboarding, other). 

Partner experience: The new partner will see incoming COCP requests in VL Central (Contracts workspace under “Requests” > “My customer requests”). An authorized partner user (with appropriate VL Central Contracts access for the given PCN) must accept or decline each request.  

Next steps & actions required 

Provide customers with your PCN and contact info: New partners should proactively share their PCN and a verified contact email with customers who might initiate a COCP. This ensures the customer enters correct information, which in turn ensures the partner promptly receives notifications. If the customer doesn’t have the correct PCN or contact, errors or notification issues can arise – so advance communication is key. 

Learn more & Customer Resources 

Partner guidance – Change of Channel Partner Request (COCP): Detailed partner documentation on the COCP process is available on Microsoft Learn: Change of Channel Partner Request (COCP) – Volume Licensing Central Contracts documentation. (Learn.microsoft.com) 

Customer guidance (Azure portal): Initiate a Change of Channel Partner (COCP) request in the Azure portal – step-by-step instructions for customers to initiate a partner change via the Azure Cost Management & Billing portal. (Learn.microsoft.com) 

Customer guidance (Microsoft 365 admin center): Initiate a volume licensing Change of Channel Partner request in the Microsoft 365 admin center – instructions for EA customers to start and track a COCP via the Microsoft 365 admin center. (Learn.microsoft.com)  

Mandatory MFA is coming to VLC

  • Date: November 04, 2025
  • Workspace: Volume Licensing Central (VLC)
  • Impacted Audience: All partners
  • Programs: All

Mandatory MFA for VLC starts January 5, 2026. Review the timeline and guidance to ensure your organization remains compliant.

At Microsoft, security and privacy are top priorities. To protect partners and their customers and tenants from identity theft and unauthorized access, multifactor authentication (MFA) will be mandatory for Volume Licensing Central (VLC) beginning January 5, 2026.

Microsoft began enforcing MFA for all Azure sign-in attempts in 2024, and this update for VLC is part of the ongoing rollout of MFA across all Microsoft platforms to align with our security policies and industry best practices. MFA strengthens account security by requiring a second verification factor, reducing the risk of credential compromise.

What to expect:

  • January 5, 2026: Users without MFA enabled can't access VLC.

  • Users previously exempted by tenant settings are redirected to Microsoft Entra ID for mandatory MFA enrollment at sign-in.

  • Users who already enabled MFA can proceed seamlessly after completing the second verification step.

  • Other applications that do not require MFA may still allow direct access; VLC enforces mandatory MFA as a security measure to protect sensitive data and meet Azure platform policies.  

What you should do now:

  1. Ensure all VLC users have MFA enabled in Microsoft Entra ID.

  2. Communicate the change to your organization and any roles that require access to VLC.

  3. Validate sign-in flows ahead of January 5, 2026, to avoid disruptions.

Enforcing MFA strengthens VLC’s security posture, safeguards sensitive data, and ensures compliance with industry best practices. 

Next Step:

To enforce MFA for your tenant while logging into VLC follow this guidance provided in How to enable MFA for Volume Licensing Central | Microsoft Learn. For additional information, check the related Microsoft Learn article.

Contracts Workspace: Tax Form Automation (US, Canada, Puerto Rico)

  • Date: October 23, 2025
  • Workspace: Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: Licensing Solution Partners (LSP) SSP
  • Programs: Enterprise Agreement (Enterprise Enrollment, Enterprise Subscription Enrollment, Server and Cloud Enrollment)

Effective November 17, 2025, Tax Form automation for US, Canada, Puerto Rico will be available in VLC Contracts.

The Tax Form that is mandatory for United States, Puerto Rico and Canada is going to be part of the VL Central package by default. It is not necessary to download and fill it separately for EA, EAS and SCE contract packages.

Action Required

Review the documentation on the VL Central Hub on learn.microsoft.com: Manage Tax Information

Get familiar with the new functinality to include customer tax information on the automated form. The automated tax form meets all tax requirements for the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada, there is no requirement to upload any other tax form – simply edit the customer information in the VLC Additional Information section and submit the package with the system generated tax form.

Volume Licensing Central (VLC) November 1, 2025 price list preview errors have been resolved

  • Date: October 15, 2025
  • Workspace: Pricing
  • Impacted audience: Licensing Solution Partners (LSP)
  • Programs: Enterprise Agreement (Enterprise Enrollment, Enterprise Subscription Enrollment, and Server and Cloud Enrollment), Online Services Premium Agreement (OSPA), and the Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (MPSA) 

On August 12, 2025, Microsoft announced changes to price levels in volume licensing agreements (EA, MPSA, and OSPA). These changes will go into effect November 1, 2025.

On October 1, 2025, Microsoft released the VL Central price list preview, to give partners advance insight of the November 1, 2025, pricing changes. There were discrepancies in the price list preview information. We notified partners of the discrepancies.

Microsoft has now corrected all discrepancies in the VLC price list preview released on October 1, 2025.

Action required

Partners should select “November 2025” in the date filter when downloading the VLC price list, to see the list of SKU prices that will go live for all Online Services product customer price levels, effective November 1, 2025. 

Partners can also use the “End Date” column to identify current SKU pricing that will end as of November 1, 2025.

Now Effective (October 15): New EA Deal Pre-Validation Criteria

  • Date: October 13, 2025
  • Workspace: VLC Contracts, VLC My Cases & Support
  • Impacted Audience: SSP (LSP), EDA
  • Program(s): EA, EAS, SCE

As previously announced in the Partner Launch Calendar and VLC Hub What's New here on Learn.ms, the updated Pre-Validaton (PV) intake criteria to focus on complex, high-value deals (more than $500K) during peak periods, are now in effect. Starting October 15, 2025, the PV team will adjust how submissions are handled in the first vs. second half of each month:

Time Period (Monthly) - Pre-Validation Service Handling

  • Days 1–15 (First Half)
    Standard operating model. All EA deals are reviewed on a first-in, first-out basis (FIFO), as usual.
  • Days 16–Month End (Second Half)
    EA deals under $500K with low complexity (standard 3-year term with no or only one standard amendment) will only be accepted for PV review on a best effort basis, to ensure PV capacity for larger or more complex deals that need extra scrutiny.
  • Exceptions
    If after mid-month you have a sub-$500K deal that you strongly feel would benefit from PV (e.g. a strategic customer deal or a less-experienced CE/partner on the account), please work with your Microsoft Contracting Executive (CE) to have your Operations Deal Manager (ODM) request a PV exception.

Reporting & Analytics Workspace Select Plus UI

  • Date: October 6th 2025
  • Workspace: Reporting & Analytics
  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA - DISTI - SPLAR - ISV(R)-DISTI
  • Program: EA/EAS - CASA/EES - OV/OVS - SPLA - ISV(R) - HVMS - Select - Select Plus

Over the past few months, we’ve shared that a series of fast follows would be introduced to improve the Select Plus and EA experience within the Reporting & Analytics Workspace in VLC. We are pleased to announce that the first of these improvements is now live.

Effective October 6, 2025, Partners using Select Plus program reports will benefit from a new UI-based preview experience. This enhancement will allow partners to view report data directly in the browser, in addition to the existing export functionality.

Key benefits of this feature include: 

  • UI-based data grid for supported Select Plus reports  
  • Ability to apply filters as available in exports  
  • Ability to copy certain rows with a single click from grid  
  • Option to rename exported files  
  • Ability to schedule exports  

For more information about the Select Plus experience, review Open License and Select Plus Programs | Microsoft Learn. 

These fast follow enhancements were selected based on partner feedback, and we’re confident they will enhance the partner experience within the Reporting & Analytics workspace. 

We value your feedback and encourage you to keep sharing it with us. 

Volume Licensing Central (VLC) November 1, 2025 price list preview correction to be published soon

  • Date: October 3, 2025
  • Workspace: Reporting & Analytics - Price Lists
  • Impacted audience: Licensing Solution Partners (LSP), SSP, EDA
  • Programs: Enterprise Agreement (Enterprise Enrollment, Enterprise Subscription Enrollment, and Server and Cloud Enrollment), Online Services Premium Agreement (OSPA), and the Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (MPSA)

Microsoft has identified discrepancies in the VLC price list preview released on October 1, 2025. We are working to resolve these discrepancies and will notify you when the corrected version has been republished. Note: this price list preview issue does not change the planned pricing updates effective November 1, 2025.

Action required

  • Partners who may have downloaded the October 1 price list preview information should not use that information in pricing conversations with customers, as the information is incorrect.

  • Watch for an announcement soon regarding publication of the corrected VLC price list preview. Volume Licensing Central (VLC) November 1, 2025 price list preview correction to be published soon

New EA Deal Pre-Validation Criteria (Effective Oct 15, 2025)

  • Date: September 16, 2025
  • Workspace: VLC Contracts, VLC My Cases & Support
  • Impacted Audience: SSP (LSP), EDA
  • Program(s): EA, EAS, SCE

Over the past months, we reviewed the effectiveness of the EA Pre-Validation (PV) service for new and renewal deals. Our analysis found that nearly 40% of deals sent for PV were already correctly constructed and required no changes. We also observed that many issues causing processing delays – such as missing signatures or outstanding compliance checks – **occur outside of PV’s control (often not available to fix at PV stage). In some cases, PV flagged issues but they were not addressed by the time of submission.

To address this and better focus resources where they add the most value, we are updating the PV intake criteria to concentrate on more complex, high-value deals (above $500K) during peak periods. Starting October 15, 2025, the PV team will adjust how submissions are handled in the first vs. second half of each month:

Time Period (Monthly) - Pre-Validation Service Handling

  • Days 1–15 (First Half)
    Standard operating model. All EA deals are reviewed on a first-in, first-out basis (FIFO), as usual.
  • Days 16–Month End (Second Half)
    Operational adjustment: EA deals under $500K with low complexity (standard 3-year term with no or only one standard amendment) will not be accepted for PV review. This ensures PV capacity is reserved for larger or more complex deals that need extra scrutiny.
  • Exceptions
    If after mid-month you have a sub-$500K deal that you strongly feel would benefit from PV (e.g. a strategic customer deal or a less-experienced CE/partner on the account), please work with your Microsoft Contracting Executive (CE) to have your Operations Deal Manager (ODM) request a PV exception.

What this means for you: In practical terms, plan to leverage the PV service for your high-value or complex EA deals early in the month, and be aware that simpler deals submitted late in the month may bypass PV. For deals below the threshold in the latter half, double-check that all documents are complete and accurate (since PV review won’t occur), or engage your Microsoft contacts for an exception if special circumstances warrant it.

This change will free up PV capacity to:

  • Increase speed at peak times. With fewer low-complexity cases in the queue during end-of-month compression, the PV team can turn around reviews faster for critical deals.

  • Focus on complex, high-value deals. PV specialists will spend more time on deals that carry greater risk of errors (higher “break rates”) so that those issues are caught before submission.

  • Expand in-house document correction. The PV team will have bandwidth to fix minor document issues (partner typos or oversights) as part of the review, reducing your administrative effort and improving deal velocity and quality.

Key Benefits of Using PV: Even with these adjustments, the core purpose and benefits of the Pre-Validation service remain the same for eligible deals:

  • Reduced risk of re-signature. PV catches errors before the customer signs, lowering the chance that you or the customer will need to re-sign corrected documents.

  • More valid submissions to processing. By submitting a PV-checked package, you increase the likelihood your EA deal is accepted by the Operations Center (OSC) without issues.

  • Faster revenue processing. Deals with valid documentation sail through the revenue recognition process more quickly, shortening the overall deal cycle.

  • “Four-eye” review for accuracy. An independent second pair of eyes checks the entire document package, complementing your own quality checks.

  • Improved customer experience. Higher-quality contract documents mean a smoother signing process and fewer last-minute delays, leading to a better experience for your customers.

We appreciate your partnership and support. Together, let’s ensure that the deals sent for PV are the “right deals at the right time,” enabling us to better support you during crunch periods while improving overall deal quality and velocity.New EA Deal Pre-Validation Criteria (Effective Oct 15, 2025)

eAgreements Retirement for Enterprise Agreements (EA)

  • Date: August 20, 2025
  • Workspace: Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: SSP (LSP) EDA
  • Program(s): EA, EAS, SCE

Over the past few months, we’ve worked to enhance the performance of the VL Central Contracts Workspace, which has resulted in a better experience for partners by introducing additional capabilities released in April, May and July.

What does this mean for SSP Partners?

  • Effective 20 August 2025, EA functionality has been retired from eAgreements (VLCM).

  • eAgreements (VLCM) is Read-Only for Package Creation for the EA Program

Avoid disapointment and unproductive Time:

  • Partners cannot CREATE EA/EAS/SCE New/Renew/Extension Packages

  • Partners cannot progress or edit existing draft Packages. (but they are all visible in VLC Contracts)

  • Use VL Central Contracts Workspace for the creation, management, and submission of all EA deal packages.

eAgreements will remain available for all other Volume Licensing programs. Further details on non-EA capabilities in VLC will be shared in the coming months.

Continue to use the readiness material (Contracts workspace overview | Microsoft Learn) to learn about the functionalities that the Contracts workspace offers. For any issues, create a case through the My Cases and Support workspace within VLC. (How to create a case | Microsoft Learn)

Change to volume licensing agreement price levels coming November 2025

  • Date: August 13, 2025
  • Workspace: Deals, Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: SSP (LSP)
  • Program(s): Enterprise Agreement (Enterprise Enrollment, Enterprise Subscription Enrollment, and Server and Cloud Enrollment), Online Services Premium Agreement (OSPA), and the Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (MPSA)

Content: Beginning November 1, 2025, Microsoft will take the next step in standardizing its pricing approach for Online Services purchased through volume licensing programs. This update builds on the consistent pricing model already in place for services like Azure and reflects our ongoing commitment to greater transparency and alignment across all purchasing channels. The information below is intended to help customers understand how this change may affect their organization and what steps they can take to prepare ahead of implementation.

What's changing? Microsoft will expand the set of products that have a single consistent price across Price Levels A-D to include all online services, for the following agreements: 

  • Enterprise Agreement (EA) 
  • Including Online Services Premium Agreement (OSPA) unique to China 
  • Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (MPSA) 

This new pricing will align with the pricing published on Microsoft.com. 

When will it take effect?

The change applies at the customer’s next renewal or when a customer purchases new Online Services not already listed on their Customer Price Sheet, starting November 1, 2025. 

What's not changing?

  • There are no changes to on-premises software pricing. 
  • U.S. Government and worldwide Education price lists are excluded. 

How partners can prepare for this change  

  • Direct your EA, MPSA and OSPA customers to the news update Microsoft has published to inform customers of this change.  

Attend the Microsoft Business Operations Community Q&A Call for Enterprise Partners in September 2025 to learn more about this change. Register via the EventBuilder Global Enterprise Listing Page.  

This change reduces licensing complexity, enabling partners to invest less time evaluating Microsoft pricing and programs and more time working with customers on their business needs. With simplified and standardized prices, partners can shift their focus to delivering unique services that will propel their customers’ growth. 

Contracts Workspace: Final EA Capabilities, eAgreements Retirement (EA)

  • Date: July 24, 2025
  • Workspace: Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: SSP (LSP) EDA
  • Program(s): EA, EAS, SCE

The final batch of capabilities and enhancements to the VL Central Contracts workspace is released to all SSP Partners between July 21. and 23. 2025. Following the April- and May-releases, ALL partner requests related to VLC Contracts EA Package Management, automation and Deal workflow are now addressed.

All SSP Partners are asked to support VL Central Contracts and the retirement of VLCM:

  • Confirm that VLC Contracts is ready to replace eAgreements by August 20, 2025

  • From July 24, use VLC Contracts for creation, management and submission of all EA deal packages

Readiness

  • 2 dedicated Adoption Calls on July 24 (Asia/EMEA + EMEA/Americas Time Zones) >Register<

Supporting July Close

  • 2 daily Q&A Calls on July 28, 29, 30, 31   >Register<

Capabilities:

  • Avoid incorrect trade holds by improved affiliate data management: This feature blocks package submission if the affiliate organization is on trade hold, ensuring compliance and preventing errors.

  • Enable commercial level D pricing as a substitute for government pricing: This prevents mismatches between the quote and contract definitions, ensuring consistency in pricing.

  • Enable editing of public customer number (PCN) contact details: This allows for the editing of PCN contact details, providing flexibility and accuracy in customer information management.

  • Enable late renewals aligned with Regional Operations Center (ROC) empowerment: This allows for late renewals in VL Central for up to 365 days, aligned with policy, providing more flexibility in renewal processes.

  • Enable short form extensions regardless of the channel price sheet (CPS) or quote configuration of the renewal quote: This feature allows partners to control the renewal or extension package type, offering more customization options.

  • Avoid mismatch of CPS customer name and PCN: This prevents name override edits in the quote (Deals workspace), ensuring consistency and accuracy in customer information.

  • Multi-language support in PKG documents (VLCM parity): This enables localized packages with mixed language requirements. For example, in Japan, you can generate an English CPS, a Japanese product selection form (PSF), and a Japanese discount transparency disclosure form (DTDF).

  • Prevent seller (CE) from using unauthorized partner PCN: This addresses issues related to unsupported partner and customer combinations, ensuring compliance and accuracy.

  • Successful PKG updates for any (most) complex CPS or quote changes (no loss of package work): This addresses failures in renewal CPS linkage with the package due to prior enrolment not being set in the CPS, ensuring smooth updates.

  • VL Central accepting PKGs with DCOE offline edits: This allows for channel model offline modifications in CPS against territory policy, providing more flexibility in package acceptance.

  • Support for protection on Office and PDF files (confidentiality labels): This prevents document-related errors during submission for signature, ensuring document security and compliance.

  • Support for state and local government contracts (US): This addresses issues when Form W29 is missed under state or local contract types, ensuring compliance with government contract requirements.

  • Customer-ready representation of Multi-Tenant Information: Proper rendering of tenant information in combined contract document generated for the electronic signing ceremony.

  • Enable Master reference in parallel PKG: Facilitate second (multiple) Package (PKG) to utilize master agreement number from related draft PKG prepared for a combined signing.

  • Enable EAS with future billings CPS: Facilitate package creation from EAS CPS specifying future billings with required Multi-tenant PO numbers management.

Enterprise Agreement Update 2025 & Corresponding VL Central Contracts Update

  • Date: July 22, 2025

  • Workspace: Deals, Contracts

  • Impacted Audience: SSP (LSP) EDA

  • Program(s): EA, EAS, SCE

Effective August 20, 2025, the document stack for Enterprise Agreement will be updated.
To achieve agreement consistency and ease of doing business across enrolments and segments and to mitigate legal risks when the EA lacks trade clause that Microsoft can enforce against customer non-compliance and ​EA customers change affiliates enrolment without timely trade screening.

Document Templates will be updated in the VL Central Contracts Workspace
Download Packets will be updated in VL Central Documents & Templates
The date and document numbers will be updated on templates in all locales.
All templates will be version 2026.1

A standard grace period will be available for contracts and forms in process prior to the changes. The current version can be created within 30 days following the launch. The current version can be submitted within 90 days following the launch of the new program version.

  • Creation end date: September 19, 2025 – 2024.1 versions removed from VL Central
  • Submission end date:  November 18, 2025 – 2024.1 versions in draft state rejected

Impacted Enterprise Agreement Documents

  • Enterprise Agreement (including GP and US SLG)
  • Enterprise Agreement Enrolments (Direct, Indirect, Sub, GP, US SLG)
  • Purchase Agreement
  • Qualifying Government Entity Addendum
  • Supplemental Contact Information Form

Key Changes

  • Change on affiliate selection: Added option to include all affiliates
  • New Regional Trade Compliance Supplemental Terms document

Additional Changes

  • Removing references to Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC), including updating outdated hyperlinks

  • Changes to Subscription License reduction sections in enrollments

  • Changes to true-up/annual order section in enrollments

  • Changes to renewal option section in enrollments

  • Addition of DPA in the list of included documents and order of precedence in enrollments and agreements

  • New definition Material Adverse Changes added to EA agreement

  • Change in terminology from Master Agreement to Primary Agreement in EA Agreement, enrollments, and purchase agreements.

  • New Government Procurement Rules section in Qualifying Government Entity Addendum

VL Central Contracts Workspace: Updated UI to facilitate the changes in EA Affiliate Options:
New Affiliates selection in EA packages:

  • Enrolled Affiliate only
  • All Affiliates
  • Enrolled Affiliate and the following specified Affiliates only

The VLC Contracts Tool Readiness will be updated in the Contracts Workspace Chapter of the VL Central documentation on Microsoft Learn

Readiness
For the full readiness deck with from/to contract language updates please check

Reporting & Analytics Workspace April 1 updates

  • Date: April 1st 2025
  • Workspace: Reporting & Analytics
  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA - DISTI - SPLAR - ISV(R)-DISTI
  • Program: EA/EAS - CASA/EES - OV/OVS - SPLA - ISV(R) - HVMS - Select - Select Plus

We're committed to creating the best experience for our partners, ensuring business continuity and a smooth transition for all users. Your feedback is crucial to us.

Open and Select Plus - Export to Excel experience

While transitioning the reporting and analytics experience from explore.ms to VL Central for the Open and Select Plus program, the user interface was removed and in place a robust export-based experience was created. This decision was based on evaluating usage patterns of Open and Select Plus reports on explore.ms and identifying the need for users to fully customize report parameters and filters. It was ensured that the new Excel-based experience on VL Central reporting and analytics is superior to the previous experience on explore.ms, with reduced download time variations.

Select Plus bulk enhancement

We appreciate your feedback regarding the Select Plus experience in the Reporting & Analytics workspace. As a result, we will implement a new enhancement that enable users to download all data for a specific time period. The enhancement will go live April 15th. This improvement will allow partners to export excel reports for multiple agreements removing the need to select a single agreement number, Primary Public Customer Number or Primary Customer Name.

Select Plus retirement

With the introduction of the bulk enhancement, we will begin retiring the Select Plus reports from Explore.ms in a phased approach:

April 30th - May 3rd, 2025

  • Partner organizations with <=5 users each

May 13th, 2025

  • Partner organizations with 5-100 users

Ensure that you continue using the Reporting & Analytics workspace for all your reporting needs and prepare for the retirements of Select Plus reports from Explore.ms.

We value your feedback and encourage you to keep sharing it with us.

Contracts Workspace February 17 updates

  • Date: February 17, 2025
  • Workspace: Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA
  • Program: EA/EAS

Microsoft has launched on demand package creation with and without CPS for partners for new, renewal and extension type packages. The change enables the partners to create and send packages for signature to customer.

  • Partners can create packages with or without CPS for all EA deals in VLCentral.

  • The change automatically links documents such as CPS, PSF, DTDF and Amendments from quotes without any partner intervention.

  • All packages created in VLCM will be synced from the legacy VLCM tool and will be visible in VLC Contracts.

  • VL Central Contracts Workspace will be offline for maintenance for a part of February 21, 2025.

Reporting & Analytics Workspace February 13 updates

  • Date: February 13, 2025
  • Workspace: Reporting & Analytics
  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA - DISTI - SPLAR - ISV(R)-DISTI
  • Program: EA/EAS - CASA/EES - OV/OVS - SPLA - ISV(R) - HVMS - Select - Select Plus

Over the past few months, we have focused to improve the tool's performance which has resulted in a better experience for partners by introducing an additional 21 features to the VLC Reporting & Analytics (R&A) workspace and resolving 63 bugs. EA and Open reports retirement from Explore.ms will be completed in a phased approach beginning on 17th February, 2025 through to 7th April, 2025.

Partner flighting

Review the following dates and determine which flighting your organization will be in.

February 17th, 2025

  • EA Reports retirement from Explore.ms- Partner organizations with <=5 users each

April 7th, 2025

  • EA Reports retirement from Explore.ms- Partner organizations with 5-100 users
  • Open Reports retirement from Explore.ms- Partner organizations with 1-100 users

Ensure that you continue using the Reporting & Analytics workspace for all your reporting needs and prepare for the retirements of EA and Open reports from Explore.ms. Continue to use the readiness material (Overview of Reporting & Analytics | Microsoft Learn ) to learn about the functionalities that the Reporting & Analytics workspace offers.

We value your feedback and encourage you to keep sharing it with us.

Reporting & Analytics Workspace January 9 updates

  • Date: January 9, 2025
  • Workspace: Reporting & Analytics
  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA - DISTI - SPLAR - ISV(R)-DISTI
  • Program: EA/EAS - CASA/EES - OV/OVS - SPLA - ISV(R) - HVMS - Select - Select Plus

As we strive to improve the tool's performance in the Reporting & Analytics workspace, we postpone the retirements of EA and Open reports to February 2025. The retirements of Select Plus reports have been postponed with no date of retirement confirmed at this point. We appreciate your partnership in building this platform.

Please ensure that you continue using the Reporting & Analytics workspace for all your reporting needs and prepare for the retirements of EA reports from Explore.ms. We value your feedback and encourage you to keep sharing it with us.

We post all updates to the Latest News page.

Bug fixes:

  • VL Central Showing Incorrect Master Agreement End Dates.
  • Future billing records getting removed from SOLI.
  • Future billing considering past dates in anytime filter.
  • Unable to select time before current time for next day.
  • Purchase code to Purchase period changed.
  • Wrong value Subscription UTD Elected in Future Billings Excel export.
  • Excel download should be sorted with date column for POLI & SOLI report.
  • Column discrepancy for Custom PO Details Report.
  • Agreement Heading transformer bug.

VL Central Deals Workspace Maintenance January 18 - Completing Partner Quoting Transition

  • Date: January 18, 2025
  • Workspace: Deals
  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA
  • Program: EA/EAS

Microsoft launched the Deals Workspace on VL Central on November 15, 2024. On January 18, 2025 the transition of partner quoting to VLC Deals will be complete and the legacy Partner Quote tool will become read-only.

  • All finalized Quotes will be synced from the legacy Partner Quotes tool and will be visible in VLC Deals.
  • In addition, all in-progress quotes of the Fiscal Year 2025 (drafted since July 1, 2024) will be synced to VLC Deals.
  • This sync will require a maintenance window on Saturday, January 18, 2025.
  • VL Central Deals Workspace will be offline for maintenance for a part of January 18, 2025.

New Disaster Recovery Plan and Backup URL for Service Continuity in VL Central

  • Date: December 03, 2024
  • Workspace: All Workspaces
  • Impacted Audience: All Partner Types
  • Program: All Programs

As part of our commitment to ensuring uninterrupted service, a new disaster recovery plan now includes a backup URL to be used in an outage. Bookmark the URLs and access VL Central using these URLs:

How to identify an outage
There can be an outage if you encounter any of the following issues while accessing the Portal using https://aka.ms/vlcentral:

  • Page not found error
  • Service not available error
  • Error displaying your content
  • Blank screen

What to Do in case of an outage

  • Switch to the Backup URL: https://aka.ms/vlcentralDR

  • Contact Support: If you continue to experience issues, log a Support Case via My Cases & Support, or, by email to the established, regional alternative Customer Care aliases: for LATAM/NA: selquest@microsoft.com, for EMEA: mscosup@microsoft.com, for APAC: aplquest@microsoft.com

Reporting & Analytics Workspace November 29 updates

  • Date: November 29, 2024
  • Workspace: Reporting & Analytics
  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA - DISTI - SPLAR - ISV(R)-DISTI
  • Program: EA/EAS - CASA/EES - OV/OVS - SPLA - ISV(R) - HVMS - Select - Select Plus

We're committed to creating the best experience for our partners, ensuring business continuity and a smooth transition for all users. Your feedback is crucial to us, and we're working diligently to enhance the tool's stability and address any issues that arise. As we strive to improve the tool's performance in the Reporting & Analytics workspace, we postpone the retirements of EA, Select Plus, and Open reports to January 2025. We appreciate your partnership in building this platform.

Please ensure that you continue using the Reporting & Analytics workspace for all your reporting needs and prepare for the retirements of EA reports from Explore.ms in January. We value your feedback and encourage you to keep sharing it with us.

We post all updates to the Latest News page.

New features launched:

  • The extension of row limits from 200k to 600k for the following reports: Invoices, Agreements
  • Open Value & Select Reports reports are all available in the Reporting & Analytics workspace through export to excel capability.

Bug fixes:

  • Business agreement number data mismatch between VLC and Explore.
  • Mismatch in Invoice data (compared to explore.ms) for invoices having both credit and rebill transactions.

Reporting & Analytics Workspace November 7 updates

  • Date: November 7, 2024
  • Workspace: Reporting & Analytics
  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA - DISTI - SPLAR - ISV(R)-DISTI
  • Program: EA/EAS - CASA/EES - OV/OVS - SPLA - ISV(R) - HVMS - Select - Select Plus

We're working to improve the tools performance in the Reporting & Analytics workspace, and move the retirement phase to start the week first of November. We post all updates to the Latest News page.

New features launched:

  • The extension of row limits from 200k to 600k for the following reports: Special Pricing, Licenses
  • Open Value reports are now all available in the Reporting & Analytics workspace through export to excel capability.
  • 600k line truncation message.

Reporting & Analytics Workspace October 25 updates

  • Date: October 25, 2024
  • Workspace: Reporting & Analytics
  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA - DISTI - SPLAR - ISV(R)-DISTI
  • Program: EA/EAS - CASA/EES - OV/OVS - SPLA - ISV(R) - HVMS - Select - Select Plus

We're working to improve the tools performance in the Reporting & Analytics workspace, and move the retirement phase to start the week first of November. We post all updates to the Latest News page.

New features launched:

  • The extension of row limits from 200k to 600k for the following reports: Price list
  • Select Plus reports are available in the Reporting & Analytics workspace through export to excel capability.
  • Open reports are available in the Reporting & Analytics workspace through export to excel capability. The authorization list and authorization details Open reports are available. The remaining Open reports which will be available in the next release.
  • Anytime Filter added for licenses entity.
  • Content localization available in the Reporting & Analytics workspace.

Bug fixes:

  • Column order fix for Purchase order line items and sales order line items report excel download.
  • When PO filter applied UI should give both PO and System PO number.
  • Net price difference showing as Undefined in VLC - Price list Columns Disparity.
  • Price list type column data shifting.
  • Data filters not working for Agreement Financial Reporting.
  • Future billing records are missing from SOLI table.

Reporting & Analytics Workspace October 9 updates

  • Date: October 9, 2024
  • Workspace: Reporting & Analytics
  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA - DISTI - SPLAR - ISV(R)-DISTI
  • Program: EA/EAS - CASA/EES - OV/OVS - SPLA - ISV(R) - HVMS - Select - Select Plus

The Enterprise agreement reports retirement date from Explore.ms is delayed from October 1, 2024.

The retirement will be completed in a phased approach for EA reports beginning on October 24, 2024, through to November 4, 2024. Ensure that you're prepared for explore.ms enterprise agreements to be retired on October 24, 2024, and that you're using the Reporting and Analytics workspace on Volume Licensing Central for all of your reporting needs. Continue to use the readiness material to learn about the functionalities that the Reporting & Analytics workspace offers: Overview of Reporting & Analytics | Microsoft Learn. 

New features launched:

  • The extension of row limits from 200k to 600k for the following reports: Invoice line items, Purchase line items, Special Pricing, Price List
  • Anytime Filter added to SOLI on master agreement number
  • New report: My Views - Benefits
  • New report: Online Consumption and Online Subscription New Entity

Bug fixes:

  • Discrepancy in License Information in Deal book Export.
  • Related enrolments field cutting off full names.
  • License report is breaking for external user with query time-out issue.
  • Filter issue with Saved View-report.
  • Content Management-Display End date column not present under Show/Hide.
  • Invoice rows count mismatch in UI and export to excel.
  • Invoice amount visibility auth rule missing in VLC.
  • Master agreement number and purchase order type is showing null values in License Export.
  • My saved reports created before 7-22 aren't populating.
  • OV/OVS/OLSET Documents not available at VLC.
  • Messages view in R&A-Message not being sent to correct recipients.
  • Used/Protected Price columns do not populate on the exported file-POLI.
  • Discrepancy Between POLI UI versus Export to Excel and License Issue.
  • Incorrect queries from UX -Price List.
  • VL Central Future Billings_ Anniversary date is blank in Excel report.
  • Export Data- Time-out Issue POLI Expanded View.
  • Invoice Amount displaying incorrect value under Financial Reporting.
  • VL Central Invoices_ Discrepancy in System PO Number in UI and Expanded View Excel report.
  • Localized headers for Scheduled reports export.
  • Future billing records are missing from SOLI table.
  • Users can't open saved view for future billings report in VLC and receive an error message.
  • Filter reset not updating default filters.
  • UI and export to excel discrepancy while adding anytime filter with suggested filter.
  • Reporting and Analytics Excel export missing data that was present in the tool view.
  • Older saved views not opening up. 

Reporting & Analytics Workspace September updates

  • Date: September 4 2024
  • Workspace: Reporting & Analytics
  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA - DISTI - SPLAR - ISV(R)-DISTI
  • Program: EA/EAS - CASA/EES - OV/OVS - SPLA - ISV(R) - HVMS - Select - Select Plus

As part of our continuous tool improvement for VLC Reporting & Analytics, these new features and bug fixes are now available.

New features launched:

  • Volume licensing keys added to agreements report. The Volume Licensing Keys report allows partners to view the product keys for all products purchased under an agreement. This report can be found under My Views. 
  • New filter. License Agreement Type filter added to My views- Invoice line items. 
  • New filter. Product Type filter added to My views- Invoice line items. 

Bugs fixed:

  • Column headers in export aren't visible in Localized language.
  • Difference in column header names for expanded and default report download for all reports.
  • Sorting function is working one way (descending) for columns in Financial reporting-Billing schedule.
  • Export button to be disabled on grid search.
  • Incorrect sorting for incidents in Agreement overview with CreatedDate & ClosedDate columns.
  • Unable to search in product family dropdown in products report.

Reporting & Analytics Workspace August updates

  • Date: August 15, 2024
  • Workspace: Reporting & Analytics
  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA - DISTI - SPLAR - ISV(R)-DISTI
  • Program: EA/EAS - CASA/EES - OV/OVS - SPLA - ISV(R) - HVMS - Select - Select Plus

As part of our continuous tool improvement for VLC Reporting & Analytics, these new features and bug fixes are now available.

New features launched:

  • Ability to schedule reports for more than 20 columns in My views. Users are now able to schedule downloads for more than 20 columns by selecting the columns through the show/hide columns pane and clicking on Schedule button to set the schedule.
  • Truncation message for Downloaded reports. In case the downloaded report exceeds the 200k row limit, a message on the Downloads indicates that the report was truncated.
  • Agreement Subscription Details. Details of subscriptions in an Agreement are now available within the Agreement page under License information tab. Parent subscription can be expanded to show line items under the subscription 
  • Channel Type. Agreement summary section now has a field for Channel type, which specifies the channel used for the agreement, for example Direct to reseller

Bugs fixed:

  • External User-purchase order line items-quantity column is blank
  • External User-My view-message Report-error screen coming.
  • Invoice Number and Amount Becoming 0 along with other UI inconsistency upon adding Master Agreement Number Column in Invoice view.
  • Agreement Summary-Dealbook(Export to Excel)--Item Name column isn't present for Special Pricing.
  • Sorting function is working one way (descending) for few columns-Agreement overview Financial reporting PO.
  • License report is breaking for external user with query time-out issue.
  • POLI report no longer exports in VLCentral when choosing all columns.
  • Agreements Summary view more function not working properly.
  • Incorrect Invoice paid status in VLC.
  • Global search Pane is case sensitive.
  • Agreement Overview - Clicking on tabs for navigating to sections isn't perfect.
  • Coverage start date is different in VLC and Explore.
  • [My views Contacts, Amendments, Customers, Reservations] - Can't expand columns to read column header.
  • No results found message isn't coming in column search.
  • Content headers in financial reporting aren't readable in the tabs.

Explore.ms EA reports retirement extension

  • Date: August 8, 2024
  • Workspace: Reporting & Analytics
  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA
  • Program: EA/EAS

In June, Microsoft announced that enterprise agreements would be retired from Explore.ms on September 1, 2024. We received feedback from partners and are happy to share some positive news with you that the date for the retirement of enterprise agreements is extended from September 1, 2024, to October 1, 2024, for all partners. 

Review the How to use the Reporting & Analytics workspace | Microsoft Learn to learn about the features available in the Reporting & Analytics workspace. 

VL Central Orders for ALL NON-EA Programs and Partner Types

  • Date: July 15, 2024

  • Workspace: Orders

  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA - DISTI - SPLAR - ISV(R)-DISTI

  • Program(s): CASA/EES - OV/OVS - SPLA - ISV(R) - HVMS - Select - Select Plus

VL Central Orders end-to-end user experience for ALL NON-EA Programs and Partner Types

Demo Video:

VL Central Contracts: EA Zero Usage/Update Statement

  • Date: July 15, 2024
  • Workspace: Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA
  • Program(s): EA/EAS

VL Central Contracts to support single- & multi-year EA Update Statement package automation

VL Central Contracts Workspace provides a new Action called Raise request on the top right of the Contracts page. This new functionality facilitates the creation and submission of an EA Update Statement to report zero-usage for EA and USGov Programs. 

  • Users can search by Enrolment number, Customer Name or PCN
  • Update Statements can be created for one, or MULTIPLE consecutive non-compliant years in one process/one package!
  • All Adobe-Sign signature types are supported as in the VL Central Contracts workflow. 

A new tab called Requests is now available on the Contracts page, alongside In-Progress and All agreements. This tab facilitates the status tracking and management of Update Statement request packages, and also COCP and CICR request packages in a future release. 

New Attribute at PCN Level

  • Date: July 19, 2024
  • Workspace: Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA
  • Program(s): EA/EAS

Introduction of a new attribute at PCN level for customer and partner Organizations transacting across multi-cloud EA enrolments

DEMO VIDEO

  • Partner Walkthrough – PCN Selection / PCN Creation
  • For full details, review the slides and recordings of the Simplifying VL Calls (April - July)

New Enhancement: License Reductions

  • Date: June 17, 2024
  • Workspace: Reporting and Analytics
  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA
  • Program(s): EA/EAS

Processed License Reductions are now fully represented in the Future Billings reporting on VLC Reporting and Analytics

New Orders Functionality available from May 2024

  • Date: May 6, 2024
  • Workspace: Orders
  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA
  • Program(s): EA/EAS

VL Central Orders: Additional-Products & Step-Ups

DEMO VIDEO Additional-Products, Step-Ups DEMO VIDEO Complete Order Functionality

  • Additional Products
  • Step-Up
  • True Up
  • Reconciliations
  • Bulk Edit
  • Multi Flag
  • Multiple PO
  • Export, PDF

New User Management Functionality

  • Date: Q3 2024

  • Workspace: Orders

  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA - DISTI - SPLAR - ISV(R)-DISTI

  • Program(s): EA/EAS - CASA/EES - OV/OVS - SPLA - ISV(R) - HVMS - Select - Select Plus

DEMO VIDEO: New Functionality available in VL Central User Management

  • User Access Self Serve
  • Global Admin Role

Support for VL Central

  • Date: February 2024

  • Workspace: Orders

  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA - DISTI - SPLAR - ISV(R)-DISTI

  • Program(s): EA/EAS - CASA/EES - OV/OVS - SPLA - ISV(R) - HVMS - Select - Select Plus

For transactional support (status, rejections, pricing, flagging, engage /w Operations):

  • ORDERS (transactional): Same as POET – log a VLC Ticket
  • CONTRACTS (transactional): Same as VLCM/eAgreements – log a VLC Ticket For tool issues: same as POET/VLCM – log a VLC (systems/tools) Ticket

VL Central Contracts Functionality

  • Date: February 2024
  • Workspace: Contracts
  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA
  • Program(s): EA/EAS

DEMO VIDEO

  • VL Central Contracts Workspace - Partner User Experience for autogenerated packages in the new Contracts Workspace

VL Central SANDBOX for all Partner Users

  • Date: Available during VL Central launches in FY24 and FY25

  • Workspace: Orders, Contracts, tbd

  • Impacted Audience: LSP/EDA - DISTI - SPLAR - ISV(R)-DISTI

  • Program(s): EA/EAS - CASA/EES - OV/OVS - SPLA - ISV(R) - HVMS - Select - Select Plus

VLC SANDBOX at: https://aka.ms/VLCsandbox Learn and test in a safe environment

  • Check the URL in your browser address bar for the rc-vlcentral... URL (release candidate) to ensure you are in the Sandbox vs. VLC production!
    With your own PSS/VLCM logins
  • ALL existing logins are provisioned! (all VLCM, all POET, all VLC)
  • To resolve login issues, also check your older credentials. If you are using a new login for VL Central (Tickets, Reporting) vs a previous VLCM or POET/PSS login, then also check your older credentials.
  • The launch team doesn't have the capacity to support individual access tickets for the Sandbox
  • Help us by checking all your credentials
  • And by using your company ADMIN user for user management support (all Users with ADMIN permission in the legacy systems also have admin roles in VLC Sandbox)
    With your own PCN‘s and customer data
  • All your company PCNs are synced to the Sandbox
  • Your login has the same PCN mappings as in VLCM/POET production. Full Orders functionality
  • No notification emails, No Invoice generation Full Contracts functionality
  • No notification emails, No contract activation, No billing
  • As the Sandbox has no live CE approvals triggering package creation, you can use existing draft packages to explore the Contracts workspace! Data cut-off date: July 2024  
  • Your Customer/Agreement/Order data was last synced into the Sandbox in July. Any newer Customer Organizations, Agreements, Enrolments, Orders, Draft Packages created since then aren't visible in the Sandbox for your learning
  • Use the available data for your learning and testing
  • A future data sync makes newer data available, but it also overwrites any test-Orders and test-Packages you created in the Sandbox Sandbox Support
  • Operations Customer Care (VLC Ticket) doesn't have access to the Sandbox
  • Don't log support tickets in VL Central My Tickets for Sandbox issues/questions
  • Use the Questions and Answers (Q&A) Opportunities at the VL Partner Community Calls and the Simplifying VL Experience Calls

Glossary

  • VL - Volume Licensing

  • EA - Enterprise Agreement

  • EAS - Enterprise Agreement Subscription

  • CASA - Campus and School Agreement

  • EES - Enrolment for Education Subscription

  • ISV(R) - Independent Software Vendor (Royalty) Program

  • SCE - Server and Cloud Enrolment

  • SPLA - Service Provider License Agreement

  • BEC - Basic Enterprise Commitment

  • SLG - State and Local Government

  • HVMS - High Volume Messaging Service

  • USGov - US Government (Enterprise) Program

  • LSP - Licensing Solution Provider (indirect Channel Partner)

  • EDA - Enterprise Direct Advisor (direct Channel Partner)

  • DISTI - Distributor (indirect Channel Partner)

  • SPLAR - SPLA Reseller (indirect Channel Partner)

  • ISV(R)-D - ISV(R)-Distributor (indirect Channel Partner)

  • VLC - Volume Licensing Central

  • R&A - Reporting and Analytics

  • POLI - Purchase Order Line Item

  • PCN - Public Customer Number

  • SOLI - Sales Order Line Item

  • OV - Open Value

  • OVS - Open Value Subscription

  • OLSET - Online Services Extended Term (Option Form)

  • PCN - Public Customer Number (used for customer and partner organizations)

  • COCP - Change Of Channel Partner

  • CICR - Contact Information Change Request

  • VLCM - Volume Licensing Contract Management (eAgreements)

  • CE - Commercial Executive (Licensing Specialist)

  • UI - User Interface

  • UX - User Experience

  • WSA - Work or School Account

  • Q&A - Questions and Answers

  • Last updated on