Support for Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365 apps
Support is available in markets where Microsoft Power Platform or Dynamics 365 services are offered. Some specific services might not be covered in all regions immediately after general availability (GA).
About support
For which languages does Microsoft provide support?
Microsoft provides support in English globally and in additional languages (Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese) within certain regions.
| English * | Japanese ** | Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese ** | Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese ** |
|---|---|---|---|
| Provided globally all day, every day | Available to customers in Japan region during that region's business hours | Available to customers in Europe/Middle East/Africa regions during those regions' business hours Spanish/Portuguese available to customers in South America during that region's business hours |
Available to customers in Asia/Pacific region during that region's business hours |
* Around the clock (all day, every day) support is available based on issue severity and your support offering.
** Support in languages other than English may be available during local business hours subject to availability.
Note
Translation services might be available to assist with additional languages outside normal business hours.
Do I get around the clock support?
- Microsoft provides all day, every day support in English for all Severity A issues and might provide all day, every day assistance for issues of other severity based on your support offering.
- For those issues that don't qualify for all day, every day support, Microsoft provides assistance during local business hours only.
- For finance and operations apps, support times for some features can vary by region and can differ from the following hours listed.
What hours are considered local business hours for support?
| Region/Country | Local hours | Days | Exclusions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) | 7 AM - 9 PM GMT+8 |
Monday through Friday | Weekends and holidays |
| Japan | 9 AM - 5:30 PM local time |
Monday through Friday | Weekends and holidays |
| EMEA | 8 AM to 6 PM CET (UTC +1) |
Monday through Friday | Weekends and holidays |
| North America | 6 AM - 6 PM Pacific time |
Monday through Friday | Weekends and holidays |
| All others unless stated otherwise | 9 AM - 5 PM local time |
Monday through Friday | Weekends and holidays |
Do I need a support plan if I need assistance with a technical issue?
Yes, you need a support plan to receive one-on-one technical support. Some subscriptions include support plans. You can find more information about the existing support plans at Support Plans.
Where should I go to file a support request?
The following table outlines the best way to submit a new support request based on your product or service and customer support plan. Microsoft partners should use the Partner Center portal or the support option listed in the table, as applicable.
| Product | Subscription (included) | Professional Direct | Premier Support | Unified Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dynamics 365 and Power Platform | Power Platform admin center | |||
| Dynamics 365 Business Central | Support is provided through partners only. Contact your Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) for assistance. | |||
| Software Assurance | Advantage/Advantage+ | Premier Support | Unified Support | |
| Customer Engagement (on-premises) | Support for Business | Services Hub | ||
| Dynamics 365 Finance Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management Dynamics 365 Commerce |
Lifecycle Services | |||
What support is included with a support plan?
We have designed our support plans to meet different business needs:
- All support plans provide access to technical support for break-fix issues.
- Higher tiers of support plans offer access to advisory services, and other benefits like technical support on an all day, every day basis with faster initial response times. You can find more information about the existing support plans at Support Plans.
- Customer engagement finance and operations apps, Power Apps and Power Automate are covered by the subscription, professional direct, premier, and unified support plans.
What's the difference between technical support and advisory services?
- Technical support Break-fix issues are technical problems you experience while using services. "Break-fix" is an industry term that refers to "work involved in supporting a technology when it fails in the normal course of its function, which requires intervention by a support organization to be restored to working order."
- How functionality works isn't considered a break-fix issue but is more closely related to training. These "how-to" questions - or Advisory services - involve a transfer of knowledge and can often be answered by reviewing product documentation, raising a question in online community forums, or contacting a knowledgeable individual such as a partner. While there might be some elements of knowledge transfer involved in solving a break-fix issue, in general, assisted training isn't included in support plans.
How does Professional Direct support compare to Premier/Unified support?
| Professional Direct Support | Provides a cohesive support experience with exceptional tools and resources to accommodate customer needs during all stages of the customer lifecycle. One-hour response times for critical issues, around the clock problem resolution, escalation services, proactive advisory services, and ask-the-experts webinars. |
| Premier/Unified Support | A comprehensive support solution for all Microsoft enterprise technologies, including Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Azure, and Microsoft 365 across the cloud, hybrid, and on-premises. Includes around the clock problem resolution, proactive advisory services, onsite support, and add-on services to customize your support experience. |
What is a preview (beta) service or feature?
Microsoft may provide access to Dynamics 365 apps preview, beta, or other prerelease features, services, software, or regions, to obtain feedback and for evaluation purposes. There are many different kinds of preview services and features, with service availability and program access being the biggest differentiators:
- Public Preview: Made available to subscribers through the Power Platform admin center or Lifecycle Services, these services are intended to give subscribers an early look into what is coming and a chance to test upcoming services and features.
- Private Preview: Provided only to a small subset of customers, in direct contact with the engineering teams, focused on direct and constant feedback during the development phase of a service.
- Limited Preview: A fixed and limited number of customers can have access to this preview program, and once a maximum threshold is met, no more users are allowed into the program.
When Microsoft offers you early access to Dynamics 365 apps preview services and features, these preview services and features are subject to reduced or different service terms as set forth in your service agreement and the preview supplemental terms. Preview services and features are provided "as-is," "with all faults," and "as available," and are excluded from the Service SLAs or any Limited Warranties provided by Microsoft for services released to general availability (GA), and are made available to you on the condition that you agree to these terms of use, which supplement your agreement governing use of customer engagement apps.
Do support plans cover preview (beta) services or features?
- Support for Dynamics 365 apps services and features is provided only for "generally available" programs—see the previous question. Public preview and/or beta services may be supported through our forums or other channels.
- Any technical support for a public preview service or feature is limited to break-fix scenarios and is available only in English with no around the clock support available.
Using Support
How do I contact Support?
- You get easy access to Support by selecting the portal from the following table that matches the product for which you need assistance. Microsoft partners should use the Partner Center portal or the Premier support path listed in the table, as applicable.
| Service | Support portal |
|---|---|
| Customer engagement apps and AI apps including mixed reality apps and Insights apps | Power Platform admin center |
| finance and operations apps (online and on-premises) | Lifecycle Services |
| Dynamics 365 Business Central | Support is provided through partners only. Contact your Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) for assistance. |
| Product | |
| Dynamics | Support for Business or Premier Support |
Why is submitting a request online the preferred method of contacting Support?
Submitting support requests online allows us to deliver fast and deep technical expertise in the most effective and efficient manner possible. Due to the detailed nature of the requests, it's easier to provide relevant information online, compared to reading this information over the phone. This model also eliminates unproductive hold time and provides instead a simple, intuitive online process. As a result, customer problems are routed more quickly, to the most qualified engineer.
Is there a phone number I can call to contact Support?
Contacting Support over the phone won't speed up the processing of your request, and you'll get a better and faster experience by contacting support via the correct support portals listed earlier in this article. If you can't submit a request online, you can find a local support number from our list of regional Global Customer Service Centers.
How do I submit a request for technical support or advisory services?
- Access to technical support is provided through one of the support plans included with Dynamics 365 apps or through one of the premium support plans. Submit a technical support request from the correct support portal for the product or service for which you need assistance (see the table earlier in this article). To begin the support-request submission process:
- From the Power Platform admin center, select Help + support from the left navigation pane and then New support request from the top navigation.
- From the Lifecycle Services portal, choose a project, select Support from the option list, and then select Submit an incident.
- From Support for Business, select the Dynamics 365 product family followed by the specific Dynamics 365 product or service for which you need help.
- From the Premier Portal, select New support request from the Support requests page navigation, enter your access ID and password or select your associated access ID, and proceed with your submission.
- Access to subscription management and billing support is included with your subscription. To open a Billing and Subscription Management support request, sign in to the Microsoft 365 Portal, select the Admin app, and select the Support – New Support Request option from the left navigation. This provides access to the Need Help? pane, where you can type your Subscription Management question. If the recommended articles don't address your issue, select the Contact Support link at the bottom of the Need Help? pane and provide the additional information needed to submit the support request.
How do I submit a support request if I can't sign in to the support portal for my product or service?
If you can't submit a support request online, you can find a local support phone number from our list of regional Global Customer Service Centers.
How do I get support if I don't have a subscription yet, and I get an error message while creating one?
You can open a Subscription Management support request through the Microsoft 365 Admin Portal, as long as you have a Power Platform admin sign-in credential to the portal. To open a Subscription Management support request, sign in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Portal, select the Admin app, and select the Support – New Support Request option from the left navigation. This provides access to the Need Help? pane, where you can type your Subscription Management question. If the recommended articles do not address your issue, select the Contact Support link at the bottom of the Need Help? pane, and provide the additional information needed to submit the support request.
Who can submit a support request in the Power Platform admin center?
Any users with the Power Platform admin roles on the tenant containing the subscriptions can submit a support request. End users are not enabled for opening a support request and will need to have their permissions elevated within the tenant to accomplish this task. There is no alternative to this experience.
How do I authorize another person to submit support requests for a particular subscription in the Power Platform admin center?
To grant permission, you must have a Power Platform admin role on the tenant that contains the subscription. Assign the Service Administrator role to all users who want to create and manage support requests for that given tenant but do not require other permissions. Learn more about role assignments in the portal.
I am developing applications on behalf of my client or assisting my client who is running customer engagement apps. How do I get support in the Power Platform admin center?
You can get support in two ways:
- Being an administrator of your customer's tenant, you can use or purchase a Support plan for that account, as any subscription you own under the same account is covered by the same support plan. You can also use your Partner benefits (for example, Advanced Support for Partners or Microsoft Partner Network Support) to submit a support request.
- Get support using your customer's account. To do so, the Partner (you) must have administrator or owner privileges to the customer's subscription, most often through being a Delegated Administrator on the tenant. The Partner can then use the customer's subscription, or the Partner can use their Support Benefits (for example, Advanced Support for Partners or Microsoft Partner Network Support) to submit a support request.
What is Initial Response Time, and how quickly can I expect to hear back from someone after submitting my support request?
Initial Response Time is the period from when you submit your support request to when a Microsoft Support Engineer contacts you and starts working on your support request. The Initial Response Time varies with both the support plan and the Business Impact of the request (also known as Severity). Initial Response Times are calculated using business-hours support for subscription-based support. Elevated support plans will contain non–business hours response times.
| Severity level | Customer's situation | Initial Response Time |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | Critical business impact Customer's business has significant loss or degradation of services and requires immediate attention. |
Unified Core/Advanced: < 1 hour, around the clock Unified Performance: < 30 minutes, around the clock |
| Severity A | Critical business impact Customer's business has significant loss or degradation of services and requires immediate attention. |
Subscription: < 1 hour, around the clock ProDirect: < 1 hour, around the clock Premier: < 1 hour, around the clock |
| Severity B | Moderate business impact Customer's business has moderate loss or degradation of services, but work can reasonably continue in an impaired manner. |
Subscription: < 4 hours ProDirect: < 2 hours Premier: < 2 hours, around the clock |
| Standard | Standard business impact Customer's business has moderate loss or degradation of services, but work can reasonably continue in an impaired manner. |
Unified Core: < 8 hours, around the clock Unified Advanced/Performance: < 4 hours, around the clock |
| Severity C | Minimum business impact Customer's business is functioning with minor impediments of services. |
Subscription: < 8 hours ProDirect: < 4 hours Premier: < 4 hours |
How quickly will you resolve my support request?
Microsoft is committed to assist you in resolving your issue as soon as possible. Sometimes that means focusing efforts on reducing the business impact and mitigating any negative impact to your operation, before moving to a full solution. Therefore, we make a commitment to Initial Response Time and working with you until the impact of your issue is mitigated, having no direct SLA for support request resolution. The time it takes to troubleshoot and resolve a support request varies greatly based on the specifics of the issue. We will work with you to get the issue resolved as fast as possible. This applies to all levels of support.
I'm running a non-Microsoft technology with Dynamics 365 apps or a custom application built using Open Source Software (OSS). Does my plan support it?
- Microsoft offers customers the ability to run non-Microsoft technologies along with Dynamics 365 apps. For all scenarios that are eligible for support through a Support plan, Microsoft Support will help in isolating the issue between the environment and your custom application.
- Full technical support will be provided if the issue is determined to be caused by a service or platform. Commercially reasonable support will be provided to all other scenarios. When an adequate solution to your issue is not achieved, you might be referred to other support channels that are available for the non-Microsoft software.
How do I get support during an outage or Service Interruption Event (SIE)?
- View the service health in Microsoft 365 at a glance. You can also check out more details and the service health history.
- Use Message center in Microsoft 365 to keep track of upcoming changes to features and services. We post announcements there with information that helps you plan for changes and understand how they might affect users.
- Finally, if service health and Message center do not show any active or recent service issues, contact support using your technical support plan.
Which support plan do I need in order to request a Root-Cause Analysis (RCA)?
Technical support does not conduct RCAs as part of any support experience. If any RCA is conducted, the engineering team will conduct the RCA. RCAs are only provided to published service-related incidents when multiple customers or services are not available. Any RCA created will be published through the Microsoft 365 Message center and will not be emailed directly to Power Platform admins. These published RCAs are only available in English. Any other request for an RCA to a specific scenario impacting your tenant will not be honored by the engineering team.
How is support provided for Performance issues?
Premier/Unified Support: Depending on the situation, performance issues may be handled via a normal reactive break fix support case or could require an advisory service at the discretion of the Microsoft Dynamics support team. For performance issues having impact in multiple areas of the business, an advisory service is required to investigate at a broader level. For isolated performance issues impacting a specific business function (i.e. Posting Sales Orders), these scenarios will start as a break-fix support case to troubleshoot to determine the cause. The Microsoft Dynamics support team will invest up to 4 hours of time on a break fix case to assist. If after 4 hours, we have not yet resolved the issue, an advisory case, consulting a partner or the community forums will be recommended for further investigation and the technical support incident will be closed. If at any point it is determined that the cause points to custom code, partner or ISV software, something environmental or anything else outside of core Microsoft code, the Microsoft Dynamics Support team will provide evidence that supports this in order for the Customer/Partner to proceed with further investigation and resolution of the problem.
Non-premier: Advisory services are not included in support plans outside of Premier or Unified. We recommend that you consult a partner or the community forums for additional assistance.
Does Microsoft provide support for Data Corruption?
Data may become corrupt due to a variety of reasons (malfunctioning software, custom code, partner or ISV software, power outages, etc.). Microsoft does not provide assistance for correcting damaged data. Note that per the Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA), Microsoft does not have a legal obligation to change or correct data being corrupted due to malfunctioning software. Microsoft may execute scripts provided by partners/customers in the production environment if the script was tested in the UAT environment by the partner/customer prior.
What happens if the issue can't be reproduced or has to do with customized databases?
In scenarios where a problem is not able to be reproduced in a standard non-modified Dynamics installation, the Microsoft Dynamics support team will invest best effort support up to 4 hours of time on a break fix case to assist. If after 4 hours, we have not yet identified the repro steps of an issue, consulting a partner or the community forums will be recommended for further investigation and the technical support incident will be closed.
Purchasing and billing
How do I purchase Support?
- Support plans may be purchased either online or through an Enterprise Agreement. The Professional Direct support plan is available online through the Microsoft 365 admin center. More information: Ways to contact support for business products
- If you purchase Dynamics 365 apps through an Enterprise Agreement (EA), you can add a Professional Direct support plan to your Enterprise Agreement by contacting your Large Account Reseller (LAR).
When will I be billed for Support?
When you purchase a Support plan online, you will be charged immediately for the first month. You will be charged the monthly amount on the first day of each subsequent billing cycle. Enterprise Agreement (EA) purchases will follow the agreement billing cycle.
What happens at the end of the term?
At the end of your term, your plan will automatically renew to the same Support plan, using the same payment method.
How do I change or cancel my Support plan?
Manage your support plan subscriptions through the Microsoft 365 admin center.
- To change your support plan, first cancel your existing support plan, and then purchase a new support plan.
- To cancel your support plan, select the support plan subscription that you want to cancel, and then select Cancel subscription. Learn more by reviewing this article.
If you still have questions, open a new support request with the Billing team in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Support requires commitment for the duration of the subscription term. Cancellation will not result in a prorated refund.
Can a support incident be reopened?
- If the Software and Hardware remains the same – example product build number, no new security updates or patches have been installed or no new hotfixes have been installed. If the build is different, submit a new support incident.
- If the error/Problem occurring is the same as the original incident and it occurs on the same environment/machine/document as the original incident. If the error occurs on a new machine/for a different user/different document – submit a new support incident.
- If a new error occurs after installing a hotfix or trying some suggestions from the original incident, it will be treated as a new error and hence needs a new support incident.
- If a case has been closed three or more months it is recommended to submit a new support incident as the details have likely changed in that time frame.
Support for Enterprise Agreement (EA)
How do I purchase a Support plan under an Enterprise Agreement?
Enterprise Agreement (EA) customers can purchase Dynamics 365 ProDirect and Premier technical support through their reseller.
How do I upgrade to a higher-tier Support plan?
Enterprise Agreement (EA) customers can purchase an upgrade to move from Subscription to Professional Direct, where available. To purchase the upgrade, contact your Large Account Reseller (LAR).
I have multiple EA enrollments. Do I need a support plan for each EA enrollment?
Yes, each EA enrollment requires a separate support plan. If you have one Support plan and multiple EA enrollments, then support is only covered under the enrollment the support plan is tied to. Please note that if you have multiple subscriptions under a single EA enrollment with a support plan, then all those subscriptions will have access to Technical Support.
Support for Premier
How do I submit a support request using my Premier contract?
Power Platform admin center and the Lifecycle Services (LCS) are designed to recognize and entitle Premier and Unified Access IDs.
In Power Platform admin center: You can link your Premier contract to your account by entering your Premier Access ID and Contract ID information in the Power Platform admin center, which you can do by selecting Help + Support and turning on the Premier support toggle in the new incident submission experience. This is a one-time process, and your Premier contract information will be saved with your account, being accessible from all subscriptions where you have Owner/Administrator privileges.
In LCS: You can link your Premier contract to your account by selecting a project within LCS. Select the Support option from the drop-down menu, and then select Manage Contracts. This is a one-time process, and your Premier contract information will be saved for use with any support incident you create in LCS.
Contact your Technical Account Manager if you don't have your access ID and contract ID information.
Although Premier customers can continue to use the Microsoft Premier Online portal or phone channels to submit a support request, using the Power Platform admin center or Lifecycle Services has a number of significant advantages, including:
- Self-help content to find answers to known issues quickly.
- Faster resolution, thanks to a Dynamics 365–specific submission experience.
- Ability to create Severity A/1 cases online.
- Providing you with in-context help regarding the issue you're facing.
How do I purchase a Premier support contract?
To purchase Premier support, you should contact your Microsoft Account Manager. If you are not sure who to contact, please submit a request through the Premier contact form.
What if I already have a Premier contract, and I want to learn more about how to get the most from it?
Contact your Technical Account Manager to discuss options for best using your existing Premier support agreement or rightsizing your Premier agreement to better suit your needs. You can find your TAM's name and contact information on the Microsoft Premier Online portal.
Can Partners use the Premier Support for Partner (PSfP) contract for Support?
Yes, Partners with Premier Support for Partners (PSfP) contracts are able to use their benefits to get Support for their internal needs, as well as to assist their customers, as long as the Partner has been delegated admin/owner access to their customer's subscription. See the FAQ earlier in this section on how to submit a support request using your Premier contract.
Licensing Support
Where can I get licensing support?
Support depends on how you purchased your licenses.
| Direct Online Subscription, Enhanced and ProDirect Customers | Microsoft 365 admin center |
| Volume Licensing: MPSA/Enterprise agreements and Open | Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) |
| Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) | Contact your partner. |
Support for Partner
I have a Microsoft plan (such as MSDN, BizSpark or TechNet) that includes as a benefit a number of technical support requests. Can I use those for on-premises technical support?
Yes, if you are eligible for these benefits and have activated your support access on the Visual Studio subscription portal. If you have these benefits, then from New support request, select Add contract under the Support Plan – Add or purchase a support plan step, and enter your access ID and contract ID information to proceed.