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August 2024 announcements

  • Artikkeli

This page provides the announcements for Microsoft Partner Center for August 2024.

Reminder: new commerce Public Sector Microsoft led migration timeline

Reminder of the new commerce Microsoft led migration timeline for Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) Government Community Cloud (GCC), education, and nonprofit legacy offers.

  • Date: : August 30, 2024
  • Workspace: Pricing
  • Impacted audience: Cloud Solution Provider partners (indirect providers and direct bill) in all markets/countries/regions.

The Microsoft-led migration effort begins with Public Sector offers renewing on September 1, 2024, and will continue with all offers to renew throughout calendar years 2024 and 2025. Microsoft-led migration occurs on the date of subscription renewal. All legacy subscriptions that Microsoft migrates to new commerce are set to an annual term with the same billing plan and license count those customers had in legacy. Partners will have seven days after migration is complete to change the subscription term, quantity, or cancel the subscription if necessary. We encourage partners to prioritize migrating their customers from legacy to new commerce.

Key Milestones Date
New subscription purchase must be on new commerce August 1, 2024
Microsoft led migration for Public Sector September 1, 2024
End of legacy incentives for Public Sector March 31, 2025

Next steps

  • Share this information with all appropriate contacts in your organization.
  • Learn more about Microsoft-led migration

Monthly Update: Important actions partners need to take to secure the partner ecosystem

Important capabilities and updates to improve your security posture and protect your customers' tenants are now available.

  • Date: August 28, 2024
  • Workspace: General
  • Impacted audience: Direct bill partners, indirect providers, and indirect resellers transacting through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program and with advisors

Changes to the one-time discretionary credit for Azure frauds

As part of the expansion of the Secure Future Initiative (SFI) we're implementing a change in the way we assess refund eligibility for a one-time discretionary credit for fraudulent activity that occurs on individual Azure customer tenants on CSP new commerce.

Beginning in September 2024, partners must have enabled multifactor authentication (MFA) for all their administrative users on their CSP tenant at the time the fraudulent activity started, to be eligible for review.

Security is a shared responsibility, and it's crucial that CSP partners take all the proactive steps to protect identities and accounts.

MFA requirements for Azure portal

Starting October 2024, Microsoft will begin enforcement of MFA for all users signing into Azure portal. Review the latest information and timeline.

Coming soon

Security requirements API: We're excited to announce the upcoming release of the Security Requirements API, giving partners direct access to essential security compliance data. The Security Requirements API beta version is available now for preview.

Administrative-Relationship (DAP) Insights dashboard deprecation: With the migration of DAP relationships to granular delegated admin privileges (GDAP) and the discontinuation of new DAP creation, we'll be deprecating the DAP insights dashboard (Accounts Settings > Security Center) by September 1, 2024. Use the GDAP relationship dashboard.

Blocked assignments on unused subscription: To mitigate security risks, Microsoft will block and terminate unused Azure subscriptions 90 days after the block is applied. Customers with subscriptions that have never been used, or have been inactive for 12+ months will be notified by November 2024. To avoid blocking, customers must register an activity (for example, create resources, usage, support ticket) before the blocking date. If blocked, contact Azure Support to unblock.

Reminders

  • GDAP Auto extend: Microsoft-led GDAP doesn't activate the auto extend feature by default, so you need to turn on auto extend for these GDAP relationships as required.

  • Enhanced security role to manage Security workspace: In May 2024, we introduced the Security workspace in Partner Center, empowering your company's Admin Agents with tools to assess and improve security measures. This month, we're expanding control and visibility with two new security roles: Security Administrator and Reader.

    • Security Administrator: Assigned users can actively manage security settings, policies, and alerts.
    • Security Reader: Assigned users have view-only access to security information.

    These positions are structured to offer detailed access management, so that individuals have appropriate levels of permission without requiring Admin Agent status. Security workspace will be accessible by Admin Agents for now, but this access will be phased out gradually. Start preparing for this transition immediately to ensure a seamless transition. Further information regarding this change will be provided in due course.

  • View expired GDAP in the "Expiring Granular Relationships" page: Partners can now view the details of GDAP relationships that have expired over the past 12 months in the Expiring Granular Relationships page and can make a request to create a new GDAP relationship with the customer if required.

  • Nine Microsoft Entra roles, previously supported only in the Partner Center API, are now accessible via the Partner Center UI for GDAP relationships.

  • GDAP expiration summary emails notifications: Starting June 16, 2024, CSP partners will no longer receive separate email notifications for each GDAP that is about to expire or has expired. Instead, you will receive summary email notifications every 15 days with a link to the Expiring Granular Relationships dashboard. You can apply various filters and take appropriate actions, such as extending the active GDAP. There will be no change to customer email notifications.

Next steps

UPDATE: Technical enforcement of End of Sale for Microsoft 365 and Office 365 Enterprise Suites with Teams in CSP will begin on October 1 for regions outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) & Switzerland

Starting on October 1, 2024, net-new subscriptions of Microsoft 365 E3/E5 and Office 365 E1/E3/E5 Enterprise stock keeping units (SKUs) with Teams will no longer be purchasable through CSP. These SKUs have been End-of-Sale since April 1, and will be marked as End-of-Sale on the October 1 CSP price list.

  • Date: August 28, 2024
  • Workspace: Modern Workplace
  • Impacted audience: Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) Direct Bill Partners, CSP Indirect Resellers, CSP Indirect Providers, Licensing Solution Provider

On April 1, 2024, we introduced a new lineup of Microsoft 365, Office 365, and Microsoft Teams SKUs to provide commercial customers outside of the EEA and Switzerland with the option of purchasing Teams separately from Microsoft 365 and Office 365. We also announced we would be ending the sale of net-new subscriptions to Microsoft 365 E3/E5 and Office 365 E1/E3/E5 Enterprise SKUs with Teams across all channels: Volume Licensing (VL), Cloud Solution Provider (CSP), and Buy Online (Direct). You can find more information in the April 1, 2024 Partner Center Announcement.

These changes were made to realign our global subscription structure following changes made in Europe in 2023. Microsoft 365 E3/E5 and Office 365 E1/E3/E5 Enterprise SKUs with Teams has been removed from the CSP price list for net new purchases in the EEA and Switzerland as of October 1, 2023. For additional information on the original context for the changes in Europe, read the official announcement on the EU Policy Blog and the accompanying licensing details on Licensing News.

Starting on October 1, 2024, the end-of-sale of Microsoft 365 E3/E5 and Office 365 E1/E3/E5 Enterprise SKUs with Teams will be technically enforced. This means that Microsoft 365 E3/E5 and Office 365 E1/E3/E5 Enterprise SKUs with Teams will be removed from CSP price lists outside of the EEA and Switzerland. After October 1, 2024, all net new purchases of these end-of-sale (EOS) SKUs in regions outside the EEA and Switzerland will no longer be possible. Partners will see this end-of-sale date reflected on the October Price List Preview on September 1.

What does this mean for CSP partners and customers?

Once the end of sale of Microsoft 365 and Office 365 Enterprise SKUs with Teams occurs, and these SKUs are removed from the CSP price list:

  • Net-New Customers: New commercial customers who wish to provide information workers with both Microsoft Teams and the value in existing E1/E3/E5 suites must purchase two SKUs: Microsoft 365 E3/E5 or Office 365 E1/E3/E5 (no Teams) suite and Microsoft Teams Enterprise.

  • Existing CSP Customers of Microsoft 365 E3/E5 and Office 365 E1/E3/E5 with Teams:

    • For existing customers, the Microsoft 365/Office 365 Enterprise SKUs with Teams remain available for the same scenarios as before the end-of-sale date. Existing CSP customers can continue to use, renew, add licenses, and upgrade their existing suites with Teams. They'll also now have the other SKU options for M365/O365 Enterprise SKUs without Teams.

    • If at any time the customer no longer has any active licenses to a Microsoft 365/Office 365 Enterprise suites with Teams, they'll no longer be considered an existing customer and must choose from the new offers (M365/O365 Enterprise suites without Teams and Microsoft Teams Enterprise) for that region.

    • Due to systems limitations, customers must start a new subscription for M365/O365 Enterprise suites without Teams if they change their purchasing channel. A new subscription is required, except when moving to EA/EAS or moving between MCA-E and Buy Online (Direct) in either direction.

      Customers must also start a new subscription if they change their billing frequency, subscription term commitment, or subscription currency. More details can also be found in the Partner FAQ.

  • Existing CSP customers of Microsoft 365 Business Basic/Standard/Premium, Office 365 F3, Microsoft 365 F1/F3:

    • Small and medium business customers can continue to choose between existing SMB suites with Teams or the SMB suites without Teams.
    • For Frontline workers, customers will be able to choose between the existing Frontline worker suites with Teams included or the no Teams versions of those suites.

New capabilities that support CSP customers on EOS SKUs

  1. For existing CSP customers who wish to change partners, the new partner-to-partner (P2P) transfer capability is now available in CSP to transfer subscriptions from one partner to another and allow existing customers to maintain their Microsoft 365/Office 365 suites with Teams subscriptions. To learn more about the new Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partner-to-partner (P2P) subscription transfers for new commerce experience (NCE) license-based subscriptions, and to familiarize yourself with the transfer process, see this Learn Article and the Partner FAQ

  2. We also announced we'll be introducing End-of-Sale pricing to the CSP new commerce license-based services price list. This net-new feature will enable partners to fetch pricing for products that are still renewable but no longer available for net-new purchase. This will enable partners to get continued visibility to all End of Sale offers, including Microsoft 365 E3/E5 and Office 365 E1/E3/E5 Enterprise SKUs. This EOS pricing feature will become available to partners in Q4 of calendar year (CY) 2024.

    Until the EOS pricing feature becomes available, partners should refer to the most recent price list before the EOS effective date for EOS SKU pricing details. For products included in this update, most partners should reference the September 2024 CSP new commerce license-based services Price List. We'll update partners regarding the date of EOS availability through the CSP Partner Launch Calendar.

For more information related to these changes, see Partner FAQ and the article Manage end-of-sale offers. There's also a short training video available to help you learn how to talk about this change to your customers outside of the EEA and Switzerland.

Next steps

Refamiliarize yourself with the details of this change. The following resources contain valuable information for addressing customer queries:

Questions

For questions not addressed in the FAQ or to receive clarification on pricing, offer availability and upgrades, migrations, and conversions, create a support request in Partner Center.

Commercial marketplace certification policy update – 1000.6 Landing page for Software as a Service offers

We've updated our commercial marketplace certification policies for Software as a Service (SaaS) offer types, effective September 1, 2024.

  • Date: August 26, 2024
  • Workspace: General
  • Impacted audience: Microsoft publishers with transactable SaaS offers in the marketplace

To enhance customer experience and security, we're implementing new standards for Software as a Service (SaaS) offer landing pages in the commercial marketplace. These standards aim to ensure user-friendly, secure, and compliant interfaces for all SaaS transactions.

Key policy updates include:

  • Availability and functionality: Landing pages must be consistently accessible, with clear error messages when needed.
  • Configuration guidance: Pages should provide necessary setup information without displaying sensitive customer data.
  • Content compliance: All content must adhere to our inappropriate content policy and Microsoft Trademark and Brand Guidelines.
  • No downloads: Landing pages must not prompt installations or downloads.

Next steps

Partners can now see Microsoft seller contact details in Co-sell opportunities (outbound/inbound)

We're excited to introduce a new feature in the Partner Center Referrals workspace that shows partners a list of sellers involved in Co-selling activities.

  • Date: August 20, 2024
  • Workspace: Referrals
  • Impacted audience: All partners involved in Co-selling

New feature: Seller visibility in Co-sell opportunities

There's a new feature in the Partner Center Referrals workspace, within the Help from Microsoft section, which lets partners see the list of sellers involved in Co-selling activities.

Why this feature was introduced

Previously, when an outbound Co-sell opportunity was received on Microsoft's end, it would land in the Co-sell Service Desk bucket. However, partners lacked visibility into the sellers' contact details, making it challenging to initiate the sales cycle independently. This limitation led to a dependency on Partner Development Managers (PDMs) for this crucial information.

What this feature offers

With this new feature, partners can now easily view the list of Microsoft sellers involved in a given opportunity, streamlining the sales process and reducing reliance on PDMs.

Coming soon

We're planning further enhancements to this feature. In the coming months, partners will receive Action Center notifications whenever there's a change in the opportunity owner, ensuring they stay informed and up to date.

Next steps

  • Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to improve the coselling experience.

Migrate to enhanced CSP billing reconciliation APIs by September 30, 2024

The new Asynchronous APIs for billing reconciliation in Partner Center are now live. Partners must migrate to this improved API by September 30, 2024, to ensure uninterrupted service.

  • Date: August 19, 2024
  • Workspace: Billing, APIs
  • Impacted audience: CSP direct bill and indirect providers who access and use billing APIs in Partner Center.

As previously announced, we introduced a new Asynchronous API (asynchronous v2 APIs) for billing reconciliation in Partner Center in March 2024. This API offers faster download times and reduces latency, especially when handling large data volumes. Partners must migrate to this new API by September 30, 2024 to help avoid disruption in service.

The new Asynchronous API is a result of partner feedback and is part of our commitment to improving the Partner Center experience. These are the four APIs affected by this change:

API Name Version Partner Center
Get invoice line items API V1 Get invoice line items
Invoicing and reconciliation v2 API (beta) V2 Invoicing and reconciliation API v2 (beta
Get invoice billed commercial consumption line items V1 Get invoice billed commercial consumption line items
Get invoice unbilled commercial consumption line items V1 Get invoice's unbilled reconciliation line items

The migration process involves updating your code to use the new APIs, following the documentation on the Partner Center portal. The legacy APIs will be retired on September 30, 2024.

The newest API is currently only available for the Microsoft Graph public/global cloud. The newest API is not yet available for Azure Government or Azure China 21Vianet.

Next steps

Partners must migrate to this new API by September 30, 2024, to help avoid disruption in service.

  • Share this information with your organization. We added this to the CSP launch calendar so you can stay informed.
  • Review the documentation for how to migrate to the new Asynchronous API.

Resources

Questions

We encourage you to use the readiness resources listed in this announcement.

If you require more assistance or encounter issues with the capability, please open a support ticket through Partner Center.

Partner to partner transfer webhooks now available

Webhook events are now available for partner to partner transfers. Partner audit records are enhanced to include new events.

  • Date: August 16, 2024
  • Workspace: Customers
  • Impacted audience: Cloud Solution Providers (CSP) direct-bill partners and indirect providers

Partner center now has webhook support for partner to partner transfers. Webhook APIs allow partners to register for resource change events. These events are delivered in the form of HTTP POSTs to the partner's registered URL. Partners can now receive webhook notifications for created, updated (submitted), completed, and failed transfers. The webhook events enable partners to more easily operationalize transfer solutions and track new transfers sent to them. The webhook events can also be used to track status changes for transfers after creation and submission by the source partner.

The activity logs are also enhanced to ensure transfer creation and updates events are available to both target and source partners. Before these enhancements only the target partner saw created transfer activity entries and only source partners saw updated events. Now, both target and source partners can audit these activity events for created, updated (submitted), completed, and failed transfers. Activity data is available in the partner center's partner accounts and also are API enabled.

Next steps

Billing history page: upcoming changes

The new commerce billing details will be moved from the "Billing history" page, which will only show your legacy invoices, reconciliation, and payments. This change is part of our ongoing efforts to enhance your user experience and boost performance.

  • Date: August 14, 2024
  • Workspace: Billing
  • Impacted audience: All global Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program partners

The "Billing history" page will now show only legacy billing details, while new commerce billing information will be available on the "Billing overview new commerce experience (NCE)" page. The "Billing overview NCE" page already provides you with a clear and comprehensive view of your new commerce invoices, reconciliation files, costs, payments, and balances.

  • You'll only be able to access your new commerce invoices and reconciliation files from the "Billing overview NCE" page.
  • The "Billing overview NCE" page will also show your total account balance for new commerce invoices.
  • This change is part of our ongoing efforts to improve your user experience and boost performance.
  • This change won't affect the billing APIs.

How does it change your user experience?

The change will take effect on September 17, 2024. After that date, when you sign in to the Partner Center portal and go to the Billing workspace, you'll land on the "Billing overview NCE" page. This page will only show the invoices, reconciliation files, billing details of the new commerce program.

To access the legacy invoices, reconciliation files, and billing details, go to the "Billing history" page. You won't see any new commerce billing information on the "Billing history" page.

Known limitations

N/A

Benefits

The separation of legacy and new commerce billing pages will bring the following benefits:

  • Logical separation: This update will organize legacy and new commerce experiences into separate pages, enhancing overall clarity.
  • Faster page load: The "Billing overview NCE" page is three times faster than the Billing history page.
  • Enhanced layout: The "Billing overview NCE" page is now structured more clearly and logically, simplifying navigation and access. It includes extra details to help partners make better decisions.

Next steps

  • Please inform all relevant users of your company who use the billing workspace about this change and ask them to start using the "Billing overview NCE" page for new commerce billing.
  • Contact us if you have any questions or feedback about the change.

Reminder: Copilot for Microsoft 365 (Education Student 18+) is now available

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is available for higher education institutions to purchase as an add-on for their students aged 18 and older.

  • Date: August 13, 2024
  • Workspace: General
  • Impacted audience: Licensing Solution Provider (LSP) and Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners

As of May 1, 2024, Copilot for Microsoft 365 is available for higher education institutions to purchase as an add-on for students aged 18 and older. Customers can purchase through their licensing provider with Enrollment for Education Solutions (EES) volume licensing, Cloud Solution Provider (CSP), or Microsoft account team.

In terms of eligibility requirements, students or faculty who have licenses via student use benefits (SUB) must be assigned Microsoft 365 or Office 365 A1, A3, or A5 licenses.

Other updates are as follows:

  • The minimum seat purchase requirement has been removed for Copilot for Microsoft 365 across all channels and segments. However, customers must have a product license of one of the prerequisite base SKUs for each seat of Copilot for Microsoft 365 they purchase.
  • Partners can refer to the original CSP announcement in Partner Center from January for more information on how they can transact Copilot for Microsoft 365 today.
  • All new CSP SKUs need to utilize the new commerce experience (NCE) moving forward.
  • Customers in China are able to purchase via web direct for faculty as of April 5, 2024.

Next steps

Review the Copilot for Microsoft 365 EDU announcement for more details and resources.

Learn more about Copilot for Microsoft 365:

Learn more about AI in education:

Hear how Education customers are using it:

August Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) monthly updates and community reminder

Monthly views are now published including the updated partner launch calendars, the CSP Bimonthly Update newsletter, along with CSP community resources that provide you with essential program updates.

  • Date: August 7, 2024
  • Workspace: General
  • Impacted audience: CSP direct bill partners and indirect providers

Always available—Launch content on demand

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

The downloadable CSP Bimonthly Update newsletter, which aggregates recent CSP announcements, updates, events, and reminders in an easy-to-read document.

Partner Journey Maps provide detailed navigation along the journey of Microsoft’s highest priority transformations.

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

CSP Community Q&A reminder

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

Register here to join upcoming calls.

Next steps

Review the Partner Launch Calendar, monthly newsletter, and register for upcoming Community Q&A calls.

Questions?

The monthly CSP community Q&A call is the best place to bring questions about operational change in the CSP program. You can submit a question up to 48 hours before the call.

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

Monthly Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program update

Here's what’s new for Solutions Partner designations, specializations, and other Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program offerings and benefits.

  • Date: August 6, 2024
  • Workspace: Membership
  • Impacted audience: Partners enrolled in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner (MAICPP) Program

We introduced important capabilities, offers, and updates to improve the way partners can further differentiate their deep technical expertise across a set of priority scenarios with high customer demand. There's more benefits for eligible Solutions Partner with certified software designations.

Available now

Solutions Partner with certified software: As of July 1, 2024, partners can qualify for top tier benefits and Azure Migrate & Modernize and Innovate incentives by attaining one of seven Solutions Partner with certified software designations: Azure, Security, or any of the five Industry AI designations. Furthermore, Microsoft is offering subsidies (on a first-come, first-serve basis) for assessments conducted by non-Microsoft auditors for qualification for the designations. Microsoft is committed to investing in partners who develop software and who seek differentiation through the Solutions Partner with certified software designations. Apply today out of the Referrals workspace!

Analytics on Microsoft Azure specialization: The Skilling requirements for the Analytics specialization are updated to include the Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate (DP-600) certification. This certification replaces the Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305) certification. The number of individuals to pass these certifications increased from three to five, and each must be held by at least two individuals. These changes went live in July 2024. Partners currently enrolled in the Analytics specialization will be given a grace period until December 31, 2024 to meet these new knowledge criteria. This grace period allows for minimal impact to the 2024 renewal window. In 2025, partners are expected to meet the new requirements to renew. To learn more, see Azure specializations.

Business Intelligence specialization: The Skilling requirements for the Business Intelligence specialization are updated to include the Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate (DP-600) certification. The Azure Enterprise Data Analyst Associate (DP-500) certification was retired April 30, 2024. If the DP-500 exam was already passed before the retirement date, partners can count that toward the Skilling requirements, or move forward with passing the new DP-600 exam. There are no changes to any of the other requirements as written. These changes went live in July 2024. Partners currently enrolled in the Business Intelligence specialization will be given a grace period until December 31, 2024 to meet these new knowledge criteria. This grace period allows for minimal impact to the current renewal window of 2024. In 2025, partners are expected to meet the new requirements to renew. To learn more, see Business Applications specializations.

Data Warehouse Migration to Microsoft Azure specialization: The Skilling requirements for the Data Warehouse Migration specialization are updated to include the Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate (DP-600) certification. This certification replaces the Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305) certification. The number of individuals to pass these certifications increased from 3 to 5, and each must be held by at least two individuals. These changes went live in July 2024. Partners currently enrolled in the Data Warehouse Migration specialization will be given a grace period until December 31, 2024 to meet these new knowledge criteria. This grace period allows for minimal impact to the current renewal window of 2024. In 2025, partners are expected to meet the new requirements to renew. To learn more, see Azure specializations.

Teamwork Deployment specialization: The Skilling requirements for the Teamwork Deployment specialization are updated to remove the retired Messaging Administrator Associate (MS-203) certification. The number of individuals to pass the remaining Teams Administrator Associate (MS-700) certification increased from 2 to 4. These changes went live in July 2024. Partners currently enrolled in the Teamwork Deployment specialization will be given a grace period until December 31, 2024 to meet these new knowledge criteria, allowing for minimal impact to the current renewal window of 2024. In 2025, partners will be expected to meet the new requirements to renew. To learn more, see Modern Work specializations.

Supply Chain specialization: The Skilling requirements for the Supply Chain specialization are updated to include the Dynamics 365: Finance and Operations Apps Developer Associate (MB-500) and the Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management Functional Consultant Expert (MB-335) certifications. The Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing Functional Consultant Associate (MB-320) certification was retired June 30, 2023 and has been removed. Each of the four certifications must be held by at least one individual. These changes went live in July 2024. Partners currently enrolled in the Supply Chain specialization will be given a grace period until December 31, 2024 to meet these new knowledge criteria, allowing for minimal impact to the current renewal window of 2024. In 2025, partners are expected to meet the new requirements to renew. To learn more, see Business Applications specializations.

Low Code and SMB specializations data migration: The Low Code and Small and Midsize Business (SMB) specializations are aligned to the official data feeds used by Partner Center for the Business Applications Solutions Partner Designation and all other Business Applications specializations. As of June 24, 2024, these two specializations moved from the custom data sources used today for the Performance and App Source metrics to the same data sources as Solutions Partner Designation and all other specializations. This change affects the Performance and App Source metrics for some partners who achieved or are working toward achieving the Low Code and SMB specializations. Partners who were meeting the Performance or App Source requirements before the data migration will be given an override for the requirements when enrolling or applying for renewal to these specializations before December 31, 2024. To learn more, see Business Applications specializations.

What’s coming

New benefits: Starting January 22, 2025, Microsoft is planning to introduce over 20 in-demand product licenses, including Microsoft Copilot products, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, and Microsoft GitHub Enterprise. These new benefits are designed to help streamline tasks, enhance creativity, and drive efficiency across businesses. Partners can access these benefits when they go live, by purchasing partner benefits packages, Solutions Partner designations, or specializations. The new packages offer comprehensive support and advisory benefits, helping partners accelerate business growth, scale their operations, and stay updated with the latest offerings.

Microsoft Action Pack, Learning Action Pack, Legacy Silver, Legacy Gold benefits transition: As part of this transition, Microsoft will no longer sell the Microsoft Action Pack, Learning Action Pack, and legacy silver/gold benefits on January 22, 2025. Partners with existing benefits can renew them until January 21, 2025, and keep them until they expire one year later. To continue receiving benefits, partners are encouraged to purchase new partner benefits packages or attain Solutions Partner designations. These new offerings are designed to help meet business goals and provide more robust support compared to the legacy benefits. To learn more, see Services Partner.

Partner cloud support benefit change: Starting September 2, 2024, the unlimited cloud support benefit (Signature Cloud Support) included in some of the benefit packages (Solutions partner designation, Training services designation, Legacy Silver and Legacy Gold) will be limited to 50 incidents. This change only affects new purchases or renewals of these benefits packages starting September 2, 2024. To learn more, see Partner technical support for cloud or on-premises products.

Reminders

  • If you're renewing an Azure specialization for the second year, then an audit is required for re-enrollment. Review the updated checklist and plan accordingly. You can start scheduling your audits 60 days ahead of your anniversary date for the specialization.
  • If you're renewing your Modern Work specialization or Security specialization for the second year, then customer references are required for re-enrollment. Start to prep these references ahead of your anniversary date. You'll be able to load your customer references into Partner Center 60 days ahead of the anniversary date of the specialization.
  • Microsoft moved all partner program transactions to the new commerce platform. To learn more, see link billing account and profile to Partner Center account.

Next steps

Review the partner program journey map to navigate the transformational journey dedicated to the following partner program offerings: Solutions Partner designations, specializations, and expert offerings.

New subscription purchases for Public Sector products must be on new commerce

As previously announced, starting August 1, 2024, new subscription purchases for Public Sector product offers must be on new commerce. The following 20 offers will show up as deprecated (DEPR) on the August 1 price list. However, they'll continue to show as purchasable in Partner Center and Offer List Matrix. The system will block these offers from purchase in mid-August.

  • Date: August 1, 2024
  • Workspace: Pricing
  • Impacted audience: Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners (indirect providers and direct bill) in all markets/countries/regions transacting Public Sector

An updated offer list matrix will be republished as soon as the system enforcement is effective.

Offer display name Offer ID
Dataverse Log Capacity add-on for Education c2783c39-f49d-4987-b753-fdbaad00ac54
Dynamics 365 Sales Insights (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) 0e335f28-6106-4be2-b921-10483796213a
Dataverse Log Capacity add-on for Government 7e21bf45-5a9e-4db4-8871-021ac0409491
Dataverse File Capacity add-on for Education 96cf7b37-c213-4626-a613-2f6c75f6b901
Dynamics 365 Customer Service, Enterprise Edition for Government 51157085-eebd-4396-b2ba-7eb493c80012
Dynamics 365 Sales Insights for Faculty 43be9290-a2ef-4943-9c62-4de8cfe367bf
Dynamics 365 Sales Insights for Students 7a2e775e-6a7b-40f3-a21b-1b3c2e2493f4
Dataverse File Capacity add-on (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) 21d50969-539d-4119-9c66-2e1a265df11b
Dynamics 365 Field Service
Attach for Government to Qualifying Dynamics 365 Base Offer		 b1d95d6b-2fb4-4360-b390-5ac770c71811
Dataverse Log Capacity add-on (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) ba76cb7a-6bb8-4af5-821b-11e103ca4839
Dynamics 365 Team Members for Government c702b5bc-62de-4090-b50f-0159fccf71b0
Dataverse Database Capacity add-on (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) ff1f51c6-7b45-41dc-96cb-706909f9726a
Dynamics 365 Field Service for Government 4c839db0-6011-4ac5-a8d6-5522c080f90c
Dynamics 365 Customer Service Enterprise
Attach for Government to Qualifying Dynamics 365 Base Offer		 e7c67ce7-0212-46c4-869c-db61e6868a7e
Common Data Service Database Capacity for Government 2b0d3e5e-f41c-41e1-ad7f-e56ea26eeac3
Dataverse Database Capacity add-on for Education cb2ff97f-cdd5-4a14-b655-9f5d0aa58e27
Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials Attach (Nonprofit Staff Pricing) 9f70f281-0f9b-497d-9407-ba1189ee250c
Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials Attach for Faculty 725ed3a3-7123-4574-bda7-df5e3f77a78b
Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials Attach for Students e8016eda-05b9-4513-b1d8-89c1efc429ca
Dynamics 365 Operations – Activity for Government 9d9d5d5d-8a3e-4f16-9c4c-684479bdc116