OVERVIEW AND BENEFITS FAQ
Table of Contents
Part I: The Microsoft Products and Services Agreement and Purchasing Accounts 1
Part II: Streamlined ordering 4
Part III: Pricing and price levels 5
Part IV: The Microsoft Volume Licensing Center (your customer’s tool) and important information for you to know about registering the organizational account. 7
Part V: The Microsoft Volume Licensing Partner Center— your window into creating new MPSA sales packages, managing your customer’s lifecycle and viewing reports 9
What is the next generation of Microsoft Volume Licensing initiative?
The next generation of Volume Licensing (NGVL) initiative is an end-to-end transformation of Microsoft Volume Licensing. It delivers an improved agreement structure, a more flexible and easy purchasing platform, and new systems and tools. This transformation will be delivered during several launches, gradually adding new capabilities.
What benefits will my customers receive?
Through this initiative’s changes, your customers can receive greater value from their licensing assets and gain more purchasing flexibility to get the technology and services they need more easily. Your customers will see the following:
4 An improved agreement structure that simplifies the buying experience for all your customers’ entities and integrates the buying process for all products and services.
4 Flexible and easy purchasing that significantly reduces the steps it takes to purchase. Ordering has been automated and streamlined to cut the steps required to place orders and make changes or add licenses or services to an agreement.
4 New systems and tools to enable more self-service and automation to help optimize the end-to-end licensing experience.
What benefits will I receive?
You will receive the following benefits:
4 Lower cost of sales because the agreement process and sales motion is significantly streamlined
4 Expanded revenue opportunities enabled through better customer insight
4 Redesigned sales processes, integrated systems, and automated tasks to help you reduce the time and cost of selling software and services
Part I: The Microsoft Products and Services Agreement and Purchasing Accounts
What is the Microsoft Products and Services Agreement?
The Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (MPSA) is a new foundational “master” agreement that significantly simplifies the Volume Licensing agreement structure. It consolidates common terms and conditions from standard Microsoft Volume Licensing agreements into a single agreement for all customer organizations. It includes terms and conditions from the Microsoft Business and Services Agreement (MBSA), Microsoft Select Plus Agreement, and terms for purchasing Microsoft Online Services. By streamlining the overall contract and integrating transactional purchases for on-premises software and Online Services, your customers will have more flexibility to get the full value of their licensing investment.
Because all customer licensing assets are contained in a single, non-expiring MPSA, you can spend less time negotiating and more time serving customers as a trusted advisor. Note that your customers cannot currently see legacy assets at this time.
What Online Services are available to purchase through the MPSA?
Microsoft Office 365, Windows Intune, Yammer and Dynamics CRM Online are available for purchase through the MPSA. Microsoft will gradually add other Online Services.
What is the subscription term for Online Services through the MPSA?
Online Services through the MPSA align to the next account anniversary date of the Purchasing Account.
Does the MPSA expire?
No. The MPSA is a perpetual contract and does not expire for transactional purchases.
Where can I find a comparison between traditional Volume Licensing agreements and the MPSA?
A document that compares purchasing on-premises software licenses and Online Services with the Select Plus Agreement and the Microsoft Online Services Agreement (MOSA) to purchasing via the MPSA can be found here. The following are the key differences between the MPSA and other traditional Microsoft Volume Licensing agreements:
4 A new, non-expiring master agreement with integrated on-premises software and Online Services purchasing
4 Purchasing Account(s) that are created when an organization signs the MPSA to support how it needs to purchase on-premises software and Online Services that automatically provides the best price level based on purchase volume
4 New enhanced self-service, online tools that provide customers with useful capabilities for license and asset management
What are the appropriate customer scenarios I should license through the MPSA?
For this release, the primary target audience for the MPSA is Select License customers with a need for Online Services.
4 For Online Services or license-only purchases, Microsoft recommends using the MPSA
4 For Online Services or Microsoft Software Assurance renewals, Microsoft recommends using the MPSA for the Online Services and Select Plus for the Software Assurance renewal
Are Software Assurance purchases available through the MPSA?
Not currently, but Software Assurance will be available in a future release.
What is a sales package?
A sales package is the electronic container created through the Microsoft Volume Licensing tools to set up a new agreement or modify an active agreement where a customer or partner signature is required. This package collates required customer, partner, Microsoft and offer information, including any required terms and conditions. The sales package consists of customer information, the Purchasing Account information, and the agreement pricing information.
Partners use the Microsoft Volume Licensing Partner Center (MVLPC) to create a sales package for a customer. They send the resulting agreement to the customer to sign electronically.
What is a Purchasing Account?
A Purchasing Account is a buying entity within an organization that enables it to order and manage products and services by registering the organization through an MPSA.
Purchasing Accounts can be a department, an affiliate, a subset of personnel, or the entire organization. This model provides the flexibility to create the buying structure that best fits an organization’s requirements.
Each established buying entity is registered only once as a Purchasing Account for all purchases that are enabled through the MPSA. This avoids having to establish new buying entities for each different type of purchase. Each Purchasing Account is assigned a sector type, such as commercial, academic, or government[1]. Organizations can create one or as many Purchasing Accounts as they require. However, one Purchasing Account must be designated as the Agreement Administrator.
What is an Agreement Administrator?
The Agreement Administrator designation is attached to the first Purchasing Account and manages the participation of other Purchasing Accounts in the MPSA. The Agreement Administrator has a full view of licensing assets across all accounts. The Agreement Administrator designation can be changed to a different Purchasing Account at any time.
How does the customer sign the MPSA?
The customer receives an email from Microsoft with the agreement details and use DocuSign to review and electronically sign the MPSA.
How does my customer know when new Purchasing Accounts are created?
A notice is sent to the Purchasing Account that has been designated as the Agreement Administrator when a new Purchasing Account is added. The Agreement Administrator has the right to terminate the association of any Purchasing Account.
If the Purchasing Account that is designated as the Agreement Administrator decides to reject a Purchasing Account or terminate the MPSA altogether, how are Purchasing Accounts notified?
If the Agreement Administrator account terminates the MPSA, all Purchasing Accounts and associated partners receive a notice that transactional purchases or registering new accounts have been disabled. Your customers are still responsible for future payment obligations for prior purchases.
Can a single division or department be registered as a Purchasing Account?
Yes. Purchasing Accounts are created based on a customer’s legal entity(s) purchasing structure, for example by department or location or with centralized purchasing from a headquarters location.
Are all Purchasing Accounts responsible for complying with the terms and conditions of the agreement?
Yes. All legal entities and their registered Purchasing Accounts are bound by the terms and conditions of the MPSA with which they are registered. The purchasing contact in the Agreement Administrator account is responsible for managing the MPSA and Purchasing Account association.
How quickly is the customer notified when a sales package has been signed and in effect?
If the customer is using DocuSign, then they are notified as soon as the sales package is signed.
How are Purchasing Accounts associated with an MPSA and how do they count towards my customer’s price level?
A Purchasing Account is associated with an MPSA through a Purchasing Account Registration form. On the registration form, your customer designates the account type (commercial, academic, or government). As different accounts buy products and services, points are grouped into product pools for each account type, such as academic to academic or commercial to commercial. The collective volume determines the price level for each account type and product pool.
For instance, Account 1 and Account 2 are both commercial types. Account 1 purchases 2,500 copies of Microsoft Office and Account 2 purchases 3,000 seats of Office 365. The combined purchase volume of 5,500 copies will determine the points for the price level.
After Purchasing Accounts are registered, do my customers have to submit an order to participate in the MPSA?
Purchasing Accounts associated with the MPSA do not have to place an order right away. However, customers must achieve an annual minimum number of points to maintain purchasing capability for each product pool.
Can my customer work with multiple partners on a Purchasing Account?
Yes. Your customer can have multiple partners on a Purchasing Account for their transactional purchases. You can view the purchases your customer made through your organization.
When is a Partner Election form required?
Under the Select Plus Agreement, a customer is limited to working with a single partner per affiliate. When a customer wants to replace their current partner with a new partner, they have to submit a Change of Channel Partner form.
With the MPSA, a customer has the option to work with one or more partner(s) on a single Purchasing Account. Customers may use the new Partner Election form to add, remove, or replace (remove a partner and move future billings to new partner) one or more partners across multiple Purchasing Accounts.
Can my customer still purchase under the Select Plus Agreement?
Your customer can purchase using the program that best meets their needs. However, the Select Plus Agreement features are integrated into the new MPSA, which offers additional advantages such as Online Services purchasing and enhanced asset management tools to help your customer better track and manage software assets.
Part II: Streamlined ordering
What products are available to order through the Microsoft Volume Licensing Partner Center?
No change occurred in the on-premises products that are available via Volume Licensing. The change is that Online Services will be orderable through the Microsoft Volume Licensing Partner Center. Legacy subscriptions are not supported at this time. Additionally, all order types, including renewals and a new order type called reconciliations, are submitted through the Microsoft Volume Licensing Partner Center.
A single order can contain multiple products and services and order types, reducing the total number of orders you must submit.
Can my customer place orders?
All orders purchased through an MPSA, including for Online Services, must be placed through you. Customers can provision Online Services via the Microsoft Volume Licensing Center (MVLC, the Volume Licensing customer tool) and a provisioning notification is automatically sent to you so that you can follow up with an order.
What are self-provisioned orders?
With this new feature, your customers can order and start using Online Services through the MPSA.
Within 60 days of self-provisioning, customers must place an order through their designated partner. If an order is not placed, the seats are reduced to the number ordered. The customer works with the partner to place the order.
Is there a limit to the number of Online Services the customer can self-order?
Yes, the number of Online Services licenses is capped at 50 licenses per each self-order.
If my customer self-provisions Online Services, am I required to process the order?
If the customer designates you as the partner of record on the order, your customer may want you to support the self-provisioning process as needed.
How do I know if a customer has ordered Online Services using the self-provisioning option?
If you are the designated partner, you will receive an email notification when a customer self-provisions Online Services. You can also generate a report in the Microsoft Volume Licensing Partner Center to see what customers have self-provisioned and designated you as a partner.
What happens to seats that were self-provisioned but not ordered?
Your customer must unassign seats for which they have not placed an order and purchased within 60 days of provisioning, or those seats will be removed.
Does the Microsoft Volume Licensing Partner Center support renewals?
Notifications and reports are available to you to identify upcoming Online Services expiration dates for customers. If a renewal is not received on time, Microsoft will start the de-provisioning process.
Does the Microsoft Volume Licensing Partner Center support making adjustments to an order?
After an order is submitted, you cannot make adjustments through the Microsoft Volume Licensing Partner Center. You should download and complete all requested information on the adjustment form and submit it through the Call Logging Tool (CLT).
Part III: Pricing and price levels
How is the price list structured?
The price list via the Microsoft Volume Licensing Partner Center is similar to previous price lists, with some new, modified filters, fields and attribute values. These new fields, filters and attribute values can simplify filtering the price list to view key information quickly. This includes information identifying certain products and services and their price. Note that there are fields that are no longer in the Price List.
How are price levels applied?
The correct volume discount is automatically applied to product purchases based on the purchase volume for your customer’s entire organization.
Who is notified when a new price level occurs?
When the price level changes, the Purchasing Account with the Agreement Administrator designation, all registered Purchasing Accounts, and any associated partners receive notification of the change.
Are the points your customer has accumulated published in the Microsoft Volume Licensing Center and are they visible to registered Purchasing Accounts?
Yes. All agreement-level information is visible to all Purchasing Accounts, including up-to-date point accumulation.
Are promotional SKUs available through the MVLPC?
No, promotional SKUs are not available for you to process separately from product SKUs. Instead, the appropriate promotions are automatically applied to relevant products to ensure you have the correct discounted price using only the product SKU.