New NHS Microsoft Licensing Arrangements

New NHS Microsoft licensing arrangements

8 October 2001 – Version 3.0

Frequentlyasked questions

Contact information

Reseller information

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

1 What do the new arrangements cover?

The NHS in England has set up a central licensing arrangement with Microsoft – called an Enterprise Agreement, which will provide software licenses to all personal computers (including desktops and laptops) for all core Microsoft products across all of the NHS organisations including Primary Care Groups and Trusts, Acute, Ambulance, Community and Mental Health Trusts and Health Authorities, including Special Health Authorities. This is a three year agreement and is based on a subscription or rental model. It includes the right to immediately use any new versions of the products included. The funding for this agreement will be provided centrally, initially by using some of the additional funding allocated to IM&T and by top-slicing for the costs in subsequent years.

2 Why are these arrangements better than what we did before?

By setting up this agreement centrally the NHS has negotiated a substantially better price for these products than previously available. This agreement should enable much speedier progress towards the connectivity targets for clinicians and all NHS staff. It will also support other strategic developments such as EPR/EHR.

Local NHS organisations will no longer need to order licences for any of these products. A single annual transaction between the NHS and Microsoft replaces many tens of thousands of individual orders. The NHS organisations are immediately covered for legal use of these products on these devices.

NHS organisations will be able to have all of their users on the same version of software; this will make the support and management of these systems much simpler. Users should also find that they benefit from being able to use newer versions of products which are more reliable and provide new functionality.

The growth in the purchase of Microsoft products has been very substantial in the last few years and whilst the Select agreement worked sufficiently for small volumes of purchases it is seen to be generating an administrative overhead which the new agreement largely removes. Many other large organisations use this type of agreement including the Ministry of Defence, Customs and Excise and most of the large commercial organisations.

3 Who is included?

All NHS organisations in England including:

all Primary Care Groups and Trusts

all Acute, Ambulance, Community and Mental Health Trusts

all Health Authorities and Special Health Authorities.

4 Are GPs covered in this agreement?

Yes provided the PC (or PCs) they are using meets one or more of the following requirements:

1. Is the hardware funded by "Vote1" money ie "NHS" money"?

2. Is the PC configured and connected to NHSnet?

3. Is the PC on an NHS asset register?

If you have any queries regarding this point then please consult the IM&T staff at your local Health Authority for guidance. If they are satisfied that an PC conforms to one or other of these three criteria then the intention of this agreement is that they should be included. So taking some examples:

a) PC funded under GMS reimbursemernt. Yes under 1 and 2

b) PC in Social Security Office used by NHS staff. Yes if funded by NHS (1) or connected to NHSnet or notionally on eg the HA's asset register

c) PC in a Dentist's practice. No at present

d) PC in Pharmacy as part of E-prescribing pilot. Probably yes because of NHSnet connection

e) Special Health Authority. Yes it is a statutory NHS body

f) "Information kiosk" and public access machines. Yes they're funded by the NHS and NHS assets.

5 Who is not included?

NHS organisations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are currently outside of this agreement, although they will be offered the opportunity to enrol. The Department of Health and agencies of the Department of Health are not included, although they will be offered the opportunity to enrol.

6 Our organisation doesn’t seem to be included in the list/description above –how do I find out whether we are included or whether we could be added in?

Please email Mike Power at the NHS Purchasing and Supplies Agency on

7 Does this agreement mean that we have to use all of this software?

No, this is not an exclusive agreement with Microsoft. Other similar agreements are likely to be announced with other suppliers shortly.

8 I’m not sure our organisation wants to be included, can we opt out and what would that mean?

The intention behind this agreement is to enable the whole of the NHS to work together to achieve the best possible commercial arrangement. If your organisation believes it has a business justification for not being included within this then you should contact Mike Power of the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency to discuss your position.

9 What software is included?

• Office Professional XP which includes:
• Word 2002
• Excel 2002
• Powerpoint 2002
• Access 2002
• FrontPage 2002
• Outlook 2002

and all new versions of these released during the agreement.

• Upgrade to Windows 2000 Professional (includes Internet Explorer browser) and all new versions of the desktop operating system released during the agreement (eg includes Windows XP when released later in 2001)

• The BackOffice Client Access Licence (CAL) which includes
• Windows 2000 CAL
• Exchange 2000 CAL
• SQL 2000 CAL
• SMS (Systems Management Server) CAL

and all new versions of these products released during the agreement.

10 Can we get our hardware supplier to pre-install this software for us?

Yes, this will continue using the same process we use in the current Select Agreement. Any supplier wishing to do this for an NHS customer will need to sign an Outsourcer Agreement which gives them permission to do this for you.

11 How can I find out more information about the products included in this?

Contact your Large Account Reseller or check out the Microsoft website

12 How can I get help using these products?

Please contact your local IM&T department to discuss training. There are training materials available through the existing Select Agreement from Microsoft Press. See page There are also many training centres available see

If you work with an NHS IM&T department and you require more detailed technical assistance then please contact Brian Painting at Microsoft on 0118 909 3258 and he will ensure that you are put in touch with the appropriate resource.

13 What software is not included and why?

Other desktop products, such as Project and Visio are not included as they are not considered to be required on a widespread basis.

None of the server licences are included because it is too complicated to try and assess how many servers there currently are and how many new servers are likely to be added in the next three years.

14 How do I buy the software that’s not included?

Exactly as you do today, using the NHS Select agreement from the authorised Large Account Resellers. There is no change in the terms offered for these products.

15 Where can I get hold of the software media?

The Large Account Resellers can provide media for you in the same way that they do today. There is a small charge for provision of media as with the current agreement. Please check with your local IM&T department as you will probably find that they already have what you need.

16 Does this agreement mean that I can start to use email immediately?

You are licensed to use Outlook immediately and access services from an Exchange mail server, however you will need to check with your local IM&T department on their plans to provide you with email. There are many other things that need to be in place (eg network connections, email server etc). Not all NHS organisations use the email software that Microsoft provides so you must check to find out what you will be using.

17 What is the NHS paying for this agreement?

The NHS is paying a fixed amount per user per year. The number of users each year increases to cover the growth expected due to the connectivity targets. Microsoft has provided a substantial discount to the NHS based on Microsoft buying back much of the software recently purchased. This is known as asset recovery within the terms of the agreement. The cost per user varies over the three years of the agreement slightly because of the way the asset recovery discount works. The details of the pricing are commercially confidential but a very thorough analysis has satisfied the NHS that this is a very attractive arrangement.

18 We’ve just bought lots of new Microsoft licences; do we get any money back for this?

The NHS is getting money back centrally for this as part of the terms of this agreement – see the question above which explains asset recovery.

19 What will happen at the end of this agreement?

Because this is a subscription agreement the NHS will have three options at the end of the agreement.

Option 1: Renew the agreement and continue to subscribe for this software

Option 2: Convert the licences to perpetual licences on payment of a one-off fee.

This would mean that the NHS would then own forever, whatever version was current at that time. The terms of the agreement guarantee the cost of conversion to perpetual and the NHS centrally have guaranteed that local organisations will not be required to pick up any costs relating to this option.

Option 3: Stop using this software and remove it from all of the personal computers. This would mean that the NHS would revert back to the software it owned prior to the start of this agreement and because of the asset recovery aspect (see Q17 and Q18 above), all of the Office 2000 and Exchange 2000 licences purchased prior to the end of June 2001 would no longer be owned by the NHS either. In reality we cannot foresee a situation where the NHS will not be using email, office productivity tools, etc and if the agreement with Microsoft were to end it would be because some other supplier(s) were providing these products instead.

20 We don’t want to run Office XP and/or Windows 2000 yet on our site, can we use an earlier version?

Yes we provide downgrade rights within this agreement:

Office: All software licenses acquired through this agreementare granted the right to downgrade (use a prior version).

Windows 2000: System software licenses acquired within this agreement are granted the right to downgrade .

BackOffice: All of the BackOffice Client Access Licences within this agreement are granted the right to downgrade.

21 We want to implement a “thin client” approach within our trust, does this agreement include the software we need to do this?

Yes, the licences you need to do this are included – the Windows 2000 Client Access Licence and the Windows 2000 Professional upgrade give you this capability for “thin client” devices.

22 How is the NHS going to track how many people are using this agreement?

As part of the existing LIS (Local Implementation Strategy) plan the IM&T function will be assessing approximately how many users there are within each entity. The inclusion of the Systems Management Software within the agreement should start to provide tools which will help the IM&T staff to manage large networks of PCs.

23 Are there any new support or service arrangements included with this agreement?

Not at this time, although there will be an assessment over the next few months of the services that might be relevant to provide better support to the NHS for Microsoft products.

24 What happens when a new version of this software is released?

You will be immediately covered by this agreement for use of new versions. You should contact your IM&T department for advice before installing any new versions as there may be issues with your hardware or other software which should be addressed before upgrading to the new version.

25 Can we use this agreement to install software on home computers if we are using them for work?

Work at Home rights are not included within this agreement. However, obviously laptop users who take their work computer home are still licensed for use of these products on this NHS owned computer. Also if the user is logging in via a browser interface using Outlook Web Access to access their email then they do not need an additional licence.

The NHS will be eligible to acquire licenses for Work at Home products under their Select agreement for deployment on employees’ home computers. As of 1 October 1998, Work at Home SKUs have been orderable off the NHS Select price list. Each Work at Home license acquired must correspond to a license for the same product deployed on an At Work Computer. Only the primary users of the At Work Computers to which Work at Home licenses correspond are eligible to use Work at Home products. The Work at Home offering is not an employee purchase plan. The Select Agreement customer (not the employee) retains the rights to the Work at Home license. These will have to be paid for by the local NHS organisation, and they will have to track and manage these licences.

26 Do we need to do anything when we buy new PCs?

You will be automatically covered by the Enterprise Agreement for the licences for the products that are included. You can install them immediately or ask your supplier to install them for you if he has signed an outsourcer agreement. See Q10. The base operating system will always come with the PC and it is cheaper for the NHS to buy it in this way. However this agreement enables you to upgrade it to the new version of the Windows desktop operating system including Windows 2000 Professional if that was not the version on the system when you bought it. From 25 October 2001 you can upgrade to Windows XP Professional.

27 We sometimes buy specialist equipment (eg audiology systems) which have Microsoft software included. Should we tell these suppliers to leave this software out now because of this agreement?

If the suppliers are using normal version of Microsoft products covered by this agreement then you have the following options:

1. Ask them not to include this software and then install it yourself.
2. If they have signed an outsource enrolment then thy can pre-install this software for you against your Enterprise Agreement – they may make a small charge for providing this service but should not charge you for the licence.
3. If they work with an existing hardware supplier such as Dell, Compaq etc and they have an outsourcer enrolment than this should cover the pre-installation of software.

28 I want to know if my PC can run the newest version of Office – how do I find out and how do I upgrade?

See the table below for system requirements for Office XP. Contact your IM&T department before upgrading. See Q23 and also Q15 as they are also relevant.

Minimum Requirements
Computer/Processor / Computer with a Pentium 133-megahertz (MHz) or higher processor
Memory / For all Office XP suites:
RAM requirements depend on the operating system used:
Windows 98, or Windows 98 Second Edition
24 MB of RAM plus an additional 8 MB of RAM for each Office program (such as Microsoft Word) running simultaneously
Windows Me, or Microsoft WindowsNT®
32 MB of RAM plus an additional 8 MB of RAM for each Office application (such as Microsoft Word) running simultaneously
Windows 2000 Professional
64 MB of RAM plus an additional 8 MB of RAM for each Office application (such as Microsoft Word) running simultaneously
For information on memory requirements for Office XP Developer, see our Office XP Developer system requirements page.
Hard Disk / Hard disk space requirements will vary depending on configuration; custom installation choices may require more or less. Listed below are the minimum hard disk requirements for Office XP suites:
Office XP Standard
210 MB of available hard disk space
Office XP Professional and Professional Special Edition¹
245 MB of available hard disk space
An additional 115 MB is required on the hard disk where the operating system is installed. Users without Windows 2000, Windows Me, or Office 2000 Service Release 1 (SR-1) require an extra 50 MB of hard disk space for System Files Update.
Operating System / Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me), WindowsNT 4.0 with Service Pack 6 (SP6) or later,² or Windows 2000 or later.
Drive / CD-ROM drive
Display / Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher-resolution monitor with 256 colors
Peripherals / Microsoft Mouse, Microsoft IntelliMouse®, or compatible pointing device

29 I’ve heard that Microsoft are changing their licensing with something called Software Assurance - do I still have to think about enrolling any of my software into the new Software Assurance (SA) programme?