Microsoft Partner Network

Programs Guide
Updated: November 12, 2020
Contents
Programs Guide................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2

Introduction to the Microsoft Partner Network ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Program Administrator .................................................................................................................................................................................... 3

Program Benefits ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4

Visual Studio – Developer Tools ................................................................................................................................................................... 6

Azure Services Benefits .................................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Technical Support............................................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Go-to-Market Services ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Programs Guide
The Microsoft Partner Network is your entry point for partnership with Microsoft and with other partners.
Whether you offer applications or services, our portfolio of programs, resources, and offers will help you:

• Grow your business by accelerating customer acquisition and value with increased visibility through
improved selling experiences and new offers;
• Drive customer success and increase efficiency with new platform and tooling improvements;
• Differentiate your business so customers understand your areas of expertise and specialization.

Last updated: November 12, 2020 | 2

Introduction to the Microsoft Partner Network
This guide is intended to provide partners who purchase a Microsoft Action Pack or attain a competency with
an overview of Microsoft Partner Network program rules and benefits. Benefits are provided to partners once
they meet the eligibility criteria and purchased the appropriate offer.

Program Administrator
An administrator within a partner organization collaborates across their organization to manage Microsoft
Partner Network membership including enrollment, offer purchase, competency attainment, and benefits
assignment to specific users within the organization. Partners participating in the Microsoft Partner
Network are responsible for tracking use and consumption of licenses and services provided through
the program. Partners are also accountable for developing their own method of tracking license/benefit
usage.

Review guidance about managing your membership.

Refund requests for competency and/or Action Pack fees should be raised within 30 days of initial purchase.
Refund requests are subject to a review and will be considered if no Benefits were consumed or tokens viewed.
Microsoft reserves the right to refuse the refund.

Last updated: November 12, 2020 | 3

Program Benefits
Technical Presales and Deployment Services
Technical Presales and Deployment Services offer technical guidance based on real-world scenarios via
interactive webinars and personalized technical consultations. These services help partners accelerate
development, deployment, and sales of Microsoft cloud-based applications and services. Partners must be
active members of Microsoft Partner Network. Access to services varies depending on the type of engagement
partner wishes to have with a Microsoft partner technical consultant. Additional information available in Using
Technical Presales and Deployment Services.

Product Licenses Terms of Use

Some programs and offers in the Microsoft Partner Network include product licenses that are intended to help
partners build innovative Microsoft-based apps and services. Refer to the license tables linked below for the
current license grants for these programs and offers. The product licenses you will receive are what’s listed in
Partner Center at the time you meet requirements and/or pay the fee.

• License table for partners with a Microsoft Action Pack

• License table for partners with a Competency

Each partner is responsible for tracking the consumption of software and cloud services license entitlement. If a
partner organization is selected for a compliance audit, that organization is responsible for presenting records
regarding the active program licenses used and compliance to the terms of use. Licenses do not provide
downgrade rights or any other Software Assurance services. If you need deployment, management, and other
similar services, learn more about Software Assurance.

Product Licenses granted can be used for:

• Demonstration purposes. Sales and marketing employees of the organization can use this software to
showcase products to your customers, but demonstration products cannot be installed on customer
hardware or infrastructure and must be used with partner supervision.
• Solution/Services development purposes, including the development, testing and demos of solutions
and services.
• Internal Training can be used for training internal employees only. Use for customer training is not permitted.
• Product licenses for internal use, in a development, test, demo, sandbox, or production environment for
general internal business purposes and not for any type of commercial purpose.

Product Licenses granted to partners cannot be used for:

• Direct revenue-generating activities such as hosting a customer’s applications or development of custom
solutions for a specific client
• Employee personal use at home

Last updated: November 12, 2020 | 4

• Installation of solutions or services at a customer site
• Customer training (except for learning partners)

• Resell or transfer to any third party

Product Keys and Tokens

Some products and cloud services require a product key for installation and/or activation. Product keys for
cloud services may also be referred to as tokens. Keys are issued per organization and not per end user of the
organization.

Not all product and cloud services licenses require product keys for installation or activation. Partners can use
any combination of methods and keys they have acquired through various Microsoft programs to activate
machines, depending on their business and infrastructure needs, so long if the systems are properly licensed
and appropriate use rights are applied.

On-premises Software Installation and Activation

If a product requires a product key for installation, the end-user will be prompted to enter a product key during
the installation process. If a product key is not required, “Not Required” will be noted in the Product Key
column.

Although some products require the entry of a product key during the installation process, not all products
require product activation. Product activation is required for Windows server and client operating systems and
all Microsoft Office client applications.

Some product keys issued are Multiple Activation Keys (MAK). These products have finite number of
installations, activations, or seats. A product key will stop working when all installations and activations have
been consumed. Additional activations for these product keys will not be granted. Consumption behavior of
activations on a product key differs between partners with an Action Pack and partners with a competency:

For the Microsoft Action Pack, the product key activation behavior is based on scenario:
• If the software is installed on a new machine, one product activation is consumed against the product key.
• If the software is installed on the same machine with no significant hardware changes, product activation is
not consumed against the product key.
• If the software is installed on the same machine with significant hardware changes, product activation is
consumed against the product key.

For partners who attain a competency, each time a machine is activated, one of the product activations for that
product key is consumed. This includes situations in which the same machine is reimaged and activated.
Product keys may only be used in the license grant combinations as provided. For example, one 25 seat key
cannot be adjusted to 5 different 5 seat keys.

Last updated: November 12, 2020 | 5

On-premises software licenses issued are not perpetual. Partners are entitled and have the right to use these
licenses only during their membership. Partners who opt not to renew their Microsoft Partner Network
membership will need to obtain license rights via Commercial Licensing or uninstall any on-premises software
obtained via the Microsoft Partner Network.

Cloud Services Activation

Tokens are issued for cloud services. Partners may have multiple tokens for each online service. Tokens must be
used in the format provided. For example, a 25-seat token cannot be split into 5 different 5 seat tokens so that
the cloud service can be consumed under different tenants. Program administrators who manage benefits
must pay close attention during activation, because each token may only be activated one time. Once a
token has been activated for seats on a tenant, those seats may not be moved to another tenant.

The issuing of replacement tokens will be considered within 30 days of activation and is subject to review by
Microsoft. If authorized upon review, replacement tokens will be issued as a one-time exception. Microsoft
reserves the right to refuse the issuance of tokens.

Use rights for cloud services subscriptions terminates at the end of Microsoft Action Pack subscription or at the
end of a competency enrollment year. Although Partners may continue to have access to cloud services
past their program enrollment end date, they will no longer have use rights through the program.

Each year when an organization renews a subscription or re-enrolls into the subscription/program with a
competency, a new set of tokens will be issued based on the organization’s entitlement at the time of
reenrollment. Partner program administrators are required to enter these new tokens on the Key Redemption
Portal each program year to avoid a lapse in cloud services. Partners who opt not to renew their membership
will need to obtain license rights via Commercial Licensing.

Visual Studio – Developer Tools

Visual Studio Enterprise subscriptions are included with certain competencies. The Microsoft Action Pack
subscription includes Visual Studio Professional subscriptions. All Visual Studio subscriptions are licensed per
user and must be assigned and activated to be valid.

Sharing sign-in credentials is prohibited.

Visual Studio subscriptions allow designated employees in the partner organization to use the software and
cloud services included within the Visual Studio subscription to design, develop, test, and demonstrate
internal applications.

The products included in these Visual Studio subscriptions cannot be used for direct revenue-generating
activities, such as providing consulting services, customizing a packaged application for a specific customer,
or building a custom application for a customer, for a fee. They can be used for indirect revenue-generating

Last updated: November 12, 2020 | 6

activities, such as building a packaged application on the Microsoft platform, which is then marketed and sold
to customers.

Assigning subscriptions
Visual Studio subscriptions may be reassigned from one subscriber to another if 90 days have passed since the
time of the original assignment.

Sharing
License entitlements are defined per organization. Your organization can share licenses across your associated
locations. Partners cannot share licenses across separate organizations including affiliates and acquired
companies that are not associated within the MPN membership profile of the partner who has Product License
rights.

Azure Services Benefits

Partners may be eligible for either monthly or bulk credits, based on the competencies they attain.
• Monthly Credits – Learn more here: Azure Benefit for Microsoft Partner Network
• Bulk Credits – Learn more here: Microsoft Azure Sponsorship Offer Details

Technical Support
As part of their Microsoft Partner Network benefits, partners receive two types of tech support incidents:
Product Support Incidents and Signature Cloud Support (SCS) Incidents. While competency partners have
access to both tech support incidents, Action Pack partners have access to product support incidents only.

Product Support Incidents are subject to N-1 policy (see MPN Partner support N-1 policy for on-premises
products for policy details). The N-1 support policy enables only newer on-premises products. N-1 includes the
current product (N) and the previous product version (N-1). Older (N-2) products and any product where
mainstream support has ended (see Microsoft Lifecycle Policy ), are not covered by Product Support Incidents..
Signature Cloud Support provides partners with cloud support to help keep their customers’ services operating
smoothly. Signature Cloud Support handles technical support scenarios for Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft
Dynamics CRM Online, and Microsoft Azure. You can find out more in Microsoft Partner Network technical
benefits summary.

Go-to-Market Services
Go-To-Market Services is a portfolio of best-in-class marketing content and programs that help you
accelerate time to market, drive demand, and expand your business. We operate at a global scale in over 170
countries and 14 languages, empowering you to unlock new growth opportunities for your business and
leverage our vast ecosystem. Go-To-Market Services are included in your partnership with Microsoft. As a

Last updated: November 12, 2020 | 7

partner with a silver or gold competency you unlock additional benefits and the opportunity for purchasing
incremental marketing solutions designed to take your business to the next level.

Learn more or get started.

Note: Benefits swap from Microsoft Action Pack to Learning Action Pack , or vice versa, can be performed one
time only, within 30 days after the Action Pack has been purchased, and if no benefits were consumed or tokens
viewed. The benefits swap is subject to a review. Microsoft reserves the right to refuse the benefits swap operation.

Last updated: November 12, 2020 | 8