Top partner questions library

Review top support issues submitted by partners through chat and tickets—includes a variety of topic areas spanning program and membership questions, account setup, benefits, billing, incentives, and technical support on products, platforms, tools, and more.

Account Setup and Management

Where can I find information and stay updated with the latest information about the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program?

Stay up to date and learn more about the CSP program from the Partner Center portal.

How to create or cancel a subscription?

Please review the following links for more information.

How to add my organizations VAT ID?

Review the following article about how to add your VAT ID.

How to request a CSP relationship?

To manage a customers service or subscription on their behalf, the customer must grant you administrator permissions for that service. Read more information in the following articles:

How to join the Cloud Solution Provider program?

Review the following information about enrollment.

What are the steps to get started on Partner Center?

Read the article below to see learn more about Partner Center website.

How can I get help for questions related to the Partner Center or Cloud Solution Partner (CSP) program?

Depending on the issue, Microsoft Partner Support can assist you with any CSP or Partner Center related queries.

How do I manage my CSP Invoices and customer billing?

Review the information below to see how to manage your billing.

Unsure where to get partner support or need help navigating the support experience?

Review the experience in the Contact Support Guidance article to learn about the available drop downs, recommended solutions, support options, feedback and more.

Agreements, Orders, Subscription Management

How do I earn Office 365 (E3) internal-use rights benefits through Microsoft Partner Network?

Get an overview of the Microsoft Partner Network Office 365 (E3) internal-use rights benefits.

Solution: Downloading/Activating software in Partner Membership Center and Partner Center
Click here to go to the pre-selected Topic for Get Support and see all available support options

How do I claim my Microsoft Azure internal-use rights (IUR) credit(s)?

All partners enrolled in a competency or Microsoft Action Pack have access to a Microsoft Azure monthly credit. This benefit is provided per organization regardless of the number of Action Pack subscriptions or Additional Benefit Toolkits purchased. If one of the administrators within an organization has already claimed the Azure benefit, other users in the same organization will not be able to claim it. To learn more about claiming your Microsoft Azure IUR benefit, please read the article below.

Solution: Downloading/Activating software in Partner Membership Center and Partner Center
Additional Information: Internal Use Rights cloud and software benefit
Click here to go to the pre-selected Topic for Get Support and see all available support options

Where do I download Windows 10 software and product keys?

Partners with a Microsoft competency or Action Pack subscription can access their Windows 10 Enterprise software and product key for internal-use from the Partner Digital Distribution Portal. For development, testing, and evaluation purposes, partners can access software and keys with the Visual Studio Online subscription that they are granted as a program benefit. (These include the Pro and Home editions.) Access is limited to end users assigned to the Visual Studio Online subscription. Note: Internal-use licenses for Windows 10 Enterprise are available as an upgrade only. Note: The Software Download privilege is required to download software from the Digital Distribution Portal and the View Keys privilege is required to view the product. To access Visual Studio subscriber downloads, the Premium Subscriptions privilege is required for partners with a competency and the Technical Contact role is required for partners with an Action Pack subscription. Note: Partners cannot use either existing Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 product keys to perform an in-place upgrade. Instead, a new key must be obtained from the Partner Digital Distribution Portal.

How do I activate my internal-use rights licenses?

You can find step-by-step instructions for activating Office 365, Enterprise Mobility Suite, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online internal-use rights licenses in the articles below.

Benefits

How do I complete an application certification through Microsoft Referrals?

Participating in Microsoft certifications or programs will help your referrals.

How to register for the My Visual Studio web site, if I already registered for MSDN?

Learn how to register on Visual Studio by following the steps outlined in the Knowledge Base article My Visual Studio Registration (Note that the Microsoft Partner Network RSC is responsible to support Partner Network members in understanding their Visual Studio subscription benefits, access to the subscription, and basic use of the Visual Studio portal.)

How do I qualify for Technical/Product Support?

Review the Core Benefits and Requirements and Microsoft Partner Network Technical Benefits Summary for information on Technical/Product Support eligibility based on your subscription.

What are the benefits in attaining a competency?

Please review the following links for more information

Who qualifies and where can I get Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Unified Operations Internal Use Rights (IUR)?

Partners who meet performance criteria for Cloud Business Applications Competency and currently have ERP competency. Read the article below to see the frequent asked questions and to learn more about this IUR

What are the steps to create a user account and assign permission in Partner Center?

You have the ability to assign users to three new roles in Partner Center that will help you manage your business, Microsoft Partner Network admin, Business profile admin, and Referral admin.

Where can I find more information about paid support offerings available for Microsoft Partners?

For a comparison of Partners specific support plans, please access below link.

Where can I find Customer or Partner paid support plans?

Depending on the product specific or business, please access below links.

I am only seeing options to add seats when renewing my Office 365 subscription, what do I do?

As per design, the system will not display the “renew/ extend” option if partners have more seats on their subscription than the seats number of the token generated at the renewal window. In order for partners to see the option to renew/extend the seats they must remove the licenses/seats from users until they reach out to the same number of seats or less, than their new token has. This workaround is applicable before activating the new token received. Choosing to add seats and not renew them the system will provide them less than 12 months of benefits. If by mistake partners added seats instead of renewing them, they must reach out to Frontline team asking for help within 30 days since the token was activated.

If I want to purchase additional support, what are my options?

Check below resources to learn more.

Can I get a certified letter from Microsoft that confirms my partnership?

Yes, you can access below link to create a certified letter that denotes your relationship/partnership with Microsoft.

What benefits do I get with Microsoft Action Pack subscription?

Check below resources to learn more.

How can I build my competency logo?

You can easily build your competency logo by accessing below links:

What are partner advisory hours?

Partner advisory hours are the currency used to access certain services offered to partners. Use your hours to build your skills and get customized guidance for deploying solutions.

How do I qualify for the Signature Cloud Support benefit?

Review the Core benefits and requirements for information on the individual requirements for the Cloud Performance and Hybrid competencies.

When will Microsoft Office Professional 2019 become available for Microsoft Action Pack (MAPS)?

This benefit is already available for Standard MAPS.

Why do I have only 5 E3 subscriptions instead of what I had before renewing Microsoft Action Pack?

An Action Pack Subscription will always receive 5 E3 licenses when a renewal process is completed. To check the number of licenses/ seats received please take a look at the license table found on the link below. In case the number received is not the same with the one you are entitled to, please reach out to Frontline team. For competencies renewal partners are entitled to receive a set of Core benefits for the Silver or Gold level and an incremental set of benefits based on each competency attained.

Why am I experiencing IUR issues with Office 2016 activation?

Office 2016 is not available as an IUR anymore. It has been replaced by Office 2019. Once the token has reached his activation limit it can no longer be extended. 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.

Why have I lost all Microsoft Partner benefits after renewal?

Due to various scenarios, please reach out to the Frontline support team to assist.

Can I upgrade the IURs from EMS E3 to E5?

IUR is a static benefit. It cannot be used to upgrade from E3 to E5. In order to receive an E5 you must attain a competency. Please check the License table for competencies and see what is the competency that can offer this benefit.

How do I activate my support contracts?

First check your benefit entitlement and then check online to see if your contract is activated and request activation if required.

What software benefits do I get?

Please review the following links for more information.

Can partners receive additional advisory hours once they consume the number of hours received as per their level of membership?

The service has been retired; partners cannot purchase additional advisory hours.

Incentives and Payouts

How do I enroll incentives programs to Partner Center?

The document below contains step by step details on how user management is done alongside with how incentives programs can be enrolled on Partner Center.

What are the commonly asked questions on migration to Partner Center?

The document below covers all the commonly asked questions and answers in regards to PMC to Partner Center Migration.

Where can I find more information about Incentives?

Information on all Incentive programs is available on the Microsoft Partner Network Partner Incentives and investments page. Partners who are eligible for an incentive program will see all available materials for that program from the Incentives and investments page. Partners will also see details on most of the cloud incentives, even if they haven’t attained the required competencies yet.

How do I get support for Incentives and Payouts?

You can find support for the Incentives and Payouts program under the Support section on the Incentives and Payouts page.

I received a payment from Microsoft, which incentive program and/or period does it belong to?

Access below article to learn more.

How do I submit a claim in Partner Center?

The document below contains step by step details on how to submit a claim in Partner Center Migration.

How does my organization become eligible for the Cloud Solutions Provider program?

Access below article to learn more.

How does my organization become eligible for the Azure Incentives Program?

Access below article to learn more.

Licensing, Sales and Marketing

How can I learn more about Microsoft licensing?

Please see the below article for more questions about licensing.

Can I use my granted licenses for training purpose?

You are not permitted to use the granted licenses for customer training. IURs can be used for training purpose only for internal employees, and you should be aware of the fact that an activation will be consumed.

Are my online tokens activated automatically once I renew my Action Pack subscription/competency?

When you renew a subscription or re-enroll in the Action Pack subscription/program with a competency, a new set of tokens will be issued based on the organization’s entitlement at the time of re-enrollment. Partner program administrators are required to activate the tokens to avoid a lapse in cloud services. These tokens are not activated automatically. They can be activated when you want to, but take into consideration the compliance perspective. After Action Pack/ Competency expires, you will not have a license for the particular benefit, even if the tokens are still active.

Microsoft Partner Network Benefit Package Usage Guide

Where can I find readiness and training necessary to manage my relationship with Microsoft?

The Microsoft Readiness portal is the best way to easily find operational readiness and training resources that will provide change and launch information for programs, policies, processes, and tools (includes Commercial, OEM, ADD, CFPP since CSP is on Partner Center)

Solution: Microsoft Readiness

Programs and Membership

How is my Azure consumption calculated for Cloud Platform Competency?

TTM consumption is calculated for the subscriptions who have DPOR or Azure transacting partner attached. In case a partner owns some subscriptions, this is not enough. Partner has to be attached as DPOR or Azure transacting partner for the owned subscriptions. The consumption will be calculated only from the date DPOR, CSP tier 1, or CSP tier 2 is attached. Also, revenue attribution is excluded for Trial Offers & MPN Benefits.

How do I set up an account in the new Partner Center?

Access below links to find out more information.

How can I onboard as an Indirect Reseller?

Access below link to learn how you can enroll in the Cloud Solution provider program.

What are the top asked questions about Learning Paths?

Learning paths can help you get trained or certified. Learning paths highlight the paths that are relevant to your company, or organization. The Learning Paths FAQ provides answers to the top asked questions about Learning Paths.

How can I download or check the Microsoft Partner Network agreement in Partner Center?

Access below article to learn more.

How can I receive referrals? How are referrals created?

As the first step to getting referrals, you need to enroll in the membership portal and create a business profile. These referrals can be generated directly by the customers on sites such as Microsoft.com or other marketing digital properties within Microsoft, or any of Microsoft’s internal sales teams like Inside Sales, CSS Presales, Retail Store, etc. Customers and Microsoft sellers can find the right partner for their needs. More information on the creation of business profile can be found in the Referrals how-to downloadable guide as well as the Create a Business Profile article. Best practices for managing profiles and growing your business with referrals can be found in the Responding to Referrals article.

How does customer search work?

Customer-entered keywords are matched with partner declared business profiles creating a shorter list of partners. Customers can use filters to narrow down their choices of partner based on location and customer size. Best Match category uses competencies and input from Microsoft individuals to surface partners. Most Responsive category uses data on partner responses in referral management experience to surface partners. Nearest to You category takes partner proximity from customer entered location into account to surface partners. The search function can be found on the Solution Provider Search page.

What are endorsements? How can I get endorsed?

Endorsements use Microsoft’s knowledge of partner expertise based on existing engagements & programs. Endorsements are implemented via a tag against the partner’s profile. Endorsement tags are an interim measure used where advanced specializations are not yet available to identify the partners most able to provide services and solutions to meet customer need. A process is being put in place in FY19 Q1 timeframe to make any further updates to endorsements. This process will be used to evaluate existing endorsements and oversee addition of new endorsements. Until then, no updates will be made to endorsements. More information can be found on the Partner Membership site and the following article detailing new opportunities for partnering with Microsoft.

How do I migrate from Partner Membership Center to Partner Center?

Below article provides you with information on the PMC to PC Migration steps; additional context on Microsoft Partner Network and support. Before starting the process please make sure that the process will be completed by the Global Admin who identified the Azure Active Directory (AAD) tenant that will be associated with the new Partner Center portal. Also please note that the MPN membership/competencies are NOT in an expired state – only active enrollments (MAPS/Silver/Gold competencies/possible ABTKs) will be migrated, together with all your benefits, in Partner Center. In case there are ABTKs already purchased on the account, you should renew/re-purchase them before migrating. Existing locations in PMC will also get transitioned over in Partner Center.

How do I manage my company's membership?

Partners can access the Partner Membership Center to manage their Microsoft Partner Network membership and associated benefits. See this article for an overview of the Partner Membership Center.

How do I renew my Microsoft Partner Network membership?

Learn how to determine when you should renew your membership, how to renew, opportunities in the network, and more.

Where can we view the expiration date for our Microsoft Action Pack subscription?

To view the expiration date, sign in to the Partner Membership Center. Select the menu option, Orders and Benefits. Then click Microsoft Action Pack Subscription

My company has qualifying Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCP) who are not recognized as fulfilling requirements for a silver or gold competency. What can I do?

If your qualifying Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCP) are not recognized at the competency requirements, use the below solution to link their MCP id to your organization.

My organization is not enrolled in the Microsoft Partner Network. How do I enroll my company?

If you have a Microsoft account, sign in to the Enroll Your Organization in the Microsoft Partner Network page to get started. If you do not have a Microsoft account, you will need to create one first.

My company is enrolled in the Microsoft Partner Network. How do I associate as an individual to the profile?

If you already have a Microsoft account, sign in to the Associate as an individual page on the Partner Membership Center and fill in the required fields. If you do not have a Microsoft account, you will need to create one before you get started.

What are my missing requirements to renew my competencies?

Use the below solution to find out requirements specific to each competency. Partners can also view the list of competencies and its requirements on the Microsoft partner website.

How do I create my business profile? Is there a limit on how many business profiles I can create?

You can create a profile for each country you would like to connect with customers in. You can add up to 5 locations for each profile. You can only create a business profile in a country where you have a physical location today.

How to print/download final invoice from MAPS and Competency fee?

See the article below to learn how to print final invoices.

How do I merge separate Microsoft Partner Network enrollments?

Read the article below to see the considerations that could impact your access to benefits and ability to transact.

How to link my organizations work account to my new Partner Center account?

If your company doesn’t already have work account, you can create one for free during the enrollment process. If you want to use an existing work account but you’re having trouble signing in, review the following articles:

What is Digital Partner of Record?

Learn more of Digital Partner Record in the article below.

Technical Presales, Deployment, App Development

Which Microsoft partner network benefits are required to access the technical journeys?

As an Microsoft Partner Network partner, you receive unlimited access to remote, technical webinars, and unlimited access to Dev Chat offered as part of the technical journey. To engage in a one-to-one technical consultation via screensharing, you will use your Technical Presales Assistance or Partner Advisory Hours benefit.

Does Microsoft help partners with technical presales, deployment, migration, or app development types of scenarios?

Yes. As part of your Microsoft partner network benefits, you receive access to Microsoft Partner Technical Consultants that will provide you best practice guidance, and the consultants will provide you with a recommended path (called a technical journey) of how to best build your technical capabilities for these scenarios.

What is a technical journey? Why is it important to my partner organization?

Technical journeys help you build your technical capabilities faster to accelerate sales, deployments and app development. Start your technical journey to receive technical guidance from Microsoft partner technical consultants through a recommended path of interactive technical webinars and personalized consultations with virtual white-boarding, architecture reviews and shadowing of real-world scenarios.

How do I engage with Microsoft Partner Technical Consultants throughout the technical journey?

Learn more about technical engagement options

Technical Support (Products, Platforms, Tools)

How do I submit a Technical/Professional Support Incident?

Review the Microsoft Partner Network Technical Benefits Summary to validate your company is eligible for technical support.