Upgrading NCE Subscriptions

Owned by Panagiotis Papanastasiou
Last updated: Nov 15, 2024 by Niki Rousaki
4 min read

NCE products function differently when it comes to upgrades. This page explains what those differences are. Also, you will also find an analysis of how our Storefront portal allows the upgrade (full or partially) of an NCE subscription to both, an entirely new NCE subscription as well as an existing NCE subscription (source subscription) to another existing NCE subscription (destination subscription) that resides on the upgrade path of the source subscription.

 

Rules for Upgrading NCE Products

For the general rules on upgrading subscriptions, please see the page Upgrade/Downgrade a Subscription. Please note the following points when upgrading NCE subscriptions:

  • NCE subscriptions can only be upgraded. It is not possible to downgrade NCE subscriptions.

  • The upgrade paths for NCE products are created automatically when the Get Services Definition process runs.

  • Whether seat reassignment will happen automatically depends on the customer's eligibility. Please check for any notifications (explained in the section Upgrading NCE Subscriptions | The Upgrade Process) or the Online Information tab, to ensure that seat reassignment has been successful or whether it must be done manually.

  • It is not possible to increase the quantity when upgrading. As a workaround, you may perform a full upgrade and increase the quantity afterward.

  • The promotion of the original product will be lost. If the target product has a promotion, the promotion will be applied after the upgrade.

  • It is not possible to set the upgrade to occur at a future date, it is only possible to upgrade on the current date.

  • The cancellation window of the upgraded subscription is the same as that of the original subscription.

  • It is possible to upgrade a subscription at any time, even while it is in its cancellation window.

  • Upgrading a Specialized Offer NCE subscription from a Specialized to a Standard is currently available. The reverse or any other upgrade combination is not yet available.

Rules for Upgrading to an Existing NCE Subscription

When Storefront users select an existing active (source) NCE subscription to upgrade, they are provided with a list of eligible (destination) NCE subscriptions to upgrade the source NCE subscription. A destination NCE subscription is considered eligible for an upgrade when it meets the aforementioned rules as well as the following, “Upgrade to an Existing Subscription”-specific rules:

It must:

  • Be active

  • Be non-trial

  • Have a product on the upgrade path of the source subscription’s product

  • Be out of the cancellation window period (meaning that the cancellation window has passed)

  • Have the same or larger term duration than the source subscription

  • Have an end date later than the end date of the source subscription’s

  • Exist in our platform

  • Exist under the same account with the source subscription

  • Follow certain MPNID rules depending on the account’s role

The billing frequency does not affect in any way the eligibility for the upgrade of a source NCE subscription to a destination NCE subscription.

When fully upgrading an NCE subscription, the external ID provided by Microsoft remains the same as the external ID of the original subscription.

Upgraded subscriptions normally have a new protected price, since they have a different cost & sell price. Also, the effective date, of when the price protection will be applied, should be taken into consideration. Furthermore, since the billing cycle of the upgraded subscription follows the billing cycle of the original one, the price protection effective date follows as well.

 

Upgrade Paths

The upgrade paths for NCE products are created automatically when the Get Services Definition process runs. The following figure is an example of possible upgrade paths for M365 - Office 365 E3 (New Commerce), retrieved by the Get Services Definition:

 

The Upgrade Process

Users of our portals (Storefront & BSS) can upgrade their NCE subscriptions by selecting the dedicated upgrade button from the respective portal, inside each existing active NCE subscription. Below is a list of three links that analyze all the available upgrade options of NCE subscriptions from both the Storefront and the BSS portals, addressing full and partial upgrades.

End customers of Standard Resellers also have the capacity to directly upgrade their NCE subscriptions via Storefront.

However, their upgrade pricing is determined based on the following factors:

  • Pricing: The price is determined by the product’s markup and any special pricing the Standard Reseller applies to the end customer.

  • Billing Period: The billing cycle follows the configurations set for the Standard Reseller and the product.

  • Tax: End customer upgrade orders are always tax-free.

  • First Payment Option: Unlike resellers, end customers do not have a First Payment option.

Monitoring NCE Subscription Upgrade Activity

During or after an NCE subscription upgrade, you can view its activity from within the BSS portal. On the Viewing the Activity of NCE Upgrades page you can find an analysis of this monitoring feature.

 

Notifications

During an NCE upgrade, two types of notification messages can be dispatched, depending on the case upgrade case. On the https://interworkscloud.atlassian.net/wiki/x/JgBpUQ page you can find an analysis of both messages and their use case.

Possible Error Scenarios

During the NCE upgrade process, it is possible to encounter one or more error messages which are analyzed on the https://interworkscloud.atlassian.net/wiki/x/IIBlUQ page.