Microsoft Dependent Add-ons

Owned by Apostolos Karakaxas
Last updated: Apr 06, 2021 by Panagiotis Papanastasiou
3 min read

There are Microsoft plans that have prerequisite and dependent add-ons. Examples of such plans are the Microsoft 365 E1 and the Microsoft 365 E3 which both have the Phone System as a prerequisite add-on and the Calling Plans as a dependent add-on. This page explains how we manage the Microsoft dependent add-ons.

Availability of Dependent Add-ons

The dependent add-ons are uploaded to your system by running the Get Services Definition process. The system will manage these add-ons exactly the same way it manages the rest of the add-ons. They will be linked automatically with the related Office 365 plans.

 

Purchasing a Dependent Add-on via Storefront

The dependent add-ons can be purchased only from the view page of a subscription. If the prerequisite of a dependent add-on has already been purchased for a subscription, then the Storefront user will be able to purchase the dependent add-on also using the “Buy Add Ons” option. Otherwise, only the prerequisite add-ons are visible and available for purchase. Also, in the case of a new order that contains a primary product/plan such as an Office 365 E1, then the Storefront user can also add in the basket a prerequisite add-on as well as a dependent add-on and order them (all three) simultaneously.

Availability rules

  1. The dependent add-ons will be available for purchase only if the prerequisite add-on is active in BSS and successfully provisioned, If the prerequisite add-on is not successfully provisioned, then the dependent add-ons will not be available in “Buy add-ons” pop-up.

  2. Even if the provisioning status of the prerequisite add-on is failed, we may still allow the customer to purchase the dependent add-on. If the failed status for the prerequisite add-on is because of a quantity update and not because of the initial provisioning, we will allow the customer to purchase the dependent add-on since the prerequisite has been provisioned in Microsoft Partner Center and it is failed now in our system because of a subsequent change quantity action that failed.

Your customers and resellers cannot purchase a dependent add-on by adding it to their basket. If they try to select the dependent add-on during ordering, they will receive a message that this add-on cannot be purchased.

 

Purchasing a Dependent Add-on via BSS

In BSS, the same validation rule has been applied as the one in the Storefront, which dictates when a dependent add-on can be ordered or not. More specifically, this validation checks whether a prerequisite add-on has been purchased in the past, and if it has, the relevant dependent add-ons become visible and available for ordering.

Consequently, your operations team is able to place an order in the BSS for a dependent add-on only if the prerequisite add-on has already been purchased. Otherwise, your operations team will not be able to see and therefore order any dependent add-on(s).

Purchasing Extra Dependent Add-on Licenses in BSS

The dependent add-ons that have already been purchased and are active, do not appear anymore as available for ordering, since the BSS user can only increase the licenses for those purchased dependent add-ons. As a result, the BSS user must look at the subscription's view page and under the addon’s section, the purchased add-ons are visible and unified. When the BSS user clicks on a dependent add-on, the add-on's quantity can be increased.

Cancellation of a Prerequisite Add-on that is related with a Dependent Add-on

A prerequisite add-on can be cancelled only if there isn’t any active dependent add-on for the same subscription. Otherwise, you need to cancel first the dependent add-on before our system allows you to cancel also the prerequisite add-on.

The same cancellation logic applies to prerequisite add-ons in the BSS.