CRM Server 2015 arrived in December 2014 and this Volume Licensing Guide gives a comprehensive overview of the licensing of this product with 27 pages of licensing detail. Essentially, CRM Server is licensed with the Server/CAL model and there are enhancements to the licensing rather than major changes from the 2013 version of the product. Read on for details and get the document here: http://bit.ly/1F28awR.

Firstly, there are Dual Use Rights for the CRM products now. This means that users licensed with CRM Online USLs have use rights equivalent to a CAL to access an on-premises deployment of CRM Server, and there’s a table on page 7 showing which USLs are equivalent to which CALs. Be aware though that these Dual Use Rights are only available for customers who are licensed with a server licence for the 2015 version of CRM Server rather than any earlier versions. They are allowed, however, to deploy an earlier version of CRM Server under that licence and the Dual Use Rights will still apply.

Customers licensed with CRM Server and CAL licences may add on access to CRM Online via USLs for Software Assurance. The available options are detailed in a table on page 16 and it’s updated for the new USLs that were added in 2014 – the Enterprise USL and the Social Listening Add-on. Alternatively, customers with CRM CALs may transition those licences to equivalent CRM Online USLs if they want to move to a fully user-based subscription licensing position, and the “License Transition Eligibility” table on page 18 shows the available options and again is updated for the Enterprise USL.

There’s a new section added for Unified Service Desk on page 10 explaining that the rights to install and use this functionality are included with the CRM Online Professional and Enterprise USLs as well as the CRM 2015 Professional CAL with Software Assurance. Note that this is the only way to license USD – it’s not available as a standalone licence.

Trials are available for CRM Server 2015 and there’s a change to the notification process: previously there was no notification that the 90 day trial was about to expire, now admin users will be warned of impending trial expiration.

And finally, as you would expect, the actual functionality in CRM Server 2015 is enhanced from CRM Server 2013, so the tables on pages 9 and 25-27 are updated to reflect what use rights each of the CALs now has. Equally CRM Server 2015 is now available through the MPSA so the Volume Licensing Programs information is updated on page 14.