There’s an updated (May 2015) MPSA Licensing Manual with information added regarding the process of verifying compliance, divestiture licence transfers, and attaching SA to OEM/FPP.
Find the document here: http://bit.ly/1P4E277.
Author Archives: licensingschool
August 2015 Online Services Terms document
August 2015 is the first month that the Online Services Terms document is released on a monthly schedule. There are few changes from the July 2015 document and page 3 of the document has a good summary of the amendments: Advanced Threat Protection is added, Power BI for Office 365 changes its name to Power BI Pro, and there are some slight changes to various terms, the most notable of which is the “Disclosure of Customer Data” section which describes Microsoft’s approach to third party requests for Customer Data. Get the updated document here: http://bit.ly/MSvlterms.
The 74-678 Exam
If you want to demonstrate competence in Microsoft licensing then the “Designing and Providing Microsoft Volume Licensing Solutions to Large Organizations” is a great exam to have under your belt. Microsoft have a range of certification exams and this one is the one aimed at people who work in the licensing industry.
The syllabus is published here (http://bit.ly/1SFLcUW) and you’ll see that you need knowledge of three key areas: how the individual products are licensed, the programs through which you can purchase them, and the whole range of Software Assurance benefits.
There are a number of ways that you can prepare for the exam. Many people find face to face training the most useful and we’ve got a great one day course. You can find the agenda (http://bit.ly/1G7GumX) and book on a public course running in the UK for just £175 in dates in September through December 2015. Alternatively, many organisations book a dedicated course on their own site. Note if you book on a public course in August or September you get a free Exam Voucher included.
When you attend one of our courses you get a printed copy of our Exam Preparation Guide which has good explanations, clear diagrams and hundreds of revision questions to support your learning. Many people prepare for the exam with just this guide and it’s available on Amazon in both the printed form and as a Kindle book. You can find it, along with the great reviews, at this location: http://bit.ly/74-678-US-Kindle. Thank you reviewers!
Towards the end of your preparation it’s useful to make sure that you’re on track in terms of applying your knowledge in the exam – sometimes people feel that they know their stuff but they’re not sure whether they’ll be able to answer the exam questions correctly. We’ve got a Sample Exam to help out here: the real exam has 40-odd general licensing questions followed by a scenario where you have to read all about a fictional company and then answer ten or so questions. Our Sample Exam mirrors this exactly and you can find this exam here: http://bit.ly/74-678.
When you come to take the exam you’ve got some options: you can either go to a Testing Centre, or opt to take it in the comfort of your own home or office using the new Online Proctored option. If you’re interested in this new approach, this is where you’ll find more information: http://bit.ly/1BoRyg1.
And finally, there’s some good news if things don’t quite go to plan: between 12 July 2015 and 12 January 2016 if you don’t pass the exam at the first attempt, then you get a free retake. This initiative is called “Second Shot” and you can find full details at this link: http://bit.ly/1DjXETK.
August 2015 Enterprise CAL Suite Changes
There are two changes to the Enterprise CAL Suite from 1 August 2015.
Firstly, Advanced Threat Analytics is added and is, in fact, added to all the Enterprise CAL Bridges and the Enterprise Mobility Suite too (see page 70 of the August 2015 Product Terms).
Secondly, the System Center Client Management Suite is “removed” – in quotes because the rights to use it will be included in the Enterprise CAL Suite and ECAL Bridge for Office 365 through 31 December, 2016 (page 86).
Due to these changes there are also August 2015 updates to two Volume Licensing Briefs:
- “Base and Additive CALs” (http://bit.ly/1bQsSCV) and
- “Licensing the Core and Enterprise CAL Suites” (http://bit.ly/J3P8NJ).
Both of these briefs include the amendments noted above along with Skype for Business Server CALs replacing Lync CALs, and the second document has a jolly nice definition of Advanced Threat Analytics if that’s a new product for you.
Visual Studio Licensing Changes
There are some great changes announced to Visual Studio Team Foundation Server and Visual Studio Online licensing starting on 1 September 2015.
As you may know, Visual Studio Online is essentially the online version of Team Foundation Server. VS Online is licensed with a User Subscription Model and TFS with a traditional Server/CAL model. The first big change to the licensing is that if you buy any Visual Studio Online subscription you get a TFS CAL for the named user of the subscription, which means that that user can access VS Online or TFS or both VS Online AND TFS.
Then there’s new pricing for the VS Online Basic subscriptions: the overall price has been reduced and volume discounts have been introduced. In practical terms, this means that 45 users using VS Online Basic today costs $800/month but with the new structure will only cost $310/month.
The details for these changes are in another of Microsoft’s Brian Harry’s great blog posts (http://bit.ly/1ItZxxl) where you’ll also find the timing of the changes for all types of customers
Windows 10 Licensing Guide
It’s here! No, not Windows 10 – the Windows 10 Licensing Guide!
This July 2015 guide covers the desktop editions of Windows 10 with information on the new servicing branches, SA and VDA licences, the now-included MDOP, activation methods, and the Get Genuine options.
Find this guide here: http://bit.ly/1gpafL3.
Wider Availability of Online Proctored Exams
The list of countries where online proctored exams are available is extended with (among others) the UK, Denmark, France, Germany and the Netherlands joining the ranks.
This means that you can take your Volume Licensing MCP exam (74-678) in the comfort of your home/office monitored by someone offsite. Find full details here: http://bit.ly/1BoRyg1.
Power BI Generally Available
Power BI is generally available from 24 July 2015 with just two licences available – a light “Power BI” which is free, and “Power BI Pro” which is $9.99 per user per month and includes the full set of features.
Some useful links: the announcement (http://bit.ly/1SaTYu1), details on the plans (http://bit.ly/1tPRiGA), and a useful FAQ including licence transitions (http://bit.ly/16fXTQh).
CRM Pricing and Licensing Updates
Updates on CRM pricing and licensing: promotional pricing for buying CRM Online Professional, Office 365 E3 and PowerBI together is extended until the end of September 2015, after that CRM Online Professional will be available at a discount for Office 365 customers, and CRM Server 2015 is now certified for deployment on Azure if you have Software Assurance.
Read the full article here: bit.ly/1MlRntb.
MSDN Administrators’ Guide – MPSA
Organisations buying Visual Studio with MSDN through the MPSA will use a brand new portal to manage their MSDN subscriptions.
There’s a just-released Administrator’s Guide which has 24 pages of useful knowledge including admin for large teams and external contractors, how to add administrators to the portal, as well as all the day-to-day tasks of assigning subscriptions along with instructions for the Bulk Upload facilities.
Get the guide here: http://bit.ly/1fYNT2V but note that existing subscriptions are still managed through VLSC, so the VLSC Admin Guide is worth a look too: http://bit.ly/1ucJ3hm.