Enterprise Cloud Suite handouts from GLR

If you’re a fan of the Get Licensing Ready handouts – and who doesn’t love these one pagers on all aspects of Microsoft licensing?! – then you can get a preview of the new handouts for the Enterprise Cloud Suite.

New exams will come to Get Licensing Ready soon, but the handouts are available here right now: http://bit.ly/GLRhandouts.

Online Services Suites

If you want to know what Online Services are included in which plans then this table on page 25 of the January 2015 Online Services Terms document is jolly useful.

You can see, for example, which plans include Yammer Enterprise (K1 but none of the Government offerings) or Parature Enterprise (CRM Online Enterprise). Get the document here: http://bit.ly/MSpur.

74-678 Sample Exam Improvements

We’ve made some changes to our 74-678 Sample Exam: you said you wanted more feedback as to what you needed to work on after taking the exam so now you get that information along with your final score.

Find the Sample Exam and our other resources to help you to prepare to take the 74-678 exam here: http://bit.ly/74-678.

January 2015 – Online Services Terms (OST) re-issued

The January 2015 Online Services Terms document is re-issued: if you found you couldn’t click anywhere in the document then this is now fixed. http://bit.ly/MSpur.

Changes to Power BI for Office 365 Rights

Dual access rights for Power BI for Office 365 USLs are removed: previously these licensed access to SQL 2014 Standard and Business Intelligence servers, but no longer – see page 6 of the January 2015 PUR.

Overview of the Changes to the January 2015 Volume Licensing Product List

There’s something for everyone in the changes to the January 2015 Product list – familiar products are discontinued, new products are added, useful pieces of text change document, and then there are a whole host of smaller changes which are actually still quite interesting. So without further ado, let’s take a closer look…

Firstly, there are some fond farewells to bid:

  • The MapPoint, AutoRoute, and Streets and Trips products are all removed and are discontinued from 31 December 2014. This site (http://bit.ly/1vReRJt) gives details of mapping alternatives including, of course, Bing Maps, as well as Power Map for Excel, and there’s a link to the (rather nice) story behind AutoRoute too
  • The Visual Studio Deployment products are removed, and this site (http://bit.ly/1BXUJtT) confirms that from 1 January 2015 target servers receiving automated deployment from Visual Studio Release Management Server will no longer require a Visual Studio Deployment licence

And we welcome “Parature, from Microsoft” – it’s another acquisition that was made last year and adds on to the functionality of Dynamics CRM. The main site (http://bit.ly/1y39MDR) explains the product thus: “Parature is a cloud-based customer service solution that empowers brands and organizations to deliver consistent care anytime, anywhere through a powerful combination of knowledge management, self-service and multi-channel engagement.” Licensing-wise, here are the key things to know:

  • Users are licensed with Parature Enterprise USLs
  • Further Add-on USLs are available for Additional Records, Page Views, Departments or File Storage as well as a number of support options – check out the full list of USLs on page 51
  • Parature Enterprise is included in the CRM Enterprise USL which you can see in the (very useful) table on page 25 of the January 2015 Online Services Terms document which shows which components are in which Office 365 plans

There’s a bit of a re-organisation as far as useful pieces of text are concerned:

  • The text explaining the SA upgrade rights for BizTalk Server is removed and page 11 now just has a summary and directs you back to the December 2014 Product List for details
  • The text confirming that Lync Online User SLs are not required for external users and users not authenticated by the Lync Online service is moved to page 19 of the January 2015 OST – which makes sense of course. Likewise, confirmation that Yammer Enterprise is available as part of Office 365 K1 is moved to that very useful table in the OST I mentioned above

And in other changes:

  • There’s some clarity added to the purchase eligibility for the Enterprise Mobility Suite From SA USLs on page 46 confirming that customers transitioning to an EMS From SA USL don’t need a Bridge CAL if they’re also licensed for Office 365. Likewise, those transitioning to the Office 365 From SA USLs don’t need a Bridge if they’re also licensed with the Enterprise Mobility Suite – see page 58
  • Project Lite is added to the list of eligible transitions for a Project Server CAL customer on page 22
  • The right to operate a Store Manager Device is moved from a Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Functional CAL to a Task CAL – find the detail of the rights associated with each CAL on page 17
  • Dynamics CRM Online Professional is added to the list of qualifying Online Services for the US Government Community Cloud on page 41
  • There’s a note added on page 49 that Microsoft Social Listening is not available in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Professional for Government
  • And finally, there’s some simplification of the Supplemental Terms for Professional Services for Legacy Agreements which you can find on pages 84/85

January 2015 PUR re-issued

The January 2015 PUR is re-issued: if you found you couldn’t click anywhere in the document then this is now fixed. http://bit.ly/MSpur.

74-678 Exam Preparation Guide Available

Our brand new book which helps you to prepare for and pass the new Volume Licensing exam 74-678 is now available in Amazon Kindle stores around the world! It will teach you all the topics you need to know for the exam and gives you a chance to assess your progress with its hundreds of revision questions. Definitely worth a look if you’re working towards the 74-678 certification: http://bit.ly/74-678-UK-Kindle (UK) or http://bit.ly/74-678-US-Kindle (US). And if you’re waiting for the paperback version then that will be here soon!

Changes to services in the Office 365 Enterprise Plans

The services included in the Office 365 Enterprise Plans are always being refined and here are two to know about: from January 2015 new customers won’t have access to a SharePoint Online Public Website, although existing customers will continue to have access for another two years (http://bit.ly/1wvnKJX) and all Office 365 customers will have access to Office 365 Video by early 2015. What is Office 365 Video?

Essentially a new SharePoint portal type optimised for video so that organisations can post, share and discover video content. It’s powered by Azure Media Services and if you want to know more, it would be worth checking out the announcement here: http://bit.ly/1FschEy

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Enterprise Cloud Suite FAQ

There’s a new (December 2014) Enterprise Cloud Suite FAQ document if you have access to the Partner Learning Center.

This link (http://bit.ly/1rZZovg) takes you to what appears to be recordings of the L100 to L300 training sessions but the FAQ document is there too. It’s 12 pages of licensing deliciousness and includes sections on Windows SA per User, Licensing for Enterprise Voice and Software Assurance in the context of the new Enterprise Cloud Suite.