Grace period for Azure Reservation exchanges

Microsoft announced in October 2022 that Azure compute Reservations purchased on or after 1 January, 2024 would no longer be able to be exchanged. Then, in October 2023, they announced that there would be a grace period giving customers until at least 1 July, 2024 to exchange their Reservations for Azure Dedicated Host, Azure App Services, and Reserved Instances. The latest announcement in May 2024 states that the grace period is now extended until further notice.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/4bPH4gl, and a useful article with some example scenarios here: https://bit.ly/3MdGC0m.

Education Microsoft 365 plan comparison document

There’s an updated (May 2024) Microsoft 365 plan comparison document for education. You’ll find a new Cloud Access Security Broker section on page 6 gathering together products like Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps and Office 365 Cloud App Security, and Windows Autopilot moves into the Windows section on the same page.

Get this updated document here: https://bit.ly/4bpdmP2.

Viva feature comparison table

There’s an updated (April 2024) Viva feature comparison table, a very useful document that covers the Viva family of products and the various components. There are a few changes made to align it with some recent Microsoft announcements.

Firstly, a new column has been added for Viva Pulse – now available as a standalone licence costing $2 per user per month (https://bit.ly/3QHtAe0).

Additionally, the reference to Topics in Viva has been removed, as Viva Topics will be retired in February 2025 (https://bit.ly/3UGfACb).

And, notably, the document now specifies which Viva product requires a Microsoft Teams license, considering that Teams is now sold separately from the Office 365/Microsoft 365 suites (https://bit.ly/3vC9SZR).

Get this updated comparison table here: https://bit.ly/3UYgBHh.

Microsoft 365 plan comparison documents

There are updated (May 2024) Microsoft 365 plan comparison documents with some small changes such as the addition of the Entra ID Free plan. These useful documents tell you which (of the many) different components are included in which Office 365/Microsoft 365 plan, and there’s a table for SMB customers (https://bit.ly/3y7C5bS), and one for Enterprise customers (https://bit.ly/3K5Oik5), and still more for specialist US customers – one for GCC (https://bit.ly/44HOqQh), one for GCC High (https://bit.ly/4aak8q5) and the final one for DoD (https://bit.ly/3UrMlD7). And, if you’re a partner, there’s exciting news – we’ve found the Excel version of these files! Drop us an email on info@licensingschool.co.uk from your work email address and we’ll send it on.

Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide

There’s an updated (May 2024) Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide with very minor edits detailed on the Change Log on page 63. Find this updated guide here: https://bit.ly/3wnv06n.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 licensing prerequisites extended

Microsoft update the May 2024 Product Terms to add some eligible licences for the purchase of Copilot for Microsoft 365: now, users licensed with Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft 365 F1/F3 and Office 365 F3/E1 may also purchase this product.

Check out the Product Terms here: https://bit.ly/2OFt7vB.

Multi-tenant organisation capabilities within Microsoft 365

Microsoft announce that multi-tenant organisation (MTO) capabilities within Microsoft 365 are now generally available. These capabilities aim to enhance an organisation’s collaboration and communication activities across multiple tenants using Teams and Viva Engage. From a licensing perspective only one Microsoft Entra ID Plan 1 licence is required per employee per multi-tenant organisation, and a Viva Suite or Employee Communications & Communities User SL is required for the MTO capabilities in Viva Engage.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3wkgMmB, and use this site for a good explanation of the different options for organisations with more than one tenant: https://bit.ly/3QjywW8.

Dynamics 365 Business Central on-premises Licensing Guide

There’s an updated (January 2024) Dynamics 365 Business Central on-premises Licensing Guide. There aren’t major updates, just a few changes to the Configuration Components section on page 8.

Find this updated guide here: https://bit.ly/3UqiTOW

Upcoming retirement of Power BI Premium capacity

Microsoft announce that Power BI Premium capacity SKUs (the P-SKUs) will be retired in favour of Fabric capacity. New customers will not be able to purchase the P-SKUs after 1 July, 2024, but existing non-EA customers can renew their existing subscriptions until 1 January, 2025 and then (if required) purchase more capacity until the end of the subscription term, and EA customers can, of course, purchase/renew until the end of the EA term. There are no changes to either Power BI Pro or Power BI Premium Per User licensing.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3vLtBq4.

Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide

There’s an updated (April 2024) Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide which is updated for the availability of Supply Chain Management Premium. This gives new SCM demand planning capabilities powered by Copilot, and it’s licensed via a User Subscription Licence costing $300 per user per month, with a minimum purchase of 10 licences. Pages 28 – 31 of the guide are updated where it’s easy to see which features are exclusive to this new licence.

Find the updated guide here: https://bit.ly/3xFRi3i.