Tag Archives: Enterprise Agreement

GitHub usage-based billing

Microsoft announce that from August 1, 2024 GitHub Enterprise and GitHub Advanced Security are available to be billed through an Azure Subscription for CSP and MCA-E customers. Billing is on a usage basis – if a user starts consuming a licence seat during a month, then customers pay on a prorated basis for that month with no commitment for future months. EA customers who have been able to purchase regular User SLs for these services can continue to do so if they want to.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/4fWzKlm.

End of Azure support plan offer

Customers buying their Azure services through an Enterprise Agreement or via the MCA-E have long been eligible for free Azure Standard Support, but Microsoft announce that this offer is coming to an end on 30 June, 2024. After that time, customers will need to purchase one of the paid-for support plans.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/4cASdBh (search for “Azure support”), and details of the available support plans here: https://bit.ly/44i3x1h.

Azure Standard Support offer extended

Customers buying their Azure services through an Enterprise Agreement or via the MCA-E have long been eligible for free Azure Standard Support, and Microsoft confirm that this offer will be extended to June 30, 2024, with both new and renewing customers eligible for support for a period of 6 months.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3u1mUPN, terms of the offer here: https://bit.ly/3CTFrhq, and a useful comparison of all the Azure Support plans here: https://bit.ly/44i3x1h.

Azure Standard Support plan offer extended

Customers buying their Azure services through an Enterprise Agreement or via the MCA-E have long been eligible for a free 12-month Azure Standard Support plan, and Microsoft confirm that this offer will be extended from 1 July, 2023 to 31 December, 2023.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3JA2cuD, terms of the offer here: https://bit.ly/3CTFrhq, and a useful comparison of all the Azure Support plans here: https://bit.ly/44i3x1h.

Calculate EA Azure Savings Plan cost savings

There’s a useful article here to help EA customers to manually calculate the savings they’ve made from the purchase of Azure Savings Plans: https://bit.ly/3MCBmUU. Full instructions are given to download the amortised usage and charges file, prepare an Excel spreadsheet and then do some calculations to determine the savings.

Microsoft Azure Customer Solution VL Brief

There’s an updated (April 2022) Microsoft Azure Customer Solution VL Brief. This is a useful document detailing the rules for ISVs when creating customer solutions built on Azure: essentially, ISVs should purchase the Azure services through an EA or (and this is the addition to this new document version) direct from Microsoft via the Microsoft Customer Agreement. Partners intending to just resell the Azure services should use the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program.

Find this updated document here: https://bit.ly/39sdBgW.

Managing Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment

Customers buying direct from Microsoft via an EA or the Microsoft Customer Agreement can make a commitment to the amount of Azure services they intend to purchase over a given period – this is called a Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC).

There are some new/updated resources for customers to help them manage MACC: the first (https://bit.ly/3Jje1DB) gives instructions on tracking MACC, and the second (https://bit.ly/3KRs8jH) is helpful in ascertaining whether purchasing certain Marketplace offers will contribute to this commitment.

Azure Cost Management and the EA

If you’ve got an EA and you use Azure then you’ve managed Enrolments, Accounts, Departments and Subscriptions in the EA Enterprise Portal (ea.azure.com). There are better facilities for Azure Cost Management in the Azure Management Portal (portal.azure.com) and there’s a new set of videos to explain how you’d manage these elements as you move over to this portal.

Find them here: Managing Enrolments (https://bit.ly/3HVCi1I), Managing Accounts (https://bit.ly/3oPazIj), Managing Departments (https://bit.ly/3rUCQz6), and Managing Subscriptions (https://bit.ly/353SKyt).

Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise is now an EOLS

There’s a change to the status of Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise when it’s purchased through an Enterprise Agreement. It’s now designated as an Enterprise Online Service which means that it doesn’t need to be purchased enterprise-wide and 500 licences can be acquired to start an Enterprise Online Services-only enrolment.

Find the relevant page of the Product Terms site here: https://bit.ly/3ABfP5K.