Product List and PUR Combined

There’s big Volume Licensing news this 1st of July – the Product List and the Product Use Rights (PUR) documents are combined into one document called the Product Terms, which will be updated monthly.

There’s an FAQ on this new document here: http://bit.ly/1RS3gFP and an overview video towards the bottom of this page, where you can also download the document: http://bit.ly/MSvlterms.

We’ll do a more detailed blog post soon highlighting some of the important changes.

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

If you look at page 10 of the June 2015 Product List you’ll find that there are no changes listed for this month. So, we had to dig a bit deeper to find the (admittedly extraordinarily minor!) changes:

  • First of all, the Planning Services which used to include Lync Server and now include Skype for Business Server are indeed updated to be “Skype for Business and Exchange Deployment Planning Services (S&EDPS)” on page 68
  • Then there are some changes to the Microsoft Azure Services section on pages 41/42 with a slight amendment to the definition of “Consumption Rates” and the inclusion of MPSA as a qualifying agreement to set pricing for the Server pool and thus the Azure services in an EA
  • And finally, there’s wording added on page 58 for the purchase eligibility of the Office 365 From SA User SLs. This clarifies that EA customers who licensed Office 365 before 1 August 2014 may indeed also purchase From SA USLs at renewal for any additional Office 365 users that they added during their Enrolment term

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

There aren’t many changes to the Product List this month with the main amendments falling into two key areas. The first is the renaming of Lync Server 2013 to Skype for Business Server 2015 and that’s happened throughout the document. The components of the CAL Suites are updated to included Skype for Business Server CALs (page 19) and all the information on upgrades and licence grants for customers with Lync SA are removed and a reference is added to the April 2014 Product List (page 28).

Then there are some changes for government customers and these include the introduction of government-specific SKUs for the Enterprise Cloud Suite, Project Online, Project Lite, Project Pro for Office 365, Visio Pro for Office 365, and Office 365 Extra File Storage (pages 47, 55, 61). In addition, the Product List is updated to show more clearly which services are available under the US Government Community Cloud program – look out for a “UC” cell identifier – and, in particular, ECS is now available under GCC (page 47).

Finally, there are a couple of Education-specific SKUs added for Dynamics Marketing and Social Engagement (page 52).

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

It’s a bizarre month these days when a Forefront product has the most interesting licensing changes in the Product List but that’s exactly what we find this April!

Forefront Identity Manager (FIM) 2010 R2 exited the Product List last month but sneaks back in this month with some changes to the licensing. Essentially, the right to install FIM is moved to Windows Server 2012 R2 (see page 39) and those customers who had active SA on FIM 2010 R2 at 1 April 2015 are deemed to have 1 Windows Server Datacenter licence. There aren’t, however, changes to the licensing of users accessing FIM functionality – see this article for which licences can be used: http://wp.me/p3K5IZ-et.

The other main changes are to do with some name changes – Microsoft Social Listening is rebranded as Microsoft Social Engagement – again more details are here: http://wp.me/p3K5IZ-ep and Lync Online changes to Skype for Business Online, all ready for its launch in the middle of April.

Finally, the information on the upgrade rights for customers who had SA coverage for SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse on 1 March 1 2013 is removed, and there’s a reference back to the March 2014 Product List.

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

Short and sweet, here are the changes to the March 2015 Product List…

From SA USLs

  • There’s a new exception added for customers who have more users than devices and want to transition from device licences to Online Services via From SA USLs. Typically they can only purchase From SA USLs up to the number of qualifying underlying licences, but this new one-time exception allows the customer to purchase more From SA USLs – as long as they purchase a From SA USL for all users of all licensed Qualified Devices. See pages 34, 45, 47 and 58
  • It’s also confirmed on the same pages that customers transitioning to EMS, Office 365 or ECS From SA USL qualify for SA Benefits based on the qualifying products being transitioned

Additional products available in Open and Open Value

  • The Enterprise Mobility Suite makes its debut in the Open and Open Value programs and customers will be able to acquire both the Full USL and the Add-on through these programs as per page 44
  • EMS includes Azure Active Directory and this product will also be available as a standalone SKU – both in the Basic and Premium flavours as shown on page 46

Farewell to Forefront Identity Manager 2010 R2

  • FIM is removed from the Product List – it was announced back in November 2014 that Microsoft Identity Manager (MIM) would replace FIM in the first part of 2015

Windows SA per User Add-on

  • It’s confirmed on page 30 that Windows SA per User Add-ons are eligible for reduction at Anniversary

Cross Program Renewal

  • And finally, on page 64, it’s confirmed that the MPSA is eligible for the cross program renewal of SA and follows the same rules as Select Plus

From SA USL Exception: March 2015

There’s a new exception added to the March 2015 Product List for customers who have more users than devices and want to transition from device licences to Online Services via From SA USLs.

Typically they can only purchase From SA USLs up to the number of qualifying underlying licences, but this new one-time exception allows the customer to purchase more From SA USLs – as long as they purchase a From SA USL for all users of all licensed Qualified Devices. See pages 34, 45, 47 and 58.

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

It’s a relatively quiet month as far as updates to the February 2015 Product List are concerned, with the changes split into two main areas – some amendments to use rights, and some new products and offerings.

Amendments to use rights:

  • It’s confirmed that customers with SQL Enterprise Core licences with active SA on 1 February 2014 can choose to deploy SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse in place of SQL Server Enterprise – see page 26
  • The use rights for the EMS and Office 365 Add-ons are extended; previously, the Office 365 Add-ons granted access rights equivalent to a Windows Server 2012 CAL, now both types of Add-ons grant access rights to ALL of the components in the qualifying licences from any device. This is obviously only for the user licensed with the Add-on USL and it does include downgrade rights for the server components, but not for Office Professional Plus. See pages 46 and 59

New products and offerings:

  • The Lync Voice Add-on for the Enterprise Cloud Suite makes its (belated) appearance in the Enterprise Cloud Suite section and is confirmed as an Additional Product, rather than an Enterprise Online Service as the EMS and Office 365 Add-ons are. See page 47
  • There’s a new services offering detailed on page 84 – the Sales Productivity Accelerator. This is a service provided by Microsoft Services over the course of a four week term to deliver a fixed-scope implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online
  • CRM Online makes its debut in both the Open programs with its commercial offerings and also as a set of new education offerings through all of the Academic programs. See page 49 for what’s available through what program
  • Customers receive Planning Services days based on the number of qualifying licences that they have, and the Dynamics AX products are added to the list of these qualifying licences on page 68
  • Azure RemoteApp is added on page 47 with the “(Plan)” label indicating that it’s licensed with a USL and does not decrement any Azure Monetary Commitment a customer may have

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

Overview of the Changes to the December 2014 Volume Licensing Product List

The most important changes this month are to do with the new Enterprise Cloud Suite and the associated Windows per user licensing. Read on for more details and an overview of the other changes too.

Enterprise Cloud Suite

  • The Enterprise Cloud Suite is available to Enterprise Agreement customers from 1 December 2014 as an alternative to the traditional Desktop Platform. It’s completely user-licensed and includes Windows SA per User (for the Windows Enterprise component), Office 365 E3 (for the Office apps and access to Exchange, SharePoint and Lync services), and the Enterprise Mobility Suite (for access to the core infrastructure services). Brand new customers can buy a Full USL to this suite with no prior commitment, while existing customers can either add on the services via an Add-on to their traditional Desktop Platform, or transition to this user-licensed suite via a From SA USL. Details are on page 48
  • If you were to compare the components of the Enterprise Cloud Suite with the Enterprise Desktop Platform then you’d notice that two elements are missing in ECS. These components are Exchange Online Archiving for Exchange Server and the System Centre Client Management Suite. However, there’s confirmation on page 14 that customers who have active Software Assurance on the Enterprise CAL Suite on 30 November 2014 receive Extended Use Rights for these products
  • Another thing that happens as part of the introduction of the Enterprise Cloud Suite is the re-classification of Add-ons to Enterprise Online Services. Previously, wording stated that if a customer had Office Professional Plus as an Enterprise Product and then used an Add-on USL to install Office 365 ProPlus on a Qualified Device without Office Professional Plus, they would be required to true up that device for Office. If you weren’t aware of that rule – never fear, the fact that E3 (for example) is now an Enterprise Online Service means that you would no longer have to true the device up for Office

Windows per User Licensing

  • There are three new Windows SA per User SKUs – the Add-on for customers who have existing Windows + SA licences but want to userfy their Windows licensing, the From SA USL if they want to transition from their existing Windows + SA device licences to user licences only, and a Full USL if there are no existing Windows + SA licences but they want user-based Windows licensing. All of these SKUs are available through the Enterprise Agreements with various assortments being available through EES, the MPSA and Select Plus. Find them listed on page 33
  • While the Windows 8.1 Pro and Enterprise Upgrade licences remain as device licences, when SA is added it can be added for the user or the device and all of the SKUs on pages 32/33 are updated to specify whether they’re user or device
  • There’s also a VDA per User licence, as well as the VDA device licence which remains, and they’re listed on page 33 too
  • The Companion Subscription Licence is removed and there’s a note on page 33 that from 1 December 2014 all existing CSLs have the same use rights as Windows SA per User Add-ons
  • The Qualifying Operating Systems table for Windows Upgrade licences is amended on page 34 to indicate the acceptable qualifying operating systems for a primary device when a user is licensed with Windows SA per User
  • Customers with an Enterprise Enrolment can elect to mix user and device licensing for Windows SA as long as all users who use unlicensed Qualified Devices are licensed with a Windows SA per User licence, and all Qualified Devices used by unlicensed users are licensed with a Windows SA per Device licence. The wording is on page 36
  • The rights to buy Windows SA per User are included as a Software Assurance benefit on page 66

Enterprise Mobility Suite

  • There’s now a Full USL available for the Enterprise Mobility Suite (previously it was just an Add-on) and that means that there are some associated new SKUs: Core and Enterprise CAL Suite Bridges are added for customers who are transitioning, as is a From SA USL. Bridges are required if customers move to the From SA USL and you can find the rules on page 47 as well as a reminder that the From SA SKUs can only be transacted at anniversary or renewal
  • All of the SKUs are available in an Enterprise Agreement and again there’s a variety of the SKUs shared between EES, CA/SA and MPSA – see page 46

MDOP

  • New text on page 17 states that an MDOP licence can be assigned to a user or a device, and if a user is licensed with the Windows SA per User Add-on then they may take advantage of MDOP functionality on devices that they use if their primary work device is assigned an MDOP licence
  • There’s also confirmation added on page 17 that MDOP subscriptions can be reduced when they’ve been acquired as an Additional Product

And finally…

  • There’s a new Azure Site Recovery plan added – rather than recovery to a customer owned site, recovery can be to Azure now; see page 46
  • There’s a note added to the Lync Online section on page 53 that clarifies that USLs are not required for external users or users not authenticated by the Lync Online service
  • There’s confirmation on page 63 that Yammer Enterprise is available for use with Office 365 K1 from 1 October 2014
  • There’s a new category of Planning Services – Dynamics Deployment Planning Services (DYDPS) and a whole host of other services added to the existing categories. Check out pages 68 and 69 for the, frankly rather exciting, range of new services added. There’s no excuse now for not having a thrilling set of deployment plans on the go
  • Dynamics CRM Server 2015 is added and all of the text about licence grants and upgrade/downgrade rights for previous versions of CRM Server is removed, with a note to refer back to the November 2014 Product List – see page 19. The very detailed tables of the uses permitted under the different CALs are removed too, and replaced with a sleeker summary

Overview of the Changes to the November 2014 Volume Licensing Product List

This month the major changes are with Azure Services and Software Assurance but there are a couple of smaller changes regarding Online Services too.

Microsoft Azure Services

  • There are two main ways of purchasing Azure Services – either by paying for consumption of a service which is generally paid upfront by a Monetary Commitment, or by purchasing a USL for a service. It’s been hard to work out which type of service is which in the Product List but there’s a new indicator which makes things much easier. If something is denoted as a “Plan” then it’s a separate licence rather than being paid for via the Monetary Commitment, and an example of this is the Enterprise Mobility Suite USL (page 45)
  • In addition, there are some services where you can’t use the Monetary Commitment for the initial order but you can use it if there is any overage of that service. Services that are eligible for this include the “MC Overage: Yes” tag and you’ll find it next to Microsoft Azure Backup for example (page 45)

Software Assurance

  • CustomerSource is confirmed as an SA benefit for Dynamics customers with either active SA or an Online Subscription. It gives rights to a secure site that allows customers to access productivity tools including unlimited training courses and self-support resources like the knowledge base (page 76)
  • There’s a slight change to the Home Use Program rights too: previously the wording stipulated that the software could be installed on one home computer and one portable device, now it’s on up to two devices which can be either 2 PCs or 2 Macs, depending on what’s been purchased (page 69)
  • There are some changes to the terms associated with System Center Global Service Monitor. Most interesting, perhaps, is confirmation that test result data is stored in the online service until a customer’s deployment of System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager collects the test results, and if they are not collected within seven days, they are deleted from the online service (page 75)
  • There are updates for MPSA generally through the SA section with frequent reminders that you should refer to the MPSA Licensing Manual for specific details on SA through MPSA. There’s also text added confirming that Step Up licences are not available through MPSA (page 76) and that MPSA customers should download E-Learning files from MVLC (page 69)

Online Services

  • There’s a note added on page 58 that SharePoint Online Plan 1 or 2 with Yammer subscriptions licensed through Open, Open Value, or Open Value Subscription agreements may be redeemed until 31 October, 2015 after which unredeemed subscriptions may be used for a product inclusive of those services
  • And finally, the change of name from “Windows Intune” to “Microsoft Intune” is effected throughout the Product List