Find below the latest information regarding changes to the partner program. Information listed here will be archived further below for up to 18 months.
We are evolving the MPN program to align our competencies to the growing customer demand for cloud-based and mobility-based solutions. We want to make this transition, and finding the best path for your business, as smooth as possible. We want to help you find the best path for your business to make the transition. The MPN Evolution Competency Guide can help you discover new ways to meet your customers’ needs and increase your profitability.
You can find a list of impacted competencies, the timeline for changes, and more information about what this means for you on the MPN evolution page.
Learn more about how MPN is evolving
Effective August 2016, there will be new thresholds to earn the Cloud Platform
and Enterprise Mobility Management
competencies. The details for the new thresholds will be as follows.
Cloud Platform (hosting option only)
Silver:
-
Developed market thresholds: US$100,000 SPLA and/or Azure Consumption Revenue via CSP TTM
-
Emerging market thresholds: US$25,000 SPLA and/or Azure Consumption Revenue via CSP TTM
-
The Microsoft Azure requirement is waived in markets where Azure is not available
Gold:
-
Developed market thresholds: US$500,000 SPLA and/or Azure Consumption Revenue via CSP TTM, of which US$15,000 must be from Azure CSP revenue
-
Emerging market thresholds: US$25,000 SPLA and/or Azure Consumption Revenue via CSP TTM, of which US$5,000 must be Azure CSP revenue
-
The Microsoft Azure requirement is waived in markets where Azure is not available
Enterprise Mobility Management
Silver:
You must have either:
Have added 3 new EMS customers and deployed 500 active entitlements of any one or combination of the eligible components (entitlements) of Enterprise
Mobility Suite (EMS): Microsoft Intune or Azure Active Directory Premium (AADP) within the last 12 months. Seats must be paid licenses of EMS, Microsoft
Intune, or AADP to count towards seat requirements. Trial or free seats are not applicable.
OR
Have added 20 new EMS customers and deployed 125 active entitlements of any one or combination of the eligible components (entitlements) of Enterprise
Mobility Suite (EMS): Microsoft Intune or Azure Active Directory Premium (AADP) within the last 12 months. Seats must be paid licenses of EMS, Microsoft
Intune, or AADP to count towards seat requirements. Trial or free seats are not applicable.
To qualify, you will need to be associated as the EMS or Microsoft Intune Delegated Administrator, Transacting Partner, or Digital Partner of Record. Get more information.
Gold:
Added 5 new EMS customers and deployed 4000 active entitlements of any one or combination of the eligible components (entitlements) of Enterprise Mobility
Suite (EMS): Microsoft Intune or Azure Active Directory Premium (AADP) within the last 12 months. Seats must be paid licenses of EMS, Microsoft Intune, or
AADP to count towards seat requirements. Trial or free seats are not applicable.
To qualify, you will need to be associated as the EMS or Microsoft Intune Delegated Administrator, Transacting Partner, or Digital Partner of Record. Get more information.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Plan 1
In a fast-paced world, companies need to be able to respond quickly to market changes. Microsoft Dynamics 365 combines our industry-leading CRM and ERP cloud offerings, which increases your ability to provide a more complete customer solution and creates new opportunities for partner cross-sell and upsell.
The best way to learn anything is through experience. In December, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Plan 1 is being added as in internal use rights benefit for Action Pack and competency partners, replacing Dynamics CRM Online IUR in Action Pack, Core Competency Benefits and Cloud CRM Competency.
Experience Dynamics 365 for yourself: activate your internal use rights.
SQL Server 2016
Meet the first born-in-the-cloud database, SQL Server 2016. With SQL Server 2016, in-memory performance and built-in advanced analytics can turn your mission-critical applications into intelligent applications. New security features such as Always Encrypted technology help protect data at rest and in motion, while enhancements to Always On allow for world-class disaster recovery, all backed by enterprise-grade, mission-critical support.
You can gain the benefits of hybrid cloud with new scenarios such as Stretch Database, which migrates your historical data to Microsoft Azure, keeping it online and transparently available to the application at a fraction of the cost of enterprise storage. A consistent database platform across on-premises and cloud means that you can easily build, deploy, and manage hybrid solutions that complement your existing on-premises investments.
Transform data into intelligent action today!
Learn how to grow your business with SQL Server 2016
Partner association
Since the performance of every partner involved in a cloud subscription matters, we’re introducing Partner association, which allows us to recognize work that’s being done by partners who are not the Digital Partner of Record (DPOR). We’ve made new program enhancements that will benefit all the partners involved in a cloud subscription, as well as the DPOR partners.
Now, multiple partners can get credit for driving customer cloud consumption. When we initially established the DPOR process, only DPOR partners received credit toward a competency. Over time, it’s become clear that several customer scenarios include more than one partner. When multiple partners are adding value in customers’ cloud subscriptions, everyone benefits.
Learn more about the additional ways you can be associated to a Cloud Customer
Starting January 2016, CSAT will be removed as a requirement for your Gold competency. This comes as part of our promise to make it easier to do business with us. Microsoft Referrals will be your new path to building and strengthening your online reputation.
In late 2014, we re-launched Microsoft Referrals as an open marketplace to allow Microsoft partners to promote and sell their services and products. Customer reviews and ratings were additionally built into Microsoft Referrals, making it easier for you to solicit feedback from customers. Favorable Microsoft Referrals reviews from customers are critical components to raising your visibility among peers and future customers.
The CSAT tool will remain available to export your customer survey responses until March 2016.
Export instructions can be found on the MPN CSAT page
Training is all about staying current. Current on the latest technology and solutions, best practices, and business strategies. The Microsoft Partner Network also strives to stay current and make it easier for our partners to do the same. With that in mind, we are retiring the Partner Learning Center on November 30, 2015 and launching a new training tool – Partner University.
Partner University merges MPN with the Microsoft Learning Experience platform, an Azure-based experience that features:
- Improved search functionality
- An integrated, on-page course player
- Progress tracker that shows you where you are in course
- A bookmark that takes your right to where you left off if you need to stop before you complete the course
- An organization dashboard that gives you an easy view on how your team is tracking on their training
- A simple, easy-to-use design that allows you to find learning paths and required courses faster
Beginning on November 30, all links on the MPN portal page that are directed to the Partner Learning Center will re-directed to the Learning Path page. From Learning Path, partners will be able to log into Partner University with their MPN ID credentials. All links on the Learning Path page will be connected to Partner University. Partners will be able to access all training content, including competency courses and assessments.
Go to the Learning Path page to get started.
We heard you when you said you’d like us to be easier to work with, and are happy to share that we are making some big changes by simplifying our approach to competency qualifying assessments, exams, and certifications.
Sales and presales assessments are no longer required for competencies. We will continue to make the training and assessments available to you as a readiness benefit you can use to keep your staff’s skills up to date.
In addition, we’ve added new technical exam and assessment options that better reflect today’s technologies and market demands so you have more options to choose from.
Unique gold MCP requirement
Today, partners who want to attain a gold competency must list the credentials of the MCP in their organization who passed the competency exams or assessments. That person’s credentials count toward only one gold competency. This requirement causes partners a lot of extra administrative work. For each additional gold competency a partner attains, the partner must find a new, ”unique” qualified MCP to pass the exams or assessments for that gold competency.
As of September 29, 2015, Microsoft is lifting this restriction. Partner organizations will be able to name the same qualified MCP for multiple competencies.
What does this mean for silver competencies?
Nothing has changed for silver competencies. Partners have always been able to hire one qualified MCP who will pass multiple assessments or exams to earn multiple competencies at the Silver level.
Does this mean that a partner organization wanting to earn several gold competencies can use the same MCP to pass the assessments and exams for those gold competencies?
Yes, this is correct.
Does this mean that partners still need to ensure they meet the exams and assessments requirements each year when it’s time to renew their competency?
Yes.
Find specific details on each of your competencies by visiting the relevant competency pages
Today, when a partner prepares to attain a silver or gold competency, passing the sales or presales assessment designed for that competency is one of the requirements. Starting at the end of September, passing the sales or presales assessment will no longer be a competency requirement. Microsoft is enacting this change to make it easier for partners to attain competencies as silver or gold partners. Training content and assessments will continue to be available on demand for partners to consume as needed, and new sales and presales content will continue to be published throughout the year as important resources to enable partner success.
Does this mean that sales and presales assessments are going away?
No: training and assessments for sales and presales roles will not go away. The same courses and assessments you find today on the Learning Path site will continue to be available to you. Also, the business groups will continue to produce new training content and assessments targeted for sales and presales roles.
What about the other assessments – does this mean they are no longer required?
Technical assessments are still required for several competencies, and will continue to be required.
Learn more about the current requirements for each competency
Effective October 2015, Action Pack and competency partners who have activated their Microsoft Azure Internal Use Rights can use SkyKick Cloud Backup at no cost as a benefit of membership. This offer is only available in the USA, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia and is valid until the end of June 2016.
Learn more about the SkyKick benefit
Find below changes to the partner program effective July 2015.
Effective July 29, 2015
Windows 10 is now available, across 190 countries, as a free upgrade or with new PCs and tablets. We are excited to bring Windows 10 and its many innovations to the world.
Microsoft Action Pack and competency partners now have access to Windows 10 Enterprise, a significant upgrade from Windows Pro. Take advantage of this opportunity today.
Access the Windows 10 on the download portal
Enterprise Mobility Management is a brand new competency that can help build and grow your mobility management practice. In a cloud-first world, Enterprise Mobility Management will give you the means to keep your large organization nimble.
Learn more about the new Enterprise Mobility Management competency
Coming in 2016
The Microsoft Partner Network is adding a new competency to help you lead your organization to success with a mastery of Windows and Devices. Ensure you get the most out of your partnership with Microsoft by gaining a firm knowledge of the tools at your disposal.
Learn more about the new Windows and Devices competency
Available August 2015
Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics (ATA) is new software that provides a simple and fast way for Action Pack and Competency partners to understand what is happening within their networks. It works by identifying suspicious user and device activity with built-in intelligence and providing clear and relevant threat information on a simple attack timeline.
Read more about Advanced Threat Analytics
Effective July 2015, Microsoft Action Pack and competency partners now have access to the Visual Studio 2015 Professional and Visual Studio 2015 Enterprise Internal-Use-Rights (IURs), respectively.
This is a valuable upgrade for all competency partners, who now have access to the Enterprise edition instead of Visual Studio Premium. In addition, we have increased Azure monthly credit from US$100 to US$150 per MSDN subscription. Partners can enable teams of any size to turn ideas into scalable app on Linux, iOS, Android, and Windows platforms by using the new Visual Studio 2015 and Microsoft Azure.
If you are an existing MPN MSDN subscriber, visit the MSDN Subscriber Downloads page to access the files.
Find below changes to the partner program effective June 2015.
In response to partner feedback, we have made changes to the way your customers to attach you as their Digital Partner of Record (DPOR) across Microsoft’s range of Cloud Services. This is a critical update and will require some action on your part to take advantage of it.
Digital Partner of Record (DPOR) replaced the Online Services Advisor (OSA) form for Office 365, CRM Online, Windows Intune, and Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) earlier this year and will replace the Partner Sales Exchange (PSX) for Microsoft Azure later this year.
Why is this happening?
The move to DPOR will enable us to consistently pay incentives, determine a partner’s competency performance, and ensure we both have a single view into the revenue, usage, and consumption driven by you. Customers will benefit by you gaining access to performance and usage data so that you can provide better service to them.
When is this happening?
Microsoft began officially recognizing the Digital POR for Office 365, CRM Online, Intune, and EMS on March 2, 2015. We phased out the OSA form method on April 30, 2015, and after that, we stopped accepting new customer attach through the OSA form. The FY15 Azure Incentive Program based on the PSX process will end on July 31, 2015. This incentive will be replaced with the FY16 Azure Incentive Program, starting August 1, 2015.
Learn more about attaching Digital Partner of Record to your Cloud subscription
How will this impact me as an OSA user?
If you are currently using the OSA form to be recognized as the OSA Partner of Record for EA (Enterprise Agreement) or CASA (Campus Agreement/School Agreement) customers, you will want to update the way you attach to your customers’ Online Services subscriptions. Work with all of your current customers to attach you as their Online Services Advisor Partner of Record for each subscription you actively manage. For new EA/CASA deals, switch to the Digital POR attach method.
Read this blog post for an in-depth explanation of DPOR for OSA users
What do my customers need to do as an OSA user?
Customers can find this capability in the Office Customer Portal for Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, and in the Intune Account Portal for Windows Intune and EMS.
How will this impact me as a PSX user?
The FY16 Azure Incentive will have two major differences from the current incentive: The FY16 Azure Incentive will use the Digital POR process. Detailed instructions are available in the “FY15 Azure Incentive Transition FAQ,” found in the Azure Incentives activation kit on the Azure Incentives page. If you have not obtained a Silver or Gold Cloud Platform Competency, do so by August 1 to be eligible for FY16 Azure Incentives. Status as an Azure Circle partner will no longer be considered for incentive eligibility.
View the Azure Incentives page
Learn more about the Cloud Platform Competency
What do my customers need to do as a PSX user?
Starting August 1, 2015, you should ask your customers to start using the Partner Information button in the Azure Account Center to add your MPN ID as their Azure partner for a given Azure subscription. More information will be available soon.
View the Azure Account Center
In FY16, MPN will provide additional support for partners who are seeking to increase customer consumption. It’s important to have your customers actively using the solutions you’re selling so they appreciate the value you’re delivering. Customers who are engaged and actively using our services provide new opportunities to sell-in high-value services.
The benefits are clear: more usage leads to stronger customer relationships and the opportunity to sell, deploy, and activate more solutions over the lifetime of those relationships. With Active Usage, customers get the most from the solutions they buy, leading to stronger retention and customer loyalty. Moving from transactional selling to active customer management and usage can increase your profitability and recurring revenue opportunities across Microsoft services.
How we can help
- MPN Partner Network and Hybrid Services: Microsoft Cloud Services offer comprehensive and differentiated hybrid solutions today through the Microsoft Partner Network that can help you drive Active Usage across solutions and specific workloads on your existing customer portfolio. Attach-and-extend strategies can help you increase the number of customers actively using Microsoft solutions today and tomorrow, too.
- Qualify for Cloud Competency and gain eligibility for incentives.
Resources
Effective June 6, 2015
Added competency test for SQL Server 2014 to silver and gold requirements
View this competency
Effective June 6, 2015
- Changed ISV test requirement from Silver SQL Server BI 2012 Platform Ready to Silver Server SQL 2014 BI Platform Ready for silver requirement
- Changed ISV test requirement from Gold SQL Server BI 2012 Platform Ready to Gold Server SQL 2014 BI Platform Ready for gold requirement
View this competency
Effective June 6, 2015
- Changed Silver SQL Server 2012 Data Platform Test to Silver SQL Server 2014 Data Platform Test for silver requirement
- Changed Gold SQL Server 2012 Data Platform Test to Gold SQL Server 2014 Data Platform Test for gold requirement
View this competency
Effective June 6, 2015
Changed Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 test for gold and silver ISV track requirements
View this competency
Effective June 6, 2015
Added second option to fulfill technical assessment for gold and silver competencies to
pass one of the following exams:
- Exam 70-532: Developing Microsoft Azure Solutions
- Exam 70-533: Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions
- Exam 70-534: Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions
View this competency
Effective June 13, 2015
With great additions to the Surface portfolio this year, customer interest in the Surface family of products continues to grow at a rapid pace. At this time we would like to invite new partners to take advantage of this market opportunity by adding Microsoft Surface to their portfolio of commercial devices.
View the Microsoft Surface Authorized Device Reseller requirements and application process
Find below changes to the partner program effective April 2015.
Effective April 20, 2015
Silver competency fees have been waived through June 30, 2016 for the following competencies:
Effective April 20, 2015
Removed Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 competency tests from ISV track and removed Intelligent System Sales Assessment from optional business assessments for gold and silver competency requirements.
View this competency
Effective February 25, 2015
Added exams to the silver Services Track requirements:
- Exam 70-532: Developing Microsoft Azure Solutions
- Exam 70-533: Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions
View this competency
Find below changes to the partner program effective February 2015.
Effective February 25, 2015
Partners who attain a gold competency after they have already attained that silver competency, can upgrade that year to gold for no additional cost (unless a partner is within the last 90-day renewal period, in which case the full gold competency membership fee is due).
Effective February 25, 2015
Changed seat requirements for Office 365 seats (trial or free seats of Office 365 no longer applicable) for gold and silver requirements.
View this competency
Effective February 25, 2015
Silver and gold requirements:
- Removed Bing Ads API technical assessment
- Removed Bing SEO technical assessment
- Changed business assessment requirement from the Sales and Marketing Assessment for Digital Marketing to the Digital Advertising Partner Opportunity Assessment
View this competency
Effective February 25, 2015
Silver and gold Value-Added Reseller and Independent Software Vendor tracks:
- Changed revenue and seats sold requirement: CRM Online and CRM on-premises count toward competency requirements
- Replaced Exam MB2-866: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Customization and Configuration with Exam MB2-707: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Customization and Configuration
- Replaced Exam MB2-868: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Applications with Exam MB2-704: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Application
- Replaced Exam MB2-867: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Installation and Deployment with Exam MB2-708: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Installation
- Added Exam MB2-706: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Deployment
- Removed Exam MB5-858: Managing Microsoft Dynamics Implementations Certification Exam
Silver and gold Value-Added Reseller tracks:
- Removed 2011 Standard Sales Assessment - Customer Relationship Management
- Removed 2011 Sales Specialist Assessment - Customer Relationship Management
- Removed Presales Technical Specialist Assessment for CRM 2011
View this competency
Effective February 25, 2015
Silver and gold Value-Added Reseller (VAR) and Independent Software Vendor (ISV) track requirements:
- Removed exams:
- Exam MB5-858: Managing Microsoft Dynamics Implementations Certification Exam
- Exam MB5-705: Managing Microsoft Dynamics Implementations
- Exam 70-573: TS: Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Application Development
- Added exams:
- Exam MB6-704: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 CU8 Development Introduction
- Exam MB6-703: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Trade and Logistics
- Exam MB6-702: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Financials
- Exam MB6-705: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 CU8 Installation and Configuration
- Exam MB5-705: Managing Microsoft Dynamics Implementations
- Added assessments:
- 2014 Sales Assessment – Enterprise Resource Planning (AX)
- Sales Specialist Assessment for ERP
- Standard Sales Assessment for ERP
- 2014 Presales Technical Assessment – Enterprise Resource Planning (AX)
- Presales Technical Specialist Assessment for ERP
Silver ISV track requirements:
- Added Software Solution Test for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2
View this competency
Effective February 25, 2015
Silver and gold Services track requirements:
- Added Exam 70-687 Configuring Windows 8.1
- Removed Exam 70-681: TS: Windows 7 and Office 2010, Deploying
Silver Services track requirements:
- Removed Technical Assessment for Devices and Deployment
Gold Services track requirements:
- Removed MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator on Windows 7
View this competency
Effective February 25, 2015
Silver and gold Value-Added Reseller (VAR) and Independent Software Vendor (ISV) track requirements:
- Removed Exam 74-325: Administering Office 365 for Small Businesses
- Removed Exam 70-331 Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013
- Removed Exam 70-331 Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013
- Removed Exam 70-341 Core Solutions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013
- Removed Exam 70-680: TS: Windows 7, Configuring
- Removed Exam 70-687: Configuring Windows 8
- Removed Exam 70-688: Managing and Maintaining Windows 8
- Removed Exam 70-689: Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows 8
- Removed Exam 70-488: Developing Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 Core Solutions
- Removed Exam 70-457: Transition your MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to MCSA: SQL Server 2012-Part 1
- Removed Exam 70-458: Transition your MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to MCSA: SQL Server 2012-Part 2
- Removed Exam 70-462: Administering a Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Database
- Removed Exam MB2-703: Microsoft Dynamics 2013 Customization and Configuration
- Removed Exam MB2-866: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Customization and Configuration
- Removed Exam 70-410: Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012
- Removed Exam 70-411: Administering Windows Server 2012
- Removed Exam 70-417: Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012
- Removed Exam 70-533: Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions
- Removed Exam 74-325: Administering Office 365 for Small Businesses
- Removed Exam 70-331 Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013
- Removed Exam 70-331 Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013
- Removed Exam 70-341 Core Solutions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013
- Removed Exam 70-680: TS: Windows 7, Configuring
- Removed Exam 70-687: Configuring Windows 8
- Removed Exam 70-688: Managing and Maintaining Windows 8
- Removed Exam 70-689: Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows 8
- Removed Exam 70-488: Developing Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 Core Solutions
- Removed Exam 70-457: Transition your MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to MCSA: SQL Server 2012-Part 1
- Removed Exam 70-458: Transition your MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to MCSA: SQL Server 2012-Part 2
- Removed Exam 70-462: Administering a Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Database
- Removed Exam MB2-703: Microsoft Dynamics 2013 Customization and Configuration
- Removed Exam MB2-866: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Customization and Configuration
- Removed Exam 70-410: Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012
- Removed Exam 70-411: Administering Windows Server 2012
- Removed Exam 70-417: Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012
- Removed Exam 70-533: Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions
- Removed Midmarket Sales Assessment
View this competency