September 2024 announcements

  • Article

This page provides the announcements for Microsoft Partner Center for August 2024.

New Australian Taxation Office reporting requirements

For publishers that transact or are able to transact in the Australian Microsoft Store and Microsoft commercial marketplace, review the updated reporting requirements.

  • Date: September 30, 2024
  • Workspace: General
  • Impacted audience: Publishers that transact or are able to transact in the Australian Microsoft Store and Microsoft commercial marketplace

Earlier this year, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) started requiring the Microsoft Store and Microsoft commercial marketplace to collect and report seller transactions under the Sharing Economy Reporting Regime (SERR). To comply with the new SERR reporting requirements, the platform now gathers and reports the following required information:

  • Australian Business Number (ABN) and business name (where applicable)
  • Foreign Tax ID (for foreign nonindividual publishers with no ABN)
  • First, middle, and surname (for individuals)
  • Date of birth (for individuals)
  • Residential or business address
  • Email address
  • Telephone number(s)
  • Bank account details

By collecting this information, the ATO can complete data matching activities to ensure that publishers on Microsoft's Australian electronic distribution platform are declaring the correct level of income and activity.

Next steps

If action is required, Microsoft will contact you with further information.

Updated timeline: Enhanced CSP billing reconciliation APIs migration extended to January 21, 2025

The new asynchronous APIs for billing reconciliation in Partner Center are now live. Partners must migrate to these improved APIs by January 21, 2025, to ensure uninterrupted service.

  • Date: September 30, 2024
  • Workspace: Billing, APIs
  • Impacted audience: Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) direct bill and indirect providers who use billing APIs in Partner Center

In March 2024, we introduced new asynchronous APIs (asynchronous v2 APIs) for billing reconciliation in Partner Center. These APIs offer faster download times and reduce latency, especially when handling large data volumes. Partners must migrate to these new APIs before January 21, 2025, to help avoid disruption in service.

These are the four APIs affected by this change:

API name Version Learn more
Get invoice line items API V1 Get invoice line items
Invoicing and reconciliation v2 API (beta) V2 Invoicing and reconciliation API v2 (beta)
Get invoice billed commercial consumption line items V1 Get invoice billed commercial consumption line items
Get invoice unbilled commercial consumption line items V1 Get invoice's unbilled reconciliation line items

The migration process requires modifying your code to incorporate the new APIs, as outlined in the Partner Center documentation. Starting January 21, 2025, the legacy APIs will return an error message.

The new Microsoft Graph APIs are currently only available for the public/global cloud. They aren't yet available for Azure Government, Azure Germany, or Azure China 21Vianet.

Next steps

Partners must migrate to these new APIs by January 21, 2025, to help avoid disruption in service.

Resources

Questions?

We encourage you to use the readiness resources listed in this announcement or in the Partner Center documentation.

If you need assistance or encounter issues with the capability, open a support ticket through Partner Center.

Launching Office LTSC 2024 for general availability on October 1, 2024

Office LTSC 2024 - the latest version of perpetual Office for commercial customers - will be generally available starting October 1, 2024.

  • Date: September 30, 2024
  • Workspace: Customers
  • Impacted audience: Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners, CSP-Hosters, and Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) partners

Office Long Term Service Channel (LTSC) is designed for devices and scenarios where the key requirement is either total disconnection from the internet or a fixed-in-time feature set. For other scenarios, Microsoft 365 suites provide a superior solution, including always-up-to-date, cloud-backed versions of the core Office apps.

Office LTSC 2024 is updated with a subset of the features that are added to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise since the last LTSC release. New features for this release include Dynamic Charts and more than a dozen new text and array functions in Excel, enhanced search and meeting creation options in Outlook, and improvements to performance, security, and accessibility. To learn more about Office LTSC 2024, including pointers to more resources, read the announcement on the Microsoft 365 Tech Community.

Beginning on October 1, 2024, Microsoft Partners will be able to transact the following Office LTSC software via Partner Center:

Product Product ID
Access LTSC 2024 DG7GMGF0PN5J
Excel LTSC 2024 DG7GMGF0PN5H
Excel LTSC for Mac 2024 DG7GMGF0PN5G
Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024 DG7GMGF0PN5F
Office LTSC Standard 2024 DG7GMGF0PN5D
Office LTSC Standard for Mac 2024 DG7GMGF0PN5C
Outlook LTSC 2024 DG7GMGF0PN5V
Outlook LTSC for Mac 2024 DG7GMGF0PN5W
PowerPoint LTSC 2024 DG7GMGF0PN47
PowerPoint LTSC for Mac 2024 DG7GMGF0PN46
Project Professional 2024 DG7GMGF0PN45
Project Standard 2024 DG7GMGF0PN44
Visio LTSC Professional 2024 DG7GMGF0PN43
Visio LTSC Standard 2024 DG7GMGF0PN42
Word LTSC 2024 DG7GMGF0PN41
Word LTSC for Mac 2024 DG7GMGF0PN40

Partners can pull pricing details for these offers from the software price list.

As previously announced, prices for Office LTSC Standard 2024, Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024, Office LTSC Standard for Mac 2024, and all Office LTSC 2024 standalone apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) will be 10% higher than the prior version for commercial customers.

Note

October 1 update: Due to operational isues, Office LTSC 2024 offers went live a few hours earlier than intended. Orders placed before October 1, 2024 at 12AM UTC were cancelled by Microsoft.

The Office LTSC 2021 versions of these offers will be decommissioned and no longer available for purchase beginning September 30, 2024.

Next steps

Now live! Partner Center Technical Corner blog series: September 2024 edition

The September edition of the Partner Center Technical Corner blog is live! This edition highlights actions to protect identities and secrets, along with several recently released experience improvements for our partners.

  • Date: September 26, 2024
  • Workspace: General
  • Impacted audience: All partners

The September edition covers the following key topics:

  • Securing the channel
    • Partner Center Security workspace
    • Azure authentication and fraud discretionary credit criteria changes
    • Tenant creation and program enrollment security
  • Just released
    • Improving visibility to price list changes
    • New commerce license-based subscription transfers
    • Key updates on public sector offers migration to new commerce
    • Automatic redemption of Visual Studio benefits
    • Co-sell referrals flow
    • Unified lead management
  • Partner Center roadmap and resources

Previous editions

Next steps

Monthly Update: Important actions partners need to take to secure the partner ecosystem

Important capabilities and updates to improve your security posture and protect your customers' tenants are now available.

  • Date: September 23, 2024
  • Workspace: General
  • Impacted audience: Direct bill partners, indirect providers, and indirect resellers transacting through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program and with advisors

Changes to the one-time discretionary credit for Azure frauds: As part of the expansion of the Secure Future Initiative, we've implemented a change in the way we assess refund eligibility for a one-time discretionary credit for fraudulent activity that occurs on individual Azure customer tenants on CSP new commerce.

As of September 3, 2024, partners must have enabled multifactor authentication (MFA) for all their administrative users on their CSP tenant, at the time the fraudulent activity started, to be eligible for review.

Security is a shared responsibility, and it's crucial that CSP partners take all the proactive steps to protect identities and accounts.

MFA requirements for Azure portal: Starting October 2024, Microsoft will begin enforcement of multifactor authentication (MFA) for all users signing into Azure portal. Review the latest information and timeline.

Coming soon

  • Removal of unused Azure subscriptions: Microsoft will block and eventually delete unused Azure subscriptions, starting November 2024. A subscription is considered unused when there's no activity or consumption for more than 12 months. Learn more about unused subscriptions on our website. Account owner and service admins of the subscription will be notified 30 days before the block is applied. The subscription will be deleted 90 days after the block.

Reminders

  • Enhanced security role to manage Security workspace: In May 2024, we introduced the Security workspace in Partner Center, empowering your company's Admin Agents with tools to assess and improve security measures. In August we introduced two new security roles: Security Administrator and Reader.
  • Security Administrator: Assigned users can actively manage security settings, policies, and alerts.
  • Security Reader: Assigned users have view-only access to security information.

These positions are structured to offer detailed access management, so that individuals have appropriate levels of permission without requiring Admin Agent status. Security workspace is accessible by Admin Agent for now, but this access will be phased out gradually. Start preparing for this transition immediately to ensure a seamless transition. Further information regarding this change will be provided in due time.

  • Security requirements API: We're excited to announce the upcoming release of the Security Requirements API, giving partners direct access to essential security compliance data. Beta version is available now for preview.

Next steps

Updates to Microsoft 365 Copilot and rebrand of consumer Copilot offerings to Microsoft 365 Copilot

On September 16, 2024, Microsoft launched wave 2 of Microsoft 365 Copilot innovation. Changes include the rebrand of Copilot for Microsoft 365 offerings to Microsoft 365 Copilot.

  • Date: September 19, 2024
  • Workspace: General
  • Impacted audience: Licensing Solution Provider (LSP) and Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners

Microsoft introduced major Copilot updates in the Microsoft 365 apps that millions of people use every day, taking a large stride forward to launch wave 2 of Microsoft 365 Copilot innovation. This wave brings value in three key ways: transforming workflows, supercharging daily work, and accelerating business value. Read about all the new capabilities in the Microsoft 365 Copilot: Wave 2 blog.

To better align and differentiate with other Copilot products, Microsoft renamed Copilot for Microsoft 365 to Microsoft 365 Copilot, with an associated update to its description and logo. To learn more about the updated branding, review this expression guide.

The following changes are effective as of September 16, 2024. These changes won't be reflected in the October price list preview but will be updated for the price list published on October 1. Branding changes are expected to be reflected in Partner Center between September 20 and the end of the month.

Item From To
Brand Microsoft Copilot Microsoft 365 Copilot
Hero product name (paid) Microsoft Copilot Microsoft 365 Copilot
Hero SKU name (paid) Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 Microsoft 365 Copilot
Graph-grounded chat experience of Microsoft 365 Copilot (included in the Microsoft 365 Copilot license) Previously unnamed Business Chat (BizChat)
Embedded Copilot experiences (included in app license) Copilot in Word Microsoft 365 Copilot in Word
Web-grounded Copilot experience with enterprise data protection (free) Microsoft Copilot (with CDP) Microsoft Copilot

Next steps

Monthly Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program update: What's new for Solutions Partner designations, specializations, and other offerings and benefits

We introduced important capabilities, offers, and updates to improve the way partners can further differentiate their deep technical expertise across a set of priority scenarios with high customer demand. We added more benefits for eligible Solutions Partner with certified software designations.

  • Date: September 17, 2024
  • Workspace: Membership
  • Impacted audience: Partners enrolled in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program

Business Central certification in skilling for Business Applications partner capability score: Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Business Central Developer Associate certification was added to the partner capability score in June for Business Applications. Any partner who attains or has already attained the certification will earn points in the advanced skilling subcategory. Learn more about the certifications for the Business Applications solution area today.

Solutions Partner for Business applications - Partner Center

Announcement of New Benefits: Starting January 22, 2025, Microsoft is introducing more than 20 in-demand product licenses. These licenses include Microsoft Copilot products, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, and Microsoft GitHub Enterprise. These new benefits are designed to help streamline tasks, enhance creativity, and drive efficiency across businesses. Partners can access these benefits when they go live, by purchasing partner benefits packages, Solutions Partner designations, or specializations. The new packages offer comprehensive support and advisory benefits, helping partners accelerate business growth, scale their operations, and stay updated with the latest offerings.

Announcement of Microsoft Action Pack, Learning Action Pack, Legacy Silver, Legacy Gold benefits transition: As part of this transition, Microsoft will no longer sell the Microsoft Action Pack, Learning Action Pack, and legacy silver/gold benefits on January 22, 2025. Partners with existing benefits can renew them until January 21, 2025, and keep them until they expire one year later. To continue receiving benefits, partners are encouraged to purchase new partner benefits packages or attain Solutions Partner designations. These new offerings are designed to help meet business goals and provide more robust support compared to the legacy benefits. To learn more, see Manage membership with Microsoft in Partner Center.

Analytics on Microsoft Azure specialization: The Skilling requirements for the Analytics specialization now include the Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate (DP-600) certification. This certification replaces the Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305) certification. The number of individuals to pass these certifications increased from 3 to 5, and each must be held by at least two individuals. These changes went live in July 2024. Partners currently enrolled in the Analytics specialization will be given a grace period until December 31, 2024 to meet these new knowledge criteria. This period allows for minimal impact to the current renewal window of 2024. In 2025, partners are expected to meet the new requirements to renew. To learn more, see Specialization.

Business Intelligence specialization: The Skilling requirements for the Business Intelligence specialization now include the Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate (DP-600) certification. The Azure Enterprise Data Analyst Associate (DP-500) certification was retired April 30, 2024. If the DP-500 exam was already passed before the retirement date, partners can count that toward the Skilling requirements, or move forward with passing the new DP-600 exam. There are no changes to any of the other requirements as written. These changes went live in July 2024. Partners currently enrolled in the Business Intelligence specialization will be given a grace period until December 31, 2024 to meet these new knowledge criteria allowing for minimal impact to the current renewal window of 2024. In 2025, partners are expected to meet the new requirements to renew. To learn more, see Specialization.

Data Warehouse Migration to Microsoft Azure specialization: The Skilling requirements for the Data Warehouse Migration specialization now include the Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate (DP-600) certification. This certification is replacing the Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305) certification. The number of individuals to pass these certifications has increased from 3 to 5, and each must be held by at least 2 individuals. These changes went live in July 2024. Partners currently enrolled in the Data Warehouse Migration specialization will be given a grace period until December 31, 2024 to meet these new knowledge criteria allowing for minimal impact to the current renewal window of 2024. In 2025, partners will be expected to meet the new requirements to renew. To learn more, see Specialization.

Teamwork Deployment specialization: The Skilling requirements for the Teamwork Deployment specialization have been updated to remove the retired Messaging Administrator Associate (MS-203) certification. The number of individuals to pass the remaining Teams Administrator Associate (MS-700) certification has increased from 2 to 4. These changes went live in July 2024. Partners currently enrolled in the Teamwork Deployment specialization will be given a grace period until December 31, 2024 to meet these new knowledge criteria, allowing for minimal impact to the current renewal window of 2024. In 2025, partners will be expected to meet the new requirements to renew. To learn more, see Specialization.

Supply Chain specialization: The Skilling requirements for the Supply Chain specialization now include the Dynamics 365: Finance and Operations Apps Developer Associate (MB-500) and the Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management Functional Consultant Expert (MB-335) certifications. The Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing Functional Consultant Associate (MB-320) certification was retired on June 30, 2023 and has been removed. Each of the four certifications must be held by at least one individual. These changes went live in July 2024. Partners currently enrolled in the Supply Chain specialization will be given a grace period until December 31, 2024 to meet these new knowledge criteria, allowing for minimal impact to the current renewal window of 2024. In 2025, partners are expected to meet the new requirements to renew. To learn more, see Specialization.

Low Code and SMB specializations data migration: The Low Code and Small and Midsize Business (SMB) specializations are now aligned to the official data feeds used by Partner Center for the Business Applications Solutions Partner Designation and all other Business Applications specializations. As of June 24, 2024, these two specializations moved from the custom data sources used today for the Performance and App Source metrics to the same data sources as Solutions Partner Designation and all other specializations. This change will impact the Performance and App Source metrics for some partners who have achieved or are working toward achieving the Low Code and SMB specializations. Partners who were meeting the Performance and/or App Source requirements before the data migration will be given an override for the requirements they met before the update when enrolling or applying for renewal to these specializations before December 31, 2024. To learn more, see Specialization.

Support Services designation: In our commitment to trust and transparency, we're postponing the launch of the Partner Support Services designation to ensure it meets our high standards of excellence. If you have been participating in the preview, communication on next steps will be provided within the next week.

What's coming

The new Analytics on Microsoft Azure Specialization: During the first half of 2025, we'll unveil a unified specialization that integrates the strengths of both the Analytics on Microsoft Azure and Data Warehouse Migration specializations. This consolidation is a strategic move to meet customer expectations more effectively leverage the synergies between the two previously separate specializations. The consolidated specialization will streamline the validation of partners' expertise in core analytics and migration, enhancing the partner experience and ensuring that our customers engage with the most proficient analytics partners in the industry.

Partners accredited with or achieving either the Analytics on Microsoft Azure or Data Warehouse Migration specializations before the launch of the new, integrated specialization will be seamlessly enrolled into the new version until the next renewal cycle.

This initiative underscores our ongoing dedication to providing exceptional, distinct value to our partners and customers, and to maintaining our position as a leader in the market. Stay tuned for more detailed information on the updated requirements.

Analytics on Microsoft Azure specialization: Beginning September 2024, the Performance requirements for the Analytics on Microsoft Azure specialization have been updated to include Microsoft Fabric. The USD 3,000 of Azure Consumed Revenue (ACR) can now be fulfilled across Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Data Lake, Azure Data Factory, Azure Databricks, or Microsoft Fabric.

Data Warehouse Migration to Microsoft Azure specialization: Beginning September 2024, the Performance requirements for the Data Warehouse Migration to Microsoft Azure specialization have been updated to include Azure Databricks and Microsoft Fabric. The USD 10,000 of Azure Consumed Revenue (ACR) can now be fulfilled across Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Databricks, or Microsoft Fabric.

AI and Machine Learning in Microsoft Azure specialization: A change is coming to the AI and Machine Learning in Microsoft Azure specialization. Moving forward, this specialization will be rebranded as "AI Platform on Azure" and will offer more products to be considered toward earning and maintaining eligibility. The Azure Consumed Revenue will also increase from USD 2,000 to USD 5,000. The eligible products to meet this criterion are available under each of these product areas:

  • AI Infra: Azure Machine Learning; MaaS; Other AI Infra
  • Azure AI Services: Academic Knowledge; Anomaly Detector; Azure AI Search; Azure AI Services; Bot Service; Content Moderator; Content Safety; Document Intelligence; Emotion; Health Bot; Health Insights; Immersive Reader; Ink Recognizer; Language; Metrics Advisor; Personalizer; Phi; Recognition; Recommendations; Search; Speech; Translator; Text Analytics; Video Analyzer; Video Indexer; Vision
  • Azure OpenAI: Azure OpenAI

Build and Modernize AI Apps with Microsoft Azure specialization: A change is coming to the Build and Modernize AI Apps with Microsoft Azure specialization. Moving forward, this specialization will be rebranded as "Build AI Apps on Azure" and will offer more products to be considered toward earning and maintaining eligibility. The Azure Consumed Revenue will also increase from USD 2,000 to USD 5,000 for each of the product platform services: Application Platform, Data Platform, and AI Platform. The eligible products to meet these criteria are available under each of these product areas:

  • Application Platform
    • App Platform Services: Azure App Service; Azure Spring Cloud
    • Container and Serverless Services: Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS); ARO; Azure Container Apps; Container Instances; Container Registry; Functions
    • Integration Services: API Management; BizTalk Services; Event Grid; Logic Apps; Service Bus
  • Data Platform
    • Cosmos DB: Cosmos DB
    • OSS DBs: MariaDB; MySQL; PGSQL
    • SQL DB: SQL DB; SQL DB MI
  • AI Platform
    • Azure AI Services: Academic Knowledge; Anomaly Detector; Azure AI Search; Azure AI Services; Bot Service; Content Moderator; Content Safety; Document Intelligence; Emotion; Health Bot; Health Insights; Immersive Reader; Ink Recognizer; Language; Metrics Advisor; Personalizer; Phi; Recognition; Recommendations; Search; Speech; Text Analytics; Translator; Video Analyzer; Video Indexer; Vision
    • Azure OpenAI: Azure OpenAI

Infra and Database Migration to Microsoft Azure specialization: The audit requirements for the Infra and Database Migration to Microsoft Azure specialization have been updated. The audit checklist still validates the successful migration of customers from on-premises deployments to Azure. However, the evidence required has changed to better align with the customer expectations of partners capabilities that we're evaluating for this specialization. We have adjusted the Module B scenarios of the audit down to two:

  • Scenario 1, Infrastructure: Windows OR Linux
  • Scenario 2, Database: SQL OR OSS DB

Each scenario will require two evidence examples (for a total four) and a minimum of two projects. Check the Infra DB specialization page in Partner Center and navigate to the Audit section where you can download the checklist to learn more.

Reminder

  • Apply Today to attain one of seven Solutions Partner with certified software designations to qualify for top tier benefits, and Azure Migrate and Modernize, and Innovate incentives. If you missed our announcement last month, Microsoft is offering subsidies on a first-come, first-serve basis for assessments conducted by the third-party auditor for qualification for the designations. To learn more, see the blog post: Unlock the marketplace opportunity with certified software designations.
  • If you're renewing an Azure specialization for the second year, then an audit will be required for re-enrollment. Review the updated checklist and plan accordingly. You can start scheduling your audits 60 days ahead of your anniversary date for the specialization.
  • If you're renewing your Modern Work specialization or Security specialization for the second year, then customer references will be required for re-enrollment. Prep these references ahead of your anniversary date. You'll be able to load your customer references into Partner Center 60 days ahead of the anniversary date of the specialization.
  • Microsoft moved all partner program transactions to the new commerce platform. For more details, read the article: "link billing account and profile to Partner Center account."

Next steps

Review the partner program journey map to navigate the transformational journey dedicated to the following partner program offerings: Solutions Partner designations, specializations, and expert offerings.

Improvements to the Azure credit offer (ACO) balance report

We're excited to announce improvements to the Azure credit offer (ACO) balance report for better clarity and usefulness. The report now includes a few new columns to help better reconciliation. The report also displays the actual credit given for each month or billing period, rather than the cumulative total from the current and previous months or billing period.

  • Date: September 17, 2024
  • Workspace: Billing
  • Impacted audience: All Azure Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners who use the ACO balance report for billing and reconciliation purposes

The ACO balance report provides detailed information about the credits applied to Azure usage for eligible customer resources. We're introducing these changes to enhance the report's usability:

  • New columns: To improve reconciliation, the report now includes more columns that provide a clearer breakdown of credit transactions.
  • Monthly credit display: The report now shows the specific credit applied each month instead of a cumulative total from past months or billing periods as previously shown.

These changes are designed to provide more precise and actionable data, making it easier for you to manage and reconcile your Azure credit offer.

How does this change your experience?

As of September 17, 2024, when you access the ACO balance report, you'll notice the new columns and the monthly credit breakdown. This means, for example, that the report now displays the credits given specifically for the billing period of August 2024, rather than a cumulative total including August 2024 and earlier billing periods.

Benefits

The enhancements to the ACO balance report bring these benefits:

  • Improved reconciliation: The new columns provide a more detailed breakdown, making it easier to reconcile your credits.
  • Accurate credit data: Displaying the actual credit given each month gives you a clearer understanding of your credit usage and allocation.

Next steps

  • Review the updated ACO balance report format to familiarize yourself with the new columns and data presentation.
  • Adjust your reconciliation processes to take advantage of the improved data clarity.
  • Test your billing and reconciliation workflows with the new report format to ensure they work as expected.
  • Contact us if you have any questions or feedback about these changes.

We believe these enhancements will significantly improve your experience with the ACO balance report, making it a more effective tool for managing your Azure credits.

Release of hot fix for Fundraising and Engagement solution

The latest release of Fundraising and Engagement includes an update for Dynamics 365 (version 2.5.3.1) that mitigates issues around transaction and payment scheduling.

  • Date: September 12, 2024
  • Workspace: General
  • Impacted audience: Partners deploying Fundraising and Engagement solutions

Important

This is a reminder that Fundraising and Engagement is being retired. Support for Fundraising and Engagement will end at 11:59 PM Pacific Time on December 31, 2026. For more information, see the announcement from July.

The latest Fundraising and Engagement update (Dynamics 365 only, version 2.5.3.1) mitigates the following issues:

Issue Mitigation
Following a recent platform update, the request format was altered, leading to errors when users attempted to save Transaction or Payment schedule records. The request structure during Transaction and Payment schedule saving is corrected to prevent user errors.
When users opened a Transaction, Payment Schedule, or Donor Commitment record without an associated configuration for their system-user record, they encountered a general error. Users are informed about the missing configuration by a platform warning message or a dialog message on forms where a configuration record is required.
Users receive an error when trying to change the business process flow on opportunities. With the fix applied, users can change the business process flow successfully.

Important

Fundraising and Engagement is composed of Dynamics 365 and Azure services. We highly recommend that nonprofit organizations and partners upgrade both the Fundraising and Engagement Dynamics 365 solution version 2.5.3.1 and Azure services to version 2.5.3.0 to take advantage of the latest improvements.

Users with access to Fundraising and Engagement may work with sensitive data. We recommend that administrators and users enable multifactor authentication to increase the security of their environment.

Next steps

Questions?

Customers are being asked to work with their Microsoft account team or Microsoft partner, or to contact us.

September Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) monthly updates and community reminder

Monthly views are now published, including the updated partner launch calendars, the CSP Bimonthly Update newsletter, and other CSP community resources that provide you with essential program updates.

  • Date: September 10, 2024
  • Workspace: General
  • Impacted audience: CSP direct bill partners and indirect providers

Always available - Launch content on demand

For a consolidated view of all recent and active launches in a single place, visit the partner launch calendars collection. There's a timeline for each launch and links to published materials to help you learn more about that launch.

Download the CSP Bimonthly Update newsletter, which aggregates recent CSP announcements, updates, events, and reminders in an easy-to-read document.

Partner Journey Maps provide detailed navigation along the journey of Microsoft’s highest priority transformations.

Need licensing readiness? The monthly CSP spotlight webinars cover the latest CSP licensing information available for all partners.

CSP Community Q&A reminder

The monthly CSP community Q&A session provides you with an opportunity to learn more and ask questions about changes affecting the program.

Register here to join upcoming calls.

Next steps

  • Review the partner launch calendar and monthly newsletter, and register for upcoming Community Q&A calls.

Questions?

The monthly CSP community Q&A call is the best place to bring questions about operational change in the CSP program. You can submit a question up to 48 hours before the call.

Questions on any other CSP topic? Visit the Partner Center support page.

Self-service purchase feature to come for Copilot customers

Beginning in October 2024, Microsoft will launch self-service purchasing options for Microsoft 365 Copilot, specifically for users of Microsoft 365 licensed through business suites: Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard, and Premium.

  • Date: September 9, 2024 (revised October 2)
  • Workspace: General
  • Impacted audience: All Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners and customers

The launch of self-service purchasing options for Copilot means end users licensed through Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard, and Premium business suites will be able to purchase Microsoft 365 Copilot for themselves, by selecting the Add Copilot to your Microsoft plan button, which will surface on the Microsoft 365 Copilot product page and Compare All Microsoft 365 Plans webpages.

Note

At the time of launch, purchases will be limited to one individual license, and not a full departmental purchase.

Self-service purchases are a great way for IT to accelerate and streamline productivity tools for their organization by providing a way for end users to purchase products with their own payment instrument (credit card). Additionally, self-service purchases could help send demand signals and provide customers with usage information from their early adopters that could help them with their AI strategy and rollout. Currently, end user purchase is only available via Buy Online.

Managing self-service purchasing

Self-service purchasing will be enabled by default at the time of launch. The end user who buys the subscription through self-service purchase is the person who is billed and who's responsible for payment based on the terms and pricing of the purchase.

Admins can view all self-service purchases made in their organization in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Action notifications will surface in the Microsoft 365 admin center when a self-service purchase happens, allowing you to see the new license on the licensing page. Partner notifications aren't yet available in Lighthouse; an update will be posted once available.

Admins can maintain control of licenses in their tenant and can manage self-service licenses on the Billing > Your Products or Licensing page in the Microsoft 365 admin center and can view license usage or take control of these licenses at any time. To manage self-service purchases billing account types, you must be a Billing account owner or contributor or a Billing profile owner or contributor. Admins can turn off self-service purchasing on a per product basis via PowerShell or review the new settings at Settings - Microsoft 365 admin center. The release of the self-service purchase settings in the Admin Center honors your existing state and doesn't override your current status settings in PowerShell. Admins received a message center post T-30 from launch informing them of the coming changes.

Note

The cancellation policy for Microsoft 365 Copilot gives the user a seven-day window to receive a full refund. Full refunds are only available if cancelled within 24 hours of purchase or renewal. For cancellations after 24 hours, the refund will be prorated accordingly.

Next steps and actions required

Note

At the time of launch, self-service purchasing will be enabled by default for all users that have a Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard, or Premium license.

Partner call to action: Partners should do the following to understand self-service purchasing:

  • If a partner has the Global or Billing admin role for the customer tenant, they can use the Microsoft 365 admin center to allow or block self-service purchases or trials. To learn more, see Manage your Microsoft business billing profiles.
  • To learn more about managing or disabling self-service purchases, see Manage self-service purchases and trials (for admins). Review the Self-service purchase FAQ for further information.
  • Customers can choose to turn off end user purchases before a wider organization purchase is made, to stop any possible duplicate licenses. Alternatively, end user purchases could help send demand signals and provide customers with usage information from their early adopters that could help with broader sales.

Resources

To learn more about managing or disabling self-service purchases, see Manage self-service purchases and trials (for admins). For more information, review the Self-service purchase FAQ.

For more information about Microsoft 365 Copilot, see Get started with Microsoft 365 Copilot or watch How to get ready for Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Three-year Microsoft 365 E3 subscriptions now available for CSPs in select markets

Microsoft is announcing the launch of Microsoft 365 E3 three-year commitments for Cloud Solution Providers (CSPs) in select markets in India, ASEAN, LATAM, Korea, and Japan.

  • Date: September 2, 2024 (revised September 28)
  • Workspace: General
  • Impacted audience: All partners transacting Microsoft 365

Note

September 28 update: Operational issues have been identified for the Microsoft 365 E3 three-year offer. Microsoft is currently assessing a solution and will update communications shortly.

On September 1, 2024, Microsoft launched Microsoft 365 E3 Triennial Commitment SKUs in select markets in India, ASEAN, LATAM, Korea, and Japan. SKUs will be available for three-year subscription commitments, via prepaid bill and annual bill plans.

Microsoft has also launched a 10% off promotion for the new Microsoft 365 E3 three-year subscriptions, as an alternative to the current 15% off promotion for Microsoft 365 E3 Annual subscription. Partners can apply this offer to accelerate Microsoft 365 E3 adoption for customers who prioritize longer-term price predictability.

Promotion Details

  • Product: Microsoft 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E3 (no Teams), triennial commitment only
  • Geography: Available in the select markets where Microsoft 365 E3 three-year SKUs are available
  • Deal minimum: 100 licenses
  • Deal maximum: 2,400 licenses
  • Customer eligibility: New-to-Microsoft 365 E3 customers only
  • Promotional period: September 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025

Note

These three-year SKUs won't be visible on the CSP price list in relevant markets.

Next steps

Office 365 E1 Plus now available for CSPs in select markets

Microsoft is announcing the launch of Office 365 E1 Plus for Cloud Solution Providers (CSPs) in select markets in ASEAN, LATAM, India, and the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia.

  • Date: September 2, 2024
  • Workspace: General
  • Impacted audience: All partners transacting Microsoft 365

On September 1, 2024, Microsoft launched Office 365 E1 Plus in select markets in ASEAN, LATAM, India, and the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia. Pricing and SKU details will be available for select markets in ASEAN, LATAM and India on September 1, 2024. Pricing and SKU details will be available for Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia on October 1, 2024.

Office 365 E1 Plus combines the basic productivity and email value found in Office 365 E1 with key security value – Endpoint Management (Intune), Conditional Identity Access (Microsoft Entra ID), and Data Loss Prevention. An alternative to Microsoft 365 E3 for price-sensitive customers, Office 365 E1 Plus offers partners a product alternative to acquire customers from third-party or on-premises solutions and to upsell existing Office 365 E1 customers.

Microsoft is also launching the Office 365 E1 Plus 30% promotion to help partners accelerate the adoption of Office 365 E1 Plus.

Promotion details

  • Product: Office 365 E1 Plus and Office 365 E1 Plus (no Teams), annual commitment only
  • Geography: Available in the select markets where Office 365 E1 Plus is sold
  • Deal minimum: 100 licenses
  • Deal maximum: 2,400 licenses
  • Customer eligibility: New-to-Office 365 E1 Plus customers only
  • Promotional period: September 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025

Next steps

15% off Copilot for Microsoft 365 subscription Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) promotion available worldwide

Microsoft is announcing a 15% off promotion off Copilot for Microsoft 365, available for customers purchasing eligible, new Copilot for Microsoft 365 subscriptions.

  • Date: September 2, 2024
  • Workspace: General
  • Impacted audience: All partners transacting Copilot for Microsoft 365

On September 1, 2024, Microsoft launched the Getting Started with Copilot for Microsoft 365 promotion, which provides CSP partners 15% off the net partner price for all new customer subscriptions between 10 and 300 Copilot licenses.

This 15% off promotion is available for new Copilot for Microsoft 365 subscription – Partners adding licenses to existing Copilot for Microsoft 365 customer subscriptions won't receive the discount.

Promotion Details

  • Geography: Available in all markets where Copilot for Microsoft 365 is sold in CSP (Worldwide)
  • Deal minimum: 10 licenses
  • Deal maximum: 300 licenses
  • Customer eligibility: All customers (new and existing Copilot for Microsoft 365 customers). Customers must purchase a new subscription; license adds to pre-existing subscriptions won't receive the promotional discount.
  • Promotional period: September 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024

Next steps