Buying your Microsoft licenses with Trustmarque
Making sure you get it right
Once we have helped you select the products, services, and type of licensing agreement your organisation needs, then you need to set up payment and completion, this is when working with Trustmarque comes into its own. We want the process to go as smoothly as it can and have heavily invested in people, training, and processes to ensure this happens.
Here we will explain what happens when buying your Microsoft licenses across the purchase stages for Enterprise Agreements and Cloud Solutions Provider (CSP) programme, as well as the support we can provide you with for the Microsoft Licensing portals.
With an Enterprise Agreements (EA) are for organisations that want to license software and cloud services for a minimum three-year period.
An Enterprise Agreement (EA) offers best value to an organisation more than 250 (Public Sector) or 500 (private sector) users or devices. Usually, EAs are a three-year agreement which can help reduce initial costs and sets out your annual software budget over the three years. Subscription options can lower initial licensing costs by subscribing to the rights to use Microsoft products and services instead of owning them. This option also enables you to increase or decrease subscription counts on an annual basis.
1.
Purchase
When purchasing an EA there are clear procedures that are followed when setting up. Microsoft can take up to five days to approve, any additional changes can cause significant process delays.
Here is a simplified step by step example:
- EA requirements are finalise i.e. license types and quantities
- Pre-Credit check (direct customers only)
- Our specialist operations team creates a draft contract pack
- Price is agreed and submitted to Microsoft for approval
- Purchase Order received by Trustmarque
- Agreement signed and completed
- Invoice and access to licenses is grant with a key sent
Our best advice is – if in doubt, ask.
2.
Post purchase – Migration to your new agreement
Once you have purchased your licenses, this is when your users get to work with the tools you’ve bought.
We want you to be able to manage and allocate your new software as smoothly as possible. You’ll receive a welcome pack for each agreement, and we will assist you with setting up and managing your new Enterprise Agreement in the Microsoft licensing portals.
3.
Portals and Administration
An overview of Microsoft’s main administration portals.
Microsoft 365 Administration Portal
The portal allows you to view your online service subscriptions at a high level and perform day to day administration and management, such as provisioned and assigned your cloud licenses.
You can raise tickets directly to Microsoft’s Office 356 Support team. However, if your organisation has given Trustmarque Delegated Admin Privileges are your we can support you with raising tickets and troubleshooting.
Azure Enterprise Agreement Portal
You can purchase your Azure subscriptions via an EA/SCE. You can manage, access reports, view usage and administer access. We can support the end users by accessing reports and administering access.
VLSC Portal
The VLSC portal is where on-premises licenses are managed, you can access license keys, download media and download a summary of licenses you hold. Through the VLSC you can also make and manage license reservations, assign, and create SA benefits and SA benefit vouchers.
Trustmarque can support your end users by raising tickets to query issues, create reservations on your behalf, cancel reservations on your behalf and support you accessing keys and media.
VIEW OUR PORTAL SUPPORT VIDEOS
A short enablement session is available on request to take you through some of the portal fundamentals.
4.
Agreement management
During the life of an Enterprise Agreement, there are significant actionable milestones as the contracted terms progress. These are predominately based around a yearly declaration of usage. All these milestones are shown in your Trustmarque Welcome Pack.
SCE/EA
Anniversary Orders
- The annual review of licensing will determine if you require to maintain or decrease* (*where allowed within the programmatic rules) the number of licenses you require.
- Microsoft stipulate that, all anniversary orders must occur in the 60-30 day window prior to anniversary date
- Ensures compliancy with agreement rules.
True Ups
- A process for reviewing licences used in the previous anniversary period and reporting increases in license requirement, these orders can be placed mid-term or annually. It is important to note that the annual true-up applies only to products that you have already licensed under your current Enterprise Agreement. New products and online services that are not under your current Enterprise Agreement must be purchased in the month they are first used.
- For periods where there are no changes, then a confirmation Update Statement is submitted.
The True-Up timeline
MSFT True Up Guide:
ESA
If you have an Enterprise Subscription Agreement, your commitment is to place an Annual Order instead of a True Up:
Annual Order
- The annual order, due in the 60-30 day window prior to anniversary date, facilitates a review of the listed licences and establishes the products and quantities you want for the next year of your agreement.
- If the order is outside the 60-30 day window, any required licence changes or reductions may be rejected by Microsoft.
Renewals
Enterprise Agreements are renewed after three years, and any renewal follows the same process as the original agreement set up. We are committed to support you through the lifecycle of your agreements and the renewal process. You will be contacted by your Trustmarque Account Manager in advance of your renewal data to help you explore your options and any future agreement keeps pace with technology changes and any organisational changes.
Cloud Solution Provider provides you with scalable and flexible licensing options. With CSP, you have full visibility of all your cloud-based desktops, apps and infrastructure licenses.
The platform is designed to give you simple and clear management of cloud licensing. CSP is excellent for organisations that require highly flexible licensing.
CSP is available for different types of volume licenses including:
- Cloud Subscriptions for Microsoft 365 including Office 365, Windows 365, EMS, Intune, Dynamics 365 and more
- Azure consumption services
- Software licenses, such as Windows Server, but only a small number of software are available through CSP to support a cloud license purchase
- Perpetual Software Licences are now available under CSP as Microsoft are retiring the Open Licence programme at the end of 2021.
CSP also comes with price locking, locking in prices for 12 months, so you’re able to take advantage of any special offers or discounts.
Speak to your Trustmarque account manager for more information and how you can make the most of CSP.
1.
Purchase
The CSP can be simpler to set up in the first instance and gives you flexible ongoing management of your licenses.
Here is a simplified step by step example:
- Finalise your requirements
- Complete the CSP Onboarding form with your organisation’s details
- Sign Microsoft Credit Agreement
- Sign our CSP T&Cs
- Submit Onboarding form to us
- Our dedicated specialist support team set up your agreement and send you all relevant links to associated to your tenancy and reseller relationship
- Licenses provisioned and available for use
2.
Portals and Administration
We will send you a Trustmarque Welcome Pack sent for each new agreement which will provide exclusive access to our supporting management Cloud-ESP portal.
Using the portal, you can increase and decrease the quantities of licenses you have in the Cloud-ESP portal or suspend a subscription when needed, and review your costs and usage for greater visibility of spend.
For purchases of new products, you will need to order these via your Account Manager and the product will be added. You can also adjust the quantities when required.
Our Microsoft Operations Team and your Trustmarque Account Manager are on hand to answer any management questions.
Managing licenses
High level license management is available in Trustmarque’s Cloud-ESP portal where you can change license quantities, manage billing through the My wallets features, training guides and more, in a single view.
Ongoing support
Our dedicate Microsoft Operations team are always on hand to support you with your CSP account. By purchasing CSP via Trustmarque we can raise tickets with Microsoft on your behalf and have in depth trouble shooting expertise. Any technical, purchasing, or portal queries can all be direct through the support team.
For any queries you can contact your Trustmarque Account Manager or raise a ticket in the Cloud-ESP portal.
3.
Renewals
Unlike other Volume Licensing agreements, cloud subscriptions do not expire on CSP. You can suspend a subscription in C-ESP or request it be suspended via your Trustmarque Account Manager. You can also raise a ticket in Cloud-ESP to suspend a licence.
However, you need to remember that:
Price-locking – the original price lasts for 12 months, after which a new price is negotiated to align with the current Microsoft price file.
Please ensure your billing information is up to date and PO details are still valid or the commitment pot has been refilled.
Microsoft Licensing Portal Support
Portals are the backbone of all Microsoft licensing agreements, allowing you to administer and management of your licensing. If you have multiple agreement types, you will be using a variety of Microsoft portals our support team is on hand to help you navigate these.
Managing and administering your Microsoft agreements and subscriptions is carried out using various portals dependent on the type of agreement and product you have. If you have multiple agreement types, you will be using a variety of Microsoft licensing portals and if you aren’t using these administration tools regularly, they can be frustrating and time consuming.
Our dedicated team can help you access and navigate the different portals from the beginning of your agreement. Our portal support is available to both existing and new customers; this can be a light touch approach or more in depth depending on your requirements and internal resources.
Portal Support Services
Microsoft Administration Portal Support
Microsoft have several portals which customers use to administer their licensing agreements and subscriptions
How Trustmarque can help
Our in-house Microsoft Customer Excellence Team have created a series of how-to videos to help navigate these portals. You can access our how-to videos for the following Microsoft portals:
Delegated Administration Privileges
Microsoft allow partners to assist customers with many of their administration portals, however, this does not apply to the Office 365 administration centre.
Delegated Administration Privileges (DAP) allow us to become your Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider. This means we can investigate issues within your Office 365 administration centre on your behalf which will save you time and resources.
DAP lets us help you with:
- Investigating licences in the wrong tenant
- Resetting passwords
- Raising support tickets
Click the link below to give your authorisation for us to become your Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider, or if you need more information speak to your dedicated Trustmarque Account Manager.
