EDPS Customer Eligibility & Packaged Services Benefit

Customers under Enterprise Agreement, Enterprise Agreement Subscription, Select SAM (Software Assurance Membership), and Open Value or Open Value Subscription (with SA) Enrollments are eligible to receive Exchange Deployment Planning Services (EDPS) as part of their Software Assurance benefit.

What is Software Assurance?
Microsoft® Software Assurance for Volume Licensing (SA) helps maximize your customers’ technology investments. When customers purchase Software Assurance, they gain access to a comprehensive set of benefits, which can include maintenance, technical support, deployment assistance, and training. The types and levels of benefits they receive vary depending on their licensing program, which products they purchase, how many licenses they have, and how much they spend.

What is the Packaged Services Benefit?
Packaged Services, such as Exchange Deployment Planning Services (EDPS), is a Software Assurance benefit that offers customers pre-defined service engagements with qualified Microsoft Partners or Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) through entitlements based upon specified Office Application Pool and Server Pool licenses. These benefits remove barriers to the adoption or upgrading of Microsoft Unified Communications solutions by giving customers the services of an experienced partner who can guide the customer through planning Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2010 or Office Communications Server 2007 R2 deployments.

 

Calculating Customer Benefits

The number of Packaged Services days to which the customer is entitled is based on the sum of (1) a number of days based on the number of qualifying Application Pool licenses with SA plus (2) a number of days based on the Core CAL suites and Enterprise CAL suites in the Server Pool.

Customers receive one point for each qualifying license for Office and other qualifying desktop applications (such as Visio, Project, or SharePoint Designer) in the Application Pool to determine their Application Pool entitlement. Customers receive one point for each Core CAL suite (a suite of CALs for Windows, Exchange, SharePoint and System Management Server servers) for which they purchase SA, and two points for each license for the Enterprise CAL suite (which includes the Core CAL suite and CALs for eight additional Microsoft servers or services). Points are awarded on the basis of the number of licenses purchased over the term of a volume agreement. Additional purchases that cause the license count to cross an entitlement threshold will add additional Packaged Services days to the entitlement.

 

Engagement Offerings for Customers
The engagement offering is defined based on the service type and engagement length covered by a customer’s voucher – please note that vouchers do not cover number of hours or cash value (‘unused’ days cannot be “banked”). Additional entitlement features include:

• Customers can convert Training Voucher days into Packaged Services days on a 3:1 basis, at any time and with no limit.
• Customers can create multiple vouchers, spending available Packaged Service days on qualifying services
• Customers may work with any qualified provider for the service they’ve selected, but are limited to a single provider per voucher / engagement

IW Application Points	Days	CAL Suite Points	Days
200-499	1	200-3,999	1
500-1,999	3	4,000-9,999	3
2,000-3,999	5	10,000 – 99,999	5
4,000 – 29,999	10	100,000 – 299,999	7
30,000 – 49,999	15	300,000 – 599,999	10
50,000 – 99,999	20	600,000 +	12
100,000 – 199,999	30
200,000 – 399,999	40
400,000 – 599,999	50
600,000 +	75

Sample Point/Day Calculations
Office Suites and individual applications like Project (Standard and Professional), Visio (Standard and Professional), and SharePoint Designer each count as one point.	Core CAL Suite SA = 1 point Enterprise CAL Suite SA = 2 points
Example: EA Enrollment with: 3500 Office Pro Plus +600 Visio Standard 4100 IW Applications = 10 days	Example: EA Enrollment with: 2000 ECAL Suite x 2 points each 4000 CAL Suite points = 3 days

 

The total Packaged Services entitlement for this sample calculation is 13 days (10 Days + 3 Days). To learn more about Software Assurance, visit http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/sa/default.mspx.

 

Activating Customer Benefits

Packaged Services benefits often go un-activated because procurement or legal are the parties typically involved in purchasing licenses and signing Volume Licensing agreements for customers. Upon execution of the agreement, information on how to activate these benefits is sent to procurement and legal rather than to the parties that use the benefits. What this means is that partners are in a unique position to be able to educate their customers about the existence of these benefits and activate them on the customer’s behalf.

• Partners Activating Benefits: To learn how to activate Software Assurance Benefits on your customer’s behalf, view this document. For particulars on how to create and assign a voucher after you have activated their benefit, view a training video.
• Customers Activating Benefits: In the event that the customer is unwilling to give you access to their information on the Microsoft Volume Licensing site, instruct your customers to view SA Benefit Activation and Training. The first section details how to create an MVSLS account and how to assign a Benefits Administrator. The second section outlines steps for the Benefits administrator to assign and create a voucher. For the second part, your Customer can also view the training video on how to create and assign a voucher.