Solutions Partner Benefits Guide
Solutions Partner LAST UPDATED:
October 3, 2022
Benefits Guide
The information in this document is intended to help partners understand the updated benefits for
Solutions Partner designations. Note that eligible Solutions Partners who renew a legacy
competency by September 30, 2022, may choose instead to retain their legacy competency benefits
(by paying the aligned fee) as outlined in Partner Center and the FAQ.
The content herein is being provided solely for discussion and general information purposes.
Program information herein is subject to change and should not be interpreted as an offer,
endorsement, guarantee, commitment or any other type of representation on the part of Microsoft.
All decisions pertaining and related to your business needs including but not limited to strategies,
solutions, partner selection, implementation, etc. rests solely with your business. Be sure to review
the benefits information in Partner Center before paying the annual fee. Partners must comply with
the use terms and policies regarding benefits and license use rights and limitations about each
software product or online service as outlined in the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program guide. For
more information, refer to the links below:
Learn more about the Solutions Partner designations in Partner Center or on the Microsoft partner
website.
Learn more about managing your Benefits.
Table of Contents
Section Page
Benefits included with all Solutions Partner designations 3
• Marketing benefits 3
• Support and advisory benefits 3
Designation or program specific benefits (incremental) 4
• Product benefits for Solutions Partner designations 5
• Product benefits for specializations and expert programs 18
Illustrative example 22
Change log 23
2
Benefits included with all Solutions
Partner designations
Benefits included with all Solutions Partner designations, otherwise known as common
benefits, are provided once irrespective of which Solutions Partner designation(s) are
attained.
These benefits are generally provided at the same quantities as those for legacy gold
competency partners. Details are subject to change.
Marketing benefits (or ‘go-to-market’)
Name or description Quantity
Partner Go-To-Market Toolbox ✓*
How to Market with Microsoft Consultation ✓
Profile Optimization and Referral Management ✓
Digital Marketing Content OnDemand (DMC) ✓
Ready-to-Go Marketing Assets (Partner Marketing Center) ✓
Geo Expansion Readiness Assessment ✓
Support and advisory benefits (formerly ‘technical benefits’)
Name or description Quantity
Technical presales and deployment services (TP&D)
• Advisory hours to help plan, build and implement solutions 50 hours
• Assistance with technical sales prep and deal enablement Unlimited
Signature Cloud Support incidents Unlimited
Microsoft Product Support (on-premise) incidents 20
*Refer to Change log item no. 1 for more details.
3
Solutions Partner designation
specific benefits (incremental)
Benefits which are specific to and depend on the designation(s) attained, otherwise
known as incremental benefits, are additive (exceptions apply) to each other and to
common benefits. In particular, product benefits (formerly ‘Internal Use Rights’, or ‘IURs’)
are aligned to the Solutions Partner designations and to specialization and expert
programs.
Product and offer terms and conditions apply. Details are subject to change.
Incremental product benefit categories (with links)
Solutions Partner designations Specializations and expert
programs
Business Applications
Azure
Data & AI (Azure)
Business Applications
Digital & App Innovation
(Azure) Modern Work
Infrastructure (Azure) Security
Modern Work
Security
Notes: Classification of specializations and
expert programs for the purposes of benefits
provisioning is based on the current advanced
Note: Solutions Partner product benefits for specialization classification (listed here). Product
Data & AI, Digital & App Innovation, and benefits for specializations and expert programs
Infrastructure (Azure) have a set of benefits are capped at a particular amount by category
which are ‘core’ across the three. as set out in this document.
4
Solutions Partner designation
product benefits
Business Applications product benefits
Microsoft product name or description Quantity Type
Azure Bulk Credits (Dev/Test) – delayed – in interim, dev/test
Delayed*
credits are provided with Visual Studio Enterprise*
Dynamics 365 Business Central Premium 100 users
Dynamics 365 Customer Insights 1 tenant
Dynamics 365 Customer Service Enterprise 100 users
Dynamics 365 Finance 100 users
Dynamics 365 Human Resources 100 users
Dynamics 365 Marketing (Base Pack) 1 tenant
Dynamics 365 Project Operations 100 users
Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise 100 users
Dynamics 365 Team Members 100 users
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Operations Application 25 users
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Operations Application Tier
1 tenant
2 Add on
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Sales, Field Service and
25 users
Customer Service
*Refer to Change log item no. 2 for more details. 5
Business Applications product benefits (continued)
Microsoft product name or description Quantity Type
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Sales Insights 5 users
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Marketing 1 tenant
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – eCommerce and Cloud
1 tenant
Scale Unit
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Fraud Protection 1 tenant
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Guides 1 user
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Intelligent Order
1 tenant
Management
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Human Resources 5 users
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Customer Service Digital
5 users
Messaging
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Business Central 5 users
Microsoft 365 E3 100 users
Microsoft Project Online (Plan 5) 20 users
Power BI Premium 100 users
Visio Online (Plan 2) 5 users
Visual Studio Enterprise subscriptions* 25 users
Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise - per core (2019, or current) 16 licenses
*Refer to Change log item no. 2 for more details.
6
Business Applications product benefits (continued)
Microsoft product name or description Quantity Type
System Center Client Management Suite (2019, or current) 100 licenses
System Center Configuration Manager (2019, or current) 100 licenses
System Center Endpoint Protection (2019, or current) 100 licenses
System Center Standard (2019, or current) 32 licenses
Windows 11 IoT Enterprise Not yet in market*
Windows Server CALs (not edition-specific) 100 licenses
Windows Server Datacenter (2022, or current) 32 licenses
Windows Server Remote Desktop Services (RDS) CALs (not
100 licenses
edition-specific)
Windows Server Standard (2022, or current) 100 licenses
Windows Storage Server Workgroup (2016) 2 licenses
*Refer to the Change log item no. 3 for more details. 7
Data & AI (Azure) product benefits
Microsoft product name or description Quantity Type
Azure Bulk Credits (Dev/Test) – delayed – in interim, dev/test
Delayed*
credits are provided with Visual Studio Enterprise)*
Azure Bulk Credits (Production) $6,000 per year
Visual Studio Enterprise subscriptions* 25 users
Products listed below are ‘core’ (granted once and not incremental) across only the
Data & AI, Digital & App Innovation, and Infrastructure (Azure) Solutions Partner
designations
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Operations Application 25 users
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Sales, Field Service and
25 users
Customer Service
Microsoft 365 E3 100 users
Microsoft Project Online (Plan 5) 20 users
Power BI Premium 100 users
Visio Online (Plan 2) 5 users
Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise - per core (2019, or current) 16 licenses
System Center Client Management Suite (2019, or current) 100 licenses
System Center Configuration Manager (2019, or current) 100 licenses
System Center Endpoint Protection (2019, or current) 100 licenses
*Refer to Change log item no. 2 for more details.
8
Data & AI (Azure) product benefits (continued)
Microsoft product name or description Quantity Type
System Center Standard (2019, or current) 32 licenses
Windows 11 IoT Enterprise Not yet in market*
Windows Server CALs (not edition-specific) 100 licenses
Windows Server Datacenter (2022, or current) 32 licenses
Windows Server Remote Desktop Services (RDS) CALs (not
100 licenses
edition-specific)
Windows Server Standard (2022, or current) 100 licenses
Windows Storage Server Workgroup (2016) 2 licenses
*Refer to the Change log item no. 3 for more details.
9
Digital & App Innovation (Azure) product benefits
Microsoft product name or description Quantity Type
Azure Bulk Credits (Dev/Test) – delayed – in interim, dev/test
Delayed*
credits are provided with Visual Studio Enterprise)*
Azure Bulk Credits (Production) $6,000 per year
Visual Studio Enterprise subscriptions* 25 users
Products listed below are ‘core’ (granted once and not incremental) across only the
Data & AI, Digital & App Innovation, and Infrastructure (Azure) Solutions Partner
designations
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Operations Application 25 users
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Sales, Field Service and
25 users
Customer Service
Microsoft 365 E3 100 users
Microsoft Project Online (Plan 5) 20 users
Power BI Premium 100 users
Visio Online (Plan 2) 5 users
Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise - per core (2019, or current) 16 licenses
System Center Client Management Suite (2019, or current) 100 licenses
System Center Configuration Manager (2019, or current) 100 licenses
System Center Endpoint Protection (2019, or current) 100 licenses
*Refer to Change log item no. 2 for more details.
10
Digital & App Innovation (Azure) product benefits (continued)
Microsoft product name or description Quantity Type
System Center Standard (2019, or current) 32 licenses
Windows 11 IoT Enterprise Not yet in market*
Windows Server CALs (not edition-specific) 100 licenses
Windows Server Datacenter (2022, or current) 32 licenses
Windows Server Remote Desktop Services (RDS) CALs (not
100 licenses
edition-specific)
Windows Server Standard (2022, or current) 100 licenses
Windows Storage Server Workgroup (2016) 2 licenses
*Refer to the Change log item no. 3 for more details.
11
Infrastructure (Azure) product benefits
Microsoft product name or description Quantity Type
Azure Bulk Credits (Dev/Test) – delayed – in interim, dev/test
Delayed*
credits are provided with Visual Studio Enterprise)*
Azure Bulk Credits (Production) $6,000 per year
Visual Studio Enterprise subscriptions* 25 users
Products listed below are ‘core’ (granted once and not incremental) across only the
Data & AI, Digital & App Innovation, and Infrastructure (Azure) Solutions Partner
designations
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Operations Application 25 users
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Sales, Field Service and
25 users
Customer Service
Microsoft 365 E3 100 users
Microsoft Project Online (Plan 5) 20 users
Power BI Premium 100 users
Visio Online (Plan 2) 5 users
Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise - per core (2019, or current) 16 licenses
System Center Client Management Suite (2019, or current) 100 licenses
System Center Configuration Manager (2019, or current) 100 licenses
*Refer to Change log item no. 2 for more details.
12
Infrastructure (Azure) product benefits (continued)
Microsoft product name or description Quantity Type
System Center Endpoint Protection (2019, or current) 100 licenses
System Center Standard (2019, or current) 32 licenses
Windows 11 IoT Enterprise Not yet in market*
Windows Server CALs (not edition-specific) 100 licenses
Windows Server Datacenter (2022, or current) 32 licenses
Windows Server Remote Desktop Services (RDS) CALs (not
100 licenses
edition-specific)
Windows Server Standard (2022, or current) 100 licenses
Windows Storage Server Workgroup (2016) 2 licenses
*Refer to the Change log item no. 3 for more details.
13
Modern Work product benefits
Microsoft product name or description Quantity Type
Azure Bulk Credits (Dev/Test) – delayed – in interim, dev/test
Delayed*
credits are provided with Visual Studio Enterprise)*
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Operations Application 25 users
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Sales, Field Service and
25 users
Customer Service
Microsoft 365 Business Premium 25 users
Microsoft 365 E5 200 users
Microsoft 365 EDU A5 25 users
Microsoft Project Online (Plan 5) 20 users
Visio Online (Plan 2) 5 users
Visual Studio Enterprise subscriptions* 25 users
Viva 50 users
Windows 365 Enterprise (Premium) 5 users
Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise - per core (2019, or current) 16 licenses
System Center Client Management Suite (2019, or current) 100 licenses
System Center Configuration Manager (2019, or current) 100 licenses
System Center Endpoint Protection (2019, or current) 100 licenses
*Refer to Change log item no. 2 for more details.
14
Modern Work product benefits (continued)
Microsoft product name or description Quantity Type
System Center Standard (2019, or current) 32 licenses
Windows 11 IoT Enterprise Not yet in market*
Windows Server CALs (not edition-specific) 100 licenses
Windows Server Datacenter (2022, or current) 32 licenses
Windows Server Remote Desktop Services (RDS) CALs (not
100 licenses
edition-specific)
Windows Server Standard (2022, or current) 100 licenses
Windows Storage Server Workgroup (2016) 2 licenses
*Refer to the Change log item no. 3 for more details.
15
Security product benefits
Microsoft product name or description Quantity Type
Azure Bulk Credits (Dev/Test) – delayed – in interim, dev/test
Delayed*
credits are provided with Visual Studio Enterprise)*
Azure Bulk Credits (Production) $6,000 per year
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Operations Application 25 users
Dynamics 365 Partner Sandbox – Sales, Field Service and
25 users
Customer Service
Microsoft 365 Business Premium 12 users
Microsoft 365 E5 100 users
Microsoft 365 EDU A5 12 users
Microsoft Project Online (Plan 5) 20 users
Visio Online (Plan 2) 5 users
Visual Studio Enterprise subscriptions* 25 users
Windows 365 Enterprise (Premium) 2 users
Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise - per core (2019, or current) 16 licenses
System Center Client Management Suite (2019, or current) 100 licenses
System Center Configuration Manager (2019, or current) 100 licenses
System Center Endpoint Protection (2019, or current) 100 licenses
*Refer to Change log item no. 2 for more details.
16
Security product benefits (continued)
Microsoft product name or description Quantity Type
System Center Standard (2019, or current) 32 licenses
Windows 11 IoT Enterprise Not yet in market*
Windows Server CALs (not edition-specific) 100 licenses
Windows Server Datacenter (2022, or current) 32 licenses
Windows Server Remote Desktop Services (RDS) CALs (not
100 licenses
edition-specific)
Windows Server Standard (2022, or current) 100 licenses
Windows Storage Server Workgroup (2016) 2 licenses
*Refer to the Change log item no. 3 for more details.
17
Specializations and expert
programs product benefits
As part of the benefits associated with the Solutions Partner designation, if you
subsequently earn a specialization, you will receive incremental product benefits to help
further accelerate your business. Incremental benefits for specialization and expert
programs are only available with Solutions Partner benefits and can not be added to
legacy benefits.
Each category of the specializations and expert programs (Azure, Business Applications,
Modern Work and Security) has individual maximum cap amounts for benefits
provisioning: the number of specializations or expert programs in that category which
will be eligible for incremental product benefits. Refer to the table of specializations and
expert programs benefits categories at the end of this section for the classification. The
max cap amounts are outlined in the following tables. Details are subject to change.
Specialization and expert program benefits will be provided at the Solutions Partner
anniversary date, or at the date of attainment through the remainder of the anniversary
year for additional specializations and expert programs attained (within the respective
max cap amounts). Refer to the illustrative example for more details.
Azure specialization and expert program product benefits
Max cap amount: 5 specializations or expert programs
Microsoft product name or description Quantity Type
Azure Bulk Credits (Dev/Test) – delayed – in interim, dev/test
Delayed*
credits are provided with Visual Studio Enterprise)*
Azure Bulk Credits (Production) $12,000 per year
GitHub Enterprise Cloud subscriptions
(Note: Only provided for the DevOps with GitHub on Microsoft Azure specialization) NA*
Microsoft 365 E3 30 users
Visual Studio Enterprise subscriptions* 10 users
*Refer to Change log item no. 2 and 3 for more details.
18
Business Applications specialization product benefits
Max cap amount: 1 specialization
Microsoft product name or description Quantity Type
Azure Bulk Credits (Dev/Test) – delayed – in interim, dev/test
Delayed*
credits are provided with Visual Studio Enterprise)*
Azure Bulk Credits (Production) $4,500 per year
Dynamics 365 Business Central Premium 25 users
Dynamics 365 Customer Service Enterprise 25 users
Dynamics 365 Finance 25 users
Dynamics 365 Human Resources 25 users
Dynamics 365 Marketing (Attach) (includes additional contacts and
interactions) 1 tenant
Dynamics 365 Project Operations 25 users
Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise 25 users
Dynamics 365 Team Members 25 users
Microsoft 365 E3 50 users
Visual Studio Enterprise subscriptions* 10 users
*Refer to Change log item no. 2 for more details.
19
Modern Work specialization product benefits
Max cap amount: 3 specializations
Microsoft product name or description Quantity Type
Azure Bulk Credits (Dev/Test) – delayed – in interim, dev/test
Delayed*
credits are provided with Visual Studio Enterprise)*
Azure Bulk Credits (Production) $4,500 per year
Microsoft 365 E5 50 users
Visual Studio Enterprise subscriptions* 10 users
Viva 50 users
Security specialization product benefits
Max cap amount: 3 specializations
Microsoft product name or description Quantity Type
Azure Bulk Credits (Dev/Test) – delayed – in interim, dev/test
Delayed*
credits are provided with Visual Studio Enterprise)*
Azure Bulk Credits (Production) $9,000 per year
Microsoft 365 E5 50 users
Visual Studio Enterprise subscriptions* 10 users
*Refer to Change log item no. 2 for more details.
20
Specializations and expert programs benefits categories
The classification of specializations and expert programs for the purposes of benefits
provisioning and capping is based on the current advanced specialization classification and
includes the Azure Expert MSP program. For clarity, these classifications and the associated
specializations and expert programs are listed below. Details are subject to change.
Category Specialization or expert program name
Azure Azure Expert MSP
Windows Server and SQL Server Migration to Microsoft Azure
Linux and Open Source Database Migration to Microsoft Azure
SAP on Microsoft Azure
Data Warehouse Migration to Microsoft Azure
Kubernetes on Microsoft Azure
Modernization of Web Applications to Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop
Analytics on Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure VMware Solution
AI and Machine Learning on Microsoft Azure
DevOps with GitHub on Microsoft Azure
Hybrid Operations and Management with Microsoft Azure Arc
Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure with Microsoft Azure Stack HCI
Networking Services in Microsoft Azure
Business Microsoft Low Code Application Development
Applications Small and Midsize Business Management
Modern Work Adoption and Change Management
Calling for Microsoft Teams
Customer Solutions for Microsoft Teams
Meetings and Meeting Rooms for Microsoft Teams
Teamwork Deployment
Security Cloud Security
Identity and Access Management
Information Protection and Governance
Threat Protection
21
Illustrative example
Review this illustrative example to better understand how the benefits are provided to
Solutions Partners for their Solutions Partner designation(s) and specialization(s) or
expert program(s). In this example, ‘benefits’ refers to the items listed in this document
and excludes other provisions such as badging. Details are subject to change.
This example follows the fictional company ‘Contoso’, that has attained a legacy gold
competency with a single Azure specialization, whose annual legacy competency
anniversary date is January 1.
Date Contoso action Benefits provided
Oct 2022 Contoso meets the requirements for, No change. Contoso continues to
and attains, the Solutions Partner for receive and be able to activate their
Infrastructure (Azure) designation. legacy gold competency benefits until
their next anniversary date (Jan 1,
2023).
Dec 2022 Contoso earns an additional Azure No change (incremental benefits for
specialization (total of two). specialization are only available with
Solutions Partner benefits).
Jan 2023 At renewal, Contoso meets the Contoso is provided the common
requirements for the Solutions benefits, the Infrastructure (Azure)
Partner for Infrastructure (Azure) product benefits, and two sets of the
designation, selects the benefits for Azure specialization product benefits
Solutions Partners and pays the (assuming continued enrolment and
aligned fee. eligibility of both specializations).
Feb 2023 Contoso meets the requirements for, Contoso is provided the incremental
and attains, the Solutions Partner for Data & AI (Azure) product benefits (i.e.,
Data & AI (Azure) designation. Azure credits, Visual Studio
subscriptions), with an expiry date of
Contoso’s next membership
anniversary date (Jan 1, 2024).
Mar 2023 Contoso meets the requirements for, Contoso is provided three additional
and is awarded, four additional Azure incremental sets of the Azure
specializations (total of six). specialization product benefits
(considering the max cap of five Azure
specialization benefits) with an expiry
date of Contoso’s next membership
anniversary date (Jan 1, 2024).
22
Change log
The following is a summary of the latest updates made to the Solutions Partner Benefits
Guide.
Please note that program information herein is subject to change and should not be
interpreted as an offer, endorsement, guarantee, commitment or any other type of
representation on the part of Microsoft. Be sure to review the benefits information in
Partner Center before paying the annual fee.
Date Update number and title Details
August 1) GTM Toolbox points While the GTM Toolbox – used to
2022 create co-branded assets – will remain
active, the 18 points for editorial review
of the assets will no longer be offered.
2) Azure dev/test sponsorship and The planned launch of an Azure
credits dev/test bulk sponsorship has been
delayed until further notice. In the
interim, dev/test credits will be re-
introduced to the Visual Studio
Enterprise subscriptions. The features
of these Visual Studio Enterprise
subscriptions will be the same as those
offered as benefits for silver and gold
competencies.
3) Windows 11 IoT Product keys are only provided for
software available via volume licensing.
Currently Windows 11 IoT is not
available in market via volume
licensing.
4) GitHub Enterprise Cloud GitHub Enterprise Cloud subscriptions
subscriptions for the DevOps with for the DevOps with GitHub on
GitHub on Microsoft Azure Microsoft Azure specialization will not
specialization be available until further notice.
23
