Microsoft Partner Incentives

Cloud Solution Provider (CSP)

Indirect Provider Incentive Guide

July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2018

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Contents Overview .............................................................................................................................................. 4

Purpose............................................................................................................................................ 4

How to use this guide ................................................................................................................ 4

Executive summary ...................................................................................................................... 4

Incentives summary .................................................................................................................... 5

Partner eligibility ............................................................................................................................... 5

MPN requirements ...................................................................................................................... 5

Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) Agreement ................................................................. 6

Microsoft agreements and/or authorizations ................................................................... 6

Cloud Distributor Solution Accelerator (CDSA) eligibility ............................................. 6

MPN requirements (CDSA) ....................................................................................................... 6

Eligibility monitoring and management .............................................................................. 7

Loss of eligibility ........................................................................................................................... 7

Enrollment ........................................................................................................................................... 8

Invitation period ........................................................................................................................... 8

Onboarding process ................................................................................................................... 8

Partner Incentives Experience account set-up .................................................................. 8

Program structure and rates ........................................................................................................ 8

Global incentives .......................................................................................................................... 9

Local accelerators ........................................................................................................................ 9

Co-op ............................................................................................................................................ 10

Earnings and calculation ............................................................................................................. 11

Eligible revenue rules .............................................................................................................. 11

CDSA eligible revenue............................................................................................................. 12

Payment ............................................................................................................................................ 12

Payment cadence ...................................................................................................................... 12

Payments details ....................................................................................................................... 13

Payment compliance ............................................................................................................... 13

Payment earnings reporting ................................................................................................. 13

Dispute and resolution ........................................................................................................... 14

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Overpayment .............................................................................................................................. 14

Support and Resources ............................................................................................................... 15

Support channels ...................................................................................................................... 15

Useful links .................................................................................................................................. 15

Partner resources ........................................................................................................................... 16

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Overview

Purpose

This guide summarizes the requirements to participate in the Fiscal Year 2018

(FY18) Microsoft CSP Indirect Provider Incentive. It replaces and supersedes all

prior Microsoft CSP Indirect Provider Incentive Guides and any related

communications.

How to use this guide

This guide provides a step-by-step view on how to participate, earn and

maximize recognition of the partner’s efforts. This guide includes details on:

▪ Partner eligibility requirements

▪ Partner onboarding and enrollment

▪ Understanding the CSP Indirect Provider rebate, accelerator and co-op

incentives

▪ Support, escalation, and resolution process

All materials and information presented should be treated as Microsoft

Confidential Information and are subject to the terms of your NDA with Microsoft

through your Channel Partner Agreement or Microsoft Partner Network

Agreement in its current form. The information contained within this guide is

intended to be used for business planning purposes and may be subject to

change.

Executive summary

The Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program is a sales model that allows

partners to resell or bundle their own services in addition to Microsoft Cloud

Services as a complete solution, and gives customers the payment flexibility with

pay-as-you-go billing.

The Microsoft CSP Indirect Provider (formerly known as CSP 2-Tier Distributor)

Incentive program rewards Indirect Providers for driving the activation and

enablement of a resale channel and the sale of online services.

This guide is not applicable for the People’s Republic of China.

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Incentives summary

CSP Indirect Providers are eligible for an incentive of 10% of billed revenue from

sales of online services such as Microsoft Office 365, EMS, Windows Intune, CRM

Online, Dynamics Cloud offerings, and Azure. An amount equal to 50% of the

global incentive will be made available as a co-op.

All links referenced throughout the guide will be available in the Support and

Resources sections.

Partner eligibility To be eligible to participate in the FY18 CSP Indirect Provider incentive, a partner

must have performed qualifying activities under the Microsoft Cloud Solution

Provider program. By participating in the CSP Indirect Provider incentive, the

partner affirms that it has agreed to all rules, terms, and policies contained within

the Microsoft Partner Network (“MPN”) Agreement which incorporates general

terms applicable to all partner incentives (which may be referred to as the

Microsoft Channel Incentive Agreement or “MCIA”), and the CSP Indirect Provider

Incentive Guide. The terms within these documents will apply to all incentive

payments paid to partner.

Partners who meet the below eligibility criteria are deemed eligible for the FY18

CSP Indirect Provider incentive, provided they remain in compliance with all rules,

terms, and policies contained within this document.

Eligibility type Eligibility requirement Examples of program specific criteria

MPN

enrollment Enrollment status Active MPN membership

Partner

status and

performance

Microsoft agreement and

authorization

Microsoft Cloud Distributor Agreement

(signed and active) and authorized as a CSP

Indirect Provider

Table 1: Eligibility requirements overview

MPN requirements

Eligible partner organizations must hold an active MPN membership.

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Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) Agreement

Partners must hold an active MPN Agreement, which incorporates terms

applicable to all incentives that were previously set forth in the Microsoft Channel

Incentive Agreement (MCIA).

Microsoft agreements and/or authorizations

Partners must hold a valid Cloud Distributor Agreement, including authorization

to sell Microsoft products applicable within this incentive as a CSP Indirect

Provider.

Cloud Distributor Solution Accelerator (CDSA) eligibility

To be eligible for the CDSA, the following criteria must be met by June 22, 2017,

for H1 and December 15, 2017, for H2. Eligible partners will start earning CDSA

incentives beginning July 1, 2017.

Eligibility type Eligibility requirement Program specific criteria

MPN

Enrollment

Membership Level Silver or Gold

Competency See below (CDSA Eligibility)

Competency Status Active Earned, Active Pre-Approved,

Active Non-Compliant, Active Inherited

Table 2: CDSA eligibility

MPN requirements (CDSA)

To qualify for the CDSA incentive in one or more of the defined workloads, your

organization must achieve and maintain the following:

O365 Up-sell Workload

▪ Cloud Productivity Competency – Distributor Option

EMS Workload

▪ Enterprise Mobility Management Competency – Distributor Option

Azure Workload

▪ Cloud Platform Competency – Distributor Option

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Dynamics 365 Workload

▪ Cloud Business Applications Competency – Distributor Option

FY18 CDSA eligibility assessment for the qualifying competencies will occur at the

V-org level. Thus, when Microsoft reviews each partner V-org, any location under

that V-org will inherit the competency held at the V-org level.

Eligibility monitoring and management

Partner eligibility requirements for this Microsoft CSP Indirect Provider incentive

must be met before partners are invited to the incentive platform. Partners must

meet these criteria and onboard to the Partner Incentives Experience platform

(PIExp)1 before Microsoft can approve and release incentive payments. If a

partner becomes eligible during the earning period, eligible revenue will be

included from the start of the earning period. The Payment section of this guide

includes a comprehensive set of conditions required for payment approval and

release.

Cloud Distributor Solution Accelerator (CDSA) incentive eligibility is competency

based regardless of partner country classification (Mature or Emerging) for

eligible workloads and SKUs. Partners must attain and hold a Silver or Gold level

competency in each defined workload.

Loss of eligibility

Microsoft will check incentive eligibility 30 calendar days prior to the end of the

earnings period and will notify partners if they have lost eligibility. This is the only

notification partners will receive. Partners must ensure they are eligible

throughout the program period.

At the end of the earnings period, partners who have not become compliant will

forfeit their incentive earnings for the whole semester. Partners meeting eligibility

requirements after the FY18 H1 earnings period has ended will only be

considered for the FY18 H2 earning period.

1 Web based Microsoft tool used for viewing of incentive earnings and activity.

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Enrollment

Invitation period

New partners will receive an invitation to log into the Partner Incentives

Experience platform. Invitations are non-transferrable and the Partner

Administrator is defined as the primary contact provided on Partner Center

during the CSP program onboarding process. New partners must be successfully

enrolled in Partner Incentives Experience by December 31, 2017, for FY18 H1

earning period and by June 30, 2018, for FY18 H2 earning period or their

incentive payments will be forfeited.

Onboarding process

Partners must meet all eligibility criteria and complete the enrollment process by

program (even if active in PIExp for another incentive) to become active in the

Partner Incentives Experience platform. This is a critical step for partners to gain

visibility to incentive calculation and receive payment information.

Microsoft will invite partners per eligible MPN HQ or Location ID to participate in

the CSP Indirect Provider incentive by means of an email with a company domain

(for example, @microsoft.com). Onboarding must be completed for each

invitation.

Partners who onboarded onto the Partner Incentives Experience platform in a

previous fiscal year do not need to re-onboard onto PIExp but must continue to

meet eligibility requirements to earn and be paid incentives for the current fiscal

year.

Partner Incentives Experience account set-up

Visit aka.ms/partnerincentives to review the Partner Incentives Experience Guide

for details on entering information such as bank and tax details and MPN ID

partners are transacting under.

Program structure and rates

This incentive includes global, local, and co-op components.

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Global incentives

Incentive Rate

Core 4% of billed revenue with a 50/50 split

between rebate and co-op

Accelerator 6% of billed revenue with a 50/50 split

between rebate and co-op

Cloud Distributor Solution Accelerator (CDSA) 6%-10% of billed revenue with a 50/50

split between rebate and co-op

Table 4: Global incentives

Local accelerators

In addition to the global incentive outlined above, Microsoft subsidiaries have the

option to offer additional local accelerators. These local accelerators may

augment levers within the global incentive or may reward partner engagement

toward the specific local market need. Not all local accelerators are available in

each subsidiary. Participation in a local accelerator is subject to the terms and

conditions set forth by the local subsidiary and provided to partners.

Local accelerator terms will be sent to partners by the Regional Operations

Centers (ROCs) in each subsidiary for accelerators available in that subsidiary.

Incentives from local accelerators will be paid as 100% rebate (no co-op). See the

following local accelerator option:

Cloud Revenue Accelerator

This accelerator rewards partners with an incremental incentive of billed revenue

from sales of eligible online services. This accelerator is paid in addition to the

incentive earnings for qualified sales and will be paid out as rebate.

Product Specific Accelerators

These accelerators reward partners with an incremental incentive based on billed

revenue from sales of specific products. The applicable products included will be

communicated from Microsoft Operations at the beginning of the program

period, and can include the following:

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Accelerators

SPE E5+SPE E3

O365 E5+O365 E3+Biz Premium

Azure

EMS E5+EMS E3+Power BI

Dynamics CRMOL + Dynamics ERP

Windows E5+Windows E3

Table 5: Product specific accelerators

Co-op

Partners participating in the CSP Indirect Provider incentive will earn 50% of the

global incentive as co-op. This allows partners to perform specific marketing,

demand generation, and readiness activities in accordance with the Partner

Incentives Co-op Guidebook.

The global incentives are split between rebate and co-op as follows:

Incentive Rebate Co-op

Core 50% 50%

Accelerator 50% 50%

CDSA 50% 50%

Table 6: Rebate and Co-op split

Co-op funds must be claimed during the usage period that follows the earnings

period. Co-op funds not used during the usage period will be forfeited after the

end of the period.

Earning and usage periods

The incentive funds for Indirect Providers are earned and paid out as follows:

FY17 Earning Period 2

Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun

FY18 Earning Period 1 Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

FY18 Earning Period 2 Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun

FY19 Earning Period 1 Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

Earning Earn 2 (FY17) Earn 1 (FY18)

Usage Usage 2 (FY17) Usage 1 (FY18)

Claiming (+45 after Usage

Period) Claiming 2 (FY17) Claiming 1 (FY18)

Table 7: Earning, usage, and claim schedule

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“Earning Period” is the 6 months during which partners earn rebates and co-op.

“Usage Period” refers to the 6 months that immediately follow the Earning

Period. Partners perform co-op activities and submit claims during the Usage

Period. There is a 45-day grace period after the end of the Usage Period for

partners to complete their claim submissions. If funds are not claimed by the

conclusion of the grace period, they will be forfeited and retired with no

possibility of reinstatement.

The Co-op Guidebook on the Partner Incentives MPN Portal is the primary source

to provide the mechanics, requirements and executional logistics for all eligible

co-op activities.

Earnings and calculation

Eligible revenue rules

Eligible revenue is determined by Microsoft’s internal sales tools as invoiced sales

of qualifying products during the earning period.

CSP Indirect Providers must provide a valid HQ or Location MPN ID of the

Indirect Reseller to whom they have sold Microsoft online services to ensure that

revenue will qualify for this incentive. The reseller ID cannot be controlled or part

of the Indirect Provider’s internal organization.

The following restrictions apply:

▪ Revenue from subscriptions of Exchange Lite and other adjustments such

as Internal Use Rights or trial seats are excluded.

▪ Not all Microsoft online services are available in all markets. New services

and offers may be rolled out in new markets and current services and

offers may be discontinued. As these service changes occur, customer

consumption of Microsoft online services will also change, resulting in

different incentive earnings for partners.

▪ Microsoft online services purchased by the partner and partner affiliate, or

services belonging to Microsoft or Microsoft’s affiliates, are not eligible for

the CSP Incentive.

▪ These incentives are not offered in the People’s Republic of China.

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CDSA eligible revenue

Workload definitions, minimum requirements and eligible SKUs to earn incentives

for each workload are described below.

Scenario Competency Eligible SKUs Rate

O365 Upsell

Solution

Cloud Productivity

Competency –

Distributor Option

▪ O365 Business Premium

▪ O365 E3

▪ O365 E5

▪ O365 E5 w/o PSTN

Conferencing

▪ SPE E3

▪ SPE E5

6% of billed

revenue

Enterprise Mobility

and Security

Solution

Enterprise Mobility

Management

Competency –

Distributor Option

▪ EMS E3

▪ EMS E5

▪ SPE E3

▪ SPE E5

6% of billed

revenue

Azure Consumption

Solution

Cloud Platform

Competency –

Distributor Option Azure Consumption

10% of billed

revenue

Dynamics 365

Solution

Cloud Business

Applications

Competency –

Distributor Option

Dynamics 365 (All SKUs) 6% of billed

revenue

Table 8: CDSA eligible competencies, SKUs, and rates

Payment Partners can only receive payments after completing enrollment to the Partner

Incentives Experience platform and continuing to meet incentive eligibility

requirements at the time of payment calculation.

Payment cadence

Payment will be disbursed to the partner using the following schedule:

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Type How often Expect payment within

Rebate 2 payments per

program year

▪ 45 days after the end of the earning

period (Earning period 1: July 2017 –

December 2017; Earning period 2:

January 2018 – June 2018)

▪ Payment will be in the form of a credit

memo or wire transfer

Co-op Monthly ▪ By the end of the month for claims

approved by 15th of that month

Table 9: Payment cadence

Minimum payment threshold

▪ If the incentive earnings are below the minimum threshold of $200 USD,

those earnings will be carried over to FY18 H2 and the partner will not

receive payment.

▪ Incentive earnings under $200 USD at the end of the program period will

be forfeited.

Payments details

For a detailed summary of payment details visit the Partner Incentive Experience

Guide at aka.ms/partnerincentives.

Payment compliance

Payment compliance means that 100% of all Microsoft invoices billed to the

partner must be paid by the due date during each month of the earnings period.

If this obligation is not met, the partner will not receive payments for incentives

earned for the month(s) of non-compliance.

To dispute compliance penalties, partners must log a billing dispute in Partner

Center. Working with an account manager or other will not suffice. When billing

disputes arise, please log a service request in Partner Center by selecting the

“Create a Service Request” option. Additional information regarding billing

disputes can be found in the CSP Billing and Invoicing guide on Partner Center.

Payment earnings reporting

Partners can view their earnings, co-op information, and payment activities via

the Partner Incentives Experience platform. Data is updated daily.

Click here to view payment information on the Partner Incentives Experience

platform for CSP Indirect Providers.

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Click here to view earnings information on the Partner Incentives Experience

platform for CSP Indirect Providers.

Dispute and resolution

If partners find a discrepancy with their incentive payouts, they can follow the

below steps:

▪ Earning disputes can be disputed for up to 30 days after the earning

period ends.

▪ Payment disputes can be disputed for up to 30 days after payment date.

All disputes must be submitted in writing to Microsoft within the above time

frames to the respective alias in the Support and Resource section below.

Overpayment

In the event of an overpayment, Microsoft will proceed with the recovery of an

overpayment in accordance with the MPN Agreement.

Microsoft will generally attempt to recover overpayment by offsetting against

future incentive payments earned. If for any reason such approach cannot be

executed for example, the partner is no longer participating in an incentive),

Microsoft reserves the right to invoice partner for the overpaid amount directly.

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Support and Resources Useful resources for all incentives can be found on the Microsoft Partner Network

at aka.ms/partnerincentives (partner authentication required).

Support channels

Support for the partner incentive program is available in the support hub of the

Partner Incentives Experience by clicking “Support” in the header. The support hub

provides a centralized location for all channel incentives and Partner Incentives

Experience queries.

Additional incentive program support is available by contacting the appropriate

alias below for your region:

▪ North America: ocina@microsoft.com

▪ Latin America: ocilatam@microsoft.com

▪ Asia Pacific including Greater China: ociapgc@microsoft.com

▪ Japan: ocijp@microsoft.com

▪ Europe Middle East, and Africa (EMEA): ociemea@microsoft.com

Useful links

▪ Microsoft Partner Network: https://mspartner.microsoft.com

o Program membership, products, licensing, training, and event

information

▪ Partner Incentives MPN Portal: aka.ms/partnerincentives

o Includes all partner-facing incentives materials

▪ Partner Incentives Experience: https://partnerincentives.microsoft.com

o A dashboard providing program information, notifications, and

support

▪ Partner Center: https://partnercenter.microsoft.com/partner/home

o Support, Partner Community and Partner Services Site

▪ Partner Incentives Experience guide: aka.ms/partnerincentives

o This guide summarizes requirements for participating in Microsoft

CSP incentive programs

▪ CSP Billing and Invoicing guide: http://assets.microsoft.com/billing-and-

invoicing-presentation.pptx

o Guide providing information on billing and invoicing for CSP

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Partner resources All the resources below are available through the Microsoft Partner Network.

Program assets Description

Incentive Guide Guide containing CSP Indirect Provider incentive overview,

including product rate, and eligibility guidelines

Partner Incentives

Experience Guide

Guide providing instructions on how partners can view

incentive earnings, make claims and submit proof, do

payment reconciliations and manage users, all from one

single secure Partner Incentives Experience portal.

Co-op Guidebook Guide providing partner incentive details regarding eligible

co-op activities and requirements for claim

Table 10: Program assets

Templates Description

CSR Template

Template to submit proof of execution requirement for co-

op claims. To be used in place of, or in addition to, an

invoice for specific co-op execution

On Site Champ Reporting

Template

Template to facilitate reporting/proof of execution for On

Site Champ activity

Table 11: Templates