As a member of the Microsoft Partner Network, you have access to a large collection of resources and benefits that you can use to run your business, train your staff, enhance your sales & marketing efforts, get support, and much, much more. One of these key benefits that partners receive is “Internal Use Rights” through either a Microsoft Partner Network subscription, such as the Action Pack Solution Provider or Action Pack Development and Design, or by obtaining a silver or gold competency in the Microsoft Partner Network. These Internal Use Right licenses gives you access to a variety of Microsoft Software to use inside your business to not only run your business, but also for testing and trying out new Microsoft technologies as well.

Some questions that I get from partners and see/hear from partners from time to time go something like these:

• What licenses do we get as a Microsoft Partner?
• Which competencies get me access to XYZ software licenses?
• What is the difference in licenses included between the two Action Pack subscriptions?
• What is the difference in licenses included between the silver and gold competencies?

What if I told you that you have an online resource available to you that not only answers the questions listed above, but also give you the ability to view license inclusions for silver competency, gold competency, Action Pack Solution Provider, and Action Pack Development and Design memberships? Ok, here you go…

Microsoft Partner Network License Calculator - The Microsoft Partner Network License Calculator is an interactive tool that lets you choose a silver competency or gold competency and see how many of what licenses are included if you were to obtain those competencies. In addition, you can also see a side by side comparison of how many and what licenses are included in both of the Action Pack Subscriptions. Here are a few sample screenshots on how this tool works (click any image below for full size view):

Quick note: In the tool, you will see columns for “Core,” “Competency,” and “Total” licenses.

• “Core:” Partners receive a “core” set of software license benefits upon attaining their first Silver competency or Gold competency. Core software licenses (typically up to 25 for Silver competency and 100 for Gold competency) include the latest desktop, operating system and server software. Core and competency benefits are renewable annually upon re-enrollment.
• “Competency:” Partners receive additional, specific licenses that align to a particular competency once they attain that competency. This column denotes what and how many of these licenses they receive based on their attainment of a specific competency.
• “Total:” This is the total number of licenses you have access to based on the quantity you receive in your core set of licenses plus your competency specific licenses you receive based on the attainment of the specific competencies you have chosen in the tool.
  

In this example, let’s say you are interested in the Business Intelligence Competency and want to know what licenses you receive if you obtain a Business Intelligence Silver Competency. Simply click on the Silver Business Intelligence button and the tool will open an expanded list of software licenses included for the selection made. You will notice the numbers that populate across the Core, Comp, and Total columns based on your selection.
Now let’s say you are wondering what additional licenses you would receive if you were to achieve a Gold Business Intelligence Competency instead of a Silver Business Intelligence Competency. Simply click on the “Gold” button next to the Business Intelligence competency and the table below will update to reflect the licensing rights included in the Gold Business Intelligence Competency.
What if you are interested in seeing what licenses are included in the two Action Pack subscriptions? No problem. To view these, click on the “Subscriptions” button just below the list of competencies:
Once you click on the “Subscriptions” button in the previous step, the tool will expand a side-by-side list of the licenses included in both of the Action Pack subscriptions so that you can see what is included and not included in each. In addition, you will see another column that shows additional licenses that you will receive in addition to your Action Pack subscription licenses if you also achieve Microsoft Small Business Specialist status.

A few quick notes on the tool:

• If you are interested in seeing what licenses you would receive if you were to achieve a combination of competencies, either silver, gold, or a combination of both, you can select multiple competencies in the tool and it will populate based on all competencies selected.
• The reason you cannot select competencies and Action Pack subscriptions together is, if you achieve a competency in the Microsoft Partner Network, you are not eligible to subscribe to Action Pack anymore because you are now eligible to get your Internal Use Rights licenses through your competency.

As I noted in the beginning of this post, Internal Use Rights is just one of many benefits you receive as member of the Microsoft Partner Network. To see other competency-specific benefits, download the Value of Earning a Microsoft Competency guide.

If you haven’t tried out this online Microsoft Partner Network Licensing Calculator yet, please head out to the site and give it a shot. I hope you find it very helpful  in not only answering the questions I listed above, but also other questions you may have regarding software licenses included in your Internal Use Rights as a member of the Microsoft Partner Network.

Did you find this information helpful? If so, you may want to make sure you are utilizing all of the areas I share information online, such as: my Facebook page, my Twitter account, my Linkedin account, and my blog. Plus, you can now get all of the latest Microsoft Partner Information right on your phone!

Thank you and have a wonderful day,

Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER, LinkedIn, and RSS and see “What I’m thinking”
Director, Worldwide Partner Experience
Microsoft Corporation
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights