Overview
Worldwide, business is moving to the cloud. We’re focused on supporting you through this shift to a thriving cloud-based economy by ensuring you have the technical capabilities to meet your customers’ needs. With that in mind, we’re updating several Business Applications competencies, adding a new partner association model, and implementing a tool to give you more visibility into metrics. Our goal is to create differentiated value by recognizing you for driving successful business outcomes.
Review the information in this document to understand how the updates may impact your business and prepare accordingly.
Summary of updates
1. New partner association model—Digital Partner of Record (DPOR) no longer used
We’re moving to a claims-based process to recognize the work you do with customers. Digital Partner of Record (DPOR) will no longer be used to associate partners with subscriptions as of March 2019. Instead, partners with a competency must be associated at the subscription level. You can do this by submitting a claim for Dynamics 365 Online subscriptions. This new partner association method aligns to the Online Services Advisory (OSA) sell incentives program. This will put partners in control as a recognized partner associated to customers and lessen the dependency on customer actions.
For more instructions on how to submit claims and the latest information please view these resources.
If you were selected as the DPOR for customer subscriptions before February 15, 2019, you don’t need to reassociate yourself through the new claims model. Any increase in seats reported on existing subscriptions will still be recognized automatically, as will seat increases under the claims model.
2. The Cloud Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Competency is retiring October 1, 2020. The last day to attain or renew this competency was September 30, 2019.
The Cloud CRM competency will be retiring October 1, 2020 and is no longer be available for attainment or renewal as of October 1, 2019. If you renewed or attained your competency by September 30, 2019, you will continue to have access to your competency benefits until your anniversary date. To renew or attain a competency you must meet the published requirements and pay the fee. We encourage you to work toward attaining the Cloud Business Applications competency before the anniversary date of your Cloud CRM competency.
3. The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Competency updates effective October 2019.
The ERP Competency has been updated to recognize revenue performance for Microsoft Dynamics 365 NAV, GP, SL, or Dynamics 365 Business Central.
If you renewed or attained your ERP Competency before October 2019, you won’t be impacted by this update until your anniversary date. Starting October 2019, you’ll only be eligible to renew if you’re selling Microsoft Dynamics 365 NAV, GP, SL, or Dynamics 365 Business Central. AX on-premises will no longer count toward any competency.
If your Dynamics 365 business practice does not include any of these products, consider attaining the Cloud Business Applications Competency to differentiate your organization within the growing Dynamics 365 partner ecosystem.
4. Exams updates coming to the Cloud Business Application Competency:
If you specialize in implementation, deployment, and management of Dynamics 365, the Cloud Business Applications Competency recognizes you with specific role-based learning and exams differentiated by applications.
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New role-based exams for functional consultants became available starting July 2019, with new exams being released for developers and solution architects in 2020. Core exams MB-200 and MB-300 will be enforced to attain or renew a Cloud Business Applications competency beginning October 1, 2019.
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Many of the current exams were retired with the release of the new exams on June 30, 2019. You will continue to be able to attain the competency based on the retired exams 12 more months after retirement date. You can always check the most current exam requirements by accessing the Cloud Business Applications competency page or sign in to Partner Center.
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In addition to this information, your Microsoft Partner Network admin will receive an email with details and instructions. Learn more about the certifications strategy for Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement and for Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations.
5. Cloud Business Applications Competency performance requirements effective July 2019:
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Starting July 2019, performance requirements will only recognize Dynamics 365 cloud revenue. On-premises revenue will no longer qualify partners for Cloud Business Applications Competency.
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With the momentum of the Dynamics 365 cloud apps in Finance and Operations, only those partners who are driving cloud transformation for customers will be recognized in the Cloud Business Applications Competency.
6. New Partner Contribution Indicators (PCI)
Partner Contribution Indicators (PCI) provides a holistic measure of a partner’s impact in driving successful customer outcomes and, therefore, greater differentiation in the market. Partners receive credit for key measures of customer success, such as successful deployments and increasing usage, and are rewarded for continuing to invest in and scale out their technical capabilities.
The PCI score, available through Partner Center, is a single number tallied over seven indicators. A maximum of 100 points is possible. We have set a new date of April 1, 2021 for Partner Contribution Indicators (PCI) scoring for the Cloud Business Applications competency to take effect as part of the requirements. Along with that, we are postponing the implementation of the baseline snapshot for the Functional Consultant metric in the new Partner Contribution Indicators scoring from March 31 to October 1, 2020. A minimum of 60 points will be required to attain a Silver level, and a minimum of 80 points for a Gold level competency.
For information about PCI, pleaseGet the PCI overview and review thesecomprehensive resources.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Cloud Business Applications Competency
The Microsoft Partner Portal presents details about the present requirements needed for Enterprise Customer Engagement Option and Unified Operations Option.
We regularly evaluate our program requirements, and we’re raising the bar to meet customer expectations and needs. The updated competency requirements will differentiate our best partners who offer Dynamics 365 solutions for customers.
No, you must have 15 different individuals who have passed the functional requirements in order to meet that part of the Cloud Business Applications Competency requirement.
No, your organization needs 15 unique individuals. Any five of the 15 individuals who passed the functional certifications should also pass the technical requirement for your organization to meet the Gold Cloud Business Applications requirement.
No, your organization must meet both the functional and technical requirements of the competency.
No, you may select either the Customer Engagement option OR the Unified option and then meet all the requirements within either option.
The retiring exams will continue to count toward competency attainment. 12 more months since retirement date. Check here the complete roadmap of retired exams.
The Common Data Service platform is now being leveraged for the recruit and onboarding functionality of the Talent application, and we want to provide the opportunity for those partners who focus in this area to also attain the Cloud Business Applications Competency. This path is more closely aligned to the requirements in the Customer Engagement option of the competency.
Enterprise Resource Planning Competency
The Cloud Business Applications Competency now recognizes Finance and Operations, and we encourage partners with the focus to meet the requirements of the Cloud Business Applications Competency.
There are no new certifications made available for NAV, GP, or SL to include in the competency. Dynamics 365 for Business Central certification is planned for release in calendar year 2019. It will be included as part of the competency attainment in the future.
Cloud Customer Relationship Management Competency
If your account is in partner center you may renew the Cloud CRM Competency only during the month of October. If your renewal date falls after October 2019 we recommend that you begin preparing to attain Cloud Business Applications Competency in order to maintain competency status.
Related Resources
Business Applications Competency Area
Incentives co-op claims overview
Frequently Asked Question on OSA Claim
For information about PCI, please Get the PCI overview and review these comprehensive resources.
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