Technical Support for Microsoft Partners

Please select Product Version from the list above and the relevant information will be shown below.

This article is for Microsoft Partner Network Partners (MPN) who need to know how a technical support incident can be created using the Azure portal, the Office portal and for On-Premises products and hybrid solutions using the Online Assisted Support (OAS) portal.
For the Azure and Office portals, the requirements for a MPN Partner to enable and use Delegated Administrative Privileges (DAP) are briefly described, including links for more information. Delegated administration is where a Microsoft Partner Network Partner has a relationship with a customer and creates a support request On behalf Of (OBO) their customer. There is no On behalf Of (OBO) process for on-premises products, simply create the support incident and enter your own contact details.

Online submission portals

Check requirements, benefit activation (Link support benefits) and then submit your New Azure technical support request or check an existing request. After completing online submission you will be contacted by a Microsoft support professional.

1. Requirements:

1.1 Delegated Administrator Privileges (DAP)

Delegated administration is where a Microsoft Partner Network Partner has a relationship with a customer and creates a support request On behalf Of (OBO) their customer.

An Advisor Partner activates "Partner features" and requests Delegated Administrator Privileges (DAP) via email; the customer global admin approves the relationship to enable DAP at the partner level. The advisor partner requests a relationship by sending the customer a delegate administration offer via an email or when they send a trial invitation or purchase offer (enable “Include authorization for delegated administration”). See Help for partners.

CSP, Indirect Provider and Indirect Reseller have a DAP relationship with all their customers by default. If the Indirect Provider chooses not to enable DAP for the Indirect Reseller; the Indirect Reseller may request a relationship themselves.

1.2 Assign the delegated admin security role to the relevant users in your partner organisation

All partners need to assign a DAP security role at a user level, to the relevant trusted employees. The delegated Administration role uses different terminology depending on the portal the partner is using. Partner Dashboard (formerly Partner Center) uses the delegated admin role Admin Agent (“Assists your customers as”) and Office Admin Center uses the role Full Administration (“Assign administrative access to companies you support”). The Admin Agent and Full Administration security roles are the same. When the partner user is given delegated Admin, they can administer all the customers who have accepted Delegated admin.

1.3 Access ID and Contract ID

You need an Access ID and a Contract ID to add a new support plan (Link support benefits) e.g. Signature support, Advanced Support for Partners. This is a one-off activity because the support contracts will be associated to your sign-in for future requests.

Signature Cloud Support has its own special access ID and contract ID; it is not the same as the Partner support benefits

Cloud Solution Providers (CSP) have a “Cloud Solution Provider” support plan if they open their customer from Partner Dashboard (formerly Partner Center).

2. Benefit activation (Link support benefits)

CSP using Partner Dashboard (formerly Partner Center)

Cloud Solution Providers (CSP) have a “Cloud Solution Provider” support plan and therefore they do not need to Link support contract if they open their customer from Partner Dashboard (formerly Partner Center).

Adding an MPN support contract

Partners should use their Signature Cloud Support (SCS) benefit (Unlimited, 10pack or 5pack). Partners who have used all their Signature support can use Product Support incidents for Azure too. For benefits entitlement see Microsoft Partner Network technical benefits summary.

Partners must have the Access ID and Contract ID or already have the benefits linked to your subscription sign-in, before they can submit a new support request. Access ID and Contract ID are sent to your primary program contact following benefit activation.

Link Support Benefits

1. Ensure you use the relevant Azure Subscription Sign-in and click to Sign in to Azure

2. If required click settings to change your theme, language or region format
   

   

3. Help +support

   
   Select Help + Support, Support Plans, then Link support benefits
   

4. Enter the Access ID and Contract ID (remove any blank spaces), then click Link
   

   

5. Click the Link button and you should see the IDs greyed out and the green text Contract linked. The support contracts are now associated with the Sign-in account
   

   

6. Click the blue text Create a support request to continue

Linking the support benefits is a one-off activity because the support contracts will be associated to your sign-in information for future requests (until benefits expire or no support incidents remain).

3. New Azure technical support request

Using https://partner.microsoft.com/dashboard, select the Dashboard, select Customers, click the Customer's subscription, Service management, Click Create or view Service request to open the Azure portal.

Note: Cloud Solution Providers (CSP) start request creation via Partner Dashboard (formerly Partner Center) and have the option to select the "Cloud Solution Provider" support plan..

Selecting an MPN support contract

Sign-in to portal.azure.com and select the customers subscription Service request creation is the same as normal, and the request is created by the partner on behalf of their customer.

1. Click Help + support

2. Click Support plans, then option

Note: If you see an error “You don't have a subscription“ this is because you did not use a Sign-in associated with an Azure subscription. You must use a valid Azure subscription sign-in to create a support request.

3. Select Issue type eg Technical, Subscription, and Service. Support plan will display any Support benefit you previously added via Link support benefits. CSP select the Cloud Solution Provider support plan.

Note: Competency Partners should use their Partner Signature benefit. Action pack partners or hybrid competency partners who have used all their Signature 5pack or 10pack should use their Partner Support benefit (Partner support Gold 20pack, Silver 15pack or MAPS 10pack)

4. If you have added benefits, select your support plan and if not then see Link support benefits . Alternatively, click the text link I Don’t have a support plan, then enter Access ID and Contract ID, then click link

5. After selecting a support plan click Next to continue, select Severity, Problem type, Details, Time frame and upload a file if required. Click next.

Note: A good quality description helps to resolve the problem faster

6. Enter the contact information and an additional contact email if required
 

7. Click Help+ Support, All support requests to see the new or existing request

Requesting access ID and contract ID
The primary program contact for your organization's headquarters are sent the Access ID and Contract ID following support benefit activation.

If you are a Gold or Silver partner, you may have your benefits activated proactively. If you are an Action Pack partner, you always need to request activation.

See Microsoft Partner Network Support contract activation - (Blank) Hours or Incidents

To add / change / remove a technical contact for Partner Center, partner should sign-in with Global Admin credentials in his portal.azure.com account, then go to Azure Active Directory tab, then choose Properties and modify the data in the Technical Contact field.

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An Advisor Partner activates "Partner features" and requests Delegated Administrator Privileges (DAP) via email. The customer global admin approves the relationship to enable DAP at the partner level.

CSP, Indirect Provider and Indirect Reseller have a relationship with all their customers and therefore DAP is enabled at the customer level, by default. If the Indirect Provider chooses not to enable DAP for the Indirect Reseller; the Indirect Reseller may request a relationship to enable DAP for themselves.

The Advisor or CSP Partner needs to assign a DAP security role at a user level, to the relevant trusted employees. The DAP security role is Admin Agent (Partner Dashboard - formerly Partner Center) or Full Administration (Office Admin Center). 

The Partner selects the customer in Partner Admin Center or Partner Dashboard. When a service request is created, the customer is opened in a new session, under the delegated administrator context. Service request creation is the same as normal, and the request is created by the partner on behalf of their customer.

1. Requirements

1.1 Delegated Administrator Privileges (DAP)

Delegated administration is where a Microsoft Partner Network Partner has a relationship with a customer and creates a support request On behalf Of (OBO) their customer.
The Advisor Partner activates "Partner features" and requests Delegated Administrator Privileges (DAP) via email; the customer global admin approves the relationship to enable DAP at the partner level. The advisor partner sends the customer a delegate administration offer via an email or when they send a trial invitation or purchase offer (enable “Include authorization for delegated administration”). See Help for partners
CSP, Indirect Provider and Indirect Reseller have a DAP relationship with all their customers by default. If the Indirect Provider chooses not to enable DAP for the Indirect Reseller; the Indirect Reseller may request a relationship themselves.

1.2 Assign the delegated admin security role to the relevant users in your partner organisation
The Advisor or CSP Partner needs to assign a DAP security role at a user level, to the relevant trusted employees. The delegated Administration role uses different terminology depending on the portal the partner is using. Partner Dashboard (formerly Partner Center) uses the delegated admin role Admin Agent (“Assists your customers as”) and Office Admin Center uses the role Full Administration (“Assign administrative access to companies you support”). The Admin Agent and Full Administration security roles are the same. When a user is given delegated Admin they can administer all the customers who have accepted Delegated admin.
For Office portal products the Helpdesk agent can log support requests on behalf of their customer. However, they cannot log requests for Azure.

2. Benefit activation

Support contracts are not required for Office portal products.

Advisor partners need to Activate “Partner Features (Delegated Administration, Trials, and Quotes) ” via the Digital Download Portal, to use delegated administration.
See How to Activate your Partner Features

Cloud solution providers have delegated administration enabled by default.

3. New Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM support request

The Partner selects the customer in Partner Admin Center or Partner Dashboard (formerly Partner Center). When a service request is created, the customer tenant is opened in a new session, under the delegated administrator context. Service request creation is the same as normal, and the request is created by the partner on behalf of their customer.

Sign-in with an admin account (Full administration / Admin Agent)

There are 2 ways for the partner to start creating a request on behalf of their customer

1. Use Partner Dashboard (formerly Partner Center) https://partner.microsoft.com/dashboard
2. Use the Partner Admin Center (PAC) via https://portal.office.com, then click the Partner App

Usually, CSP use the Partner Dashboard (formerly Partner Center) portal and Advisors use Partner Admin Center via the office portal. However, Advisors can use Partner Dashboard (formerly Partner Center) for support request creation, it depends on your personal preference.

Using Partner Dashboard (formerly Partner Center)

1. Sign-in to the Partner Dashboard (formerly Partner Center) portal https://partner.microsoft.com/dashboard. You must sign-in with an account assigned the security role Admin Agent (“Assists your customers as”), to use Delegated Administrator Privileges (DAP)
   

2. Click Dashboard, Customers, expand the customer's subscription, from Administer services click the relevant service eg Office 365 Click Create or view Service request to open the Office 365 admin Center – see create a service request below.
   Alternatively, you can click on the customer name, service management is displayed, you can view service requests (open or closed) and click New request
   

3. The customers Office Admin Center is opened, see Creating a support request.

Using the Partner Admin Center (PAC)

1. Sign-in to the office portal https://portal.office.com. You must sign-in with an account assigned the security role Full Administration (“Assign administrative access to companies you support”), to use Delegated Administrator Privileges (DAP).
   
   
2. Once you have logged in, click on the icon in the top left of the home page. The Partner option will be displayed if you are a Partner with Delegated Admin Privileges.
   Note: Remember to click the apps selector in the top left, you may not see the Partner App listed on the home page.
   
3. Enter the company name and select the Customer. The name will be displayed above the + symbol when they are selected eg Contoso, Ltd.
   

4. Verify the name of the customer you select eg Contoso, Ltd  is displayed, and click on the "+" symbol to add your Service Request.
   
5. The customer’s Office Admin Center is opened, see Creating a support request below.

Creating a support request (the same for partners or customer admins)

You may open the customer from Partner Dashboard (formerly Partner Center) or the Partner Admin Center. Support request creation is the same for partners and customers.

1. The Partner Support agent selects the relevant customer in Partner Admin Center or Partner Dashboard (formerly Partner Center). They both open the Office Admin centre and create a support request the same way (see using Partner Dashboard or Partner Admin Center for more information)
Note: If the partner or a customer wants to create a request for their own tenant, they open the Office Admin center direct https://portal.office.com, admin, Select Support, New service request.

2. Need Help? is automatically displayed to start the process to create a new Service request

3. Enter a problem description and click Get Help. View Solutions and Run Diagnostics may help identify common problems. Review the information to resolve the problem without creating a support request!

4. Enter the contact details and attach files if required, then click the Call me button.
Note: Partners using delegated admin will see their company email address instead of their customers email domain.   

5. The service request is created, and you will be called by Microsoft or contacted via email according to your preference.

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Quick Summary

To submit an on-premises or hybrid request online, you sign-in to the Online Assisted Support portal (aka.ms/OAS) using an MSA or AAD account, select product, version etc, add a description, then add \ select a support plan or Pay Per Incident (PPI)*.

* Due to a bug, Pay Per Incident is not currently available for an AAD sign-in, please use an MSA Sign-in eg Outlook.com for Pay Per Incident

Note: The support contract / support plan will not be displayed if:

• The support contract has expired (after 1 year + 30 days)
• There are no available support incidents
• The product version is not enabled for your support contract / support plan*

*Partner Core benefits eg Partner Support Gold 20Pack, Partner Support Silver 15Pack, Partner Support MAPS 10Pack are entitled for Cloud and recent versions of on-premises products, see aka.ms/n-1.

1. Requirements:

1.1 Delegated Administrator Privileges (DAP)

There is no On Behalf Of (OBO) process for on-premises products because support incidents are not linked to the customer tenant. You create a support incident as normal.

1.2 Core benefits contracts

Microsoft Action Pack and competency partners are entitled to MPN core benefits (Partner Support Gold 20pack, Partner Support Silver 15pack, Partner Support MAPS 10pack).
Note: The workflow includes an option to use Pay per Incident (PPI) for products not covered by MPN core benefits, see aka.ms/n-1.

1.3 Access ID and Contract ID

You need the MPN core benefit Access ID and a Contract ID for your Partner support contract eg Partner Support MAPS 10pack, the first time you use the benefits. This is a one-off activity because the support contracts will be associated to your sign-in information for future requests (until benefits expire or no support incidents remain).

If you do not know your Access ID and a Contract ID, please contact your primary program contact or follow the process for support contract activation.

1.4 Sign-in required

You need to use a Microsoft account or AAD Sign-in eg Partner Center to use the Online Assisted Support (OAS) portal (aka.ms/OAS).

2. Benefit activation

The primary program contact for your organization's headquarters are sent the Access ID and Contract ID following support benefit activation.

Gold and Silver partners may have their benefits activated proactively.

Action Pack partners always need to request activation.

Partners with their membership migrated to Partner Center and Global or MPN Admin role can request activation via the Benefits and Technical menu.

See Microsoft Partner Network Support contract activation - (Blank) Hours or Incidents

If you have purchased an incident before and are familiar with creating a request online, you can go to Step 4.

1. The Online Assisted Support (OAS) workflow may be started from many different links on support.microsoft.com or directly via https://support.microsoft.com/assistedsupportproducts or use the quick link http://aka.ms/OAS. Select the product, version, category, problem and click Next.
   
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2. Please include a full and detailed description of the problem.
   Note: You can ''Upload your files'' after the request is created.
   
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3. View the contracts associated with your Sign-in and select an existing support plan.
   
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4. Click Add contract to associate a new support contract to your current Sign-in. You will only need to enter the Access ID and Contract ID once because the support contract is associated with your sign-in and automatically available next time you use the workflow.
   If you need to purchase a support incident click the Buy Now option and use a credit card to purchase support.
   Note: Due to a bug, Pay Per Incident is not currently available for an AAD sign-in, please use an MSA Sign-in eg Outlook.com for Pay Per Incident
   
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5. Select the severity of the issue based on the business impact and if you will work during business hours only.
   

   As a guideline

   Severity A – you are prepared to work 24 hours a day 7 days a week and you have a critical business down production server, service or application

   Severity B – you will work during business hours only and the issue has the potential to cause a company-wide work stoppage or you cannot deploy on schedule

   Severity C - you will work during business hours only and the issue will not cause a major company-wide work stoppage
   Note: the Business hours are based on the browser country eg en-us is United States. Scroll to the end of the page and if your country is not listed, select the nearest country with the relevant language
   
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6. You have the option to add multiple contacts to the support request and change the primary contact.
   
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7. Review the support request.
   
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8. Click change to modify any items (eg Change the primary contact, severity).
9. Click Submit to create your request.
   
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10. Click View my support requests to see request that you have submitted.
    
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11. Click the Title to view your request.

12. You have the option to Manage files, add New messages or view communications related to your request and add / change the primary contact.
    
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Azure Support Plans

Microsoft Advanced Support for Partners

Office 365 Help for partners

How to Activate your Partner Features

CSP report problem on behalf of a customer  

MPN Partner support N-1 policy for on-premises products

Online submission “These contracts cannot be used with” error message

My benefits and activities

Microsoft Partner Network technical benefits summary

Using Technical Presales Assistance and Deployment Services

Microsoft Partner Network Support contract activation - (Blank) Hours or Incidents

MPN Support contract 30 day extension

Contact Microsoft Partner Support

Note: Using the Contact Microsoft Support button requires you to login into the MPN site using a valid Microsoft Partner Network login. If you do not have a valid Microsoft Partner Network login or are having problems logging in to MPN, you can get more information or assistance from the MPN Support site.      

Contact Microsoft Partner Support

Note: Using the Contact Microsoft Support button requires you to login into the MPN site using a valid Microsoft Partner Network login. If you do not have a valid Microsoft Partner Network login or are having problems logging in to MPN, you can get more information or assistance from the MPN Support site.