Technical Support for Microsoft Partners

MPN benefits and Technical support

Azure

Office 365, Intune, EMS

Dynamics 365

On-Premises products

Additional resources

MPN Technical benefits

As part of the Microsoft Partner Network membership, partners are eligible for the following technical support:

MPN technical Support

This article is for members of  Microsoft Partner Network Partners (MPN) who need to know how a technical support incident can be created using MPN Partner benefits.

Technical support provides troubleshooting for a specific problem, error message or functionality that isn't working as expected.

Note: If you are looking to build your technical capabilities faster to increase sales, deploy more effectively, and accelerate app development this is NOT technical support – see Technical Presales and Deployment Services.

MPN Technical benefit activation

Global or MPN Partner Admin, go to Partner Center, Benefits, Technical benefits click Activate. Activation takes upto 5 business days, when activated the Access ID and Contract ID are displayed.

Use the Access ID and Contract ID for Azure*, D365 and on-premises product support ticket / incident creation.

* Partners participating in the Cloud Solution Provider program (CSP) may select “Cloud Solution Provider” support plan for Azure.

1. Cloud services

For Cloud services eg Azure, Dynamics 365 etc Partners use Delegate administration to create support requests for their customers. Delegated administration is where a partner has a relationship with a customer, the partner user creates a support request On Behalf Of (OBO) their customer. The request is created on the customer tenant, by the partner user.

Setup delegated administration

1. Enable Delegated Administrative Privileges (DAP) at the customer level

a. Enabled by default for CSP and Indirect provider – see  Azure CSP Delegate administration

b. For Advisor partners: Customers, Request a relationship and email the customer global admin – More information

2. Enable the partner user to support your customer by assigning the Admin or Helpdesk Agent security role for users on your partner tenant

Create support request

3. The partner Admin or Helpdesk Agent user opens the customer in Partner Center and selects the relevant workload eg Azure, Dynamics 365 and creates a new request
4. Start with the Partner dashboard > Support > Customer requests
5. The relevant products portal is opened, and a support ticket is created on the customers tenant

For Azure and Dynamics 365, partners need the Access ID and Contract ID for Signature Cloud Support (competency partners only) - see 2904733.

2. On-premises product support incidents

For On-Premises products, there is no On Behalf Of (OBO) process, add your support contract and create the support incident with your contact details.

1. Use any MSA or AAD account to sign-in to the Support for Business portal and Create a support request

2. You need the support contract Access ID + Contract ID for Partner Product Support Incidents (excludes Signature) to add a support contract - see 2904733 ...

From the Support for Business portal, click Get started then 1. Product Selection, 2. Issue details.

3. Support plan is where you add contract or click Buy Now to purchase a support incident.

a. When you Add Contract, if your contract is not displayed click previous then next or close the browser and reopen – see 4023619

b. Partner On-Premise Product Support Incidents can be used for the 2 most recent product versions. For older product versions partners must purchase support incidents – see 4032154

4. If you need to purchase a support incident for an old products version. 1. Select the relevant locale/ country in the bottom left of the page and 2 Use an MSA Sign-in and a credit card to purchase Pay Per Incident (PPI) – see 4490370

Contact Support

https://partner.microsoft.com/support is your single point of contact for help on all Partner related issues eg MPN program, Licence activation, Partner Center migration, and Technical issues.

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)

CSP Partners (CSP Tier 1(CSP Direct), CSP Tier 2 (Indirect providers) and Indirect Resellers) are enabled with delegated administration for all their customers by default. However, they can choose to send the reseller relationship link with or without DAP attached.

Advisor partners need to setup delegated administration at the customer level, per customer. View Customers, Request a relationship and email the customer global admin – More information.

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

Enable the partner user to support your customer by assigning the Admin or Helpdesk Agent security role for users on your partner tenant.

The partner Admin or Helpdesk Agent user opens the customer in Partner Center and selects the relevant workload e.g. Azure, Dynamics 365 and creates a new request.

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.

Partners participating in the Cloud Solution Provider program (CSP) have a “Cloud Solution Provider” support plan when they open their customer from Partner Center.

2. Benefit activation (Link support benefits)

Cloud Solution Provider using Partner Center

Partners participating in the Cloud Solution Provider program  (CSP) have a “Cloud Solution Provider” support plan and therefore they do not need to Link support contract when they open their customer ticket from Partner Center. See Azure CSP support overview.

Adding a Signature Cloud Support contract 

Competency partners use their Signature Cloud Support (SCS) benefit (Unlimited, 10pack or 5pack) for Cloud products

Competency partners must have the Signature Access ID and Contract ID or already have the benefits linked to their sign-in, before they can submit a new support request. Access ID and Contract ID are displayed in Partner Center following benefit activation – see 2904733

If you activated your contract from May 2019 onwards. MPN contracts have standardised and use the same Access ID and Contract ID for both MPN Product support and Signature.

Action pack partners or competency partners who have used their signature 20pack or 5pack should compare partner support plans or review Azure support plans.

Link Support Benefits

Start by opening the customer from Partner Center, then Link support benefits.

1. A partner user with the Admin agent security role searches Customers
   

2. Open the Customer, select service management and New Request
   

   

3. Select Microsoft Azure to open the Azure portal

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

5. Help + support

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

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

Note: MPN benefits eg Partner Support or Signature Cloud support use a shared access ID. If you add an existing contract you incorrectly see the error message “This Access ID is already associated to an account. Please contact your Technical Account Manager to obtain a new Access ID.” You can ignore this error.

Note: Advanced Support for Partners (ASfP) or Premier Support for Partners (PSfP), each user needs their own user specific Access ID. If you see the error message “This Access ID is already associated to an account. Please contact your Technical Account Manager to obtain a new Access ID.” You either added an existing contract and can ignore the error or you need to contact the Technical Account Manager to obtain a new Access ID.

7. 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 

8. Click the blue text Create a support request to continue and create a support request

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.

Start by opening the customer from Partner Center, the azure portal is opened. For issue type Technical, you select the support contract added via Link support benefits (see above).

Note: Partners participating in the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program have the option to select the "Cloud Solution Provider" support plan. They do not need to Link support benefits unless they purchase a support plan eg Advanced Support for Partners (ASfP) or Premier.

1. A partner user with the Admin or Helpdesk Agent security role searches Customers. Helpdesk Agents can only submit Billing and Subscription Management support requests, in the Azure Portal.
   
2. Open the Customer, select service management and New Request
   
3. Select Microsoft Azure to open the Azure portal
4. Click Help + support
5. Click Support plans, then option 

6. Select Issue type Technical, then select your Subscription, Service etc

7. Solutions will provide suggestions that may help you to resolve the issue yourself

8. Support plan will display any Support benefit you previously added via Link support benefits

• CSP who start from Partner Center will automatically see the Cloud Solution Provider support plan.
• Partners with Advanced Support for Partners or Premier Support for Partners (PSfP) should select their relevant support plan.
• Cloud Competency partners should use Partner Signature Unlimited and non-cloud competency partners should use Signature 10pack or 5pack. 

9. After selecting a support, select Severity, Problem type, Details, Time frame and upload a file if required
10. Review + Create gives you a final opportunity to review information before you click Create

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

Requesting access ID and contract ID

See Microsoft Partner Network Support contract activation and Access ID in Partner Center

Back to top

1. Requirements

1.1 Delegated Administrator Privileges (DAP)

CSP and Indirect providers are enabled with delegated administration for all their customers by default.

Advisor partners need to setup delegated administration at the customer level, per customer.

For Advisor partners: Customers, Request a relationship and email the customer global admin – More information

Enabling Delegated administration at the customer level

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.

Partners participating in the CSP program and Indirect Providers 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.

Enabling Delegated administration at the user

By default, Partner users cannot help customers. The partner’s users, on the partner tenant, must be enabled on a per user level to assist your customers.

The selected user permissions must be changed by logging in with a Global Admin account, via User Management via Assists your customer as > Admin Agent, Sales Agent* or Helpdesk Agent role.

*Sales Agent role is only available for CSP tier 1 and CSP Tier 2 Partners

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

Enable the partner user to support your customer by assigning the admin agent security role for users on your partner tenant.

The partner Admin or Helpdesk Agent user opens the customer in Partner Center and selects the relevant workload eg Azure, Dynamics 365 and creates a new request

For Office portal products the Helpdesk agent can log support requests on behalf of their customer. However, they cannot log support requests for technical issues within Azure.

Helpdesk Agents can only submit Billing and Subscription Management support requests, in the Azure Portal.

2. Benefit activation

Support contracts are NOT required for Microsoft 365 admin center requests eg Office 365, Enterprise Mobility Suite, Microsoft Intune or Windows.

Support contracts are required for Dynamics 365 (Power Platform and Lifecycle Services). You need the Access ID and a Contract ID for your Partner support contract, the first time you use the benefits. This is a one-off activity because the support contracts will be associated to your sign-in account for future requests (until benefits expire or no support incidents remain).  To see your Access ID and Contract ID in Partner Center or request contract activation see 2904733.

Competency partner should use Signature Cloud support incidents.

3. New Office 365, EMS, Intune, & Windows support request

Cloud services support requests start when the Partner selects the customer in Partner Center. When a service request is created, the customer tenant is opened in a new session, under the delegated administrator user’s context. Service request creation is the same as normal, and the request is created by the partner on behalf of their customer.

1. Open the customer from Partner Center

• A partner user with the Admin or Helpdesk Agent security role searches Customers
  
• Open the Customer, select service management and New Request
  
• Select Office 365 and Enterprise Mobility Suite, Microsoft Intune or Windows 

2. Click ? to open Need Help? and start to create the new support request
   Note: the Customer name is displayed to the left of the Need help? text

Click the slider to Try the O365 Assistant

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. However, the request is created on the customer’s tenant. The Customers name is displayed near the need Help? text

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

Back to top

Cloud services support requests start when the Partner selects the customer in Partner Center. When a service request is created, the customer tenant is opened in a new session, under the delegated administrator user’s context. Service request creation is the same as normal, and the request is created by the partner on behalf of their customer.

Open the customer from Partner Center.

1. A partner user with the Admin or Helpdesk Agent security role searches Customers

2. Open the Customer, select service management and New Request

3. There are 2 Dynamics 365 options listed and they open 2 different portals.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, Retail or Talent

When you click Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, Retail or Talent, the Dynamics Lifecycle Services (LCS) portal is opened.
Note: Partners require a support plan to “Submit to Microsoft”.

The LCS portal has 2 tabs for Support issues

1. Active Issues tab: This is for users to submit requests to their own customer’s internal support team, integrated with Azure Dev Ops. Requests can be reviewed and closed by the customer’s internal support team or they may choose to escalate and issue and Submit to Microsoft. Customer paid subscriptions can use their default support plan. “Technical preview / trial” subscriptions require a paid support plan.

2. Submitted to Microsoft tab: This is for the issues to be submitted direct to Microsoft using a support plan. Competency partners can use their Signature Cloud Support incidents, any partner can purchase Advanced Support for Partners or Premier Support for Partners (MPN On-premises products support incidents cannot be used for cloud products).

For more information see Docs: Manage the support experiences for Finance and Operations apps.

Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement, Business Central, Power Apps, Flow, Mixed reality and AI

When you click Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement, Business Central, Power Apps, Flow, Mixed reality and AI, Power Platform is opened – see below

4. Click See Solutions to have relevant Solutions displayed to help your resolve your own request

5. Create Support request in the bottom right of the page will create the support request for the customer identified in the top right

6. Use your support contract Access ID and Contract ID to add Signature (competency partners), Advanced Support for Partners (ASfP) or Premier Support for Partners (PSfP).

Back to top

Quick Summary

The Support for Business portal enables professional support requests to be created or managed (if you are the primary or an additional contact on the support request). 

To submit a request online for an on-premises product, sign-in to  Support for Business using an MSA or AAD account, complete your one time profile, and from the Manage support requests page click +Create a new support request.

Follow the steps in the new support request workflow:

• "Step 1: Tell us about the issue you are experiencing” is used to identify the product and describe the problem 

• "Step 2: Tell us about the type of support you need” is where you select an active support contract you previously added or expand “Do you need to purchase or expand more support plans?” to Add Contract* or click Buy Now to purchase a support incident (Pay Per Incident,  PPI**). 

*When you “Add Contract” use the Access ID and Contract ID for your MPN On-Premise Product Support Incidents eg Partner support Gold 20pack, Partner support Silver 15pack, Partner support MAPS 10pack. 

**Pay Per Incident is not available for an AAD sign-in, please use an MSA Sign-in eg Outlook.com for Pay Per Incident (More info).

If you have any problems adding or using a support contract or see the error “The Contract is already registered", expand the “Would you like to see unavailable support plans?” section to see error messages eg Support plan has expired, Support plan has no units available, Support plan cannot be used for support on the specified product.

Note: Your support contract / support plan will NOT be displayed if:

• You have not added the contract to associate it to your current sign-in account
  • To see your Access ID and Contract ID in Partner Center or request contract activation see DOCS Benefits.
• The MPN 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*.
  • Signature Cloud support is for cloud products only, not on-premises products.
  • Core benefits Product Support Incidents eg Partner support MAPS 10pack etc are only for recent on-premise products, they cannot be used for Cloud products.

If you added a contract and it is not displayed or are attempting to add a new contract and you have problems see 4023619.

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. Any person who has the Access ID and Contract ID can create a request.

1.2 Core benefits contracts

Partners with an active Microsoft Action Pack subscription and partners with an active competency are entitled to Microsoft Partner Network core benefits (Partner Support Gold 20pack, Partner Support Silver 15pack, Partner Support MAPS 10pack).

Product entitlement is limited to the current (N) and the next most recent product (N-2) version – see aka.ms/n-1. For older products versions, the workflow includes an option to use Pay per Incident (PPI) for products not covered by MPN core benefits. You need to sign-in with an MSA account (not AAD) to purchase support incidents.

Competency partners receive Signature Cloud support incidents for cloud products only. Therefore, Signature cannot be used for on-premises products.

1.3 Access ID and Contract ID

You need the Microsoft PartnerNetwork 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. When you Add contract it is a one-off activity per account because the support contracts will be associated to your sign-in account for future requests (until benefits expire or no support incidents remain). The same Access ID and a Contract ID are used to associate with multiple accounts. 

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

When you Add Contract, if your contract is not displayed expand the “Would you like to see unavailable support plans ?” section to see error messages.

Partner On-Premise Product Support Incidents can be used for the 2 most recent product versions. For older product versions partners must purchase support incidents – see 4032154.

1.4 Sign-in and one time profile required

You need to use a Microsoft account or AAD Sign-in eg Partner Center to use Support for Business.

If you need to purchase a support incident for an old product version. Use an MSA Sign-in (not AAD) and a credit card, to purchase Pay Per Incident (PPI) – see 4490370

The first time the workflow is used the user must complete a profile. First and Last name are greyed out because they are based on the account used to Sign-in. The information is used to set defaults and the values can all be changed later.

2. Benefit activation

In Partner Center, the Global Admin or MPN Admin role can request activation via the Benefits and Technical menu.

See DOCS Benefits.

3. New On-Premises Support request

+ Create a new support request

On the “Manage Support Requests” page, click the "+ Create a new support request” button to start the workflow. 

The workflow layout is vertical, click next as you progress though the workflow and Edit to go back and update a step.  

Step 1: Tell us about the issue you are experiencing 

Select the product, version, category, problem, issue description. When available try the Virtual agent. Click Next to progress to the next step.

Step 2: Tell us about the type of support you need

Select an existing support contract, add a new support contract or purchase support from this section. If you previously added a support contract and do not see it displayed, expand “Would you like to see unavailable support plans?” and also check the account you have used to sign-in.

Support contracts

Existing support contracts are displayed, including end date and incidents remaining

“Would you like to see unavailable support plans ?” is where you can see error messages for associated support plans eg Support plan has expired, Support plan has no units available, Support plan cannot be used for support on the specified products. If you add the same support contract more than once you will see the error message “The Contract is already registered.” and you should review error messages.

Severity and routing

When the support plan is selected select. You select Severity. 

Note: Only Critical severity will display the 24/7 support option.

Where are you located and time zone routes your request, please check the values are correct.

Add Contract or purchase support

Expand “Do you need to purchase or expand more support plans?” 

1. Add Contract, will enable Access ID and Contract ID to be used to add partner product support incidents eg Partner support Gold 20pack or other professional support contracts eg Visual studio.

2. Purchase paid support. Only Microsoft Account s(MSA) can be used to purchase PPI. 

If the user is using an Azure Active Directory (AAD) account they need to sign out to purchase PPI.

To see your Access ID and Contract ID in Partner Center or request contract activation see DOCS Benefits.

The 5-pack is not available in all regions. You are recommended to purchase a single incident unless you are sure all incidents purchased will be used within 1 year.

Fill out your credit card details to associate the payment to your current sign-in account. To change your settings, go to account.microsoft.com.

 

When the Credit card has been saved, use to purchase the support incident. As stated in the workflow "You will be charged immediately. This transaction is subject to the Microsoft Services Agreement." To change your settings, go to account.microsoft.com.

Step 3: Provide primary contact information

The primary contact will be contacted by the Microsoft support engineer and can see open or closed requests from the Manage support requests page.

Step 4: Share this support request

Add an additional contact as a backup contact for the Microsoft support engineer and to enable other contacts to see open or closed request from the Manage support requests page.

If you create a support request for a colleague and add them as the primary contact, you need to add your account as an additional contact to be able to track status. 

Step 5: Verify information

Click Edit on the steps above to update the information.

Step 6: Submit request 

The submitter will see the confirmation page. Only the primary contact will be emailed with the case details. 

If the submitter is not the primary or additional contact they cannot Manage support requests to see open or closed requests.

Both the primary and additional contact can view the open or closed request online.

Manage Support requests 

You can check status, send and view communications, upload attachments, and add additional contacts.

When you sign-in to Support for Business you can Manage support requests based on your account. You can see support requests if your account is used as the primary contact or you were added as an additional contact. If you create a support request with another user or account as the primary contact, add your account as and an additional contact to be able to track status. If you forget, ask a case contact to add you as a contact by using the sharing tab.

Only the primary contact on the support request is sent an email with the request ID and summary details. 

The primary contact or additional contact may add you as an additional contact using Manage Support requests. The Microsoft support engineer who owns the request may also add or remove contacts.

Back to top

• Azure CSP support overview
• Azure CSP Delegate administration
• Microsoft Advanced Support for Partners
• Microsoft Premier Support for Partners
• Compare partner support plans
• Azure Support Plans
• Office 365 Help for partners
• Lifecycle Services - Manage the support experiences for Finance and Operations apps
• MPN Partner support N-1 policy for on-premises products
• Microsoft Partner Network technical benefits summary
• Using Technical Presales Assistance and Deployment Services
• Microsoft Partner Network Support contract activation and Access ID in Partner Center
• Missing a support plan or An error occurred / Add Contract fails
• How many Partner support incidents are remaining
• Professional Support (pay-per-incident) support plans are not available for Azure Active Directory accounts

Contact Microsoft Partner Support