Using Access ID and agreement ID to create on-premises professional support incidents

Applies to: BenefitsPartner

Introduction

This article explains how an Access ID and a agreement ID are used to submit on-premises professional support incidents online. The example used is for Microsoft Partner Network product support incidents. However, the workflow is very similar for Visual Studio and Software Assurance.

Online submission is convenient because you may submit a request anytime (24 hours a day, 7 days a week), avoid a phone menu and phone queue, find relevant self-help resources, and enter a detailed problem description, including attachments, to help solve your technical problem faster.

Access ID and agreement ID are used for professional on-premises, Microsoft Azure and Dynamics technical support requests.

Support agreements

A support agreement is required when you have multiple professional support incidents. The agreement is used to track the balance of available support incidents and expire the benefits after one year (MPN agreements 1 year+30 days). An Access ID and a Contract ID are required to uniquely identify your support agreement and enable you to submit a support incident online. They are only entered once and then associated with your portal sign-in for future requests. To share your support benefits, simply share the Access ID and Contract ID (sharing sign-in and passwords is not recommended).

Customer Online submission portals

Step by step: Using Access and agreement IDs to submit an on-premises / hybrid support request

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 a Microsoft Account (MSA) or Microsoft Entra Directory 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 agreement you previously added or expand “Do you need to purchase or expand more support plans?” to Add agreement or click Buy Now to purchase a support incident (Pay Per Incident, PPI*).

*Pay Per Incident is not available for an Microsoft Entra 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 agreement or see the error “The agreement 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.

Sign-in and one time profile required

You need to use a Microsoft Account (MSA) or Microsoft Entra Directory account sign-in eg Work account for customers or Partner Center account for partners to use Support for Business.

If you need to purchase a support incident for an old product version. Use an MSA Sign-in (not Microsoft Entra ) and a credit card, to purchase Pay Per Incident (PPI) – see Professional Support (pay-per-incident) support plans are not available for Microsoft Entra Directory accounts

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.

If you added a agreement and it is not displayed or are attempting to add a new agreement and you have problems see Missing a support agreement or Add agreement fails.

Benefit activation

You need your support agreement activated and the Access ID & agreement ID to add agreement the first time; before you can create a support request online.

• See Activate and use the Technical Support benefit in Visual Studio subscriptions
• See Partner Center Technical Support Benefits

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 agreement, add a new support agreement or purchase support from this section. If you previously added a support agreement 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 agreements

Existing support agreements 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 agreement more than once you will see the error message “The agreement is already registered.” and you should review error messages.

Severity and routing

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

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

​Add agreement or purchase support

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

1. Add agreement, will enable Access ID and agreement ID to be used to add partner product support incidents eg Partner support Gold 20pack or other professional support agreements eg Visual studio. See Technical Support Benefits

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

If the user is using an Microsoft Entra Directory account they need to sign out to purchase PPI.

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.

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