Microsoft Online Services Team Blog : Manage Subscriptions

Updated Tools for Bulk User Activation Now Available

paulenglis — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:49:00 GMT

The updated Microsoft Online Services Transporter Tools (aka Microsoft Online Services Migration Tools), announced in the October Service Update, is now available via the Microsoft Download Center.

The updated Transporter Tool supports PowerShell commandlets for bulk activation of users for Microsoft Online Services. The new supported commandlets include:

· Enable-MSOnlineUser

· Get-MSOnlineSubscription

· Set-MSOnlineUserPassword

Disabling and Deleting User Accounts

Stephanie Shenk — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:27:00 GMT

When organizations subscribe to Microsoft Online Services, they purchase licenses for their users. As users leave the organization and new people join, administrators have several options for accommodating these personnel changes, including disabling user accounts, reassigning user licenses, and purchasing additional user licenses.

Disabling User Accounts
If a person leaves an organization, administrators can easily disable that user’s account. Disabling a user account prevents user access to e-mail and Microsoft SharePoint Online data, but retains the user’s data. Disabling a user account also keeps the user license associated with that account. This is the best option to utilize when a person leaves an organization temporarily.

For information about how to disable and enable user accounts, see Enable or Disable a User Account in Microsoft Online Services Help.

Deleting User Accounts
If a person leaves an organization, administrators can also delete a user’s account. Deleting a user account frees the user license, allowing the license to be assigned to a different user. This is the best option to utilize when a person leaves an organization permanently.

Important: When you delete a user account, you permanently delete all information associated with the user's account: for example, the user's profile data and e-mail messages. The best practice is to back-up user data before deleting the user account. If you delete a user account by mistake and need to recover that user account and data, contact Microsoft Online Services Technical Support

For information about how to delete a user account, see Delete a User Account in Microsoft Online Services Help.

Purchasing Additional User Licenses
If an organization is growing and needs additional user licenses, additional licenses can be purchased at the Microsoft Online Services Customer Portal or through a Microsoft Online Services partner.

Key Partner Features and Partner Momentum Announced at WPC09

paulenglis — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:25:00 GMT

This morning at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, Microsoft Online Services announced several new features that enable partners to assist and manage their customers who trial and buy the Business Productivity Online Suite.

Two key features are available today as part of the newly announced Microsoft Partner Network:

· Partner Order on Behalf. Partners can now place Microsoft Online Services orders on behalf of their customers. The feature allows partners to initiate trials, specify the services and quantities they recommend for their customers, pre-configure orders for their customers to complete, and ensure they are the Partner of Record for their customers’ trials and orders placed in the system.

· Partner Commerce Dashboard. The new Partner Commerce Dashboard provides a consolidated view of Microsoft Online Services orders and commerce, such as the status of trials and subscriptions, for customers that have the partner specified as their Partner of Record. Partners can work within the Commerce Dashboard or export the information to Excel to be imported into a CRM system.

Microsoft Online Services also announced Q4 availability of Delegated Administration for partners. Customers will be able to delegate administrative privileges to partners for some tasks in the Microsoft Online Services Administration Center.

Also announced for Q4 rollout is a new partner Distributor Model and integration of partner information on customer invoices. More information about the new partner program and features will be available through Quickstart for Microsoft Online Services.

Announcement of these features highlights the importance of partners to Microsoft Online Services. Since the Microsoft Online Services Partner Program was announced at WPC08, more than 5,000 partners have enrolled in the program. Additionally, 4 of 5 orders for the Business Productivity Online Suite have come through Partners, and Partners have built more than 100 custom solutions exclusively for Microsoft Online Services. Examples of these solutions are available via the Solutions Showcase.

More information from WPC09 can be found on the Microsoft Press Pass site.

Scheduled Downtime: Microsoft Online Customer Portal

paulenglis — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:26:00 GMT

As announced in the July Service Update, the Microsoft Online Customer Portal is scheduled to be offline for upgrades and planned maintenance.

The portal will be offline on Friday, July 10 from 14:00 to 17:30 Pacific Daylight Time (21:00 to 00:30 GMT). During this downtime, organizations will not be able to set up trial accounts, buy subscriptions, or modify current subscriptions. This downtime will not affect the availability of an organization's online services, so users can continue to access them as normal.

Watch the comments section of this blog post for updates on the availability of the Microsoft Online Customer Portal.

Transferring account ownership

arvindsuthar — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:10:00 GMT

The person who signs up for Microsoft Online may not be the person who purchases it. And the person who purchases Microsoft Online may not be the one who renews it. As a Program Manager on the Microsoft Online team, Ruchi is focused on the Microsoft Online Customer Portal and the platform that our customers and partners use to sign up for and purchase online services. I have asked Ruchi to describe the process for transferring ownership of a Microsoft Online account. - Arvind

An account in the Microsoft Online Services Customer Portal (MOCP) belongs to a single account owner and is associated with a unique Windows Live ID. In case you need to transfer subscriptions from one Windows Live ID to another, we have a process in place to enable that. Read on.

Step 1: To request a transfer of ownership

If you are either the current or future account owner, call Support at 1-866-MSONLINE or submit a request to Support using your Windows Live ID e-mail address. The information you provide support should include:

The name of your organization
The name and Windows Live ID of the current account owner
The name and Windows Live ID of the new account owner

The Microsoft Online Services Customer Portal will verify the organization and the current account owner, and will confirm the request by e-mail with both the current and new account owners.

Tip

In order to receive these notifications without delay, add both msonlineservicesteam@microsoftonline.com (Microsoft Online Services Team) and mailwc.custhelp.com (Microsoft Customer Service) to your Safe Senders list.
The process of verification takes much less time if the original owner requests the transfer. If the request is initiated by someone else, we conduct more thorough verification of the transfer request, for your protection. This process can take a few days. So it is preferable to have the original account owner initiate the transfer, if possible.

Step 2: To take ownership of a transferred account

1. Ensure that you have:

Windows Live ID. If you do not have a Windows Live ID, create one here.
A completed profile on the Microsoft Online Services Customer Portal. For more information, see the Help article Create My Profile.
Note: Be sure you know the original account owner's country/region and shipping address. The Country/Region in the Contact Information and Shipping Address you enter must be the same as those in the original account owner's profile.

2. After you have created your profile, you will receive an e-mail notification from Microsoft Customer Service containing the link to the Account Transfer wizard. Click on this link.
3. This will launch the Account Transfer wizard.
On the login screen, sign in with your Windows Live ID.

On the second screen, verify the information you see and click Continue.

If the transferred subscriptions are being charged to a credit card, and there is no credit card on file for the new account owner, a Payment Information page will appear. Enter your credit card information here.

Note: if the new account owner already has one or more credit cards on file, the new subscriptions will be charged to one of the existing credit cards. If the new owner wishes to change the credit card, they can do so through their MOCP online account, once the transfer process is complete.

Next you will see a confirmation page. Read the text carefully. Click Finish. You will receive an e-mail informing you that the transfer is still pending.

Note: At this point, the account transfer process is not yet complete. Please do not attempt to make any modifications to the transferred subscription until you receive a final notification that your subscriptions have been transferred.
4. MOCP transfers your account and sends you a notification that the transfer is complete. This notification also contains pointers to useful information on how to manage your subscriptions and contact partners of record (see below).
5. After the transfer of ownership is complete, you might want to notify the partners of record on the transferred subscriptions that the change has been made.

A few points to note:

Once the ownership is transferred, the previous account owner can no longer access the subscriptions in the transferred account.
Subscriptions cannot be selectively transferred. All the subscriptions associated with the original account will be transferred to the new account.

Ruchi Chopra

Program Manager

Microsoft Online Commerce Platform

Get Help Managing Your Profile, Service Subscriptions, and Free Trials

Lori - Microsoft — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 08:35:00 GMT

Need help managing your profile, subscriptions, and free trials? Here are some helpful resources to guide you through the Microsoft Online Services Customer Portal, the gateway to trying and buying Online services from Microsoft.

· Visit the Microsoft Online Services TechCenter

· Ask a Question in the Community Forum

· Enter a Request to Our Support Team

· General Support Information