Additional Service Plan Configuration Guidelines and Return Policy

Important: When configuring service plans, please bear in mind that each service plan must only contain one base SKU, but multiple add-ons and add-ons to add-ons can be added according to the business requirements.

CloudBlue Commerce and other technologies acting as Partner’s Cloud Marketplace (CMP), Portal or Business Support System (BSS) may require configuration of Microsoft Offers at the Offer and/or Product level, in order to ensure that user workflows and channel invoicing are correct.

Note: We use here some terminology specific to CloudBlue Commerce, such as Service Plan, which provisions as a Microsoft Subscription, and a Resource (individual Microsoft Offers). For example, a Service Plan may be created for Microsoft 365 Business Basic that includes Resources. For example:
- Base Resource: Microsoft 365 Business Basic
- Add-On Resources: Extra File Storage, Exchange Online Archiving

In this section you will find information that needs to be taken into account when configuring service plans for each of the Microsoft products. Additionally, you will also find detailed information on Microsoft's return policy.

CSP Microsoft 365

Service Plan Parameter	Value	Description
Grace period	0 days	Microsoft does not support any grace period.
Hold period	30 days	Subscriptions can be put into a "suspend" state for a 30-day period, during which they may be re-activated.
Destroy service after hold period	Yes	After a 30-day hold period, Microsoft transitions a subscription from a "suspend" state to a "de-provision" state, so it can no longer be reactivated. As it is not recoverable, it is recommended to configure CloudBlue Commerce to destroy the local subscription instance.
Subscription expiration notification	This can be configured at the discretion of the CloudBlue partner (i.e.7 days before Term End, 14 days before Term End, etc.)	The purpose of a Subscription Expiration Notification is for the CloudBlue partner to notify its transacting partner and/or customer that a term-based product is nearing the end of its term. This notification allows you to inform partners or customers about: What will happen if the transacting partner does nothing. What options or calls to action a transacting partner has, if the default behavior is not desirable. Notes: - CloudBlue does not require partners to use a Subscription Expiration Notification, but it is recommended. - CloudBlue does not provide any suggested text for this purpose, since it should reflect partner-specific brand and business process. - The default behavior of active subscriptions of CSP Microsoft 365 is to auto-renew at the subscription term end date for another 1-Year commitment period with the same billing period, and taking on the then-current pricing.

NCE Perpetual Software

Service Plan Parameter	Value	Description
Subscription Expiration Notification	Not applicable	The purpose of a Subscription Expiration Notification is for the CloudBlue partner to notify its transacting partner and/or customer that a term-based product is nearing the end of its term. This notification allows you to inform partners or customers about: What will happen if the transacting partner does nothing. What options or calls to action a transacting partner has, if the default behavior is not desirable. Note: The default behavior of NCE Perpetual Software is that the licensing is perpetual and does not have any expiration date against which to baseline a notice.\|

Service Plan Parameter

Value

Description

Subscription Expiration Notification

Not applicable

The purpose of a Subscription Expiration Notification is for the CloudBlue partner to notify its transacting partner and/or customer that a term-based product is nearing the end of its term. This notification allows you to inform partners or customers about:

What will happen if the transacting partner does nothing.
What options or calls to action a transacting partner has, if the default behavior is not desirable.

Note: The default behavior of NCE Perpetual Software is that the licensing is perpetual and does not have any expiration date against which to baseline a notice.|

NCE Perpetual Software Return Policy

Note: Because there is no subscription reservation term on one-time billed offers conferring a Reserved Term License, the product is considered to be “Returned” rather than “Canceled”.

Return	Policy	Conditions
Within 30 Calendar Days	Full credit to ISV Direct Billed Partner, in arrears on next invoice.	The full sales order shopping cart must be returned together. CloudBlue recommends partners do not combine offers into a shopping cart, as CloudBlue attempts to break apart shopping carts into separate sales orders. All license keys must be not yet activated. If even one (1) license key is activated by the partner or customer, the entire sales order is ineligible for return.
After Cancellation Window	Returns (Cancels) prohibited. No Credit	n/a

Return

Policy

Conditions

Within 30 Calendar Days

Full credit to ISV Direct Billed Partner, in arrears on next invoice.

The full sales order shopping cart must be returned together. CloudBlue recommends partners do not combine offers into a shopping cart, as CloudBlue attempts to break apart shopping carts into separate sales orders.

All license keys must be not yet activated. If even one (1) license key is activated by the partner or customer, the entire sales order is ineligible for return.

After Cancellation Window

Returns (Cancels) prohibited.

No Credit

n/a

Note: Partners are advised to leave a buffer time for Return Order Processing. Once received at Microsoft, the Microsoft Order Processing SLO is 15 minutes and the SLA is 24 hours. Median Processing Time, inclusive of Connect + Microsoft, is ~2.5 minutes.

NCE Software Subscription

Service Plan Parameter	Value	Description
Renewal	No	Terms expire without the possibility of a renewal. Partners must place a new sales order to continue with the product in a new term.
Subscription Expiration Notification	At discretion of CloudBlue Partner (i.e. 7 days before Term End, 14 days before Term End etc.)	The purpose of a Subscription Expiration Notification is for the CloudBlue partner to notify its transacting partner and/or customer that a term-based product is nearing the end of its term. This notification allows you to inform partners or customers about: What will happen if the transacting partner does nothing. What options or calls to action a transacting partner has, if the default behavior is not desirable. Notes: - CloudBlue does not require partners to use a Subscription Expiration Notification, but it is recommended. - CloudBlue does not provide any suggested text for this type of notification, since it should reflect the partner-specific brand and business processes. - The default behavior of the active subscriptions of NCE Software Subscription is to expire at the subscription term end date. If the transacting partner wishes to continue with the service, a sales order for a new active subscription is required.
Commitment Terms	1-Year or 3-Year	The commitment terms must be configured as indicated on the OfferID.
Billing Period	Full Term Pre-Paid
Renewing	No	Terms end without a renewal.

NCE Software Subscription Return Policy

Note: Because there is no subscription reservation term on one-time billed offers conferring a Reserved Term License, the product is considered to be “Returned” rather than “Canceled”.

Return	Policy	Conditions
7 days \| 168 hours	Full credit to ISV Direct Billed Partner, in arrears on next invoice.	The full sales order shopping cart must be returned together. CloudBlue recommends partners do not combine offers into a shopping cart, as CloudBlue attempts to break shopping carts into separate sales orders. The 7-day period is evaluated precisely, to the minute. The entire sales order must be returned. Zero (0) license keys may be activated.
After Cancellation Window	Returns (Cancels) prohibited. No Credit	n/a

Return

Policy

Conditions

7 days | 168 hours

Full credit to ISV Direct Billed Partner, in arrears on next invoice.

The full sales order shopping cart must be returned together. CloudBlue recommends partners do not combine offers into a shopping cart, as CloudBlue attempts to break shopping carts into separate sales orders.

The 7-day period is evaluated precisely, to the minute. The entire sales order must be returned. Zero (0) license keys may be activated.

After Cancellation Window

Returns (Cancels) prohibited.

No Credit

n/a

NCE Microsoft 365

Service Plan Parameter	Value	Description
Service Plan Names	CloudBlue Connect names are recommended. Alternatively, you can either use the name provided by Microsoft or a different name of your choice.	CloudBlue Connect benefits from CloudBlue's intellectual property Product Catalogue Automation Tools to enhance Microsoft Offer Names with: Geographic availability based on Customer locale, where there are severe restrictions. The License Type, Qualification, Term, and Billing to aid in Marketplace Search and purchasing the correct variant. For example, NCE COM 1YR MTH is an NCE Commercial Subscription with a 1 year Term billed monthly. There will be coming changes to the Microsoft Offer Names to enhance the Marketplace Search and Sales Order experience: The Subscription Type will be included in the Offer Name to indicate if it's a Base or Add-on Subscription. For example: NCE COM ADD 1YR MTH is an NCE Commercial Add-on Subscription with a 1 year Term billed monthly. NCE COM BAS 1YR MTH is an NCE Commercial Base Subscription with a 1 year Term billed monthly. If you do not wish to use those names you can either use the original Microsoft offer names or a different name of your choice instead.
Resource Names	CloudBlue Connect resource names can be used for automated configuration. Other names can be used for manual configuration.	The Resource Name must match with the name in CloudBlue Connect if you wish to use Product Configuration Manager (PCM) (with a .json input) for automated configuration. Partners may use other Resource Names by doing the following: Using the Product Configuration Manager first, and then manually changing the resource names afterward. Completing the configuration manually.
Subscription Expiration Notification	At discretion of CloudBlue Partner (i.e. 7 days before Term End, 14 days before Term End etc.)	NCE M365 has a 7-day cancellation window for a renewal order (and sales order), that allows for penalty-free cancellations. For active subscriptions that have auto-renew enabled, CloudBlue partners should do the following: Notify the transacting partner and/or customer that a term-based product is about to auto-renew. Indicate what will happen if the transacting partner does nothing. Notify the transacting partner and/or customer about the 7-day cancellation policy. Indicate what options or calls to action a transacting partner has, if the default behavior is not desirable. The default behavior of NCE M365 active subscriptions is set to auto-renew at the end of term. If the transacting partner wishes to discontinue the service, a cancellation should be scheduled in advance.
Commitment	Monthly, 1 Year, 3 Years	The commitment terms must be configured as indicated on the OfferID.
Billing Period	Monthly, Annual

NCE Microsoft 365 Return Policy

Return	Policy	Early Termination Fee (ETF)
Within 7 days of Sales Order or renewal order. Within 7 days of Seat Upsize or upgrade. Within 7 days of Partial Subscription Value Upgrade.	Credit prorated to the commitment term will be issued to the ISV Direct Billed Partner in arrears on the next Invoice.	Forfeiture of prepaid amount corresponding to a service considered used (within 7 days). Within 24 hrs of Sales Order: 0 days are considered as used and prorated in arrears. Credit will be equal to a full credit of the prepaid amount. From 24 hrs 1 second through to 48 hrs: 1 day is considered used and prorated in arrears. Credit will be equal to the unused portion of the commitment period. For a monthly commitment, the prorated in-arrears credit will be for 29 of 30 days. For a 1 year commitment and full term prepaid, the prorated in-arrears credit will be for 364 of 365 days. From 48 hrs 1 second through to 7 days: 2 days are considered used and prorated in-arrears credit will be equal to the unused portion of the commitment period. For a monthly commitment, the prorated in-arrears credit will be for 28 of 30 days. For a 1 year commitment and full term prepaid, the prorated in-arrears credit will be for 363 of 365 days.
After 7 days of Sales Order or renewal order. After 7 days of upsize or upgrade.	Returns (Cancels) prohibited	Microsoft will continue invoicing for the entire remaining commitment term until the subscription term end date. Partners should ensure to disable the Auto-Renew option so that the subscription does not start a new commitment period.

Return

Policy

Early Termination Fee (ETF)

Within 7 days of Sales Order or renewal order.
Within 7 days of Seat Upsize or upgrade.
Within 7 days of Partial Subscription Value Upgrade.

Credit prorated to the commitment term will be issued to the ISV Direct Billed Partner in arrears on the next Invoice.

Forfeiture of prepaid amount corresponding to a service considered used (within 7 days).

Within 24 hrs of Sales Order: 0 days are considered as used and prorated in arrears. Credit will be equal to a full credit of the prepaid amount.

From 24 hrs 1 second through to 48 hrs: 1 day is considered used and prorated in arrears. Credit will be equal to the unused portion of the commitment period.
- For a monthly commitment, the prorated in-arrears credit will be for 29 of 30 days.
- For a 1 year commitment and full term prepaid, the prorated in-arrears credit will be for 364 of 365 days.
From 48 hrs 1 second through to 7 days: 2 days are considered used and prorated in-arrears credit will be equal to the unused portion of the commitment period.
- For a monthly commitment, the prorated in-arrears credit will be for 28 of 30 days.
- For a 1 year commitment and full term prepaid, the prorated in-arrears credit will be for 363 of 365 days.

After 7 days of Sales Order or renewal order.

After 7 days of upsize or upgrade.

Returns (Cancels) prohibited

Microsoft will continue invoicing for the entire remaining commitment term until the subscription term end date. Partners should ensure to disable the Auto-Renew option so that the subscription does not start a new commitment period.

Additional Details on Microsoft's New Cancellation and Seat-Reduction Policy

Microsoft announced the implementation of a new cancellation-window duration for commercial seat-based offers in CSP New Commerce, effective since March 18, 2022 at 5 p.m. Pacific time (12 a.m. UTC on March 19).

Starting then, any new commercial seat-based subscription orders in CSP New Commerce will allow 7 calendar days for cancellations and seat reductions instead of the previous 72-hour window.

This change is intended to provide partners with additional time to make post-purchase corrections to orders.

Charges for canceled subscriptions or seat reductions will be prorated from the time the subscription is created until it is canceled or seats are reduced, as was the case with the 72-hour window.

For example, if a partner cancels a subscription 5 days into an annual term, the partner will be billed for those 5 days but not for the remainder of the year’s term.

Also, the 7-day window will apply retroactively to subscriptions purchased 7 days prior to the implementation of the change (for example, starting at 12 a.m. UTC on March 12). Orders submitted prior to that date and time will not be available for retroactive cancellation. As a result, a partner that ordered a subscription during the prior seven-day period can cancel or reduce seats on that subscription for up to 7 days, post-purchase.

For example, a subscription that was purchased at 11 a.m. local time on March 15 can be canceled (or have seats reduced) up until the same time on March 22.

As with the previous cancellation window, partners can submit the cancellations and seat reductions via either the Partner Center UI or their integrated API. Cancellations within the 7-day window will be enabled for the following commercial subscription scenarios:

New seat-based subscription purchases on New Commerce.
Seat-based subscriptions that have been renewed on New Commerce.
Seat-based subscriptions purchased on New Commerce as a result of a migration from legacy CSP.
Partial New Commerce upgrades that resulted in a new subscription.
Reducing seats from incremental seat adds on existing subscriptions or on new subscription orders.

Partner assets in the CSP New Commerce experience for seat-based offers collection are in the process of being updated to reflect this change.

CloudBlue Position

Connect: CloudBlue Connect relays the orders and instructions of Partners to Microsoft. For the purpose of cancellation, Microsoft will be the sole actor to determine whether a Request for cancellation is approved or rejected. CloudBlue Connect is not making any determination independent of Microsoft.
Commerce: Where CloudBlue partners utilize Commerce as the CMP BSS, guidance will be provided on service pan and resource configuration service plan and resource configurations that mirror Microsoft’s policies for each offer type.

What do CloudBlue Partners need to do?

To support the new policy, CloudBlue suggests partners perform the following:

Prepare a new Product Lifecycle Manager | Product Platform Requirements (PLM-Compliant PPR) with the 7-day policy instead of the 72-hour policy for PLM.
Upload the new PLM-Compliant PPR, and ensure the policies are updated on Commerce L0.
Push the changes to Commerce L1 and Commerce L2 as usual, through synchronization. Please allow time for synchronization to occur.
Double check that policies are fine on Commerce L1 and Commerce L2.

Cancellation Policies are not copied into subscriptions. Each time they are needed, they are taken from the Service Plan. So, the Microsoft 7-day policy will apply retroactively as described in the details above.

Going forward, CloudBlue will be triggering an update to CloudBlue Product Catalog Automation Tools (PCAT) > Product Catalog Configuration (PCC) so that newly generated PPRs will reflect the 7-day policy instead of the 72-hour policy.