Microsoft Partner Center for Solution Partners

Microsoft Partner Center for Solution Partners

Microsoft Partner Center is a web-based portal that helps partners manage their business relationships, accounts, subscriptions, and billing with Microsoft. It also provides partners with data and insights to improve customer engagement and grow their business across the Microsoft Cloud. In this article, we will explain how to navigate the Partner Center portal and explore its features and functions for solution partners. We will also cover the following topics:

• Manage your account

• Membership programs

• Connect with customers

• Co-sell with Microsoft and other partners

• Manage customer software needs

• Maintain a secure environment

• Data and analytics

How to Access the Partner Center Portal

To access the Partner Center portal, you need to have a Microsoft Cloud Partner Program account and a user account with appropriate permissions. You can create a Microsoft Cloud Partner Program account by following the steps in this article1. You can also create user accounts and assign roles and permissions by following the steps in this article 22. Once you have your accounts ready, you can sign in to the Partner Center portal by following these steps:

• Go to https://partner.microsoft.com/ and click on Sign in.

• Enter your user account email and password and click on Next.

• If prompted, enter your verification code or approve the sign-in request on your mobile device.

• You will be taken to the Partner Center dashboard, where you can see an overview of your partner status, benefits, referrals, customers, billing, insights, and more.

How to Navigate the Partner Center Portal

The Partner Center portal uses the concept of workspaces to group related tasks and information together. You can access these workspaces through the tiles on the dashboard or through the navigation pane on the left side of the screen.

The navigation pane has four main sections

Managing

This section takes you back to the dashboard where you can see an overview of your partner status and activities.

Business

This section contains workspaces related to your business operations, such as customers, billing, pricing, incentives, marketplace offers, payouts, insights, and accounts.

Membership

This section contains workspaces related to your Microsoft Cloud Partner Program membership, such as benefits, referrals, membership details, solutions partner designations, specialized designations, expert designations, and partner capability scores.

Support

This section contains workspaces related to getting help and support from Microsoft, such as service health updates, support articles, contact support, scheduling support appointments, and manage support requests.

You can also use the breadcrumbs at the top of the screen to see where you are in the portal and navigate back to previous pages. You can use the search bar at the top right corner of the screen to find information or tasks within the portal. You can use the icons at the top right corner of the screen to access notifications, help settings, and profile settings.

Manage Your Account

The Account settings workspace is where you can view and edit your account settings, including your company profile, bank information, users, and permissions. You can access this workspace by clicking on Account Settingenroll in the navigation pane or on the dashboard tile.

In this workspace, you can do the following tasks:

• Update your company profile with information such as your company name, address, phone number, website, logo, and description. This information will be displayed on your business profile and referrals.

• Add or edit your bank information for payouts and billing. You can also view your payout history and tax forms.

• Add or remove locations for your business. You can also assign a primary location for each program or offer that you participate in.

• Add or remove user accounts for your employees or associates. You can also assign roles and permissions for each user account based on their responsibilities and access needs.

• View and manage your legal contracts with Microsoft. You can also accept new contracts or amendments when they become available.

Membership Programs

The Membership workspace is where you can enrol in and manage Microsoft Cloud Partner Program competencies, memberships, and programs to help you go to market. You can access this workspace by clicking on Membership in the navigation pane or on the dashboard tile. In this workspace, you can do the following tasks:

• Purchase a Microsoft Action Pack that provides Microsoft software and tools to develop expertise, such as developing skills toward attaining competencies and earning advanced specializations.

• View and manage your solutions partner designations for each solution area on the Microsoft Cloud. You can also see your Partner Capability Score (PCS) for each solution area and the requirements needed to attain a solutions partner designation.

• View and manage your specialized designations for specific cloud scenarios within each solution area. You can also see the requirements needed to attain a specialized designation and apply for an audit or assessment.

• View and manage your expert designations for the most complex and high-value cloud scenarios within each solution area. You can also see the requirements needed to attain an expert designation and apply for an audit or assessment.

• View and manage your membership details for each program or offer that you participate in. You can also see your membership status, renewal date, and benefits.

Connect with Customers

The Customer's workspace is where you can connect with customers, purchase subscriptions, manage licenses, and submit support requests on their behalf. You can access this workspace by clicking on Customers in the navigation pane or on the dashboard tile. In this workspace, you can do the following tasks:

• Add or remove customers for your business. You can also view and edit customer details such as their name, address, contact information, and subscriptions.

• Purchase or cancel subscriptions for your customers. You can also view and edit subscription details such as the offer name, quantity, price, and billing cycle.

• Assign or remove licenses for your customers. You can also view and edit license details such as the product name, quantity, and status.

• Submit or manage support requests for your customers. You can also view and edit support request details such as the issue type, severity, description, and resolution.

Co-sell with Microsoft and other Partners

The Referrals workspace is where you can discover and manage leads and co-sell opportunities to set your business apart. You can access this workspace by clicking on Referrals in the navigation pane or on the dashboard tile. In this workspace, you can do the following tasks:

• Create a business profile to display your company’s areas of expertise. You can also update your profile with information such as your company name, address, phone number, website, logo, description, solutions, industries, regions, languages, certifications, awards, and customer references.

• Get leads from Microsoft or other partners based on your business profile and solutions partner designations. You can also view and edit lead details such as the customer name, contact information, opportunity value, status, and notes.

• Manage leads by updating their status, adding notes, assigning owners, and closing them. You can also track your lead performance and conversion rate.

• Co-sell with Microsoft and other partners by collaborating on leads and opportunities. You can also share feedback, ratings, and reviews with your co-sell partners.

Manage Customer Software Needs

Microsoft Partner Center for Solution Partners. The Marketplace offers a workspace where you can create, publish, and manage solutions in the commercial marketplace and Office Store. You can access this workspace by clicking on Marketplace offers in the navigation pane or on the dashboard tile.

In this workspace, you can do the following tasks:

• Create a new offer for your solution by choosing from different offer types such as software as a service (SaaS), virtual machine (VM), container, solution template, consulting service, or Office add-in.

• Publish your offer to the commercial marketplace or Office Store by providing information such as the offer name, description, logo, pricing, terms, support, documentation, screenshots, videos, and metadata.

• Manage your offer by updating its information, status, availability, visibility, and certification. You can also view its performance metrics such as views, trials, conversions, revenue, ratings, and reviews.

• Explore other offers in the commercial marketplace or Office Store by browsing or searching for solutions that match your needs or interests. You can also view offer details such as the publisher's name, description, logo, pricing, terms, support, documentation, screenshots, videos, ratings, and reviews.

Maintain a Secure Environment

The Security workspace is where you can view and manage security-related information and tasks for your partner account and customers. You can access this workspace by clicking on Security in the navigation pane or on the dashboard tile. In this workspace, you can do the following tasks:

• View and manage security alerts for your partner account and customers. You can also view alert details such as the alert name, severity, description, source, status, and resolution.

• View and manage security policies for your partner account and customers. You can also view policy details such as the policy name, type, description, scope, settings, and enforcement.

• View and manage security roles for your partner account and customers. You can also view role details such as the role name, description, permissions, and assignments.

• View and manage security devices for your partner account and customers. You can also view device details such as the device name, type, model, status, and location.

Data and Analytics

The Insights workspace is where you can view data on your customers and their purchases, and gain insights on how to grow your business. You can access this workspace by clicking on Insights in the navigation pane or on the dashboard tile. In this workspace, you can do the following tasks:

View and manage reports for different programs and offers that you participate in. You can also download the reports or access them through APIs for further analysis.

View and manage forecasts for your revenue, customer growth, and customer churn. You can also see how your forecasts compare to your actual performance and adjust your business strategies accordingly.

View and manage recommendations for improving your performance, skilling, and customer success. You can also see how your recommendations impact your Partner Capability Score (PCS) and your solutions partner designations.

View and manage Partner Contribution Indicators (PCI) that show your impact on customer success for seven key measures: customer acquisition, customer retention, revenue growth, consumption growth, solution deployment, solution usage, and customer satisfaction.

The Insights workspace provides you with a unified analytics hub that addresses all your data analytics and business intelligence needs. You can use the data and insights to make data-driven decisions for your business and optimize your performance across the Microsoft Cloud.