Consultant’s Introductory Guide to Planning Services
Engagements that involve Office 365
Microsoft Planning Services
Prepared for
September 2010
Version 1.0
Prepared by
Table of Contents
1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1
2 Getting Started with Microsoft Planning Services ................................................................... 2
2.1 Microsoft Planning Services Overview and Review ..................................................................... 2
2.2 What’s in Microsoft Planning Services ......................................................................................... 2
2.3 Value of Microsoft Planning Services ........................................................................................... 2
3 Overview of Microsoft Planning Services Offerings and Use Case ............................................ 4
3.1 Length of Engagement (Microsoft Planning Services Engagement Types) .................................. 4
3.2 Microsoft Planning Services Scenarios & Workloads................................................................... 4
3.3 Microsoft Planning Services Engagement Options and Use Case ................................................ 5
3.4 Determining Use Case .................................................................................................................. 5
4 Microsoft Planning Services Engagement Guidance ................................................................ 7
4.1 Summary of Offerings and Guidance ........................................................................................... 7
4.2 Engagement voucher process ...................................................................................................... 7
4.3 Required Skills .............................................................................................................................. 7
4.3.1 Microsoft Planning Services Program requirements: ......................................................... 7
4.3.2 Microsoft Planning Services Engagement delivery skills: ................................................... 8
4.4 Determining Roles & Responsibilities .......................................................................................... 8
4.4.1 Understanding roles to determine who to initiate for the initial conversations and
process 8
4.4.2 Who should attend ............................................................................................................. 9
4.5 Understand the Available Materials ............................................................................................ 9
4.6 Engagement Guidance ............................................................................................................... 10
4.6.1 Initial Scope of Engagement ............................................................................................. 10
4.6.2 Select Material and Agenda .............................................................................................. 12
4.6.3 Deliver Engagement .......................................................................................................... 15
5 Microsoft Planning Services Offerings & Materials ............................................................... 20
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5.1 Understand the Value ................................................................................................................ 20
5.2 Try it ........................................................................................................................................... 21
5.2.1 Labs and Demos ................................................................................................................ 21
5.2.2 Proof Of Concept............................................................................................................... 21
5.3 Plan the solution ........................................................................................................................ 22
5.3.1 Deployment Planning ........................................................................................................ 22
5.3.2 Architectural Design Analysis ............................................................................................ 23
6 Appendix ............................................................................................................................ 25
A: Engagement Initiation checklist ....................................................................................................... 25
B: Microsoft Planning Services Offering Customization Example ......................................................... 27
C: Delivery Tips ...................................................................................................................................... 28
D: Microsoft Planning Services Provider Requirements ....................................................................... 29
E: Microsoft Planning Services Vouchers and Time-Sensitive Deadlines ............................................. 30
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1 INTRODUCTION
Important Note: There is no new and separate process for Microsoft Software Assurance
Planning Services voucher redemption specific to Office 365. Existing Microsoft Deployment
Planning Services (DPS) offerings (EDPS, SDPS, DDPS) will allow partners certified to
deliver DPS engagements within their programs to now deliver Office 365 content as part of
DPS engagements. Individual DPS programs define their requirements for certifications,
required deliverables and voucher redemption processes and this will be applied equally to
any Office 365 Planning Services activity conducted by partners within their program. This
delivery guide is intended to provide partners with readiness assistance for delivering Office
365 content to customers and does not define any new Planning Services requirements nor
supersede any of the requirements defined in the existing DPS programs.
Microsoft has made a significant investment in Office 365. We do this because Office 365 saves
customers time and money by replacing silo systems for phone, voice mail, collaboration and e-mail
with an integrated, Windows-based platform making it easier for people to communicate, whether
they are down the hall or across an ocean, in an office or on the go.
To enable customers to investigate the value and fit of Office 365 in their business, Microsoft
Planning Services with Office 365 focus is available to help guide customers through the business
value and deployment planning stages for Office 365, for cloud, or hybrid deployment scenarios.
Microsoft Planning Services engagements are conducted by approved Microsoft partners (or
Microsoft Services), who, through a structured engagement, uncover and address customer
business needs and pain points providing customized planning to assist customers along the path
of the deployment Office 365 within the customer's specific environment with the objective of
helping the customer realize the value of their technology purchase.
The purpose of this document is to provide Microsoft partners that deliver Microsoft Planning
Services to customers with the information needed to properly position and deliver this service to
the customer. It will help you guide them down the analysis and planning path to deployment and
adoption. Office 365 offers many ways for customers to improve the efficiency of their workforce
and reduce cost. By using Microsoft Planning Services as a tool, Microsoft certified partners can
grow their services business and become trusted advisors to the customer in helping them achieve
the value of Office 365.
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2 GETTING STARTED WITH MICROSOFT PLANNING
SERVICES
2.1 Microsoft Planning Services Overview and Review
Microsoft Planning Services is a value and deployment planning benefit available to eligible
Microsoft® Volume Licensing customers with Software Assurance. Microsoft Planning Services
consultants— qualified Microsoft Partners or Microsoft Consultants—can help customers
understand the value and best practices of implementing Office 365 in their environment. The
number of Microsoft Planning Services engagement days varies from 1 to 15 – as determined by
their Software Assurance coverage and available days.
2.2 What’s in Microsoft Planning Services
Microsoft Planning Services covers a broader technical scope, including the full scope of Office 365
for cloud and hybrid deployments as well as a broader range of approved activities and services,
designed to facilitate and jumpstart customer deployment activities so they can successfully realize
the value of Office 365.
Enhanced Technical Scope: Technologies Covered in Microsoft Planning Services
Exchange Online
SharePoint Online
Lync Online
Office Professional Plus
Expanded Offering: More Services and Activities Covered in Microsoft Planning Services
Show the value
Try it out Customer experiences the
Plan the solution value of Office 365
Deploy & adopt
Engagement Types Delivered Proof of Concept
Strategy Briefing Limited Production Pilot
Architectural Design Session Deployment Planning
Design Planning and Review
Table 1: Microsoft Planning Services Program Scope
2.3 Value of Microsoft Planning Services
In today’s volatile economy, organizations are searching for new ways to reduce costs without
sacrificing service levels or operating efficiency. Video conferencing, VoIP, e-mail, and instant
messaging based on Office 365 enable you to help your customers reduce the cost of travel,
training, real estate, and facilities maintenance.
Value to the Customer
Customers can use Microsoft Planning Services to help cover the cost of services that will help
them understand why and how to implement Office 365. Depending on the number of days the
customer qualifies for, and the services they are interested in receiving, the Microsoft Planning
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Services engagement may include a variety of services. The number of days provided by the
Partner (or Microsoft Services) and the results of the Microsoft Planning Services engagement vary
based customer organization size, number of users, complexity of environment, number of days
included in the engagement and the agreed customer-partner scope of work.
Value to the Partner
A customer’s software lifecycle is a continuous process often involving three phases: a purchase
decision, deployment, and adoption of the technology by end users. The partner's efficiency and
expertise in delivering the projected business value builds trust in the partner's role as a
deployment and planning consultant and helps speed up the software lifecycle – bringing partners
more business, more frequently.
Program Resource Refresher: What you should already know as a returning partner or key
resources for new partners
A tremendous amount of information about Microsoft Planning Services is available at
http://tk5bpsweb01.partners.extranet.microsoft.com/en/O365/Pages/default.aspx This document
serves as a supplement to this web site and will help partners with the positioning and delivery of
Microsoft Planning Services engagements involving Office 365 to your customers.
Resources you can find on the Microsoft Planning Services Partner Portal:
Partner criteria & registration
Finding customers through joint account planning with Microsoft account roles or LARs,
and helping customers self-determine eligibility
Determining customer eligibility
Sales and technical resources: engagement materials, technical & sales resources
Interactive guide to take you step by step through the Voucher Process
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3 OVERVIEW OF MICROSOFT PLANNING SERVICES
OFFERINGS AND USE CASE
This section will help you understand the full scope of the Microsoft Planning Services
engagements that involve Office 365, which in turn will help you determine what you can offer to the
customer, and when you should offer it based on the customers available benefit days, business
pain points, etc.
3.1 Length of Engagement (Microsoft Planning Services Engagement
Types)
You can leverage a customer’s Microsoft Software Assurance benefits and Microsoft Planning
Services materials to deliver Microsoft Planning Services engagements in any increment from 1 to
15 days, including structured guidance and agendas for 1, 3, 5, 10, and 15 day engagements
where the high-level objective is to help customers understand the value, learn best practices, and
plan for the implementation of Office 365. Microsoft Planning Services partners can use the
provided materials or leverage their unique partner methodology to deliver these engagements.
Microsoft allows this flexibility because it is in the partner’s best interest to deliver a quality
engagement and additionally to meet the Microsoft Planning Services partner requirements as an
active partner are based your organization’s continued active status with Microsoft Planning
Services, your area and level of specialization, as well as thorough quality assurance process for all
Microsoft Planning Services deliveries.
3.2 Microsoft Planning Services Scenarios & Workloads
Technical Scope
Microsoft Planning Services provides the technical materials and guidance to assist Partners (or
Microsoft Services) in delivering engagements around Office 365 capabilities, technologies, and
scenarios, as outlined in the following table:
Office 365
Technology Office 365
Version Exchange Online
SharePoint Online
Lync Online
Office Professional Plus
Scenario
Migration: Exchange Server
SharePoint Server
Competitive Notes / Domino
displacement:
Other
Deployment Cloud
environment:
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Hybrid
Workload Messaging
Unified Messaging (Voicemail)
Collaboration
Desktop License Provisioning
Table 2: Microsoft Planning Services Technical Scope
3.3 Microsoft Planning Services Engagement Options and Use Case
Microsoft Planning Services Approved Services and Activities
Microsoft Planning Services supports a broad range of approved activities and services, for the pre-
deployment phase that are designed to allow partners to assist their customers in realizing the
value of Office 365. View the Delivery Guide for Planning Services Engagements involving Office
365 to understand the options consultant have in terms of the type of Microsoft Planning Services
offering they can deliver to customer and guidance on how to select the offering type.
3.4 Determining Use Case
Now that you are more aware of the full scope of the Microsoft Planning Services offerings, this
section will help you determine how to apply an engagement to a particular customer use-case.
The following are important factors to consider when determining what materials to leverage for
your engagement and in turn, how to customize:
Number of days available: How many days does the customer have available? Click here to learn
how to determine days available.
Customer business needs, pain points, logical next steps: Go through customary pre-
engagement activities for Customer discovery.
Customer size/segment: You may need to consider if the materials or the suggested engagement
agenda is suited to the number of seats or server roles your customer will deploy.
Common ways to customize content: Refer section ―Customize Materials‖ in this document for
details on Microsoft Planning Services guidance on customization of Microsoft Planning Services
engagements.
The following table gives you an idea of the questions the customers may ask based on where they
are currently at along their path to deployment and the associated Microsoft Planning Services
offerings and possible outcomes based on the services delivered.
Customer Phase Microsoft Planning Estimated Possible Results
Questions and Answers Services Covered Microsoft
Services Planning
Services
Days
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Understand the value
Business Value Assessment 1-5 Days Business Case Document
Q: Why migrate to Office 365? How is it a fit within
my environment?
A: Prove the value of Office 365. Show customers Architectural Design 1-3 Days Assessment of organizational
how it fits within their environment in a high-level Session requirements, identify goals
Architectural Design Session (ADS).
Test Drive It
Proof of Concept (POC) 3-10 Days Varies based on desired
Q: I want to try new and enhanced features in my parameters for the POC or Pilot
lab environment or production environment to let
some users try it out. POC/Pilot Evaluation Document
–use results to assist in
Limited Production Pilot 3-15 Days development of a test plan
A: Help customers try new and enhanced features
in a lab or in a limited production environment.
Plan the Solution Engagement Summary Report
In-Depth Architecture 1- 15 Days
Q: What’s the plan and process? How do I optimize Design and Validation Supporting documentation to
and plan the build and design for my organization? deploy a custom deployment
Solution design testing and 3-15 Days plan (project plan template),
A: Dive deep into defining organizational needs to validation possibly including:
help design a solution and create a customized
deployment plan. Customized Technical 3-15 Days Conceptual design (or
Sessions design validation &
recommendations)
Conceptual migration
strategy
Risk assessment
Vision/scope document
Table 3: Microsoft Planning Services Offerings
To view all the materials, resources, and required deliverables available to assist you in your delivery
of the engagement offering you select, please view section “Microsoft Planning Services Offerings &
Materials” in this document. To read about customizing materials and agendas, view section “Select
Material and Agenda”.
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4 MICROSOFT PLANNING SERVICES ENGAGEMENT
GUIDANCE
4.1 Summary of Offerings and Guidance
The Engagement Guidance section of this document is intended to provide details and tips
essential for any consultant delivering engagements involving Office 365 for any of the Microsoft
Planning Services offerings. We recommend that all consultants even experienced ones, review
this section.
In addition to the Engagement Guidance section in this document to support the broader range of
offerings using the Microsoft Planning Services engagement framework, Microsoft Planning
Services provides unique delivery guidance designed to assist the consultant in delivering these
various engagements offerings.
View the engagement materials section to understand the scope of the materials, tools and delivery
guidance available for each offering.
Refer section ―Microsoft Planning Services Offerings and Materials‖ in this document for more
details.
4.2 Engagement voucher process
The Microsoft Planning Services Voucher process is a critical component of the program. As a
partner, the Microsoft Planning Services voucher (or voucher number) is required to:
Reserve the customers benefit days solely for your organization to deliver the engagement
Show proof of completion by uploading the required deliverables into the system tool
(VVR)
Indicate completion of approved process in order to submit for payment to Microsoft
Vouchers, deliveries and the customers Software Assurance benefits are very time-sensitive in
nature. To understand the timelines and so forth, please view ―Microsoft Product List‖ document in
the ―Appendix E: Microsoft Planning Services Vouchers and Time-Sensitive Deadlines‖.
Note: Redemption of vouchers and partner compensation for Planning Services
engagements related to Office 365 are governed by all three DPS programs (EDPS, SDPS
and DDPS). The requirements for these programs are different. DPS partners are required to
adhere to the requirements of the DPS program that they are delivering the engagement
through.
4.3 Required Skills
Microsoft Planning Services entails certain requirements to participate in the program and deliver
Microsoft Planning Services engagements.
4.3.1 Microsoft Planning Services Program requirements:
Note: Microsoft Planning Services partners that are currently accredited to deliver Planning
Services engagements for any of the Planning Services disciplines (EDPS, SDPS, DDPS
and/or BVPS) may deliver Office 365 content as part of a Planning Services engagement.
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Partners are encouraged to follow Office 365 readiness guidance provided here to help them
prepare to deliver services related to Office 365. But it is important for partners to remember
that it will be the partner’s DPS discipline (EDPS, SDPS, DDPS and/or BVPS) that specifies
all requirements that the partner must adhere to. This Office 365 Planning Services guidance
is provided to assist partners from all DPS disciplines delivery Office 365 content but not
introduce additional requirements.
4.3.2 Microsoft Planning Services Engagement delivery skills:
Every offering within Microsoft Planning Services requires different levels of skills and knowledge
set. The following background and skill sets are the general recommendations for a delivery
consultant. Visit the respective delivery guides for skills and certifications requirement specific to
the different technologies.
Soft Skills:
Good Communications Skills
Presentation Skills (ability to adapt to customer interests)
Project planning skills
Document writing skills (ability to create high quality documentation)
Technical skills & acumen:
Technical knowledge of the Office 365
Delivery consultants must maintain up-to-date certification’s status
Solid engagement delivery experience
4.4 Determining Roles & Responsibilities
When delivering a Microsoft Planning Services engagement, determining roles and responsibilities
is a critical task. To create successful follow-on services from the engagement, you must make sure
that you understand the various roles and responsibilities from a process or operational
perspective, that you engage the correct roles for your initial conversations and pay attention to
who should attend the engagement doing your best to ensure they stay engaged throughout the
duration.
4.4.1 Understanding roles to determine who to initiate for the initial
conversations and process
It’s important to make sure you’re talking to the correct roles within the customer organization from
a process perspective with regards to the vouchers and possibly the Microsoft license agreement
as well as in determining who to initiate the initial conversation with. The things to take into
consideration are:
Decision makers and influencers
Some of the most critical questions when determining roles are determining: who are the
decision makers and the influencers? Who owns the budget, makes the final decision, and
who influences these decision making roles the most? If there is someone outside of the IT
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team, or someone particular within the IT team that is especially influential in determining
whether or not to pursue the recommendations that result from your engagement, it’s critical
to bring them into the conversation from the start and make sure everybody is on the same
page, to correctly assess business pains, set expectations, and even to start the
conversation about potential follow-on business that you may be recommending as a result
of the engagement.
Who has to be involved from a voucher/process perspective?
Some things to take into consideration for this:
Customer organization: Who signs the Microsoft license? They will be the ones that will
either know about the vouchers or know how to find out about voucher entitlement, etc. For
more details, view the Customer Software Assurance website.
Partner organization: Who within your organization needs to be aware of and manage the
voucher process? The vouchers are time sensitive and the clock starts ticking the moment
the customer assigns the voucher to your partner organization.
For more detail on roles involved from a process perspective, view table 4 in this document.
4.4.2 Who should attend
Selecting and keeping attendees engaged for best results:
By identifying and inviting the pertinent roles to the Microsoft Planning Services engagement
(based on the previous section), this promises a more effective engagement that should result in
the invited attendees staying for the duration of the engagement by keeping their interest piqued
with information that is relevant to their role within the organization. To further enhance the
engagement experience as well as the outcome:
Be ready to adapt on the fly/re-adjust scope if you are going too deep (beyond their
knowledge) or too high-level
Make sure the customer is vested in the engagement to ensure attendees stay engaged
during the delivery.
For more specific guidance based on the type of offering and technology you’re delivering, refer to
the detailed delivery guides as well as to the delivery tips section of this document.
4.5 Understand the Available Materials
Once you’ve selected your offering and determined roles and responsibilities, we recommend you
become familiar with all the available materials to get a sense of what is available to better assist
you when determining the scope of work with your customer.
Sales Materials BOM:
For demand-generation and pre-sales materials:
https://www.quickstartonlineservices.com/Pages/Default.aspx.
Engagement offerings and materials:
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To view all of the materials, tools, templates and guidance available for each of the
Microsoft Planning Services offerings along with the approved services and activities, view
the section ―Microsoft Planning Services Offerings and Materials‖ in this document to view
individually by offering for detailed descriptions and locations.
4.6 Engagement Guidance
4.6.1 Initial Scope of Engagement
4.6.1.1 Initial Discussion
In having reviewed the Microsoft Planning Services offerings available (refer ―Section 3.3: Microsoft
Planning Services Engagement Options and Use Case‖), as well as the available materials prior to
holding the scope conversation with your customer, you’ll be fully prepared to engage in this
discussion with your customer. During the scoping discussion, you can further refine and define the
exact scope of the offering tailored to meet your customer’s unique needs. You can refer to the
table in the next section to view the full scope of activities that should take place from the initial
discussion to the beginning of the engagement.
4.6.1.2 Formalize Service Agreement/Statement of Work with customer
After the initial discussions with the customer, you or somebody within your organization should be
ready to formalize the statement of work. The table below uses the general titles that relate to roles
within your organization and the customer. For example – Account Executive – the lead individual
responsible for selling services to a customer; Delivery Manager – the management role
responsible for service delivery to a customer. Revise these titles as appropriate for your
organization.
The below table describes the activities that need to be performed before the onsite engagement
begins. The first section includes activities that should be conducted for all engagements regardless
of the length. The second section provides some additional activities that you may want to consider
for more in-depth or complex engagements:
Activity Description Responsibility Responsibility of
of the Account the Delivery
Executive Manager?
Conducting the pre- The purpose of this call is to assist the Account
scoping call Executive in selling the service to the customer, to
answer questions, to review the scoping guide, and
to discuss which customer resources will be needed
for the scoping call.
Conducting the scoping During this call, which is conducted with the
call customer contact and the appropriate customer
technical resources, the scope of the engagement is
set, the customer expectations are set, and the
necessary customer resource and time commitment
is communicated.
Finalizing the work orders The scoping data is incorporated into the customer
work order and the SOW, and the contract is
finalized. This process may involve the participation
of the Account Executive.
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Identifying and After both a strong likelihood exists that the
scheduling the consulting engagement will be delivered and the location and
team members tentative dates have been determined, the Resource
Manager is contacted to begin the process of
aligning the resources for the project. The DM
selects two consultants to deliver the engagement.
Finalizing the schedule The DM works with the customer contact and, at
with the customer and times, with the Account Executive to finalize a
the consulting team project start date. At that point, the DM reiterates
the customer resources that will need to meet with
the consulting team and the background
documentation that should be collected.
Table 2: Pre-engagement activities
For more in-depth engagements, you may want to consider some of the following activities:
Activity Description
Conducting the sales hand-off meeting This meeting, which can be a conference call, is held prior to the
start of the project with the Account Executive, the consulting
team, and the EM (as required). The Account Executive shares
non-proprietary information about the customer’s organization,
key personnel, and culture. The Account Executive also shares
information about current Microsoft support—for example,
whether a Microsoft Technical Account Manager (TAM) is on
board—and about previous customer issues with Microsoft
products, non-Microsoft products, viruses or incidents.
Conducting the internal alignment meeting Prior to the start of the project, the consulting team meets to
discuss roles, develop the kick-off meeting agenda, and develop
mitigation strategies for any known project risks.
Conducting the customer alignment meeting This meeting is most often conducted by telephone with the
customer contact and the members of the project team. The
project start date is confirmed, dependencies and required
information are discussed, and the engagement scope is reviewed.
The kick-off meeting, solution envisioning workshop, and
necessary interviews and meetings should be scheduled at this
time.
Table 5: Additional pre-engagement activities
4.6.1.3 Pre-Engagement discovery
Once the delivery consultant has received the customer name and contact information, the type of
Microsoft Planning Services service that the customer has selected, and the date of the
engagement, there are a few pre-requisites that will help ensure a successful engagement.
4.6.1.3.1 The Pre-Engagement Questionnaire
There is one pre-engagement questionnaire. The delivery consultant should contact the Microsoft
Account Team or the Customer (in case the consultant or partner does not have access to a
Microsoft Account Team) as soon as possible to complete the questionnaire. This questionnaire will
help you complete the mandatory deliverables at the end of the engagement as well as help ―jump
start‖ the presentation and discovery portion of the engagement.
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Any information that you cannot obtain or the Microsoft Account Team is unaware of should be
discovered via a mandatory conference call with the customer before the consultant arrives on site.
Forward the questionnaire to the customer before the conference call. This will assist with getting
the customer involved with the process, and allow them to find any information they may need for
the call.
4.6.1.3.2 The Pre-Engagement Customer Conference Call
A mandatory part of Microsoft Planning Services is the pre-engagement customer conference call.
The purpose of the conference call is to assist the delivery consultant with filling out the pre-flight
questionnaire and discover any topics not yet covered. It will also act as a pre-engagement
introduction which allows the delivery consultant to become familiar with the customer sponsor for
the engagement, as well as allow the customer to schedule proper resources to attend different
topics during the presentation.
Also make sure that the customer can provide a conference room for the presentation portion of the
engagement, as well as projector, whiteboard, flip chart and other material. IMPORTANT: Make
clear to the customer is aware of the time commitment required of their staff for the
engagement.
The following is a sample agenda for the pre-flight customer conference call
Microsoft Planning Services Pre-Flight Conference
Call Agenda
10:00 am - 10:10 am Introductions
10:10 am - 10:30 am Agenda Items for the presentation portion of the
engagement, logistics
10:30 am – 10:45 am (11:00 am for three day engagement) Pre-Engagement Questionnaire Review
10:45 am – 11:00 am Lab requirements, room requirements, projector, Internet
access, etc.
Table 6: Pre-Flight conference call agenda
4.6.2 Select Material and Agenda
4.6.2.1 Select Material
There is a plethora of materials available for you to select from and to customize to deliver a
successful Microsoft Planning Services engagement, based on the offering you are delivering.
Delivery Materials and Guidance
Every Microsoft Planning Services offering is equipped with appropriate resources. Delivery
guidance is provided to simplify your work and provide necessary details to run an
engagement. Delivery materials are provided along with the required tools, templates,
forms, recommended pre-defined agendas and required deliverables for every offering.
Visit ―Section 5: Microsoft Planning Services Offerings & Materials‖ to find the details of
different types of material available within an offering.
Lab Materials and Guidance
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Microsoft Planning Services also brings the customer opportunity to run through product
demos and labs presented by delivery consultants. Refer to ―Section 5: Microsoft Planning
Services Offerings & Materials: Try It‖ to understand the full range of opportunities to help
the customer try out Office 365 and then review the respective delivery guides for specific
lab delivery guidance.
4.6.2.2 Construct Agenda
When delivering an Microsoft Planning Services engagement, it is important to construct an agenda
ahead of time. Each type of offering provides Microsoft-recommended agendas to different degrees
and depths. The solution planning guidance provides the most depth with regards to recommended
agendas based on the number of days the customer has available to use. It is important to note
however, that you can customize the agenda to further meet your customers’ needs, etc. Keep in
mind that the more you tread from the packaged offering, the more effort will be required from you
to:
Manage the customer’s expectations
Define an agenda for the allotted time
Define a scope and deliverables that can be completed in the allotted time
Stay within the overall intent and guidelines of Microsoft Planning Services
Be aware that the customer will fill out an evaluation form; you must manage expectations and
deliver as promised to have a satisfied client. This is much easier with a clearly defined pre-
packaged engagement. The more you customize Microsoft Planning Services, the more risk you
expose yourself to, and the less you will be able to leverage the pre-packaged materials provided
by Microsoft Planning Services. For further guidance on the recommended agendas, refer to the
detailed delivery guides.
4.6.2.3 Customize Materials
Microsoft Planning Services Guidance on Customization
Approved Partners can customize an Microsoft Planning Services engagement after a thorough
analysis of the customer’s needs based on where the customer is at in their Office 365
implementation (whether still considering or in need of deployment planning assistance), and can
leverage their own partner-developed methodologies based on Microsoft best practices to deliver
the engagement. For additional guidance on how to tailor engagements based on customer needs
as it pertains to each technology, review the Microsoft Planning Services delivery guides included in
the engagement materials.
Microsoft Planning Services was designed in a modular fashion to allow more flexibility in meeting
customer needs. The format and modules recommended in the delivery guides should be seen as
the baseline content and the default offering given to customers. Before delivering Microsoft
Planning Services you should have had a conference call with the client and filled out the pre-
engagement questionnaire. This should provide a fair amount of understanding of customer
environment, their level of Office 365 expertise, and their expectations.
You should use this knowledge to make sure Microsoft Planning Services is aligned to the
customer’s profile, goals, and agenda. The overall scope of Microsoft Planning Services is to
prove the value of the Office 365 service they are investigating, to educate the customer in
this service, to help them try out the service through labs and Proof of Concepts and limited
pilots and to assist in deployment planning. This scope is not negotiable and does not currently
include actual deployment of the technology.
As a consultant, you will encounter clients who do not align perfectly with the pre-packaged
offering. There are many scenarios such as:
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The client already has significant knowledge of the technology and does not need the
technical slide decks
The deployment is already at an advanced phase and the customer needs help in specific
areas
The client would like to leverage the days for a specific agenda and not use the pre-
packaged offering
As an experienced Office 365 consultant, you can customize Microsoft Planning Services to add
value to the client as long as it stays within the overall intent of Microsoft Planning Services
mentioned earlier.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Regardless of the level of customization ALL Microsoft Planning Services
ENGAGEMENTS require the end deliverables “Microsoft Planning Services Engagement
Summary Report.docx” document completed by the Consultant, either based on Partner’s
template or the delivery template included with Microsoft Planning Services. Microsoft
Planning Services engagements are approved based on this deliverable. Make certain it is of
high quality and included in the list of deliverables of any Statement of Work. In addition,
delivery consultant must fill out “Microsoft Planning Services Engagement Profile” form
(InfoPath or Word).
Though it’s impossible to document all the different scenarios and customer agendas you may
encounter, here are some examples of appropriate levels of customization:
Hiding slide decks or portions of a slide or other recommended engagement materials to
better match the customer profile.
Using similar partner-based methodologies and materials aligned to the Microsoft
Planning Services materials.
Focusing on certain aspects of the offering. For example, focusing on whiteboard design
sessions and meetings and reducing or eliminating slide deck technical presentations.
Using all voucher days to focus and deliver on a specific customer agenda that is aligned
with the Microsoft Planning Services approved offerings and activities. For example
building a test lab, evaluating a deployment plan, evaluating a design, running a POC, etc.
Using voucher days to supplement a customer engagement that aligns with the
Microsoft Planning Services approved services and activities. For example, if the
customer only has three voucher days and they want to do a Proof of Concept that you
estimate to take five days, you can apply the voucher days to cover the cost of three days
of the POC and the customer can pay you your full rate for the remaining two days. Please
note, the days that are covered by a Microsoft Planning Services voucher, cannot
supplement your partner rate. For example, if your rate is US $250.00 per hour, but the
voucher only covers 8 hours at $125.00 per hour, you cannot bill the customer for more
hours or dollars for the three days they are using their voucher to pay for the activity. In
participating in the program, you are accepting the wages set by the program’s Master
Agreement license.
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Unacceptable levels of customization can be considered:
Utilizing Microsoft Planning Services hours for a consulting engagement not aligned with
Microsoft Planning Services scope. For example using Microsoft Planning Services hours to
troubleshoot production issues, deploy servers, perform an upgrade, etc.
When customizing Microsoft Planning Services you are taking on the task of defining your own
deliverables and agenda. Take into consideration the items below:
Create a clear Statement of Work with defined deliverables and scope.
Be mindful of ambiguous agendas. The consultant should have a clear agenda and
outcomes for the engagement.
Remember that Microsoft Planning Services is a time-boxed engagement. Once the days
are utilized the engagement is complete. Be very aware of this when defining custom
scope and deliverables. Avoid tasks that do not easily fit in a time-boxed engagement. Be
very clear with the customer on this point in your Statement of Work. You do not want to
find yourself with an incomplete engagement without any time remaining. This has real
potential for an unsatisfied customer.
Keep a very safe margin when it comes to defining what will be achieved during the time
allotted. If the consultant has extra time they can add value to the engagement and do
more but it should not be part of the Statement of Work. If you decide to put “extras”
make sure to define them as tasks that will be completed “if time is available”.
Microsoft Planning Services is designed as an initial engagement to accelerate the
deployment of Office 365. Ideally it will lead to a full Office 365 deployment engagement.
Keep that in mind when defining scope.
View examples of customer requests that were managed by Microsoft Planning Services through
the application of acceptable levels of customization in the ―APPENDIX B: Microsoft Planning
Services OFFERING CUSTOMIZATION EXAMPLE‖.
4.6.3 Deliver Engagement
4.6.3.1 Delivery Tips
Delivering a successful engagement requires presentation and communications skills, technical
acumen, and the ability to understand where your customer is at even if they are not directly
articulating their current understanding by creating an environment in which they are at ease
encouraging any questions they may have.
In addition to these skills, there is also the valuable subject matter expertise guidance around best
practices and pitfalls to avoid from a soft-skills perspective and technical perspective.
4.6.3.1.1 Presentation and operation
Selecting and keeping attendees engaged for best results:
To ensure your attendees stay for the duration of the engagement, it’s important to 1) make sure
you have the correct roles attending to keep their interest piqued 2) be ready to adapt on the fly/re-
adjust scope if you are going too deep (beyond their knowledge) or too high-level 3) ensure the
customer has ―put some skin in the game‖ to make them more vested in the engagement.
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For more specific guidance based on the type of offering and technology you’re delivering, refer to
the respective delivery guides.
Correct roles:
Sometimes you may find that you have a hard time keeping attendees for the duration of
your engagement. This can either be because you are not addressing their needs or the
right people are not engaged. Do make sure the correct roles are selected from the start.
This will vary depending on the type of engagement you are delivering. Refer to the
respective delivery guides to view the Microsoft-recommended roles per technology and
offering.
Adapt on the fly:
If you are noticing a lack of interest or attendance, don’t hesitate to stop and re-address to
make sure you are on track to deliver what the customer is looking for. It is possible that
after starting the engagement the customer realizes that they were looking for something
slightly different. To ensure a positive engagement results, it’s in your best interest to stop
mid-stream and re-align to better fit the customer needs. Sometimes this may require
additional fact-finding, or possibly discussions or the inclusion of newly-identified roles.
Getting the Customer “vested” in Microsoft Planning Services:
Because Microsoft Planning Services is something the customer has already paid for, and
often times from a department outside of IT, your attendees may not feel the need to stay
throughout the duration of the engagement looking at the session as a ―freebie‖ which may
diminish its value in their eyes. You may want to consider this at the start when looking at
the scope of work. Some partner best practices show that extending the scope of work to
include some days beyond the voucher engagement that the customer pays for helps
augment their interest and perceived value of the engagement.
4.6.3.1.2 High-Level Delivery Tips
A Microsoft Planning Services engagement can be divided in to three high-level categories: pre-
work, actual delivery, and closure. Make sure to use the following guidelines. You should refer to
the respective engagement delivery guides to see more details on delivery tips, learning’s, pitfalls,
and best practices per technology and offering.
Pre-work:
Discover customer challenges and business drivers.
Define customer needs.
Getting buy-in and attendance from the right roles
Customizing engagement based on customer needs.
Engagement delivery:
Don’t go with assumptions.
Value customer time and focus on sessions based on customer interest
Try using whiteboard to explain the how the solution fits in their environment
Engagement closure:
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Get clear understanding of end-deliverables
Complete deliverables, upload them, and redeem voucher on-time to receive payment
Leave the customer with clearly-identified and actionable next steps
4.6.3.2 “End” Delivery Guidance
This section outlines the key considerations to properly wrap up an Microsoft Planning Services
engagement with the objective being to clear any existing blockers or issues that prohibit the
customer from taking the crucial next steps towards experiencing the value of Office 365.
4.6.3.2.1 Define outstanding issues and create clear Next steps
Not only is it important to address next steps in order to create a segue to your follow-on services,
it’s equally important to provide clearly-defined and actionable next steps (with pointers and
resources- , in the form of your customer deliverable, preferably a call or in person meeting to
present your findings and recommendations, possibly including a project plan if applicable) to
ensure the customer moves all the way through to adoption of the product within their organization.
Some items you may want to review when considering high-level next steps for the customer:
Microsoft Planning Services Available Offerings and Recommended Activities:
You may discover the customer was not quite prepared for the offering that you delivered
and you may want to consider an additional Microsoft Planning Services offering
(regardless of whether the customer has additional voucher days or not). For example, if
you helped the customer try Office 365 through a proof of concept, you may find that the
business decision maker needs to see a business case document in order to be fully
comfortable approving the deployment project. Here are some pointers with regards to
which offering you might consider as a ―next step‖:
Recommended activities to consider
Further proof of value (TCO/ROI) Business Value Assessment to show ROI and
build a business case document to persuade
decision makers
Further clarity and confidence Architecture Design Session to further refine
parameters for build design and see what’s
possible.
Ready to proceed Solution and implementation planning to prepare,
migrate and support Office 365 .
Key blockers and risks identified due to current architecture Production Pilot to test and validate the solution
design in production
Table 7: Recommended Activities
Follow-On Services:
Talk about creating opportunity and emphasizing how to make sure they are going to buy
into recommended follow-on projects/services.
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Supporting activities to help define next steps:
Here are some of the recommended activities to conduct during an engagement to properly
close an engagement:
“Questions and Answer” session
The purpose of this session is to allow the customer to freely discuss any questions or
concerns around Office 365 and the deployment in their organization. All Microsoft
Planning Services engagements require an engagement summary report document
whether you are using your organization’s standard format or the Microsoft Planning
Services-provided template. We recommend that you document topics covered under
the Questions and Answer session in the end deliverable findings document.
“Engagement Summary Report” session
This interactive session will consolidate the findings from the engagement, and further
discuss how Office 365 could integrate with the customer environment and meet their
business requirements. In addition, next steps should be defined and discussed.
It is important that all key stakeholders should be invited to this final session. This is
because the session ties together the technical decisions with the business drivers for
the solution. In addition, make sure there is representation from the services sales side
of your organization. The following items should be discussed:
Review the Business Drivers and Risks identified during the Strategy Briefing
Session.
Review the high level Solution that will accomplish the Business Drivers
identified and address the risks identified during the Strategy Briefing Session
Review the Requirements of the solution as recorded during the ADS and make
any adjustments now that the customer has been educated on the feature
areas.
Review the Design Choices that support the solution chosen.
Discuss NEXT STEPS. Do not allow the engagement to simply end without any
follow up.
Review and record any Outstanding Questions, and ensure proper follow up.
To view specific guidance on how to identify blockers and define next steps based on the
technology you’re delivering the engagement on, please refer to the respective delivery guides.
4.6.3.2.2 Final Wrap-up
It is important to ensure that you close the Microsoft Planning Services engagement correctly and
all required deliverables are completed as desired. You must refer to the specific delivery guides for
each offering.
Required Deliverables:
The required deliverable for this program is twofold. Both pieces of documentation must be
completed and uploaded into VVR as part of the voucher redemption and payment process:
Microsoft Planning Services Engagement Profile
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This is a three-page form that functions as a proof of engagement to confirm details of
delivery that includes:
The technology, scenarios, and services delivered
Partner organization, voucher and delivery information
High-level Customer environment information
Engagement summary including recommended customer next steps
Engagement and program feedback
Customer Deliverable
Partners are required to upload the customer deliverable resulting from the Microsoft
Planning Services engagement as part of the voucher redemption and payment process.
For this customer deliverable, partners have two options:
Use the Microsoft Planning Services provided template for the customer
deliverable. This template is entitled, “Microsoft Planning Services Engagement
Summary Report.” It is included in the engagement materials.
-or-
Use the standard customer deliverable documentation in use by their Partner
organization.
Additionally, in completing the customer deliverable, you can refer to the specific delivery
guidance on some of the recommended agenda structure such as ―Questions and Answer
session‖ and the ―Engagement Summary Report Session‖ in order to correctly close an
engagement.
Payment Rates
It is critical to note that Partner Payment rates can change at any point in time and that you
will be paid per the rate set at the time of the engagement. Because of this, Microsoft
recommends that you deliver the engagement as soon as possible and also that you may
want to review the payment rates prior to the engagement. The payment rates are outlined
in the Master Agreement.
Customer Survey and Voucher Steps to Redeem and Get Paid
Once you’ve completed the engagement and the deliverables, it’s important to know the
following:
Each customer organization that you deliver to will receive a customer survey.
You must successfully and correctly redeem your voucher and submit deliverables
using the VVR tool.
You must successfully invoice Microsoft to receive payment using the SAVB tool.
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5 MICROSOFT PLANNING SERVICES OFFERINGS &
MATERIALS
As explained earlier, this section includes links and definition to all of the various materials, tools,
resources and delivery guides available for each of the Microsoft Planning Services offerings and
approved services and activities. As a Microsoft Partner, you are probably familiar with the
Microsoft Solution Selling Process of Generate, Optimize, Close, Deploy and Adopt. The four
phases used in this guide represent the experience from the customer’s perspective.
Understand the value – Help the customer understand the value of the technology and
how the solution is a fit in their environment.
Test drive – After the customer understands the clear business value and impact of
upgrade and deployment on their organization, they may still want to thoroughly try out
and test the product through demos, labs and pilots prior to spending the final dollars on
implementation and deployment.
Plan the solution – Once the implementation is part of the IT team’s project docket, the
customer is typically ready to reach out to Systems Integrators to plan the deployment of
their UC solution.
Deploy and adopt – Deployment of Office 365 is where the customer takes ownership of
what you’ve helped them plan. This represents an excellent opportunity for the customer
to leverage follow-on services offered by the partner that delivered Microsoft Planning
Services to help them deploy and successfully adopt the technology throughout their
organization. Helping ensure successful deployment and org-wide adoption is critical in
generating future business and it also positions the customer correctly for future
technology and platform upgrades.
5.1 Understand the Value
Helping customers understand the value of their technology investment
Understanding the value of their technology investment thus far and how it’s a fit within their
specific environment will help you overcome the customer mindset that their current solution is
good enough. Removing the barriers to the good enough perception and convincing customers of
the need to upgrade is the first critical process in technology upgrade. Microsoft Planning Services
offers two services and activities to assist you:
Strategy Briefing
Architectural Design Session
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5.2 Try it
Guiding customers through labs, demos and pilots
Once customers are sold on the value of their technology investment, it’s natural to want to try out
the new product before they commit to making the final financial investment to move forward with
deployment and implementation. Customers may want to be shown some labs and demos to get
some hands on experience or even try out new features and enhancements in a lab environment or
alongside production. The Microsoft Planning Services provided services and activities for this
offering are:
Proof of Concept
Limited Production Pilot
Some of these activities may be more appropriate at a later point in the customer engagement
process and it is up to you as their trusted advisor to determine which of these activities to do and
when. However, just as most people don’t feel comfortable purchasing the car until like taking a car
out for a test drive before buying, you should consider how far to take them and how deep into trial
to go based on where they are at in the process.
5.2.1 Labs and Demos
Objective
Use labs and demos to give your customer a hands-on experience to try out Office 365.
Delivery Materials Description Location
Labs & Demos Labs: Office 365 hands on Demos: Partners are Office 365 “Ignite in a Box”
labs are available as part of encouraged to leverage the
the Office 365 “Ignite in a Ignite labs to demo Office
Box” kit. 365 functionality.
Estimated Microsoft 1-3 Days
Planning Services Days
Recommended Varies based on desired parameters for labs & demo.
Customer Deliverable
Table 10: Lab & Demo material
5.2.2 Proof Of Concept
Microsoft has developed guidance and delivery materials to help partners deliver Office 365 Proof
of Concepts. Planning Services partners may leverage these materials for PS engagements, as
long as the POC activities fall within permitted scope. The POC delivery guidance is called, ―Office
365 Enterprise Engagement Model for Proofs of Concept‖ and is located at this link.
The ―Office 365 Enterprise Engagement Model for Proofs of Concept‖ zip file contains:
Office 365 for Enterprises - POC Engagement Model Guide
Office 365 for Enterprises - POC Engagement Model Summary Presentation
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Office 365 for Enterprises - POC Engagement Model Proposal
There is also a recorded presentation available on the Microsoft Partner Network which provides an
overview of the kit. It is called ―Delivering Successful Proofs of Concept with Office 365 for Enterprises
(OFF171PAL)‖ and is available at this link
Materials Description Location
Office 365 Enterprise Office POC engagement kit has been created to enable the Office 365 Enterprise Engagement
delivery of POC engagement. A POC tool kit contains delivery Model for Proofs of Concept
Engagement Model for guidance and materials helpful for a POC delivery.
Proofs of Concept
Estimated Microsoft 3-15 Days
Planning Services Days
Recommended Varies based on desired parameters for the POC.
Customer Deliverable POC Evaluation Document – use results to assist in
development of a test plan.
Required Deliverables Defined by existing DPS programs ( EDPS, SDPS and DDPS )
Table 11: POC material
5.3 Plan the solution
Helping customers plan the high level designs for deployment of Office 365
Moving from the customers current technologies to Office 365 can be complex. Use the traditional
planning services engagement in developing a joint Microsoft/customer deployment plan. The
purpose is to satisfy the below customer expectations:
What’s the plan and process?
- And-
How do I optimize and plan the build and design for my organization?
Microsoft Planning Services offers two services and activities to assist you:
Deployment Planning
Architectural Design Analysis
5.3.1 Deployment Planning
Objective
To deep dive into defining organizational needs to assist customers in developing a solid design
and implementation plan.
Materials Description Location
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Deployment Planning Delivery material has been created and contains in-depth
technical material, tools & templates, end-deliverables etc.
Materials
Microsoft Planning Deployment planning delivery guidance document talks
about the various offerings, goals and benefits, pre-defined
Services Guidance agendas and structure of offerings, required skills to deliver
the offering, pre-engagement preparation, tools &
templates, expected end-deliverables, and tips & tricks. This
guide also includes lab guidance as lab sessions are
recommended for Microsoft Planning Services offerings with
5 days or more.
Resources Microsoft has provided a large amount of technical content Please refer to the Additional
related to Office 365 and made it available to partners. DPS Resources section of the document
partners are encouraged to review updated delivery titled “Delivery Guide for Planning
guidance on Office 365 to learn more. Services engagements involving
Office 365” for links to Office 365
technical and deployment
information.
Estimated Microsoft 3-15 Days
Planning Services Days
Recommended Varies based on technology and number of days of
engagement. Refer to deployment planning guides for
Customer Deliverable details.
Required Deliverables Defined by existing DPS programs ( EDPS, SDPS and DDPS )
Table 14: Deployment planning material
5.3.2 Architectural Design Analysis
Objective
Review the customer’s current design with guidance on how to improve upon it based on best
practices. In this session Design gap analysis is performed. This service is covered as a part of
Microsoft Planning Services so that you can keep existing customers satisfied with their current
solution and keep them on the Exchange platform.
Materials Description Location
Design Gap Analysis Microsoft Planning Services does not provide materials for this service. Partner to use own
methodology or other Microsoft-provided resources.
Microsoft Planning Microsoft Planning Services does not include guidance specific to this. Partner to use own
methodology or other Microsoft-provided resources.
Services Guidance
Resources Microsoft has provided a large amount of technical content Please refer to the Additional
related to Office 365 and made it available to partners. DPS Resources section of the document
partners are encouraged to review updated delivery titled “Delivery Guide for Planning
guidance on Office 365 to learn more. Services engagements involving
Office 365” for links to Office 365
technical and deployment
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information.
Estimated Microsoft 3-15 Days
Planning Services Days
Recommended Varies based on technology and number of days of
engagement. Refer to deployment planning guides for
Customer Deliverable details.
Required Deliverables Defined by existing DPS programs ( L&EDPS, SDPS and DDPS )
Table 15: Architectural design analysis material
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6 APPENDIX
A: Engagement Initiation checklist
The following lists are valuable in preparing for the delivery of a Microsoft Planning Services
engagement.
General
Client contact information
Client organizational chart
Directions to site
Parking details
Building access
Physical working environment
Typical workday, i.e. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Holiday schedule
Dress code
Office etiquette
Area restaurants and services
Any additional related documents
Documents & Tools
Customer contact information
Customer facility location address
Copy of the proposal
Relevant e-mail
Other relevant documentation
Software and Hardware Prerequisites
Engagement Toolkit
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Agenda
Technical Presentation
Pre-flight Engagement Questionnaire Documentation
Final Day Delivery Templates
Technical Value Add CD Tools
Document manifest
A complete bill of materials document is included with the Microsoft Planning Services program
materials and contains all the required deliverables and guidance for conducting and finalizing the
Microsoft Planning Services engagement.
Microsoft Planning Services Kick-Off email template
Microsoft Planning Services Engagement Questionnaire
Microsoft Planning Services Preliminary Agenda
Microsoft Planning Services Engagement Summary Report template
Microsoft Planning Services Delivery Evaluation Form
Microsoft Planning Services Engagement Profile Form
Microsoft Account Team Mapping
Full contact information for the following:
Consultant [X]
Engagement managers
Services executive (services sales)
Account T/S
Account manager
TAM
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B: Microsoft Planning Services Offering Customization Example
Following you will find examples of customer requests that were managed by Microsoft Planning
Services through the application of acceptable levels of customization. In addition you will see
examples of out of scope requests.
Client Request In Scope with Microsoft Planning Services?
Microsoft Planning Services has an ADS activity as part of the
Customer is familiar with Office 365 and desires to focus offering. If the client would like to focus on these types of
on ADS type sessions activities, that is well within the scope of Microsoft Planning
Services.
Unless it is a basic POC with straightforward goals a POC should be
considered out of scope for a Microsoft Planning Services
engagement. A POC that is defined to test if Office 365 can work
with an existing third party or custom solution, in an unusual
scenario, or meet complex metrics is typically a complex
engagement. It can involve working with many unknowns and
require extensive troubleshooting, performance monitoring,
support cases etc. The potential complexity of a POC is generally
Customer is familiar with Office 365 and wants to create
not a good match for a strictly time boxed engagement and is
a Proof of Concept (POC) most likely not a good fit for Microsoft Planning Services. This
would typically best be managed by a follow on engagement. If
you decide to use Microsoft Planning Services to implement a POC
the goals and metrics for success should be clearly defined in the
SOW. It should also not involve third party tools or technology.
This should be scoped carefully and client expectations must be
managed accordingly. There is no guidance or content
whatsoever for performing a POC in Microsoft Planning Services.
Creation of a lab environment is definitely within deployment
planning scope and could possibly be managed by Microsoft
Planning Services. This depends on the complexity, the time
Customer is familiar with Office 365 and wants to create
allotted, and the goals of the lab. This should be scoped carefully
test lab and client expectations must be managed accordingly. There is no
guidance or content whatsoever for creating customized labs in
Microsoft Planning Services.
Customer wants to deploy Office 365, test migration , OUT OF SCOPE. Any work in production is not part of Microsoft
troubleshoot production issues, or any task involving Planning Services. Microsoft Planning Services is designed to be
followed by formal Office 365 engagements.
the PRODUCTION environment.
Table 17: Microsoft Planning Services Offerings Customization Examples
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C: Delivery Tips
Below are the subject matter expertise guidance around best practices and pitfalls to avoid from a
soft-skills perspective.
Presentation and operation
Utilize the recommended presentation module structure as the default:
The order and structure of the modules are designed to help you address customer
technology issues in a logical order. This should be what you present by default.
Nevertheless, you should be aware of each customer’s needs. While the structure is
significant, modules or topics within modules may need to be hidden or reduced to reflect
the customer interests and final agenda topics. If for example, a customer is a single server
organization with a single AD site you should not spend significant time describing clusters,
multi-site routing, etc. (unless the client expects to head in that direction)
Leverage the Microsoft Planning Services Engagement Summary Report template:
Document the customer environment in the template when you prepare for the
engagement. Follow the instructions in the hidden text in the document, and in the
presenter’s guidance in the PowerPoint presentations. Copy the appropriate information into
the template from the preflight questionnaire. Make notes in the template as you are
presenting or during breaks. Leverage your time to fill out the template throughout the
offering.
Emphasize discussions, whiteboard diagramming, and demos:
The slide decks have discussion slides to help you remember to break from slides and
engage the client. Microsoft Planning Services should be interactive. Customer feedback
has shown that the ability to speak freely with an Office 365 expert and ask questions is one
of the largest values of Microsoft Planning Services. Leverage whiteboards and
demonstrate functionality whenever possible.
Plan for presentation flexibility:
Don’t delete slides that you don’t plan to present. If you hide them and/or move them to the
appendix, you maintain the flexibility to address unplanned topics. Using the slide
navigation capabilities built into PowerPoint, you can jump dynamically to unplanned slides
and continue a dynamic conversation.
To do so, move your mouse pointer to the bottom left corner of the screen while in
presentation mode and select the third button from the left. Choose Go to Slide from the
menu and select the slide you want to navigate to. Each slide is represented with the title of
the slide. Note that hidden slides are indicated with the slide number in parenthesis.
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D: Microsoft Planning Services Provider Requirements
To qualify as a Microsoft Planning Services provider, partners must:
Be a member of the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN)
Be accredited to deliver Microsoft Planning Services engagements for one or more of the
existing Microsoft Planning Services disciplines:
Lync & Exchange Deployment Planning Services (L&EDPS)
SharePoint Deployment Planning Services (SDPS)
Desktop Deployment Planning Services (DDPS)
Have a Windows Live ID that is associated to the partner MPN organization
Partner Registration
Once you meet these requirements, you are ready to register as a Microsoft Planning Services
provider. To proceed directly to registration with your associated Windows Live ID, go to:
http://login.live.com/login.srf?wa=wsignin1.0&rpsnv=11&ct=1280185124&rver=4.0.1532.0&wp=LBI
&wreply=https:%2F%2Fiwsolve.partners.extranet.microsoft.com
Below is a quick video clip to walk you through registration:
PS Training Pt 1 - Provider Registration
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E: Microsoft Planning Services Vouchers and Time-Sensitive Deadlines
Key items to be aware of with regard to voucher expirations, and agreement end-dates
From the moment the customer’s SA Benefit administrator creates the voucher in VLSC until the
Partner is paid by the Regional Service Center (RSC) for a completed engagement, you should
remain vigilant and aware of the following items:
Voucher Lifespan:
The following is from the Microsoft Product List, which is the legally binding reference document
for Microsoft Volume Licensing, including Software Assurance Benefits:
Vouchers will expire 180 days from the date of voucher assignment, independent of Software
Assurance coverage expiration. All services must be delivered (voucher redeemed) prior to
voucher expiration. Vouchers that expire prior to Software Assurance coverage expiration will
return to the available Packaged Services pool of days.
Voucher Reservation:
If you do not reserve the voucher in the Voucher Validation and Reservation tool (VVR), any
certified partner, can reserve the voucher in their name. To ensure you do not lose the voucher
to another partner, please reserve the voucher as soon as you have a signed agreement or
commitment to work with a customer. You can always change the engagement start and end
dates when the voucher is redeemed.
Partner Payment Rates:
Partner Payment rates can change at any point in time and Partners will be paid per the rate set
at the time they conduct the engagement. Because of this, Microsoft recommends that you
deliver the engagement as soon as possible and also that you review the payment rates prior to
conducting the engagement. The payment rates are outlined in the Packaged Services Master
Agreement.
Voucher requirements during lifespan:
The following processes must be completed by the Partner within the 180-day voucher
lifespan:
Validate and reserve the voucher in VVR
This step also includes setting the engagement start and end dates. Start and end dates
can be revised later when redeemed if necessary.
Conduct the engagement
Redeem the voucher and upload the deliverables to receive payment
You need the voucher ID available during voucher redemption process
You will need the same Live ID you used during Partner registration
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Invoice Microsoft through the SAVB tool to receive payment
To be paid by Microsoft for the engagement, Partners must invoice Microsoft within 60
days of engagement completion, which is based on the Service End Date entered when
the voucher is redeemed.
You can contact psbhelp@winse.microsoft.com for support with payment procession.
Support and Key Contacts:
VVR access/issues – vlshelp@microsoft.com
Exceptions – Please contact you Partner Account Manager (PAM) to discuss your
issues. If appropriate the PAM will work with the customer’s Microsoft account team,
licensing specialists, and business groups to address your issues and concerns.
Packaged Services Program Support:
EDPS Help
DDPS Help
Microsoft Planning Services Help
SDPS Help
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