Do you have an existing Microsoft Software Assurance (SA) included in your Enterprise Agreement? Do you have SharePoint Deployment Planning Services (SDPS) included in your SA benefits? If you do, then read on so you can learn how to maximise your SA benefits. Even if you don’t, you can refer to this blog to weigh in on a Microsoft Software Assurance investment.
What is SDPS?
SharePoint Deployment Planning Services is a Software Assurance benefit of customers where a pre-defined set of consulting days are delivered by certified partners. This allows certified partners, like Professional Advantage to effectively plan a SharePoint or Project Online deployment or evaluate SharePoint Online through the Office 365 FastTrack Planning Services engagement.
It allows you to engage a partner for 1, 3, 5, 10 or 15 days depending on how many SharePoint licenses you purchased. Depending on the number of days available from your benefit, SDPS can span from the pre-engagement questionnaire, customer workshops, demo, a summary report, technical upgrade assessment, and initial functional assessment, down to Proof of Concept (POC) and POC Findings Report. This helps any organisation to get a better understanding of SharePoint or Project Online as a solution for their various business needs.
Are you eligible for SDPS?
You can check your eligibility on the Microsoft Volume License Services at https://licensing.microsoft.com/. Note that activating your SA Benefits requires administrator rights so best to ask around your company as to who is your Microsoft primary or benefits contact. Alternatively, you can also check if you have purchased any of the license programs below or visit the Software Assurance website for more information on eligibility:
- Open License
- Open Value/Subscription
- Select Plus with Software Assurance
- Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (MPSA)
- Enterprise Agreement/Subscription
Benefits of SDPS
Under SDPS, there are three engagements you can choose from—Office 365 FastTrack Planning, Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) Solution Planning or SharePoint Deployment Planning. You can use these benefits to:
- Get more value out of your Software Assurance investment. Use the services you’ve already paid for. Utilise your SA benefits to save on your deployment planning costs.
- Receive professional and quality services from a Microsoft Certified Partner. Partners who are certified to deliver SDPS have the expertise and real-world experience, and use the tools and best practices that you need to successfully implement SharePoint.
- Evaluate how SharePoint or Project Online can benefit your business. Understand how these platforms can help you transform your strategies for collaboration, content and document management as well as project management.
- Customise a deployment roadmap for your organisation. Get a comprehensive assessment of your infrastructure and receive a customised business plan, timelines and resources for your SharePoint or Project Online implementation, even POCs for longer SDPS engagements.
Don’t leave money on the table
Utilise your SDPS benefit to maximise your Microsoft Software Assurance investment and save on your SharePoint deployment planning costs.
Got questions or clarifications on SDPS? Leave your questions or comments below and we’ll respond to them as soon as we can.
