Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE) Program Guide

Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE)

The Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE) is an enrollment under the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement that allows highly
committed customers to standardize broadly on one or more of the four server and cloud technologies from Microsoft. In exchange for making an installed base-wide commitment to an SCE component, you receive a range of benefits, including new cloud-optimized licensing options, simplified license management, and the best pricing and terms.

Cloud-enabled
SCE offers application License Mobility to the cloud and new benefits for using System Center to manage Azure resources. SCE also includes a subscription option that offers more flexibility when retiring workloads, consolidating, or migrating to the cloud.

Standardized and simplified
SCE replaces Enrollment for Core Infrastructure (ECI) and the Enterprise Application Enrollment (EAP) with a single enrollment spanning the Microsoft server and cloud technologies. This allows you to take advantage of simplified licensing through a standardized set of products and services to gain access to the latest technologies and benefits for all deployments.

Cost savings and benefits

SCE offers great pricing and benefits for server and cloud products, including discounts on new licenses, Software Assurance.
Customers with high purchasing volume may also qualify for premium benefits, including unlimited problem resolution support.
• 15% discount off of a license with Software Assurance products.
• 5% off Software Assurance products.
• A subscription option is available alongside perpetual licenses, giving you more flexibility when you need to retire
workloads, consolidate, or migrate to the cloud.
• If you commit to the Core Infrastructure Suite (CIS), you will receive incremental rights to use System Center to manage
Azure virtual machines and resources at no additional cost.
• Microsoft Premier Services customers may also qualify for unlimited problem resolution support for SQL Server, Windows Server and System Center, BizTalk Server, and SharePoint Server.
• All the benefits of Software Assurance, including access to License Mobility for many applications, which allows for even more seamless migrations to the cloud.

How the Server and Cloud Enrollment works

To enroll, an installed base-wide commitment, or monetary commitment in the case of Azure, is required to one or more of the following four SCE components:
• Core Infrastructure
• Application Platform
• Developer Platform
• Microsoft Azure
The following are also required:
• Enterprise Agreement: although you need to sign an Enterprise Agreement, an Enterprise Enrollment for Desktop is not needed to qualify.
• Annuity coverage: 100% Software Assurance or Subscription coverage is required on your installed base for each product family that you commit to, including those licenses that were not covered by Software Assurance when you entered the program.
With SCE, the following occurs:
• For licenses with continuous Software Assurance coverage, Software Assurance can be renewed at a discounted rate upon entering the program.
• For licenses that did not have Software Assurance, you can subscribe to the most current version of the product or
repurchase the license and add Software Assurance.
• For incremental licenses purchased during the agreement term, you receive additional price savings on licenses with
Software Assurance products.

Available software and cloud services

Through the SCE, you can purchase groups of products and receive additional savings, or you can order software licenses and cloud services separately.
You will also see a distinction made between enterprise products that are available with an installed base-wide purchase commitment and additional products and enterprise cloud services that usually do not require such a commitment.

The following products are available:

Core Infrastructure
• CIS Datacenter
• CIS Standard
• CIS Datacenter w/o Windows Server*
• CIS Datacenter w/o System Center*
• CIS Standard w/o Windows Server*
• CIS Standard w/o System Center*
All licensed Windows Server deployments must be covered with one of the above SKUs.
*These SKUs are used for component licenses with continuous Software Assurance

Minimum order requirement
You will need to purchase a minimum of 400 Core Licenses or more of one or a combination of CIS Suites Standard or
Datacenter.

Application Platform
SQL Server Product Family
• SQL Server CAL
• SQL Server Enterprise per core
• SQL Server Standard per core
• SQL Server Standard Server

BizTalk Server Product Family
• BizTalk Server Enterprise per core
• BizTalk Server Standard per core
• BizTalk Server Branch per core

SharePoint Server Product Family
• SharePoint Server

Minimum order requirement
You will need to purchase, at a minimum, the quantity of SQL per-core licenses needed for 50 cores or licenses for five SQL Server editions with 250 CALs.
If you would like to license BizTalk through an SCE, you will additionally need to purchase a minimum of 24 cores of BizTalk, any edition.
If you would like to license SharePoint through an SCE, you will additionally need to purchase a minimum of five servers of SharePoint Server.
The SQL Server product family must be selected to enable the purchase of any other Application Platform product family.

Developer Platform
• Visual Studio Enterprise with MSDN
• Visual Studio Test Professional with MSDN
• Visual Studio Team Foundation Server CAL with MSDN
• MSDN Platforms
Minimum order requirement:
You will need to purchase a minimum of at least 20 licenses of any combination of Visual Studio Enterprise and MSDN
Platforms. A license is required for each user of any software licensed through MSDN subscription.

Microsoft Azure
• All Microsoft Azure cloud services
Minimum order requirement
If you are purchasing Core Infrastructure, Application Platform or Developer Platform products under your Server and Cloud Enrollment, the minimum monetary commitment for Microsoft Azure is one Monetary Commitment unit per month, or Azure can be used on a pay-go basis. Otherwise, the minimum monetary commitment for Microsoft Azure is 10 Monetary Commitment units per month.

Additional Products
All products on the Enterprise Agreement additional products list can be added as additional products, except for products that require an installed base-wide commitment as SCE components.
The following are available as additional products:
• Visual Studio Pro
• SQL Server Enterprise Edition Server (non-core) Software Assurance only
• System Center Datacenter and Standard Edition (for managing non-Windows Server deployments)
These products may be added initially or at any point during the term of your SCE, allowing you to set up and maintain
departments or divisions with specific needs more easily and still enjoy volume pricing advantages and an annualized payment option. Additional products may include device-based licenses, user-based licenses, cloud services, professional services, and other licenses that support your IT environment, such as CALs. (For more detailed information about CALs and their use in Enterprise IT environments see Appendix C: Client Access Suites.) Subscription is not available for any on-premises additional product.

Software Assurance
Microsoft Software Assurance offers you all day, every day support, deployment planning services, training, and the latest software releases and unique technologies, all through one program. You can improve user productivity with online training and home use licenses to help enhance skills and accelerate familiarity with Microsoft software and services. To help your IT staff efficiently implement and manage Microsoft products and services, Software Assurance provides technical training and access to new software releases when they become available. In addition, Software Assurance supports a greater variety of cloud and hybrid deployment options with extended license rights that let you deploy existing server application licenses in shared datacenters. (See Appendix A for a descriptive listing of Software Assurance benefits.)

Unlimited Problem Resolution Support
Unlimited problem resolution support, a benefit only found in the SCE, allows you to receive an unlimited number of premier reactive phone services support hours for the Core Infrastructure and Application Platform components purchased through the SCE. To qualify, you need to spend at least $250,000 USD on Software Assurance each year for each component you for which you opt in, and you must have an active Premier Services Agreement.
If you opt into the agreement, you lose the ability to convert incidents (earned through Software Assurance on SCE products) to premier hours for qualifying products.

How to enroll in the Server and Cloud Enrollment

To enroll in the Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE), you will need to identify your installed base for the SCE components that you wish to purchase. You will need to identify:
• All existing licenses deployed with continuous Software Assurance across all your existing licensing agreements and
enrollments.
• All licenses deployed (in use) without continuous Software Assurance.
• Any licenses you would like to add at the signing of your SCE.
Next, you will need to make sure you have full Software Assurance coverage on all these licenses. Licenses with Software Assurance simply renew as Software Assurance only in the Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE).
For deployments that are currently licensed without Software Assurance, you have two options:
• You can add subscription SKUs to license these workloads.
• You can add new License with Software Assurance SKUs at signing for these workloads.

If you are enrolling in the Core Infrastructure Component, you will need to make sure that all your Windows Server
deployments are also licensed with System Center through a CIS SKU. You can do this with subscription licenses or by adding a new License with Software Assurance. In scenarios where you have current Software Assurance on either Windows Server or System Center, but not both, you can purchase the “CIS without” SKUs, which include Software Assurance for both products, but only a license for the product you do not own.

Subscription in the Server and Cloud Enrollment SCE
Subscription provides you with flexibility both in meeting the coverage requirements of an SCE and when deploying new licenses. You can purchase subscriptions to cover licenses without continuous Software Assurance at signing or for new deployments
Subscription provides flexibility through:
• Lower upfront costs when signing an SCE.
• More purchasing options for new units.
• Ability to reduce licenses annually when retiring workloads, consolidating, or migrating to the cloud.

Subscriptions require a minimum commitment of 12 months. However, should you not wish to renew or prefer to purchase a license, buyout pricing will be set at year three True-Up pricing. Subscription SKUs can be purchased through Monthly Subscription Units (MSUs) and can be included with perpetual licenses in the same SCE.

Azure in SCE
You can purchase Azure in one of two ways in the SCE:
• Azure is automatically available when enrolling in any of the other three SCE components (such as Core Infrastructure,
Application Platform, and/or Developer Platform). You will receive an activation email from Microsoft inviting you to
provision Azure Services without the need to purchase Monetary Commitment.
• Azure Monetary Commitment can be purchased without enrolling in any of the other three SCE components.

If you are heavily committed to deploying server technologies on-premises, making an installed base-wide SCE commitment to Windows Server and System Center, SQL Server, or Developer Tools allows you to standardize on or more of these technologies without any upfront commitment to Azure. However, once you are ready to move some of your workloads to the cloud, you will be able to start using Azure immediately and get billed quarterly only for what you use.
You also have the option of signing an Azure-only SCE—this means that you purchase Azure only without a commitment to any of the other three SCE components. The minimum monetary commitment for Microsoft Azure is 10 Monetary Commitment units per month. You will need to sign a three-year contract, but you do have the ability to increase or decrease your commitment annually.
Customers purchasing Microsoft Azure through their SCE will be eligible to continuing using Azure on a pay-go basis after their enrollment expires.

Cloud Management benefit
If you enroll in the core infrastructure component, you can use System Center to manage Azure Virtual Operating System Environments (VOSEs) without needing to acquire an additional license. You can, of course, use license mobility to move existing qualifying licenses to the cloud when moving workloads to Azure, but this benefit will also allow you to manage new deployments as well, without buying additional licenses.
Eligible Azure VOSEs instances include:
• Windows virtual machine instances
• Cloud service instances (web and worker role)
• Storage accounts
• SQL databases
• Website instances

Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE) program details

Volume Licensing pricing principles
The annual price-per-license budgeting feature of the SCE is predictable, so you can forecast software technology costs up to three years in advance. A payment (based on your initial order) is due each year on the anniversary of your SCE. Should you add additional software licenses or subscriptions during your agreement, the per-license costs remain the same or may be lower given the program’s volume pricing levels.

Volume pricing
At the onset of your Enrollment, pricing is based on a tiered volume discount structure, meaning the greater the size of your purchase commitment the less you will pay for an individual license.

Spread payments
Payments for products and services purchased at signing may be spread over three annual payments mapping to your yearly agreement anniversary. This is a benefit of the EA’s Software Assurance coverage and is offered as an optional payment term with no cost-of-money fees.

Microsoft Financing
Microsoft Financing helps you expand your IT purchasing power and improve cash flow with easy, flexible, and affordable payment plans. You can apply Microsoft Financing to all EA purchases and match payments to align with your business requirements.
With Microsoft Financing, you can craft a customized payment plan to meet your needs by selecting from a range of flexible payment options, including:
• Monthly, quarterly, or semi-annual spread payments: avoid a large upfront investment by spreading low, equal, and
predictable payments over 12 to 60 months.
• Deferred payments: defer making your first payment for up to six months, allowing you to begin deploying and benefitting from your IT investments immediately, and then pay when your budget becomes available.
• Ramped payments: manage cash flow more strategically by matching payments to staged technology deployment, paying less initially and more in the later stages of the roll-out, and ramping down legacy technology at the same time.

Microsoft Financing offers the ability to:
• Make software purchases through a payment structure that aligns to your budget, cash flow, or deployment schedule.
• Add new products, upgrades, or consulting services to an existing agreement outside of normal budget cycles, at any time.
• Apply total solution financing for complete software, services, and hardware solutions including non-Microsoft products.

Agreement anniversary: annual reconciliation
Over the life of your SCE, you can deploy additional software and online services and then account for these changes through an annual reconciliation process known as True-Up.
Once a year, you are asked to reconcile your SCE licenses, subscriptions, and services to account for anything that has been added in the previous 12 months. This effort culminates in an order you place (or an Update Statement you submit) that reconciles all the software licenses, subscriptions, or online services added or used by your organization over the course of the year. Your annual reconciliation order (or Update Statement) is due 60-30 days prior to your Enrollment anniversary, which helps Microsoft make sure you’re taking advantage of allowable license transitions or license reductions before issuing your annual invoice. (See the Enterprise Agreement True-up Guide for more information.)

Renewing other enrollments into the Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE)

The SCE has replaced the Enrollment for Core Infrastructure (ECI), the Enrollment for Application Platform (EAP) and the
Enrollment for Microsoft Azure (EWA). It is important to carefully evaluate whether the SCE is a good fit for your needs when one of these three agreements expires.

Renewal considerations if you have an EAP
If you have an expiring EAP, you can continue your installed base-wide commitment to SQL Server, Visual Studio, BizTalk Server, and SharePoint Server in the SCE. You will see some small pricing changes as a result of standardized and simplified discounts.
Among these changes are a new 5% discount on Software Assurance and a full 15% discount on the complete License with Software Assurance SKUs for key components. This discount is standardized across all product editions and is consistent with the discounts that are available in the Enterprise Enrollment.
Note: the “Deferred License” approach through the Software Assurance Prior L SKU that was available in the EAP is replaced in the SCE with a more flexible subscription option.

Renewal considerations if you have an ECI
These changes do not impact an ECI customer during the term of the Enrollment. With an installed base-wide commitment to the Core Infrastructure Suites (CIS) through SCE, ECI customers will retain access to the best pricing, new subscription options, new Microsoft Azure benefits, and access to the latest technologies. New benefits like System Center Azure management rights and the ability to qualify for unlimited support are also included. SCE provides a 15% discount on License with Software Assurance and 5% on Software Assurance for Core Infrastructure Suite (CIS) Standard and Datacenter (SE and DC). These discounts are in addition to the discounts already provided for CIS SKUs in non-SCE programs.
If you only want to partially cover your environments with CIS, you can very easily do so through other volume licensing programs, with no dedicated contracts or unit minimums. Existing ECIs can be renewed into the CIS SKU in other programs, such as Select Plus* or Additional Products in the EA Enterprise Enrollment.

Managing your Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE)

Committing to one or more components in an SCE
To enroll in an SCE, you will sign a Master Agreement (MBSA) and an Enterprise Agreement in addition to the SCE. SCE can cover one or more components under the EA. If you want to make an installed base commitment to more than one component, this can be accommodated within one SCE contract. You will be able to commit to additional components throughout the term of your SCE.

Once you have made an installed base-wide commitment to a given component, you get all the benefits that go along with that component. If an additional commitment is made to an alternate component, then you will also realize the incremental benefits for that set of products. There is no cumulative benefit of adding multiple components, other than the simplicity of standardizing your Server and Cloud licensing in a single vehicle.

Adding products and cloud services
Throughout your SCE term, you may adjust your Microsoft software and cloud services licenses in two ways:
• If you need to add more licenses for products already enrolled for in the SCE, these changes are reported at your next
agreement anniversary through an annual reconciliation process known as True-up.
• If you want new products or cloud services, you can order these through your Microsoft Reseller at any time during your agreement.

Software Asset Management
Software Asset Management (SAM) is an industry best practice that helps you control costs and optimize software investments across your organization. Administered through an ongoing plan, SAM makes it easier to identify what you have, where it’s running, and whether redundancy may exist. Microsoft offers several resources that you may use to establish or improve your SAM practices.
The Microsoft SAM site provides a SAM optimization kit, links to several SAM self-service tools to assist with deployment discovery, and a list of Microsoft-certified SAM Partners you can contact directly, should you wish to have experts help you devise and implement a SAM plan. (See Microsoft Software Asset Management for more details.)
Tracking CALs The Microsoft Assessment Planning (MAP) Toolkit features an IT-based Software Usage Tracker functionality that provides usage reports for the following server products: Windows Server, Exchange Server, SQL Server, SharePoint Server, and System Center Configuration Manager.
This automated software asset management-related functionality is designed to be used by Microsoft Volume Licensing customers. The Software Usage Tracker provides you with a view of your actual server usage, which can be valuable for comparing with your purchased CALs, or for True-up and agreement renewal discussions. (Learn more about CALs in Appendix C: Client Access License Suites. Learn more about MAP Toolkit.)

Product fulfillment VLSC
The Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) is the primary location for Volume Licensing customers to view licensing
information, download Microsoft software, and manage Volume Licensing benefits and subscriptions.
The VLSC licensing dashboard includes a notification area for site alerts, a Volume Licensing news and announcements section, and links to key tasks. VLSC helps you manage your SCE purchases with:
• Licensing information composed of the Licensing Summary and the Relationship Summary.
• Licensing Summary: you can use VLSC to view current and past Microsoft License Statements across programs and
agreements.
• Relationship Summary: VLSC includes a report that shows all Volume Licensing agreements associated to a user’s
profile. You can also view further details about offerings, contacts, licenses, and purchase orders. The Relationship
Summary provides a consolidated summary of all Volume Licensing IDs associated with the user’s Windows Live ID
when accessing VLSC.
• Downloads: accelerated download speeds and a simple, secure user interface make it easier and safer for you to use VLSC to find the right product, based on your licensing entitlements.
• Product Keys: VLSC makes it easier for you to request product keys for the Windows operating system, allows retrieval of volume license keys for all Microsoft licensed products, and provides access to technical support.
• Software Assurance Benefits Summary: you can view the Software Assurance benefits available across all agreements
associated to a user’s profile. The Software Assurance Benefits Summary includes the total eligible quantity of benefits
across all agreements, benefits that have not yet been used, and benefits that have not yet been activated.
• Online Services: access details about Microsoft Online Services subscriptions and how to manage them.
• Subscriptions: access details and management tools for Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) and TechNet subscriptions.
• Help: access information about the VLSC site, an FAQ, and contact details for the Support Center.

Managing cloud services
While management processes may be modified to accommodate future cloud service offerings, you currently have two main ways to manage Microsoft cloud services:
• Use the Microsoft Azure Enterprise Portal to manage your accounts, configure rules and settings for various Azure services, and generate reports.
• Use Microsoft System Center to manage both public and private Microsoft cloud implementations. System Center’s
comprehensive management capabilities allow it to monitor and manage your entire IT infrastructure stack from
traditional physical servers to virtualized servers, virtual machines, running workloads, and all the way up to service-based cloud components.

Using Software Assurance
Whether you want to download the latest Windows Enterprise Edition software, get all day, every day Problem Resolution Support, or give employees access to Office training, you will need to claim your benefits through the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC).
Once you are signed into VLSC, you will follow different steps depending on the specific benefit you want to use. Instructions for claiming and using each benefit are posted on the Software Assurance website. (See the Software Assurance website for more details.)

Getting Premier Support
Premier Support provides annually allocated support through the term of your enrollment. There is no concept of a True-up for Premier Support but rather additional hours are purchased, as needed, to supplement your particular level of service. Using Premier Support is a matter of contacting your assigned Microsoft Services Representatives.

Getting Enterprise Strategy services
The Enterprise Strategy Program (ESP) provides access to an annually allocated Enterprise Architect and other services
throughout the term of your EA, as described in the Microsoft Product Terms. There are three different service offering
(Connect, Foundation, and Portfolio) but no concept of a True-up for ESP. Instead, additional capacity may be purchased through a Capacity Add-On option.

Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE) – Resources

Online management tools and information
Designated members of your organization gain access to the following online tools to use and manage aspects of your SCE.
• Volume Licensing Service Center (https://www.microsoft.com/Licensing/servicecenter/default.aspx). Use the Volume
Licensing Service Center to download licensed products, access product keys, and manage your Volume Licensing
agreements and license acquisition activity, all in one online location.
• Software Assurance Benefits (www.microsoft.com/softwareassurance). Most benefits can be accessed through the
Volume Licensing Service Center. The Software Assurance website provides everything you need to know to get started.
Note: when you subscribe to Microsoft cloud services, you gain access to online administration and monitoring tools. See Managing Cloud Services on previous page.

Buying, renewing, or adding to the SCE
To buy, renew, or add products and services to your SCE, contact your Microsoft Authorized Enterprise Software Advisor (ESA)
or Microsoft Authorized Large Account Reseller (LAR).
• In the United States, call (800) 426-9400, or find an authorized reseller.
• In Canada, call the Microsoft Resource Centre at (877) 568-2495.

Academic, government, and charitable organizations
If you are affiliated with an academic, government, or charitable organization, there are additional Volume Licensing programs available to you, which may include additional partner and pricing advantages. Visit Microsoft Volume Licensing for more information.

Worldwide
For information about Volume Licensing offerings available in your area, find the Microsoft Volume Licensing website for your country/region.

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