Upgrading to silver or gold membership

[netnamsgn]

Hi,

I am now have a Microsoft Action Pack Subscription.

I want to upgrade to silver or gold membership. But it need some competencies

What are the terms which I need to qualify for?

And what is difference about benefits from MAPs and higher membership levels?

Please give me some advice.

Thanks so much in advance!

[Fawad123]

I want to know if i have silver membership, and so how am i going to upgrade to Gold membership.
1- Steps.
2- Cost.

[v-jillarmour]

@Fawad123 

I received some guidance from our internal team and this is what was shared:

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If they are currently a Silver member they can continue to renew this legacy benefit. With the changes to the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program, partners are only able to renew existing Silver and Gold benefits, not upgrade.

If they have not done so already, they can get Action Pack

Microsoft Action Pack

If they are an ISV, the ISV Success Program may be of interest

ISV Success Program Overview | Microsoft

Depending on their maturity and size, they may be able to get a Solutions Partner designation.

Solutions Partner designations (microsoft.com)

You can also find some more information on this string: https://www.microsoftpartnercommunity.com/t5/Partner-Membership-Discussions/Action-Pack-amp-Silver-Partnership-Hard-to-navigate-changes/m-p/83157#M2359

I hope you find this helpful! -jill 🌟

[v-jillarmour]

@TafaraPulse would you have any insight on this? Thank you in advance!! 

[Fawad123]

@TafaraPulse  an urgent reply would be very helpful !!

[JanoschUlmer]

@Fawad123 : This is not possible anymore to my knowledge since the Silver/Gold competency are deprecated since Oct. 3, 20222. You can currently only continue to use the legacy benefits on the same level you had until now, any upgrade would mean you become a solution Partner in any of the 6 designation areas:_ Introduction to the Solutions Partner program - Partner Center | Microsoft Learn

[Willem_Vb]

Hi, I have an additional question: I just renewed our Gold Membership but do I also need to renew the silver one or is it not usefull to renew both? In other words, is there an overlap or complimentary part between Gold and Silver?

[v-jillarmour]

@JanoschUlmer may know a bit about this.

@Willem_Vb  I also wanted to make sure you were aware of the upcoming changes to the Partner Program in October: https://partner.microsoft.com/en-us/membership/solutions-partner

[WDiamond]

We currently have an Action Pack and now qualify for Silver Membership.  Please confirm that I will no longer need the Action Pack and can let it expire.

[PerWerngren]

Please take a look here: https://www.google.se/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi7ooSY0t_uAhVnkIsKHSUuBpYQFjABegQIAhAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fassetsprod.microsoft.com%2Fmpn-maps-software-iur-competency-license-table.docx&usg=AOvVaw1LTLyXbBhx1z6fEAyFlPsr

This will help you see what you get as a Silver Competency partner. You will most likely not need Action Pack but there are some things that doesn't overlap so please take a look. A popular reason for keeping Action Pack is that you get Azure Credits.

Regards, Per

[WDiamond]

Thanks for the quick response!  We are not currently using the Azure credits from the Action Pack, but maybe we should.  We have an Azure SQL server and an IIS Server in use today.  Can we apply the credits towards that?

The Silver Membership appears to also have $100/month Azure credits, does that stack with the Action pack and increase us to $200 per month?

[PerWerngren]

This is an interesting question and I am almost 100% sure that it works in your favor so that you get double. Because you already got the Action Pack, I suggest that you try for a month an monitor if it works.

[PerWerngren]

Going for Gold is a great thing! 

Here you'll find the requirements: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/partner-center/learn-about-competencies

And here are the benefits: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/partner-center/manage-your-partner-network-benefits

As you can see you will get a lot more than what you get in MAPS. Personally, I think that one of better benefits is that you will be able to show customers that your firm has great knowledge and that will hopefully help you win deals!

Regard, Per

[TKatthoefer]

Hej, 

we're currently only ActionPack-Member, but we have enough competences to switch to gold state. The benefits of the silver partnership are absolutly suffice to us, but maybe, we would decide later to switch from silver to gold.

Question: If we switch from silver to gold two month later, will we be forced to pay the complete gold partner fee without any refund of the silver partner (or action pack) fee? 

[Mihai]

Hi Torsten, 

Thank you very much for getting in touch with us on Microsoft Partner Community!

Different from PMC, there’s no upgrade rate in Partner Center. If you purchased Silver membership ande become eligible for Gold competency, you are able to purchase Gold membership. You can go ahead to pay the Gold competency fee rather than an upgrade rate. However, we can provide a refund of the initial purchased fee if you meet the conditions to be refunded. 

Thank you!

Mihai

[AhmedMahmoud]

Hi Mihai

I am facing the same issue now, a month a go eaxlty on 2 Aug I paid for Silver Partnership level and last day we quilifed for Gold one but I can upgrade unless I pay the full fees of Gold Membership although I just pay the Seliver one few weeks ago, what I understand from Microsoft team locally here that the upgrade is free but it seems that this only on the Old membership portal so what is the required action, for Sure it's not fair to pay both Seliver and Gold fees in 1 month so how can we get out from this problem 

Company Name : Micro Cloud Technology 

MPN ID : 5444343

Regards, 

Ahmed 

[kamal]

We renewed ( Paid) our Silver membership ( 3 competencies) on 16th Aug 2019. On 18th Sept we have fullifilled requirements for  Gold membership ( for One of Competency ). When we try to subscribe we are presented with full Gold membership fee.

I have read earlier somewhere when a silver member qualifies for Gold there is no fee involved for that year, however I cant find it now. But I found following FAQ:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2932656/software-and-online-services-frequently-asked-questions

Q: When my organization upgrades from a silver competency to a gold competency, how are my partner benefits affected?

A: When you attain a gold competency for the first time during the membership year, you are upgraded (following payment of required program fees) to receive gold core benefits and gold competency-specific benefits for the upgraded competency. If you attain a gold competency after first attaining a silver competency, then you pay only the difference between the two membership fees, unless you are within the 90-day membership renewal period, in which case the full gold membership fee is due.

As per reply above how we can claim refund for silver if we pay for Gold.

[Mihai]

Hi @kamal, 

Thank you very much for getting in touch with us on Microsoft Partner Community!

If you are eligible for refund, you can contact Frontline for help.

Please follow this link.

Thank you!

Mihai

[Mihai]

Hi Ahmed,

If you wish to discuss refund options for an MPN benefit (Action Pack, Silver level or Gold level) you have purchased then please be aware that your request must match the following criteria to be eligible for a refund

• The purchase was made within the last 30 days
• All benefits must not be activated/used and the keys must not be viewed (even if they are not activated); otherwhise the request will be denied. (I checked your MPN account and I see you have already consumed one of your benefits)
• Tax refund for tax exempt partners

For future reference, please find the link to the artice stating what I have mentioned above.

I hope everything is clear now and thank you very much!

Mihai

[PerWerngren]

Great reply from Mihai to Torsten!

In my mind, if you qualify for Gold - you should enroll for it! This is a no-brainer for me as the value is significant! There are many soft values and one soft value, often forgotten, is that Gold will make your staff proud!

Regards, Per