Guide to Earning a Competency

For Microsoft Partners

Overview of This Guide

This guide provides information about earning a Competency in the Microsoft Partner Program. y y y y y y y Overview of Microsoft Competencies View Competency Requirements Earn a Competency Competencies and Multi-Site Requirements Microsoft Certified Professionals Tested Products Customer References

Overview of Microsoft Competencies

In the Microsoft Partner Program, Microsoft Competencies are a recognized level of expertise within a given technical or business area. Microsoft Competencies make it easier for you to y y y y Differentiate your skills and expertise to customers. Extend your market reach.

Any partner is eligible to earn one (1) or more Microsoft Competencies based on technical depth and business expertise. Within certain Competencies, there may be specializations which y y y Focus on specific solution areas that recognize deeper expertise within that Competency. Serve as a specialized path to earning that Competency. Give direct access to the tools and resources that support your specific area of focus.

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lign your business with relevant Microsoft marketing initiatives.

Form closer relationships with other partners.

Guide to Earning a Competency

For Microsoft Partners

Benefits
In addition to the benefits available at your program level, earning a Competency provides additional benefits tailored for the specific Competency. Examples of these benefits include: y y y y y y y y Competency-specific logo Additional internal use software licenses Hands-on online labs ocal partner training

Online tutorials Marketing campaigns Microsoft Competency resource Web pages Priority listings in Microsoft partner directories

Each Competency is designed around a specific group of solutions that Microsoft partners deliver to customers. Each Competency has a unique set of requirements and provides additional benefits to partners who have enrolled. There are 16 Microsoft Competencies available today. Some Competencies have specializations and others do not.

Advanced Infrastructure Solutions

Business Intelligence

Custom Development Solutions Data Management Solutions

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Competencies

Specializations
y Active Directory y Systems Management y Business Intelligence Platform y Application Infrastructure Development y Storage Solutions y Windows Desktop Deployment y Performance Management y Smart Client Development y Web Development

Resources
For details, click here

For details, click here For details, click here For details, click here

Guide to Earning a Competency

For Microsoft Partners

Competencies
Hosting Solutions Information Worker Solutions

Specializations

Resources
For details, click here

y Data Visualization y Enterprise Content Management and Forms y Enterprise Project Management y Office Deployment

y Office Solutions Development y Portals and Collaboration y Search

For details, click here

ISV/Software Solutions Learning Solutions

y

For details, click here For details, click here icense Delivery
y Software Asset Management y Microsoft Dynamics NAV y Microsoft Dynamics Point of Sale y Microsoft Dynamics SL

Microsoft Business Solutions

y Microsoft Dynamics AX y Microsoft Dynamics CRM y Microsoft Dynamics C5 y Microsoft Dynamics GP

Mobility Solutions Networking Infrastructure Solutions OEM Hardware Solutions Security Solutions SOA and Business Process
y System Building y Infrastructure Security y Device Manufacturing y Identity and Secure Access

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Licensing Solutions

For details, click here For details, click here

For details, click here For details, click here For details, click here For details, click here For details,

Guide to Earning a Competency

For Microsoft Partners

Competencies

Specializations

Resources
click here

Unified Communications Solutions

y Instant Messaging and Presence

y Messaging y Voice

For details, click here

To determine which Microsoft Competencies are right for your business, view a description for each Competency or specialization on the Microsoft Partner Program website.

View Competency Requirements

Each Microsoft Competency or specialization has multiple requirements, which may include a combination of the following: y y y y Professional certifications specific to the Competency or specialization Customer references Tested products (for ISV Software Solutions and OEM Hardware Solutions only) Sales requirements (for Learning Solutions, OEM Hardware Solutions, and Advanced Infrastructure: Hosting Solutions Competencies)

If specializations exist within a specific Competency, you must earn that Competency by meeting the full requirements of at least one specialization. To view Competency requirements, please visit the Competency Overview section of the Partner website.

Earn a Competency
Gold Certified Partners and Certified Partners can earn a Microsoft Competency at any time throughout the program year. You can earn and be active in multiple Competencies. You earn Partner Points for the successful achievement of a Competency. If you are a Certified Partner or Gold Certified Partner, you will automatically be active in the Competency and receive your Competency benefits. Registered Members can qualify for a Competency at any time during the program year, but will not be active in the Competency (and therefore unable to receive Competency benefits) until you meet the program level requirements for a Certified

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Guide to Earning a Competency

For Microsoft Partners

or Gold Certified Partner. Registered Members who meet Competency requirements have a status of Qualified rather than Earned. Once you have completed and documented the requirements in the Partner Membership Center, the Partner Membership Center will automatically display achievement of the Competency.

View Progress Towards Earning Each Competency

Within the Partner Membership Center, you can view your progress towards earning each Competency by following the steps below. 1. From the Requirements and Assets menu, click Competency Summary. The Manage Competencies page at the Competency Summary tab is displayed. 2. In the Select Location area, click the down arrow and select a Location or the Organization. Then, click Select. The screen displays your progress towards meeting each available Competency for the Organization or the selected Location, indicating what you may be missing for each Competency and links to complete these requirements. 3. Click the corresponding link within the list to navigate to screens where you can: y y y Add the required Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCPs) Create a customer reference Add tested products

If a link is disabled, you do not have administrative rights for the Location.

How Long Is a Competency Valid?

A Competency is valid as long as long as the requirements for that competency are being met. For the vast majority of the Competencies or specializations, this will be two years from the date the Competency is earned. The exceptions are those specializations that require tested product certifications. When an asset used towards earning a competency expires (MCP disassociates, reference expires, or tested product expires, and so forth) the status of the Competency will change from Active Earned to Active Non Compliant. This status change is an indication that assets need to be updated in order to re-enroll in that competency before your next Anniversary Date.

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Guide to Earning a Competency

For Microsoft Partners

Competencies and Multi-Site Requirements

Note: This section refers to your Organization hierarchy. An Organization has a Headquarters Location and can have additional Locations worldwide. See the online Membership Center Help for details on the multi-site feature of the Microsoft Partner Program. Your Organization may earn Competencies at the Location level or at the Organization level. A Location that earns a Competency outright (for example, relevant professional certifications or MCP IDs are linked to this Location and customer references are submitted from or assigned to this Location) is listed in the Partner Membership Center (and all Microsoft partner directories) as having Earned the Competency. The Certified or Gold Certified Partner Organization to which the Location belongs will receive a Competency Toolkit delivered as part of the Organization's monthly toolkit. Locations that meet the requirements outright and wish to receive these benefits directly are eligible to purchase additional toolkits and receive the Competency toolkit as part of the delivery. The contents of additional toolkits vary based on the type of toolkit and your program level. There are additional program toolkits for both Certified and Gold Certified Partner program levels. For more information on toolkits, see the Microsoft Partner Program Guide.

Competency Earned at the Organization Level

Requirements for joining a Microsoft Competency (such as MCPs, tested products, and customer references) are referred to as assets. Assets are associated to the Location that earns them. If there are enough assets across Locations to meet the requirements for a Competency, the assets roll-up and the Organization earns the specific Competency. The earned Competency is then inherited across all of the Locations for that Organization. The Competency status at each Location would be Active Inherited. All Locations share the Competency benefits that are provided to the Organization.

Competency Earned at the Location Level

If a single Location has all the necessary assets to fulfill the requirements of a particular Competency, then that Location earns the Competency and has the status Active Earned for that Competency at that Location. These earned assets still roll-up to the Organization level and all the remaining Locations in this same Organization have the status Active Inherited.

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Guide to Earning a Competency

For Microsoft Partners

Exception for the Learning Solutions Competency

For Learning Solutions Partners, each Location must earn the Learning Solutions Competency outrightit cannot be inherited across the Organization. Learning Solutions Partners wishing to purchase an Additional Toolkit, must meet the requirements for purchase. To purchase an additional program toolkit, a location must satisfy one of the following three scenarios: y y y Two associated MCPs, three approved customer references, and one associated tested product Two associated MCPs and three customer references One associated tested product

Microsoft Certified Professionals

Associating Microsoft Certified Professionals to your Organization and Locations fulfills requirements for Competencies. A Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) is an individual who has successfully completed at least one Microsoft professional certification. All certifications held by an individual are tracked using a number known as an MCP ID. Within the Microsoft Partner Program, an individual must first associate to a Location, and then link their MCP ID to that Location. While an individual can be associated to multiple Locations or Organizations an MCP ID can only be linked to one Location within one Organization. Within the Partner Membership Center, Administrators can y y y Invite new MCPs to associate their credentials to a Location within their Organization. Reassign MCPs to a different Location within the Organization. View all MCPs assigned to a Location.

See the online Partner Membership Center Help for more information and instructions on performing these tasks.

Tested Products
Tested products can fulfill the requirements for up to two Competencies:

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Guide to Earning a Competency

For Microsoft Partners

y y

ISV All software tested products contribute to the ISV Competency requirements. OEM All hardware products contribute to OEM Competency requirements.

You can associate a tested product to any of the Locations in your Organization. Products are associated at the Location level. Tested products are identified with a unique product ID and a unique product name. y y y y y y Products associated to different Locations in an Organization earn Partner points for the Organization. The same product ID may count towards the product requirements for one or more Competencies. The same product ID can be associated to multiple Locations within the same Organization. The same product ID may be associated with multiple Organizations. Multiple tested products can be associated to the same Location. Partner Points will be earned at the Organization level for tested products. If more than one product is associated with the Locations in an Organization, only the highest points-earning product contributes to the Organizations Partner Points. The organization can earn 70 points for the tested products, but only one tested product (with the highest Partner Points) will contribute to the Partner Points.

Tested products can be hardware or software. The definition of a Packaged Software Solution/Eligible Hardware product follows: y A packaged software solution that has been tested by Microsoft or its authorized testing vendor (for example, Microsoft Platform Test for ISV Solutions or Certified for Windows Server 2003). For information on software testing and certification, click here. An eligible hardware product has successfully completed the Designed for Windows logo hardware test. For information on the Designed for Windows logo hardware test specification, click here.

If the Product Certification for the tested product expires before the anniversary date of the Organization, the status of your Competency will change from Active Earned to Active Non Compliant. In order to re-enroll in the next program year with that competency you must add a new tested product. To learn more about how products earn Partner Points including expiration dates, please see the Microsoft Partner Program Guide.

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Guide to Earning a Competency

For Microsoft Partners

Within the Membership Center, Administrators can y y y y View tested products. Add new tested products. Select the Locations for a tested product. Remove or disassociate a tested product from all the Locations in an Organization.

See the online Membership Center Help for more information and instructions to accomplish these tasks.

Customer References
Approved customer references are also a requirement for earning a Microsoft Competency. While a reference may be applicable to more than one Competency and specialization, it may only be assigned to fulfill a requirement for one Competency or specialization. References can be re-assigned to different Locations and Competencies or specializations. You are able to submit as many customer references as desired. You may submit more than one reference for the same customer, but it must be for different projects. For requirements for customer references, see the Microsoft Partner Program Guide. In Japan, partners submit a Memorandum of Understanding. From the Requirements and Assets menu, click Create Customer Reference to view additional instructions on creating and submitting a Memorandum of Understanding.

Process for Creating a Reference

1. Within the Membership Center, you create a Customer Reference to submit to the customer for approval. When creating the reference, you provide the following information: y y General customer contact and Organization information Project information

You also specify the Competencies or specializations for which you think the project is applicable.

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Guide to Earning a Competency

For Microsoft Partners

See the Guide to Managing Customer References for the requirements to create a customer reference. 2. When you have completed creating a reference, an e-mail is sent to the customer requesting their approval of the reference. You can preview the email before it is sent to the customer. Note: If your customer has a free or public e-mail domain, or the microsoft.com e-mail domain, Microsoft's Regional Support Centers will handle the approval process manually. 3. The customer receives the e-mail notification requesting their approval of the reference. There is a link within the customer e-mail to a Reference Approval Page within the Membership Center for this particular reference. By clicking this link, the customer views the reference and can either approve or reject it. 4. The customer's response is sent to your Organization's Primary Program Contact, or the person who submitted the reference if that person is an Administrator, alerting them that the reference has been approved or rejected. If the customer rejects a reference, you cannot override the decision. If the customer reference is verified, you gain Partner Points. You may assign the Reference to one of the Competencies you previously specified in the Customer Reference Profile.

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