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Solution Partner Designation qualification criteria

Appropriate roles: Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program partner admin | Executive report viewer (Organizational level)

Overview

Solutions Partner designations are aligned to Microsoft solution areas and include incremental benefits so you can stand out from the competition and increase your customer reach. There are six Solutions partner designations available for partners. Each of these designations aligns to a specific solution area offered by Microsoft.

The Solutions Partner page in the Insights workspace shows you details regarding your partner capability score (PCS) in the respective solution areas. The table below summarizes the qualification criteria for each of the Solution areas.

Acronyms and abbreviations used in this article

Acronyms and abbreviations used in this article are listed in this table:

Expanded acronyms and abbreviations Listed
alphabetically
Artificial Intelligence (AI) AI
Azure Consumed Revenue (ACR) ACR
Business Intelligence (BI) BI
Customer Engagement (CE) CE
Claimed Partner of Record (CPOR) CPOR
Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) CSP
Developer Operations (DevOps) DevOps
Digital Partner of Record (DPOR) DPOR
Exchange Online (EXO) EXO
Finance and Operations (F&O) F&O
Human Resources (HR) HR
Internet of Things (IoT) IoT
Online Service Advisory (OSA) OSA
Online Services Usage (OSU) OSU
Partner Admin Link (PAL) PAL
Partner Capability Score (PCS) PCS
Revenue Recognition (RevRec) RevRec
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) RPA
Systems Applications and Products (SAP) SAP
SharePoint Online (SPO) SPO

Solution area - all Azure areas

(Data and AI, Digital and App Innovation, Infrastructure)

Tip

If you encounter any acronyms or abbreviations with which you are unfamiliar, see the table Acronyms and abbreviations used in this article.

Metric Criteria
Net Customer Adds Workloads:
  • All Azure services
Partner association types:
  • CSP
  • DPOR
  • PAL
Net count of Tenants having $1,000 considering any of last two months and the same time of last year.
Deployments Workloads:
  • All Azure services
Partner association types:
  • CSP
  • DPOR
  • PAL
Count of distinct workloads except Virtual Machines, Virtual Machine Licenses.
Usage growth Workloads:
  • All Azure services
Partner association types:
  • CSP
  • DPOR
  • PAL
Usage growth in % of all tenants for this customer considering Azure Consumed Revenue (ACR) of current year and last year.

Solution area - Azure data and AI

Tip

If you encounter any acronyms or abbreviations with which you are unfamiliar, see the table Acronyms and abbreviations used in this article.

Metric Criteria
Skilling Intermediate Certifications
You get points for qualifying individuals certified in ANY one of the following qualification areas:
  • Azure Database Administrator Associate
  • Azure AI Engineer Associate
  • Azure Data Scientist Associate
  • Azure Data Engineer Associate
  • Power BI Data Analyst Associate
  • Dynamics 365 Customer Insights (Data) Specialty
  • Azure Cosmos DB Developer Specialty
  • Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate

Solution area - Azure digital and app innovation

Tip

If you encounter any acronyms or abbreviations with which you are unfamiliar, see the table Acronyms and abbreviations used in this article.

Metric Criteria
Skilling Intermediate Certifications Prerequisites
Requires at least two individuals certified to qualify:
  • Azure Administrator Associate
Intermediate Certifications
You get points for qualifying individuals certified in ANY one of the following qualification areas:
  • Azure Developer Associate
  • Power Platform Developer Associate
Advanced Certifications Prerequisites
Requires at least two individuals certified to qualify:
  • Azure Solutions Architect Expert
Advanced Certifications
You get points for qualifying individuals certified in ANY one of the following qualification areas:
  • Azure IoT Developer Specialty
  • Azure DevOps Engineer Expert
  • Power Platform Solution Architect Expert

Solution area - Azure infrastructure

Tip

If you encounter any acronyms or abbreviations with which you are unfamiliar, see the table Acronyms and abbreviations used in this article.

Metric Criteria
Skilling Intermediate Certifications Pre-requisites
Requires at least two individuals certified to qualify:
  • Azure Administrator Associate
Intermediate Certifications
You get points for qualifying individuals certified in ANY one of the following qualification areas:
  • Azure Network Engineer Associate
  • Azure Stack Hub Operator Associate
  • Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate
Advanced Certifications Prerequisites
Requires at least two individuals certified to qualify:
  • Azure Solutions Architect Expert
Advanced Certifications
You get points for qualifying individuals certified in ANY one of the following qualification areas:
  • Azure Virtual Desktop Specialty
  • Azure for SAP Workloads Specialty

Solution area - Modern Work - SMB track

Tip

If you encounter any acronyms or abbreviations with which you are unfamiliar, see the table Acronyms and abbreviations used in this article.

(Small and Medium Business (SMB) )

Metric Criteria
Paid Available Units (PAU) Workloads:
  • Intune
  • EXO
  • ProPlus
  • SPO
  • Teams
  • Teams Meetings
  • TeamsPhonecalling1p/3p
  • Teams Platform
  • Yammer Partner association
Types:
  • CSP
  • CPOR
PAU of at least one workload: >10 and <=300.
Net Customer Adds Workloads:
  • Intune
  • EXO
  • ProPlus
  • SPO
  • Teams
  • Teams Meetings
  • TeamsPhonecalling1p/3p
  • Teams Platform
  • Yammer
Partner association types:
  • CSP
  • CPOR
Net count of Tenants who met the Workload PAU threshold, between 11 and 300 PAU considering current and previous year.
Deployments - CPOR Workloads:
  • Intune
  • EXO
  • ProPlus
  • SPO
  • Teams
  • Teams Meetings
  • TeamsPhonecalling1p/3p
  • Teams Platform
  • Yammer
Partner association types:
  • CPOR
Net count of Tenants that met the Active usage or Qualified usage threshold of 40% for CPOR considering current and previous year.
Deployments - CSP Workloads:
  • Intune
  • EXO
  • ProPlus
  • SPO
  • Teams
  • Teams Meetings
  • TeamsPhonecalling1p/3p
  • Teams Platform
  • Yammer
Partner association types:
  • CSP
Net count of Tenants that met the Active usage/Qualified usage threshold of 40% for CSP considering current and previous year.
Usage growth - CPOR Workloads:
  • Intune
  • EXO
  • ProPlus
  • SPO
  • Teams
  • Teams Meetings
  • TeamsPhonecalling1p/3p
  • Teams Platform
  • Yammer
Partner association types:
  • CPOR
Active usage difference between the current year and last year for CPOR.
Usage growth - CSP Workloads:
  • Intune
  • EXO
  • ProPlus
  • SPO
  • Teams
  • Teams Meetings
  • TeamsPhonecalling1p/3p
  • Teams Platform
  • Yammer
Partner association types:
  • CSP
Active usage difference between the current year and last year for CSP.
Skilling Intermediate Certifications
Qualifying individuals must be certified in any of the following qualification areas:
  • Microsoft 365 Fundamentals
  • Microsoft 365 Certified: Messaging Administrator Associate
  • Microsoft 365 Certified: Teams Administrator Associate
  • Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate
  • Microsoft 365 Certified: Collaboration Communications Systems Engineer Associate
  • Microsoft 365 Certified: Endpoint Administrator Associate (previously known as Microsoft 365 Certified: Modern Desktop Administrator Associate)
Advanced Certifications
Qualifying individuals must be certified in the following qualification areas:
  • Microsoft 365 Certified: Enterprise Administrator Expert: Exam MS-100
  • Teams Meetings and Meeting Rooms Technical Assessment

Solution area - Modern Work - Enterprise track

Tip

If you encounter any acronyms or abbreviations with which you are unfamiliar, see the table Acronyms and abbreviations used in this article.

Metric Criteria
Paid Available Units (PAU) Workloads:
  • Intune
  • EXO
  • ProPlus
  • SPO, Teams
  • Teams Meetings
  • TeamsPhonecalling1p/3p
  • Teams Platform
  • Yammer
Partner association types:
  • CPOR
  • DPOR
Paid Available Units(PAU) of at least one workload: >300.
Net Customer Adds Workloads:
  • Intune
  • EXO
  • ProPlus
  • SPO
  • Teams
  • Teams Meetings
  • TeamsPhonecalling1p/3p
  • Teams Platform
  • Yammer
Partner association types:
  • CPOR
  • DPOR
Net count of Tenants that met the Workload PAU threshold of 300 PAU considering current and previous year.
Deployments - CPOR Workloads:
  • Intune
  • EXO
  • ProPlus
  • SPO
  • Teams
  • Teams Meetings
  • TeamsPhonecalling1p/3p
  • Teams Platform, Yammer
Partner association types:
  • CPOR
Net count of Tenants that met the Active usage/Qualified usage threshold of 40% for CPOR considering current and previous year.
Deployments - DPOR Workloads:
  • Intune
  • EXO
  • ProPlus
  • SPO
  • Teams
  • Teams Meetings
  • TeamsPhonecalling1p/3p
  • Teams Platform
  • Yammer
Partner association types:
  • DPOR
Net count of Tenants that met the Active usage/Qualified usage threshold of 40% for DPOR considering current and previous year.
Usage growth - CPOR Workloads:
  • Intune
  • EXO
  • ProPlus
  • SPO
  • Teams
  • Teams Meetings
  • TeamsPhonecalling1p/3p
  • Teams Platform
  • Yammer
Partner association types:
  • CPOR
Active usage difference between the current year and last year for CPOR.
Usage growth - DPOR Workloads:
  • Intune
  • EXO
  • ProPlus
  • SPO
  • Teams
  • Teams Meetings
  • TeamsPhonecalling1p/3p
  • Teams Platform
  • Yammer
Partner association types:
  • DPOR
Active usage difference between the current year and last year for DPOR.
Skilling Intermediate Certifications
Qualifying individuals must be certified in any of the following qualification areas:
  • Microsoft 365 Fundamentals
  • Microsoft 365 Certified: Messaging Administrator Associate
  • Microsoft 365 Certified: Teams Administrator Associate
  • Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate
  • Microsoft 365 Certified: Collaboration Communications Systems Engineer Associate
  • Microsoft 365 Certified: Endpoint Administrator Associate (previously known as Microsoft 365 Certified: Modern Desktop Administrator Associate)
Advanced Certifications
Qualifying individuals must be certified in the following qualification areas:
  • Microsoft 365 Certified: Enterprise Administrator Expert: Exam MS-100
  • Teams Meetings and Meeting Rooms Technical Assessment.

Solution area - security

Tip

If you encounter any acronyms or abbreviations with which you are unfamiliar, see the table Acronyms and abbreviations used in this article.

Metric Criteria
Azure Net Customer Adds Workloads:
  • Sentinel
  • Azure Defender
  • Network Security
  • Identity and Access Management
Partner association types:
  • PAL
Net count of Tenants having average ACR of $100 considering current year and last year.
Microsoft 365 Net Customer Adds Workloads:
  • Microsoft Entra ID (previously known as Azure Active Directory) Premium
  • Microsoft Defender for Office 365
  • Microsoft Defender for Endpoints
  • Microsoft Defender for Identity
  • Microsoft Information Protection
  • Intune
Partner association types:
  • CPOR
Net count of Tenants having more than 25 PAU considering last month and same month last year.
Azure Deployments Workloads:
  • Sentinel
  • Azure Defender
  • Network Security
  • Identity and Access Management
Partner association types:
  • PAL
Net count of Tenants contributing total of $12,000 ACR considering current year and last year.
Microsoft 365 Deployments Workloads:
  • Microsoft Entra ID (previously known as Azure Active Directory) Premium
  • Microsoft Defender for Office 365
  • Microsoft Defender for Endpoints
  • Microsoft Defender for Identity
  • Microsoft Information Protection
  • Intune
Partner association types:
  • CPOR
Net count of Tenants with at least 25 paid licenses and Active usage/Qualified usage more than 15% considering last month and same month last year.
Azure Usage Growth Workloads:
  • Sentinel
  • Azure Defender
  • Network Security
  • Identity and Access Management
Partner association types:
  • PAL
Net growth in Security revenue considering current year and last year.
Microsoft 365 Usage Growth Workloads:
  • Azure Active Directory Premium
  • Microsoft Defender for Office 365
  • Microsoft Defender for Endpoints
  • Microsoft Defender for Identity
  • Microsoft Information Protection
  • Intune
Partner association types:
  • CPOR
Active usage difference between the last month and same month last year.
Skilling Intermediate Certifications
Qualifying individuals must be certified in all of the following qualification areas:
  • Azure Security Engineer Associate (required)
  • Microsoft Security Operations Analyst (required)

And at least one of the following qualification areas:
  • Microsoft Identity and Access Administrator
  • Microsoft Information Protection Administrator
  • Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect expert

Solution area - Business Applications - SMB track

Tip

If you encounter any acronyms or abbreviations with which you are unfamiliar, see the table Acronyms and abbreviations used in this article.

Metric Criteria
Net Customer Adds Workloads:
  • AI Builder
  • Business Central
  • CE Bundle
  • Commerce
  • Customer Insights
  • Customer Service
  • F&O Bundle
  • Field Service
  • Finance
  • Fraud Protection
  • HR (Human Resources)
  • Intelligent Order Management
  • Marketing
  • Mixed Reality
  • Omni-channel
  • Power Apps
  • Power Automate
  • Power BI
  • Power Pages
  • Power Virtual Agent
  • Project Operations
  • Sales
  • Supply Chain
Partner association types:
  • For Microsoft Dynamics 365:
    • CPOR RevRec
    • CPOR OSA
    • CPOR RevRec Performance
    • CSP T1 and T2
    • DPOR
  • For Power Platform:
    • CPOR RevRec
    • CPOR
    • OSA
    • CPOR RevRec Performance
    • CSP T1 and T2
    • DPOR
    • Net Qualifying Workloads:
    Total qualifying workloads with active subscriptions > 250 USD.
    Deployments Workloads:
    • Business Central
    • Common data service (Customer Engagement)
    • Core HR
    • Customer Insights Partner
    • Finance and Operations
    • Guides
    • Portals
    • Power App
    • Power Automate
    • Power BI
    • Remote Assist
    • Retail
    • Talent Attract
    • Talent Onboard
    Partner association types:
    • For Microsoft Dynamics 365 (except Customer Insights):
      • CPOR
      • OSU
      • DPOR
    • For Power Platform and Customer Insights:
      • PAL
    Unique workloads rolled up at customer tenant level and contributing at least 5,000.
    NextRowMiddle Workloads:
    • Business Central
    • Common data service (Customer Engagement)
    • Core HR
    • Customer Insights Partner
    • Finance and Operations
    • Guides
    • Portals
    • Power App
    • Power Automate
    • Power BI
    • Remote Assist
    • Retail
    • Talent Attract
    • Talent Onboard
    Partner association types:
    • For Microsoft Dynamics 365 (except Customer Insights):
      • CPOR
      • OSU
      • DPOR
    • For Power Platform and Customer Insights:
      • PAL
    Usage growth % considering all tenants for this customer.

    Prerequisite: Baseline consumption value of 25,000 last year (12 months ago).
    Skilling Intermediate Certifications
    Qualifying individuals must be certified in ANY one of the following qualification areas:
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Finance Functional Consultant Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Commerce Functional Consultant Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365: Finance and Operations Apps Developer Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management Functional Consultant Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing Functional Consultant Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Customer Service Functional Consultant Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Sales Functional Consultant Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Field Service Functional Consultant Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Business Central Functional Consultant Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Power Apps + Dynamics 365 Developer Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Marketing Functional Consultant Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Power Platform App Maker Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Data Analyst Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Developer Associate
    • Customer Data Platform Specialty
    • Azure Enterprise Data Analyst Associate
    • Power Automate RPA Developer Associate
    Advanced Certifications
    Qualifying individuals must be certified in ANY one of the following qualification areas:
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365: Finance and Operations Apps Solution Architect Expert
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solution Architect Expert
    • Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Solution Architect Expert

    Solution area - Business Applications - Enterprise track

    Tip

    If you encounter any acronyms or abbreviations with which you are unfamiliar, see the table Acronyms and abbreviations used in this article.

    Metric Criteria
    Net Customer Adds Workloads:
    • AI Builder
    • Business Central
    • CE Bundle
    • Commerce
    • Customer Insights
    • Customer Service
    • F&O Bundle
    • Field Service
    • Finance
    • Fraud Protection
    • HR
    • Intelligent Order Management
    • Marketing
    • Mixed Reality
    • Omni-channel
    • Power Apps
    • Power Automate
    • Power BI
    • Power Pages
    • Power Virtual Agent
    • Project Operations
    • Sales
    • Supply Chain
    Partner association types:
    • For Microsoft Dynamics 365:
      • CPOR RevRec
      • CPOR OSA
      • CPOR RevRec Performance
      • CSP T1 and T2
      • and DPOR
    • For Power Platform:
      • CPOR RevRec
      • CPOR OSA
      • CPOR RevRec Performance
      • CSP T1 and T2
      • DPOR
    Total qualifying workloads with active subscriptions > 1,500 USD.
    Deployments Workloads:
    • Business Central
    • Common data service (Customer Engagement)
    • Core HR
    • Customer Insights Partner
    • Finance and Operations
    • Guides
    • Portals
    • Power App
    • Power Automate
    • Power BI
    • Remote Assist
    • Retail
    • Talent Attract
    • Talent Onboard
    Partner association types:
    • For Microsoft Dynamics 365 (except Customer Insights):
      • CPOR
      • OSU
      • DPOR
  • For Power Platform and Customer Insights:
    • PAL
    • Unique workloads rolled up at customer tenant level and contributing at least 10,000.
    Usage growth Workloads:
    • Business Central
    • Common data service (Customer Engagement)
    • Core HR
    • Customer Insights Partner
    • Finance and Operations
    • Guides
    • Portals
    • Power App
    • Power Automate
    • Power BI
    • Remote Assist
    • Retail
    • Talent Attract
    • Talent Onboard
    Partner association types:
    • For Microsoft Dynamics 365(except Customer Insights):
      • CPOR
      • OSU
      • DPOR
    • For Power Platform and Customer Insights:
      • PAL
    Usage growth in % of all tenants for this customer considering Monthly consumption value of current year and last year.

    Prerequisite: Baseline consumption value of 50,000 last year (12 months ago).
    Skilling Intermediate Certifications
    Qualifying individuals must be certified in ANY one of the following qualification areas:
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Finance Functional Consultant Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365: Finance and Operations Apps Developer Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management Functional Consultant Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Customer Service Functional Consultant Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Sales Functional Consultant Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Field Service Functional Consultant Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Business Central Functional Consultant Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Customer Insights (Journeys) Functional Consultant Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Developer Associate
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Customer Insights (Data) Specialty
    • Microsoft Certified: Azure Enterprise Data Analyst Associate*
    • Microsoft Certified: Power Automate RPA Developer Associate

    *This certification is retired on April 30, 2024. It will remain eligible for partner capability score points through April 2025.

    Advanced Certifications
    Qualifying individuals must be certified in ANY one of the following qualification areas:
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365: Finance and Operations Apps Solution Architect Expert
    • Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Solution Architect Expert
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management Functional Consultant Expert
    • Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Business Central Developer Associate