Purchasing & Renewing Software Assurance

Purchasing Software Assurance

There are three different levels of commitment Customer may select when purchasing SA, which may vary by program. Customer can:  

1. Commit to attaching SA on all platform products.  
2. Commit to attaching SA on all purchases under a particular Product pool (Applications, Systems or Servers), referred to as Software Assurance Membership (SAM).  
3. Purchase SA on individual Products without making any commitment to expanding SA to other Products.

SA must be acquired at the time of acquiring the License or upon renewal of an existing SA term. Unless otherwise stated, only licenses for the latest version of a Product are eligible for SA. In the case of a transfer of perpetual Licenses, the transferee may acquire SA for such transferred Licenses within 30 days from the date of transfer and provided that the transferor maintained active SA for the Licenses up until the date of transfer.

Customers may have the option to acquire SA for certain licenses purchased from the Retail channel (full packaged product) or from an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), within 90 days from the date of purchase as described in the table below. Under Open Value, this option applies only to non-Organization–wide/ Company-wide products. Under Enterprise Agreements, it applies only to Additional Products. Customers who acquire SA for OEM or retail licenses have the option of installing and using the Volume Licensing software for the current version at any time.

Customers who acquire Microsoft Office Professional 2016 or 2019 from an OEM may acquire SA for Microsoft Office Standard in the Open License programs, Select and Select Plus programs, and non Company-wide under Open Value within 90 days from the date of OEM purchase.

Customers who acquire SQL Server 2017 from an OEM prior to March 31, 2020 may acquire Software Assurance for SQL Server within 90 days of the OEM purchase.

Enterprise Agreement customers who transitioned to an Online Service or who purchased a From SA subscription License in lieu of renewing SA may reattach SA to a License at anniversary or renewal without purchasing a new License. SA must be ordered for that License for the remainder of the enrollment term. SA coverage may not exceed the quantity of perpetual Licenses for which SA was current at the time of any prior transition or renewal and may not be reattached to transferred Licenses.

Renewing Software Assurance

Renewing Coverage under the Same Agreement

Terms for renewing SA under the same program agreement by which it was initially ordered are contained Customer's volume licensing agreements. Customers may renew SA without the need to simultaneously order a License as long as the SA coverage has not expired. In addition, the following terms apply to specific programs as noted:

Open License

SA coverage ordered under an Open License authorization number ends upon expiration of that number. To renew, Customer must submit a renewal order for SA within 90 days after their authorization number expiration date. 

Enterprise Agreement

To renew SA coverage under the same enrollment under an Enterprise Agreement, Customer must sign a new 2011 or later Enterprise Enrollment and Agreement (if they have not already), and must submit a renewal order for SA (as applicable) for 1) all Enterprise Products, Application Platform Products, Core Infrastructure Products and Additional Products they wish to renew and 2) any Online Services, accounting for transitions (if applicable).

Enrollment for Application Platform

EAP customers who have previously deferred Licenses via SA prior L SKUs must buyout their Licenses before they can renew SA.

Renewing Coverage from a Separate Agreement

Customer may renew SA for any Product if Customer has obtained a perpetual License and SA for that Product under a previous agreement in the same Volume Licensing Program, provided that 1) Customer’s new agreement enrollment, or order (for MPSA) must be effective no later than the day following the date of expiration of the previous agreement or enrollment, and 2) the SA renewal order must be placed prior to the expiration of prior SA coverage, unless such coverage is being renewed from an Open License Agreement. In that case, Customers have 90 days from the expiration to place the order.

Customer may also renew SA from one Volume Licensing program into a different Volume Licensing Program. For Enterprise Products originally purchased under a program with a company-wide coverage requirement, this exception applies only if the customer is renewing SA into the MPSA or a program with a company-wide coverage requirement for Enterprise Products. For Agreement versions 2008 and prior, as long as coverage is renewed within 30 days (90 days if renewing from Open License program), customers will be deemed to have SA coverage during any period of time between when their expiring SA coverage lapsed and when the new coverage begins.

Renewing Software Assurance Coverage for Client Access Licenses (CALs) and Client Management Licenses (MLs)

Transitioning between User and Device CALs  

Customers renewing SA for CALs can switch between User and Device. This transition does not change the CAL edition (i.e. Standard to Enterprise).

Transitioning between User and OSE Client MLs

Customers renewing SA for client MLs can switch between User and OSE.