As I revise for the MB2-710 exam I am creating posts covering all aspects of my revision. Hopefully collectively they may help others prepare for the MB2-710 certification. (Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 Online Deployment.)

In this post I will look at configuring online subscriptions.

As I review each topic for the MB2-710 exam I like to first of all refer back to the skills measured statements. The statement that I will cover in this post is the following;

• Configure subscriptions
  
  • Identify methods to sign-up for a subscription; identify subscription requirements; describe the subscription cancellation process; describe the methods for purchasing add-ons
    

Sign-up for a subscription

CRM online subscriptions are managed via Microsoft Online Services. Within the Office 365 admin center.

You can buy subscriptions in multiple ways;

• You can buy a subscription directly in the Office 365 admin portal.
  
• You can convert a 30-day trial into a paid subscription.
  
• You can buy CRM online via a Volume licensing agreement. You buy your license linked to your volume license and enter an activation code in Office 365 that will be linked to your purchase.
  

Note:
Office 365 admin center is used to manage CRM subscriptions but that does not mean you have to purchase any Office 365 plans. (Although commonly people will have Office 365 plans and CRM Online, so that they can integrate with Exchange, SharePoint etc!) You can have just a single CRM online subscription with no Office 365 plans.

You can purchase add-ons in the Office365 admin center. You use the purchase services option in admin center to sign up for these addons.

Some products such as Social Engagement can be purchased as add-on subscriptions.

In Purchase services you will find many options to purchase add-ons like Social Engagement, Pararture, enhanced support etc etc. (Plus you can sign up for other Office 365 subscriptions here such as Yammer, PowerBI etc.)

To manage existing subscriptions, we use the subscriptions option in billing.

Here you can make additions to existing subscriptions, including adding storage, production instances and non-production instances (sandboxes). Plus you can add options for Social Engagement.

It is also in this subscriptions option that you will find an option to convert a trial instance into a production one. By clicking the “Buy now” button.

Cancelling a Subscription

You can cancel a subscription but you must contact billing support to do this.

Depending on the service term you may be charged a cancellation fee as a new subscription to CRM is for a minimum term. Meaning if you cancel before that minimum term has expired it is likely you will pay fees to the end of the contracted period.

There are exceptions to cancellation fees. For example, if you are migrating from CRM online to CRM on premise or even a partner hosted solution then the cancellation fee may be waived.

Note: If you are migrating from CRM online to CRM on premise you can contact technical support to arrange an export of the SQL database containing your data. This can then be imported into an on premised SQL Server. (It is however not possible to export a CRM on premise database and import into CRM online.)

Having cancelled a subscription, the data is kept for 30 days, after the 30 days has elapsed the data will be deleted. During this 30-day period you can change your mind about the cancellation.

Obviously if you wish to cancel but require a copy of your data, to avoid data lose it will need to be exported into another system during this 30-day period.

I always suggest that hands-on experience is an essential part of your exam preparation. Although in this case I’m not going to suggest you should actually buy or cancel a subscription! But you may want to view your production subscriptions or if just using a trial solution at least explore the options available. J