Step-by-Step Guide to On-board Student
Advantage
Overview
Starting December 1, 2013, the new Student Advantage benefit was announced for education
customers enrolled in EES or OVS-ES Volume Licensing programs. Academic institutions
licensing Microsoft Office organization-wide for all faculty and staff via EES, OVS-ES, or School
contracts are now eligible to offer Office 365 ProPlus to their students at no additional cost. To
enable of this benefit, institutions need to order a specific Office 365 ProPlus SKU (see table
below) for their students.
This benefit is available in countries where Office 365 is offered and for educational institutions
to offer to their students at no additional licensing costs provided the institution is:
 Enrolled in EES or OVS-ES programs, and
 Licensed with Microsoft Office (i.e. Office 365 ProPlus, Office 365 Education A3 or A4, or
Office Professional Plus organization-wide for all faculty/staff)
The new SKUs for the Student Advantage benefit for Academic customers appeared on the Price
List as follows:
Part #
Product Name
Product Family
Program
5XS00002
Off365ProPlusA ShrdSvr ALNG SubsVL MVL
PerUsr w/Faculty
Office 365 ProPlus A
EES*
S2Y00002
O365ProPlusOpenStudents ShrdSvr ALNG
SubsVL OLV NL 1Mth Acdmc Stdnt w/Faculty
O365 ProPlus Open for Students OVS-ES
*Also available for School enrollment, except customers with Partner in Learning (PIL) SKUs.
This guide explains how education customers license and deploy Office 365 ProPlus for their
student bodies through the Student Advantage benefit. Different scenarios are covered, such as
whether a school has a volume license agreement and/or an Office 365 tenant.
Customers that do not have an Academic Volume License agreement
Customer does not have an Office 365 tenant, is selecting OVS-ES subscription
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The Open Value Subscription for Enterprise Solutions (OVS-ES) is an Academic Volume License
agreement, sold as 1 year subscription with an up-front payment.
The customer starts the buying process through an Authorized Education Reseller (AER).
The customer must complete the Open Value Subscription for Education Solutions (OVS-ES)
eAgreement. The customer chooses a 1 or 3 year subscription, its qualifying Desktop Platform
Products (DPP), and its definition of ‘Organization’. The following diagram explains how customers
can define Organization, and how that determines Student Advantage eligibility:
Step-by-Step Guide to On-board Student
Advantage
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The customer must have at least 5 FTE (3 FTE in Japan) faculty and staff or students in the
‘Organization’ (but not a combination of employees and students). This diagram shows how to
make the FTE calculation:
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To qualify for Student Advantage, the customer must license 100% of the defined organization’s
faculty & staff on Microsoft Office on the OVS-ES agreement. The customer needs to license onpremises DPP for the number of FTE in the as-defined Organization. Please note that if the
Institution subscribes to cloud-based versions of Microsoft Office (i.e. Office 365 ProPlus, A3 or A4),
it must purchase a license for each qualified user in the Organization to meet the requirement for all
faculty/staff.
Once the criteria for Student Advantage are met, the customer may order the Office 365 ProPlus
Student Advantage SKU’s at any time. The customer may now include the new Office 365 ProPlus
SKU unique to Student Advantage (see table on page 1) on the OVS-ES order, in a quantity equal to
the number of students in the as-defined Organization.
At this point the customer places the order with its AER.
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Step-by-Step Guide to On-board Student
Advantage
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Once the partner places the order (on behalf of the customer) and Microsoft accepts the order as
valid, Microsoft sends email to both the customer and AER within hours of order acceptance. This
email includes instructions on how to obtain Product Keys and redeem Office 365. Specifically, it
contains a link to the Volume License Service Center (VLSC). Here is a sample excerpt of the
confirmation email:
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The next few steps describe how a customer activates its Online Services licensed through OVS-ES.
First, each SKU purchased will generate a Product Key for the number of seats purchased.
The Product Keys are found in the VLSC web site, as well as the link to the Office 365 redemption
site. The Online Service Activation (OSA) Keys can be found at either of the following locations
from the VLSC homepage:
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1.
2.
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Download & Keys  find the Product/Service name  click Key
Licenses  Relationship Summary  Click the License Number  Product Key
Copy the Product Keys and redeem them on http://www.office.com/setup365 to activate the Office
365 service and provision user accounts. The customer establishes a new Office 365 tenant in order
for students to download Office 365 ProPlus.
IMPORTANT NOTE: customers new to Office 365 must choose the Sign
Up option to generate a new account and tenant with their Product Key
at http://www.office.com/setup/365.
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The 1-year service subscription term begins on the date the keys are redeemed.
Step-by-Step Guide to On-board Student
Advantage
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The customer’s IT group then uploads their student directory to assign and distribute the Office 365
ProPlus licenses to students. Users are assigned an account from the customer’s Office 365 tenant.
After the customer has provisioned its Office 365 tenant and provided students with login
information, students will be presented with a “Get started with Office 365” window that includes a
“PC & Mac – Install software and connect it to Office 365” and “phone & tablet – Setup Office 365
to work on your mobile device” options (see screenshot immediately below). Activation is handled
automatically, so there is no exchange of “keys” per se; Office 365 ProPlus is automatically activated
via KMS services.
(‘Get Started’ page in Office 365)
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To experience the full communication and collaboration capabilities of Office 365 Education, it is
recommended that institutions deploy both Office 365 Plan A2 and Office 365 ProPlus for their
students. FYI, free Office 365 Plan A2 is available to all qualified education customers through the
Microsoft Online Portal, www.office.com/education, but not through OVS-ES. Since Microsoft
Online Services are licensed per user (rather than per the FTE count), make sure to order a quantity
equivalent to the total number of users in the as-defined Organization. This user count will typically
exceed the FTE count.
As with other Office 365 subscriptions, Student Advantage subscription is a 1 year subscription from
the time it is activated and must be re-ordered each year (with an active OVS-ES agreement).
At the end of the OVS-ES 1- or 3-year term, the customer may choose a one-time, 3-year extension
or a new OVS-ES. If the customer chooses the extension, the customer must start a new OVS-ES at
the end of the 3-year extension term in order to continue EES coverage.
Customer does not have an Office 365 tenant, is selecting EES enrollment
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The Enrollment for Enterprise Solutions (EES) is an Academic Volume License enrollment for larger
education organizations with 1,000 or more FTE employees, under the Campus and School
Agreement (CASA).
The CASA agreement contains an overview of the program and general terms and conditions, plus
details on such topics as distributing software to licensed users and Work at Home rights. The CASA
has no expiration date.
Step-by-Step Guide to On-board Student
Advantage
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The EES form provides an overview of enrollment, includes additional program terms and
definitions, and is used to provide contact information, define the organization, etc. This document
also specifies the licensed period (1 or 3 years) and the total FTE count (for on-premises products)
that will be covered in the first annual order.
The customer starts the buying process through Licensing Solution Provider (LSP) (formerly a Large
Account Reseller [LAR]) by signing the Campus and School Agreement and the Enrollment for
Education Solutions (CASA+EES). This process including defining the customer’s ‘Organization’ and
meeting the requirements of an EES enrollment (e.g. at least 1,000 FTE, covering all FTE with a
Desktop Platform Product, etc.).
The qualifications for Student Advantage are identical for EES enrollments and OVS-ES
subscriptions.
Once the criteria for Student Advantage are met, the customer may order the Office 365 ProPlus
Student Advantage SKU’s at any time. This happens by completing the Student Option section in
the EES enrollment, including student count. The customer includes the new Office 365 ProPlus
SKU unique to Student Advantage (see table on page 1) on this order.
At this point the customer places the order with its LSP, who then submits the purchase order
through MOET / EDI to Microsoft. The following diagram details the ordering, setup, and
provisioning process for EES customers:
Step 2 in the diagram includes the important step of the designated ‘Online Services Manager’
(OSM) at the customer receiving an activation email from Microsoft.
The customer must first activate an Office 365 service before using it. In Step 3 of the diagram, the
OSM can create a tenant and activate the service by using the link provided in the Activation email.
Please make sure to choose the right option, which is to select Sign Up.
After completing the Sign Up process, the OSM will then receive a confirmation email that an
account profile has been created (Step 5).
Step-by-Step Guide to On-board Student
Advantage
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The Office 365 ProPlus service will now get provisioned in a data center, at which point the
customer can begin creating profiles for and assigning licenses to users (Steps 6-8). The customer
is now administering the Office 365 ProPlus subscription via an admin portal.
FYI, free Office 365 Plan A2 is available to EES customers, so customers have the option of adding
A2 to their enrollment or ordering through the Microsoft Online Portal, www.office.com/education.
Since Microsoft Online Services are licensed per user (rather than per the FTE count), make sure to
order a quantity equivalent to the total number of users in the as-defined Organization. This user
count will typically exceed the FTE count.
As with other Office 365 subscriptions, Student Advantage subscription aligns to the Enrollment’s
anniversary and must be re-ordered on each anniversary or renewal enrollment.
Customers that have an Academic Volume License agreement
Customer does not have an Office 365 tenant
Customers should refer to the OVS-ES and EES sections above (for customers that do not yet have VL
agreements), skipping the steps involved with qualifying for and signing the VL agreements.
Specifically, follow the steps for customers that need to establish a new Office 365 tenant, which involves
the customer choosing the Sign Up option during the account activation process.
Customer has an Office 365 tenant
Customers with OVS-ES agreements that already have an Office 365 tenant should follow all of the
instructions in the above section titled “Customer does not have an Office 365 tenant, is selecting
OVS-ES agreement type” until the step when they redeem their Product Key on
http://www.office.com/setup365. At this point, customers with an Office 365 tenant have used Microsoft
Online Services before that know their Microsoft Online Services ID must choose Sign In to retain their
previous settings. This will also associate their new Office 365 ProPlus licenses with the existing tenant.
Customers with EES enrollments that already have an Office 365 tenant should follow all of the
instructions in the above section titled “Customer does not have an Office 365 tenant, is selecting EES
agreement type” until the step when they activate the service. At this point, customers with an Office
365 tenant that know their Microsoft Online Services ID must choose Sign In to retain their previous
settings. This will also associate their new Office 365 ProPlus licenses with the existing tenant.
Step-by-Step Guide to On-board Student
Advantage
Additional Student Advantage on-boarding notes and resources
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Institutions that already have Office through paid Student Option can switch to Student
Advantage anytime, but can only remove Student Option upon renewal.
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Student Advantage does not provide perpetual licenses to Office 365 ProPlus at the end of the
agreement term or upon graduation. With Office 365 Education, graduating students do retain
read-only access to Office productivity applications. Students may enroll in other available
consumer or commercial offers.
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For a complete list of licensing options for education customers, visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/licensing-options/for-industries.aspx#tab=2
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To find an AER in the United States or Canada, use this search tool:
www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/buy/licensing/Pages/resellers.aspx
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Track licenses, access Volume License Keys, download software, and administer Software
Assurance benefits via the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC):
https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/servicecenter.
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For the answers to many more questions about Office 365 Student Advantage, please direct
partners to an FAQ the Office 365 page on the Microsoft Education Partner Network:
https://www.mseducommunity.com/Products/office365