Standard SA Sweeteners by Pool

Software Assurance (SA) “sweeteners” vary by product pool and commitment level. The SA benefits, called sweeteners here, are of modest overall value and unlikely on their own to sway an SA purchase decision. Also, in most cases, the benefit (or a close facsimile) can be acquired some other way besides SA. Most commonly used sweeteners and their availability are listed here.

Starred (*) sweeteners require the customer to commit to attaching SA to all purchases within the respective pool. This will always be the case when a pool includes an enterprise product (organization-wide purchase commitment) in an Enterprise Agreement (EA), EA Subscription, Open Value (OV) Organization-Wide, or OV Subscription. For Select “classic,” Select Plus, or the Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (MPSA) to qualify, the customer must have made “SA Membership” election for the pool.

Sweeteners are explained in several Microsoft volume licensing documents. Rights for self-hosting and disaster recovery are described in the Product Use Rights (PUR). The right to pay for a new perpetual license in installments appears in standard contracts for programs such as Select Plus, MPSA, and the EA Enrollment. Other rights are outlined in the monthly Microsoft Volume Licensing Product List.