Anyone that’s been working with Microsoft technology & agreements for a while knows that Volume Licensing agreements that have “license maintenance” or “Software Assurance” (Microsoft’s terminology) also have certain value-added benefits.
These benefits are called “Software Assurance Benefits” (SAB) and come with consulting services credit, training vouchers for use with CTECs, eLearning subscriptions,etc. One of these beneftis is “24×7 Problem Resolution Support incidents”, which provide the user with the ability to call in for technical support on an issue. These are valuable and are worth upwards of $500 per incident.
WHY or WHY NOT USE SAB 24×7 PROBLEM RESOLUTION SUPPORT (PRS) INCIDENTS
If you have nothing else, SAB PRS incidents call into Microsoft Professional Support and open Professional Support incidents which can be a godsend – however Professional Support isn’t the highest level of support one can get.
If you have a Premier Support Agreement with Microsoft however, this is the highest tier of support and your experience will always be better calling in to Premier than using Professional Support. The technical level of support personnel is higher in Premier, responses are faster through Premier, etc.
If you have a Premier agreement, you are generally better off converting/transferring your SAB PRS credit INTO your Premier agreement which your Premier representative can assist you with.
HOW DO I USE 24×7 PROBLEM RESOLUTION INCIDENTS?
You will first need to be an authorized 24×7 PRS benefit user which is assigned by the Software Assurance Benefits administrator.
Once you’re authorized, you need the SA Access ID which is stored in the Volume License Service Center (VLSC) portal at https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/servicecenter/. (Be sure to use Internet Explorer 11 or Edge (Chromium) with IE Compatibility enabled. VLSC can not be run in Chrome, Firefox ro Safari) VLSC administrator or SAB administrator are the only ones that can obtain this ID.
Once you have the SA Access ID and are provided permissions to use the PRS benefit, getting support can be accomplished in a few ways. The easiest is to initiate a support ticket by going to:
Alternatively, you may be able to get through over the phone by dialing:
- 800-936-5700 or
- 800-642-7676
In both cases you will ultimately provide the SA Access ID to open the ticket.
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