Moving from OVS-ES to EES mid term

[NorthernNoel]

We've been planning to move to A3 EES from our OVS-ES agreement since MS are dumping A1+. However on our yearly renewal we've asked for costs for A3 and we've been told that we would need to honour the agreement for the OVS-ES nearly doubling our planned cost! Some suppliers are saying it's fine, some are saying there's no way they'll accept it. Are others having this issue?

[ITGuyNW]

Our OVS runs out in September. I'm planning to go A3 EES then. All indications are you'd have to honour the agreement first. Could you do any CSP stuff to bridge the gap?

[NorthernNoel]

Trouble is that we're on a three year agreement and have only done one year. In theory that would have been fine, however since A1+ is being dumped it's left me with a headache. It's looking like around £20k per year extra unless I can get the OVS removed. It's annoying as they've changed the goalposts by removing A1+ but as that was 'free' they could do what they wanted with it.

[CHiLL]

IIRC, you don't have a choice to which agreement you're on regarding OVS-ES or EES, as it's based on your number of users. If you have <1000 users, you'll be on OVS-ES. If you have >=1000 users, you'll be on EES.

 

Maybe that's changed, but we had a nightmare with O365 shared licensing/computers a few years back, as that aspect was only available to EES customers. Since we had <900 users, we were told by multiple suppliers and Microsoft directly that we weren't eligible for the EES model and had to use OVS-ES.

[ITGuyNW]

EES is over 100 now

[DrCheese]

EES is over 100 now

 

Where have you seen that? We had to use a chess agreement via Janet to qualify for the 1000 user offer, but that's currently discontinued whist they renegotiate it - Not a problem for us as we're mid-term but other colleagues can't access this currently - If the limit has been lowered that will help a lot

[Mr.Ben]

Where have you seen that? We had to use a chess agreement via Janet to qualify for the 1000 user offer, but that's currently discontinued whist they renegotiate it - Not a problem for us as we're mid-term but other colleagues can't access this currently - If the limit has been lowered that will help a lot

The CHEST agreement is live again now

 

https://www.chest.ac.uk/agreements/microsoft-ees/

[snagrat]

The CHEST agreement is live again now

 

https://www.chest.ac.uk/agreements/microsoft-ees/

 

What is the A3 and A5 pricing like on this?

[Mr.Ben]

What is the A3 and A5 pricing like on this?

Sorry I can't comment! (I'm on 2023 terms still!)

[ITGuyNW]

Where have you seen that? We had to use a chess agreement via Janet to qualify for the 1000 user offer, but that's currently discontinued whist they renegotiate it - Not a problem for us as we're mid-term but other colleagues can't access this currently - If the limit has been lowered that will help a lot

 

I'm in the middle of talking to Pheonix about our agreement which is up in September and they've told me EES is over 100 FTE now instead of 1000

[2ilent8cho]

What is the A3 and A5 pricing like on this?

 

A3 on ESS with a Chest agreement we pay £48.72 per Staff member a year, students at no extra cost.

[Edu-IT]

The CHEST agreement is live again now

 

https://www.chest.ac.uk/agreements/microsoft-ees/

But only for more than 100 staff then, as I understand it?

[Mr.Ben]

Yes, still a minimum of 100 staff as I understand. The savings though vs OVS-ES probably means it's viable at 70ish staff members.

[ITGuyNW]

We're looking to change from OVS A1 to EES A3 shortly. We are near the end of our 3 years. Does anyone know if you have to give any kind of notice? or do these just run out?

 

I'd ask our supplier but BIST have been liquidated!

[aac]

No need to give notice it just ends. We decided to revert back to the standard A1 licenses and use free Microsoft 365 Apps for Faculty/Students licenses to retain the Office download rights. It is also worth mentioning that with these licenses you can also up a users OneDrive allowance back up to 1tb baring in mind the total storage pool of 100tb. We may have to upgrade to A3 in 3 years time but want to hold out as long as possible and really don't have any need for A3 yet...

[DavR]

Came here to say the same as @aac, if anyone is still stuck on the A1 Plus expiry.

 

If you're mid-term on your OVS agreement when A1 Plus expires, as long as you're buying your MS Office licenses through the OVS, you can request "free" Microsoft 365 Apps for Faculty/Students licenses from your reseller. If you add those to the A1 license on a user, you should get a) install rights for Office back and b) a lift on the limit of your OneDrive allowance for each licensed user. This should see you through to the end of your agreement, without the costs of jumping ship mid contract.