Microsoft 365 Government-Understand Microsoft 365 pricing and support

In addition to the core Microsoft 365 subscriptions mentioned earlier, Microsoft has also created specialized packages for governmental and educational organizations designed to suit their specific needs. The Microsoft 365 Government G3 and G5 subscriptions contain the same tools and services found in their Enterprise E3 and E5 equivalents, but the packages are designed to adhere to the additional compliance regulations and requirements to which United States government entities are often subject.

For all the Microsoft 365 Government products, data is stored under special conditions, including the following:

  • All Microsoft 365 Government user content, including Exchange Online mailboxes, SharePoint site content, Skype for Business conversations, and Microsoft Teams chat transcripts, is stored in datacenters located within the United States.
  • The user content generated by Microsoft 365 Government subscribers is logically segregated from commercial Microsoft 365 user content within the Microsoft datacenters.
  • Access to Microsoft 365 Government user content within the Microsoft datacenters is restricted to employees who have undergone additional security screening.

Access to Microsoft 365 Government products is restricted to United States federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial government entities and other entities required to handle government data in compliance with the same regulations and requirements as a government entity. Eligibility to purchase these products is subject to verification by Microsoft using various government resources, including those of law enforcement agencies and the Department of State, as well as government standards, such as the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Policy.

In addition to the Microsoft 365 Government G3 and G5 subscriptions, which define the products’ feature sets, there are versions of Microsoft 365 Government that define various levels of security and compliance, including the following:

  • Microsoft 365 U.S. Government Community (GCC) Intended for Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) moderate risk impact situations; also complies with the Internal Revenue Service Publication 1075 standard, the U.S. Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Security Policy, and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Level 2 requirement for noncontrolled unclassified information
  • Microsoft 365 U.S. Government Community (GCC) High Intended for FedRAMP high-impact situations; complies with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS)
  • Microsoft 365 DoD Restricted to the exclusive use by U.S. Department of Defense agencies; complies with the U.S. DoD Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Level 5 requirement for controlled unclassified information and unclassified national security systems

In addition to the Microsoft 365 Government subscriptions, Microsoft also maintains an alternative means of accessing Microsoft 365 cloud services, called Azure Government ExpressRoute, which is a private, dedicated network connection to the Microsoft cloud services for eligible subscribers that have regulatory requirements that prevent them from using the public Internet.

Collaboration-Understand Microsoft 365 pricing and support

The nature of collaboration in the workplace has changed, so the tools that facilitate collaboration must change with it. One of the primary advantages of cloud-based computing is that it allows users to access enterprise resources from any location. Microsoft 365 takes advantage of that benefit by enabling access to the cloud using nearly any device with an Internet connection. Microsoft Entra ID (formerly known as Azure Active Directory) and Microsoft Intune are services based in the cloud, providing identity and device management functions that secure these user connections to the cloud. These components, along with the increased capabilities and emphasis on smartphones and other mobile devices in the business world, have made Microsoft 365 an unprecedented platform for collaboration.

With an infrastructure in place that can provide users with all but universal access to enterprise resources, the next step toward a collaboration platform is the applications and services that enable users to communicate and share data. Microsoft 365 includes four primary collaboration services—shown in Figure 4-9—that provide different types of communication for different situations. Additional services also provide more specific functions for the other services.

  

FIGURE 4-9 Microsoft 365 collaboration services

The services that contribute to the collaboration capabilities in Microsoft 365 are as follows:

  • SharePoint Provides content storage and publishing services for group and personal intranet websites and for all the other Microsoft 365 collaboration tools. A SharePoint site can be a collaboration platform, or its elements can be embedded in other service publications.
  • Exchange Online/Outlook Provides standard email communication and calendar and scheduling functions. Email is asynchronous communication that can be one-to-one or, with the aid of distribution lists, one-to-many. Scheduling functions can be embedded in other services.
  • Microsoft Teams Provides synchronous chat- and call-based communication among team members who must communicate quickly and frequently. By incorporating elements from other services, such as Exchange Online scheduling, SharePoint content, and Stream video, Teams can function as a comprehensive collaboration platform.
  • Yammer Provides a group-based or company-wide private social media service designed to accommodate larger groups than Microsoft Teams or foster a sense of community within the enterprise. Yammer also provides a platform for the functions provided by other services, such as content from SharePoint sites or scheduling with Exchange Online.
  • Stream Provides video storage and distribution services directly to users in web browsers or embedded in other Microsoft 365 collaboration services, including Exchange Online, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and Yammer.
  • Planner Provides project management services that enable users to create schedules containing tasks, files, events, and other content from Microsoft 365 services.
  • OneDrive Provides private file storage for individual users unless the user explicitly shares specific documents.

Need More Review? Microsoft 365 collaboration tools

For more information about the collaboration capabilities of the Microsoft 365 services, see the “Describe collaboration solutions of Microsoft 365” section in Chapter 2, “Describe Microsoft 365 apps and services.”

Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Active Directory) and Microsoft 365 Groups provide the identity-management infrastructure for all the Microsoft 365 collaborative services. This enables users and administrators to set up and use these services any way they want. However, the content from the various services is combined; only one set of user accounts and group memberships applies to all. This turns the collection of Microsoft 365 collaboration services into a flexible and interoperable toolkit.

Figure 4-10 illustrates how workers and teams can use the Microsoft 365 collaboration services to work together by creating a digital daily plan containing specific tasks and the circumstances in which they might be performed.

  

FIGURE 4-10 A sample Microsoft 365 collaboration task schedule

Selling Microsoft 365-Understand Microsoft 365 pricing and support

As noted elsewhere in this book, many IT professionals are hesitant to buy into the idea of cloud-based services, and the cloud is the first and biggest buzzword for the Microsoft 365 product. As a result, Microsoft has devoted a great deal of time, effort, and expense to developing a product and a campaign that can convince people like these to adopt—or at least consider—Microsoft 365 as a viable route for the development of their enterprise infrastructures. The following sections discuss the key selling points for Microsoft 365 in four major areas.

Productivity

Few IT professionals must be sold on Microsoft Office productivity applications, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook; they are industry standards virtually without competition. However, some do need to be sold on a cloud-based, subscription-based implementation such as Microsoft 365, as opposed to perpetual versions like Office 2019 and 2021. The selling points that make an effective case for Microsoft 365 include the following:

  • Applications Some people might think that with Microsoft 365, the productivity applications are accessible only from the cloud and that an Internet connection is required to run them. While the productivity applications are indeed accessible from the cloud with a Microsoft 365 subscription, most versions of the product also include fully installable desktop versions of the productivity applications, just like those in Office 2021.
  • Devices A perpetual Office 2021 license enables a user to install the productivity applications on a single computer; however, with a Microsoft 365 subscription, a user can install the applications on up to five PC, Mac, or mobile devices and sign in to any or all them at the same time. This means that users can run the Microsoft 365 applications on an office computer, a home computer, and a smartphone, plus two other devices, with a single license, while an Office 2021 user would need a separate license for each device.
  • Installation A Microsoft 365 license includes access to a cloud-based portal, with which users can install the productivity applications themselves on any computer. Office 2021 and other perpetual versions include no self-service portal access and require administrators to install the applications on each device.
  • Activation When users install the Microsoft 365 productivity applications from the self-service portal, they are automatically activated. They remain activated as long as the computers connect to the Office Licensing Service in the cloud at least once every 30 days. If a device exceeds the 30-day requirement, Microsoft 365 goes into reduced functionality mode, which limits the user to viewing and printing existing documents. Office 2021 and other perpetual versions in an enterprise environment require administrators to keep track of each license’s product key or utilize a network-based activation method, such as Key Management Service (KMS) or Multiple Activation Key (MAK). Once activated, Office 2021 installations do not require periodic reactivation.
  • Updates Microsoft 365 installations are automatically updated either monthly or semi-annually with the latest security, quality, and feature updates. Office 2021 and other on-premises versions receive security updates but no feature updates. There is also no upgrade path to Office’s next major on-premises version. For example, Office 2019 users must pay full price for a new license to install Office 2021.
  • Support Office 2021 and other perpetual versions include free technical support for the installation process only. Microsoft 365 subscriptions include free technical support for the life of the subscription.
  • Storage A Microsoft 365 subscription includes 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage. Office 2021 and other perpetual versions do not include cloud storage.
  • Mobile apps Access to the Office mobile apps on devices with screens smaller than 10.1 inches with core editing functionality is free to everyone. Microsoft 365 subscribers receive extra features on all mobile apps. Users of Office 2021 or other perpetual versions do not receive the extra features.

Microsoft 365 subscriptions-Understand Microsoft 365 pricing and support

Most organizations interested in Microsoft 365 as an introduction to cloud-based networking, either as a new deployment or an addition to a traditional on-premises network, will opt for one of the Microsoft 365 Business options or one of the Microsoft 365 Enterprise subscriptions described in the following sections. In addition, there are specialized versions of Microsoft 365 designed for educational and governmental environments.

Microsoft 365 Business

Intended for small- and medium-sized businesses with up to 300 users, the Microsoft 365 Business product comes in three subscription levels: Basic, Standard, and Premium. All three include the standard Office productivity applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, and the Microsoft 365 cloud services: Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and OneDrive. The differences between the levels, other than the prices, are as follows:

  • Microsoft 365 Business Basic Includes only the web and mobile versions of the productivity applications
  • Microsoft 365 Business Standard Includes all Business Basic features plus downloadable desktop versions of the productivity applications, plus desktop versions of Access and Publisher
  • Microsoft 365 Business Premium Includes all Business Standard features, plus Azure Active Directory Premium Plan 1 and the advanced security capabilities of Microsoft Intune and the suite of Microsoft Defender applications

Note Microsoft 365 Business for Nonprofits

In addition to the commercial Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard, and Premium subscriptions, Microsoft offers full-featured versions at all three levels for qualified nonprofit organizations at special prices.

Microsoft 365 Business is a comprehensive package for organizations that do not maintain a full-time IT staff, which is the case with many small businesses. Deploying Microsoft 365 workstations is largely automated, and the package includes the Microsoft 365 admin center, which provides a unified interface for the setup and management of identities and devices.

Microsoft 365 Business Premium includes Windows Autopilot, which streamlines the deployment of new Windows workstations or upgrading existing ones. For computers with an earlier version of Windows installed, Microsoft 365 provides an upgrade to Windows 11. In addition to Autopilot, Microsoft 365 includes device management settings in Azure Active Directory that can automatically apply policies to newly deployed workstations, including those for functions like the following:

  • Activation of the Microsoft 365 subscription
  • Windows 11 and Microsoft 365 updates
  • Automated installation of Microsoft 365 productivity applications on Windows 11
  • Control of the device’s screen when the system is idle
  • Access control to Microsoft Store apps
  • Access control to Cortana
  • Access control to Windows tips and advertisements from Microsoft

Another priority of Microsoft 365 Business Premium is to provide security in areas where small businesses often fall short, as shown in Figure 4-1. The suite of security functions and services included in the product protects all the primary areas of a business network: identities, with multifactor authentication; devices, with management capabilities for on-premises and mobile devices; applications, with usage restrictions; email, with threat detection and data loss prevention; and documents, with classification, encryption, and access control.

  

FIGURE 4-1 Security functions in Microsoft 365 Business Premium

Microsoft 365 Business allows up to 300 user subscriptions in one tenancy, but this does not mean an organization’s network is limited to 300 users. Every user on the network does not need a Microsoft 365 Business license, although only the license-holders can utilize the cloud services included with the product. It is also possible to combine license types in a single tenancy, meaning if an organization running Microsoft 365 Business expands to more than 300 users, more users can be added with Microsoft 365 Enterprise licenses without upgrading the original 300 Business users.

CSP Indirect-Understand Microsoft 365 pricing and support

For partners that do not have the infrastructure to handle all the billing and support issues that their customers might require, there is the CSP indirect model, which defines two levels of partners as follows:

  • Indirect provider Typically, this is a larger company engaged by indirect resellers to be responsible for supplying products, customer service, billing, and technical support services to customers. Some indirect providers are also willing to provide indirect resellers with other types of assistance, such as technical training and marketing; some also provide financing and credit terms.
  • Indirect reseller Typically, smaller companies or individuals concentrate on locating, cultivating, and signing customers for Windows 11, Microsoft 365, and other cloud-based products and services. To become an indirect reseller, an individual or firm must do the following:
    • Join the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) and obtain an ID
    • Enroll in the CSP program as an indirect reseller by supplying an MPN ID, business address, banking information, and a contact email address
    • Establish a relationship with an indirect provider to obtain product, billing, and support services

The CSP indirect partner model enables individual consultants or small consulting companies to sign up as indirect resellers and concentrate on locating customers and developing relationships with them rather than on back-end services, such as billing and support.

Direct billing

Subscription-based products like Microsoft 365 require regular attention to billing to keep them current. If subscriptions are allowed to lapse, they become unusable. For example, if a Microsoft 365 subscription is allowed to lapse or if the computer does not connect to the cloud at least every 30 days, it deactivates and goes into reduced functionality mode. In this mode, users can view or print their existing documents, but they cannot create or edit new ones.

The Billing menu in the Microsoft 365 admin center is where administrators can manage all aspects of the billing process. The menu contains the following items:

  • Purchase Services Contains tiles with cloud-based subscription products that administrators can add to their tenancies
  • Your Products Lists the active subscriptions and specifies how many licenses have been assigned, as shown in Figure 4-7.

  

FIGURE 4-7 The Products & services page in the Microsoft 365 admin center

  • Licenses Contains a list of the tenancy’s subscriptions and specifies how many licenses are assigned. Selecting a subscription displays a list of the users to which licenses have been assigned, enabling administrators to create new assignments.
  • Bills & Payments Displays a history of the invoices for the current subscriptions, the payment methods configured by the administrator, and the payment frequency (monthly or annual).
  • Billing Accounts Displays the account profile of the legal entity in the subscriber’s organization responsible for signing software agreements and making purchases, as well as a list of the subscriber’s partnerships.
  • Payment Methods Displays a list of the subscriber’s current payment methods and enables the addition of new ones.
  • Billing Notifications Displays a list of the users who will receive billing notifications and renewal reminders from Microsoft, as shown in Figure 4-8.

  

FIGURE 4-8 The Billing Notifications page in the Microsoft 365 admin center

For Microsoft partners, the Billing menu in the Partner Center console displays the Microsoft invoices for products the partners have resold to customers. Microsoft bills partners for their customers’ licenses and usage fees 60 days in arrears so that the partners have time to collect. This Billing menu only handles the charges that partners remit to Microsoft. The partnership agreement has no conditions or requirements about how or when the partners invoice their customers and collect their payments.

Microsoft 365 Frontline-Understand Microsoft 365 pricing and support

Microsoft envisions the Microsoft 365 product as a crucial step in an organization’s transition from traditional on-premises computing to cloud-based services. For that transition to be complete, they consider it essential for workers at all levels of the business to participate. The Microsoft 365 F1 and F3 subscriptions are intended for frontline workers—that is, the segment of an organization’s work force that provides the first point of contact between the organization and the outside world. This refers specifically to workers in the field, call centers, shop floors, and customer service roles.

The Microsoft 365 F1 and F3 subscriptions provide a streamlined version of the same basic functionality as the other Microsoft 365 Enterprise subscriptions, including similar productivity, collaboration, and security tools but at a lower price and with limitations suitable to first-line workers’ typical needs.

Compared to the Enterprise and Business subscriptions, the primary difference in the Frontline subscriptions is that users only receive access to the Microsoft 365 productivity applications in their web and mobile versions; the installable desktop applications are not included. The product includes access to the Microsoft 365 cloud-based services, including limited access to Exchange Online and SharePoint, plus OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Intune, as well as access to some of the Microsoft Viva and Microsoft Defender services. Most of the applications and services in the Frontline subscriptions have limitations that suit the tasks they typically perform and the devices that these workers employ, including the following:

  • Exchange Online mailboxes are limited to 2 GB.
  • SharePoint access is included without personal sites, site mailboxes, or the ability to create forms.
  • OneDrive is limited to 2 GB of cloud storage without desktop synchronization.
  • Microsoft Teams is limited to one-to-one calls only; users can join but not create meetings.
  • Stream is limited to consumption only; users cannot create or upload video streams.

The Microsoft 365 Frontline subscriptions also include many of the same threat protection and device management services as the Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise E3 subscriptions. The end result is a package that enables frontline workers to fully participate in the culture and community of the organization, with access to the same productivity, collaboration, and security tools as users with Microsoft 365 Enterprise or Business subscriptions. At the same time, frontline workers can gain skills and experience with tools that can enable them to grow and develop within the work force.

Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise feature comparison

The components and features included in the main Microsoft 365 subscriptions are shown in Table 4-1.

Note Microsoft 365 international users

The exact features included in the Microsoft 365 subscriptions and their pricing and licensing requirements can vary depending on the country or geographical region in which the subscription is purchased.

Cloud solution providers-Understand Microsoft 365 pricing and support

It is possible for organizations to purchase Microsoft 365 subscriptions directly from Microsoft individually or by using a variety of volume licensing agreements, including the following:

  • Enterprise Agreement (EA) A volume licensing agreement for organizations with at least 500 users or devices seeking to license software for at least three years, which provides discounts of 15 to 45 percent based on the number of users. Available with up-front or subscription payment terms, the agreement includes Software Assurance and the ability to add users and services during the life of the agreement.
  • Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (MPSA) An ongoing, partner-based, transactional license agreement for organizations with 250 to 499 users or devices that optionally includes Software Assurance and requires no organization-wide commitment.
  • Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) A partner-based licensing channel that enables organizations of all sizes to obtain Microsoft 365 products through an ongoing relationship with a selected partner.
Cloud solution providers

The Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program enables partners to establish ongoing relationships with end-user organizations of all sizes and provides them with sales and support for Windows 11 and all the Microsoft 365 Enterprise, Business, and Education products. Members of the Microsoft Partner Network can become CSPs and play a more prominent part in their customers’ cloud solutions.

Rather than simply reselling products, such as Windows 11 and Microsoft 365, a CSP can be a customer’s single contact for everything from providing solutions to billing to technical support. CSP partners can enhance their customer relationships by adding value to Microsoft products by bundling industry-specific software products with Microsoft 365 or by offering managed services, such as data migrations and internal help desk support. CSP partners can also offer Microsoft products previously unavailable to smaller companies. For example, at one time, Windows 11 Enterprise was available only to customers with a Microsoft Volume Licensing Agreement; CSP partners can now offer the Enterprise edition of the operating system to small- and medium-sized companies.

Depending on the capabilities of the Microsoft partner, the CSP program operates in two ways—direct (Tier 1) and indirect (Tier 2)—as shown in Figure 4-6.

  

FIGURE 4-6 The Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider partner options

CSP Direct

The CSP direct model enables the partners to work directly with Microsoft and function as their customers’ sole point of contact. The CSP direct partner is the only conduit between Microsoft’s products and services and the customer. For a partner to participate in the CSP direct model, the partner’s company must have existing billing and technical support infrastructures. The customer’s entire relationship is with the partner; they have no direct contact with Microsoft at all. The CSP partner’s relationship with Microsoft and with their customers proceeds as follows:

The CSP partner cultivates customers, sells them on Microsoft 365 and/or other Microsoft cloud-based subscription products, and sets them a price based on both the cost of the subscriptions and the added value the CSP partner provides.

The CSP partner sets up the customer’s tenancy in Microsoft Entra ID and provides the necessary software, such as Windows 11 and any other products they might include in the customer’s negotiated package.

The customer uses the supplied Microsoft products and contacts the CSP partner for any support issues.

Each month, Microsoft uses the Partner Center portal to bill the CSP partner for all the user subscriptions they have sold to their customers.

The CSP partner bills the customers at their negotiated rate for Microsoft subscriptions, technical support, and other services.

The upside of this model is that the relationship with the customers is wholly in the hands of the CSP partners. They are responsible for building and maintaining relationships with their customers and can establish whatever prices they feel are appropriate for their services. However, this responsibility also means that a CSP partner must have a company infrastructure that can fulfill all the customers’ needs without any help from Microsoft.

Microsoft 365 Enterprise-Understand Microsoft 365 pricing and support

For organizations with more than 300 users, there are two subscription options: Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 and Microsoft 365 Enterprise E5. Both include Windows 11 Enterprise, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, and various cloud-based services. Both subscriptions support unlimited users, including networks with fewer than 300. The feature lists for the E3 and E5 subscriptions are largely identical, with Microsoft 365 Enterprise E5 including all the features of E3 plus more advanced security, threat protection, and analytics tools.

Exam Tip

MS-900 exam candidates should understand that while Microsoft 365 Enterprise is targeted at larger organizations, more than 300 users are not required. Small- or medium-sized businesses requiring the additional security and analytical capabilities in the Enterprise E3 or E5 product can use it, too.

Several elements included in the various Microsoft 365 subscriptions are also available as individual subscriptions, allowing consumers to assemble a network on an à la carte basis if desired. The following elements are all available in two plans—referred to as Plan 1 (P1) and Plan 2 (P2):

  • Microsoft Entra ID Premium (formerly Azure Active Directory Premium)
  • Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
  • Microsoft Defender for Office 365
  • Azure Information Protection Premium

In each case, Plan 2 includes all the features of Plan 1 plus some additional capabilities. Microsoft 365 Enterprise E5 includes Plan 2 for all the features, whereas Plan 1 is included in one or more other subscriptions, as shown later in Table 4-1.

 

TABLE 4-1 Features and benefits of Microsoft 365 subscriptions

Features IncludedMicrosoft 365 Business PremiumMicrosoft 365 Enterprise E3Microsoft 365 Enterprise E5Microsoft 365 F3
Windows 11NoneEnterpriseEnterpriseEnterprise
Microsoft 365 productivity applicationsDesktop versions of Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook, Access, and PublisherDesktop versions of Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook, Access, and PublisherDesktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, and PublisherWeb and mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, and Publisher
Exchange OnlineYes, with a 50 GB mailboxYes, with 50 GB mailboxYes, with a 50 GB mailboxYes, with a 2 GB mailbox
SharePointYesYesYesYes (without personal site, site mailbox, or form creation)
Microsoft TeamsYesYesYesYes (one-to-one calls only, meetings join only)
OneDrive1 TB5 TB (five or more users) 1 TB (less than five users)5 TB (five or more users) 1 TB (less than five users)2 GB (without desktop synchronization)
OneDrive for BusinessNoUnlimitedUnlimitedNo
Microsoft StreamYesYesYesYes (consume only)
Audio conferencing/Phone SystemNoNoYesNo
Viva Engage (Yammer)YesYesYesYes
PlannerYesYesYesYes
Windows Hello for BusinessYesYesYesYes
Microsoft Entra ID Premium (Azure Active Directory Premium)Plan 1Plan 1Plan 2Plan 1
Azure Active Directory Privileged Identity ManagementNoNoYesNo
Microsoft 365 admin centerYesYesYesYes
Microsoft IntuneYesYesYesYes
Windows AutopilotYesYesYesYes
Microsoft Advanced Threat AnalyticsNoYesYesYes
Microsoft Defender for EndpointNoPlan 1Plan 2No
Microsoft Defender for Office 365Plan 1NoPlan 2No
Office 365 Threat IntelligenceNoNoYesNo
Microsoft Defender for IdentityNoNoYesNo
Microsoft Defender for Cloud AppsNoNoYesNo
Data Loss Prevention for emails and filesYesYesYesNo
Microsoft Advanced Threat AnalyticsYesYesYesYes
Microsoft PurviewNoNoYesNo
Azure Information ProtectionPlan 1Plan 1Plan 2Plan 1
Privileged Access ManagementNoNoYesNo
Power PlatformNoNoYesNo

Microsoft 365 Education-Understand Microsoft 365 pricing and support

Microsoft 365 Education is another specialized version of Microsoft 365 that includes additional tools and services specifically targeted at teachers and students. There are two subscription levels—Microsoft 365 Education A3 and Microsoft Education A5—which correspond to the Enterprise E3 and E5 subscriptions in most of their features and services.

The Education subscriptions include the Windows 11 Education operating system. Some of the tools included in the Education subscriptions are also specially modified for classroom use, and additional educational tools are included.

Note Microsoft 365 Education A1

In addition to Microsoft Education A3 and A5, there is also a Microsoft Education A1 product, which is a one-time, per-device license that includes the Microsoft 365 web and mobile applications and cloud-based email, Microsoft Teams, video conferencing, and compliance and information-protection tools; it does not include the installable Microsoft 365 applications and also omits some of the educational, security, and analytics tools found in the A3 and A5 subscriptions.

The education-specific modifications in the Microsoft 365 Education A3 and A5 subscriptions include the following:

  • OneNote Class Notebook A shared OneNote implementation that includes a collaboration space for class work, a content library for handout documents, and a personal notebook space for each student.
  • Yammer Academic An implementation of the Yammer private social networking service that includes school branding and administration capabilities that provide content management and access control.
  • Minecraft Education Edition with Code Builder An educational adaptation of the Minecraft game that teaches students how to code software by dragging and dropping visual code blocks.
  • Take A Test app An application that enables teachers to deploy high-stakes or low-stakes tests to students in a distraction-free environment, as shown in Figure 4-2. Once students have begun taking a test, they cannot browse the web, print or share the screen, open other applications, use the Windows clipboard, or change system settings.

  

FIGURE 4-2 A test question in the Take A Test application

  • Set Up School PCs app An application that enables administrators or teachers to easily set up computers running Windows 11 by joining them to an Azure Active Directory tenant, installing approved applications (as shown in Figure 4-3), removing unapproved applications, configuring Windows Update to install updates outside of class time, and locking down the system to prevent its use for anything other than educational purposes.

  

FIGURE 4-3 Adding applications in the Set Up School PCs application

  • School Data Sync (SDS) A service that uses data synchronized from a school’s Student Information System (SIS) to create Microsoft 365 groups for Exchange Online and SharePoint, Microsoft Intune groups, class teams for Microsoft Teams, and class notebooks for OneNote, as shown in Figure 4-4. Also, SDS can populate many other third-party applications with student information.

  

FIGURE 4-4 School Information System data synchronization

  • Office Lens A tool that uses the camera of a smartphone or tablet to take pictures of printed pages or whiteboards. This tool crops, straightens, and sharpens them; converts them to PDF, Word, or PowerPoint files; and then saves them to a OneNote notebook, a OneDrive folder, or a local drive.
  • Intune for Education A streamlined version of Microsoft Intune that provides device management and application-deployment services for teacher and student devices through a web-based portal, as shown in Figure 4-5.

  

FIGURE 4-5 Intune for Education application deployment

Quick check

Which of the following is one of the features included in Microsoft 365 F1?

  1. Install Office 365 on up to five devices
  2. 50 GB Exchange Online mailboxes
  3. 2 GB of OneDrive cloud storage
  4. SharePoint personal sites

Quick check answer

C. Microsoft 365 F1 does not include the installable versions of the Office 365 applications, includes only 2 GB Exchange Online mailboxes, and does not include SharePoint personal sites.