Resolution

A subscription moves through the following service states between the time it is purchased and when it may eventually be de-provisioned.

  • Active State. An active subscription is a subscription that is ordered and enabled for a customer and that remains in compliance with the terms of the subscription purchase.

  • In Grace State. A subscription enters a grace period (“in grace” state) when it expires and is not renewed. During the grace period, end users can continue to use subscription services; however when using services they see a warning message displayed within the MOP or MOAC Online Services interface. This message alerts users that if the subscription is not renewed access to services will be terminated. The length of the grace periods varies by offer but is typically 30 days. Syndication partner (provider) is billed by Microsoft for subscriptions in grace period.

  • Disabled State. A subscription can be disabled in several ways. An expired subscription will automatically be disabled after the grace period ends. Partners can also disable an active subscription prior to expiration if the customer is out of compliance with the terms of the contract (for example, non-payment for services). When the subscription is in the disabled state:

    • Customer end users have no access to subscription services.
    • The customer service administrator is limited to backing up customer data.
    • The partner can continue to bill the customer for the subscription during this period.
    • Subscriptions are typically allowed to remain in a disabled state up to 90 days, during which time the subscription can be re-activated without the loss of customer data.
    • Provider is not billed by Microsoft
  • De-provisioned State. If the customer has not renewed the subscription by the end of the disabled period, the subscription is automatically canceled and the customer is de-provisioned for services. After de-provisioning, a customer cannot retrieve any stored data associated with the subscription. Office 365 subscriptions that are managed through the IOrderManagement Interface will expose the active, in grace period, and disabled states of the subscription lifecycle.

    BPOS subscriptions and Office 365 subscriptions that are managed through the ISubscriptionManagement Interface will represent subscriptions that are in either the “Grace period” state or the “disabled” state as being in the disabled state in the MOSI APIs.

Important: If a subscription that is in a disabled or grace period state is reactivated, the effect on any child subscriptions will vary based on the offer type: * For Office 365 subscriptions, the reactivation will not cascade to child subscriptions. * For BPOS subscriptions, the reactivation will cascade to child subscriptions. The following figure shows the various states in which a subscription may exist over a time. The illustration assumes the subscription is not for any reason disabled prior to its expiration and that the subscription is not set up for automatic renewal.

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POA and PBA parameters related to Office 365 subscriptions lifecycle

  1. Value of setting Subscription Disabling Behavior in activation parameters of Office 365 application resource type.

    • Disable users only - When a POA subscription becomes disabled, the related MOP (Microsoft Online Portal) subscriptions are not affected, but the related MOP users are disabled. This option is selected by default.
    • Disable subscriptions - When a POA subscription becomes disabled, the related MOP subscriptions and users both become disabled. Note that the MOP service automatically cancels the disabled MOP subscriptions, which are not re-enabled for 90 days.
  2. PBA setting Destroy Service after Hold Period from service terms that are applied to the subscription.
    • Yes - Subscription deleted in POA after hold period
    • No - Subscription stays in status Disabled in POA after hold period

If POA setting Subscription Disabling Behavior has value 'Disable subscriptions', then subscription in MOP is always disabled as soon as POA subscription is disabled.

If POA setting 'Subscription Disabling Behavior' has value 'Disable users only', then subscription in MOP is disabled only if 'Destroy Service after Hold Period' is set to 'Yes' in PBA and hold period has ended.

In another case subscription stays active until it expires in MOP. Provider is charged by Microsoft.

If POA setting 'Subscription Disabling Behavior' has value 'Disable subscriptions' it is reasonable to use value of the subscription grace and hold periods in PBA equal to the similar values in MOP.

Parameters mappings and the default values:

  • PBA Grace period = Grace period in MOP = 30 days
  • PBA Hold period = Period while subscription stays in state Disabled in MOP = 90 days

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