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This article describes seven key Partner Contribution Indicators (PCI) used to assess a partner's progress toward attaining or retaining a Silver or Gold Cloud Business Applications competency.

You can see your PCI progress on the Partner Contribution Dashboard. The data is updated on the 20th of every month, with data from the previous month. For example, February data will be published on March 20th.

All of the Dynamics on-premises resources you used to access on PartnerSource are now available at the links below. Pricing, ordering, and agreements Go to PartnerSource Business Center to create an order, download license keys, renew contracts, find partner-only downloads, access price lists, and submit incentive claims. Browse the directory to find a Microsoft Dynamics ERP partner. Note that companies may represent additional products and geographies not listed below. Please refer to company profile pages for complete information or browse by industry. Find Canadian Regional Microsoft Dynamics ERP Partners.

Note

Learn how partners can use a different set of Partner Contribution Indicator metrics to attain the Silver or Gold Small and Midmarket Cloud Solutions competency through the Cloud Business Applications SMB option. For more information, see Use Partner Contribution Indicators for the Small and Midmarket Cloud Solutions competency. You can also read more about competencies and their requirements.

This article includes information about:

• How to access and read the PCI charts in Partner Center

Overview of Partner Contribution Indicators for this competency

Partner Contribution Indicators provide a holistic measure of a partner's impact in driving successful customer outcomes and therefore greater differentiation in the market when a partner attains or retains the Silver or Gold Cloud Business Applications competency.

With PCI, partners receive credit for key measures of customer success, such as successful deployments and increasing usage. They are rewarded for continuing to invest in and scale out their technical capabilities.

When a partner achieves certain levels of impact in key indicators, for example, the partner can attain (or retain) the Silver or Gold Cloud Business Applications competency.

Note

To learn more about the benefits of attaining competencies, see Microsoft partner competencies.

PCI scoring based on seven key indicators

PCI provides a sophisticated view of a partner's technical capabilities, their ability to drive customer success, and their sales performance. To help partners attain the Silver or Gold Cloud Business Applications competency, PCI measures your company's prior-year performance across seven key indicators:

Performance indicators:

1. Net new revenue: Net new revenue across all sales channels for Microsoft Dynamics 365 products. (For details about this metric, see Definitions for net new revenue.)

2. Net customer adds: Net customers acquired for Dynamics 365 across all sales channels. (For details about this metric, see Definitions for net customer adds.)

Capability indicators:

3. Functional consultants: Number of individuals holding a currently active Functional Consultant Associate certification for Dynamics 365. (For details about this metric, see Definitions for functional consultants.)

4. Functional consultant growth: Growth in the number of Functional Consultant Associates. There are a few options to obtain points for this indicator. One option requires the baseline snapshot for the Functional consultant growth metric in PCI to be taken on October 1, 2020. (For details about all options to obtain points for this metric, see Definitions for functional consultant growth.)

5. Developers: Number of individuals holding a currently active Developer Associate certification for Dynamics 365. (For details about this metric, see Definitions for developers.)

Customer success indicators:

6. New large deployments: Number of production tenants that cross the high-usage threshold over the past 12 months. (For details about this metric, see Definitions for new large deployments.)

7. Monthly active user growth: Growth in monthly active users across all your customers over the past 12 months. (For details about this metric, see Definitions for monthly active user growth.)

How PCI score impacts competency eligibility

Points are granted for each achieved indicator, resulting in a single-number PCI score. 100 maximum points are possible.

Your PCI score determines competency eligibility, as follows:

The following image offers a quick, visual reference.

Maximum PCI competency scores you can achieve for each indicator

Each indicator brings a score that is added to the total. Here are the maximum scores for each indicator for the Cloud Business Applications competency:

The following image offers a quick, visual reference.

Thresholds for each PCI metric for this competency

Each PCI metric has Microsoft-set thresholds that can earn your company maximum points. These thresholds differ for the Customer Engagement and Finance and Operations paths used to attain the Cloud Business Applications competency. The thresholds also differ for partners operating in developed markets versus partners operating exclusively in developing markets. The Developed or Developing market categorization of a country is based on the Microsoft Partner Network definitions.

Note that 4 metrics are measured based on the location in which the partner does business, and not where the MPN location is registered. This means that a partner registered in a developing market, who has customers from a developed market, will need to meet the PCI score for developed countries.

The table below shows which location applies by metric.

Points across each metric are tallied to yield a distinct PCI score for Customer Engagement and Finance and Operations. This score will be updated monthly.

Partners can earn the maximum points for a given metric if they meet or exceed the thresholds indicated below. Partial points can be earned for all metrics except for Functional consultant growth.

For example, a developed market partner with $150,000 in Net New Revenue will earn half ($150,000/$300,000) of the maximum 10 points.

See the following tables for details:

Table 1 Customer Engagement thresholds for this competency

* Note: Growth targets differ based on the number of baseline consultants and the specific option a partner uses to obtain points. To learn more about options to obtain points or each option’s specific growth targets, see Definitions for functional consultant growth.

Table 2 Finance and Operations thresholds for this competency

* Note: Growth targets differ based on the number of baseline consultants and the specific option a partner uses to obtain points. To learn more about options to obtain points or each option’s specific growth targets, see Definitions for functional consultant growth.

Prerequisites to receive PCI credit for a customer

Certain Partner Contribution Indicators only allow you to receive credit for a given customer if you have a specific partner-to-customer association with them. The indicators, or PCI metrics, impacted by these prerequisites are:

• Net new revenue
• Net customer adds
• New deployments
• Monthly active user growth

You can only receive credit for these PCI metrics for a given customer if you have one of the following partner-to-customer associations:

• You are a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) for a paid subscription belonging to that customer's tenant
• You are the Claiming Partner of Record (CPOR) for a paid subscription belonging to that customer's tenant
• You are a Digital Partner of Record (DPOR) for a paid subscription belonging to that customer's tenant

A partner becomes the CPOR if they have established association with a customer at the subscription level via the Dynamics 365 Online Services Advisor (OSA) incentive or Dynamics 365 Online Services Usage (OSU) incentive. To learn more, see Understand CPOR associations.

A partner becomes the DPOR if they have established association with a customer at the subscription level within the product.

Note

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When both CPOR and DPOR exist for a given customer subscription, the CPOR will receive credit for the relevant PCI metrics associated with that subscription. If the association was via OSA (revenue claim), the CPOR receives the credit for Net new revenue and Net customer adds. If the association was via OSU (usage claim), the CPOR receives the credit for New deployments and Monthly active user growth. Pre-sales claims are not eligible for PCI.

Detailed PCI metrics definitions for this competency

The following sections describe more details about each of the seven PCI metrics and how their points are calculated.

Use the following list to go quickly to a specific definition:

Definitions for PCI metric #1 - Net new revenue

Net new revenue is a performance indicator. This indicator's points are calculated for the Cloud Business Applications competency as follows:

• Net new revenue is defined as net new billed revenue across all sales channels for qualifying Dynamics 365 products.

• Net new revenue is summed up over a trailing 12-month period with a maximum possible earning of 10 points.

• Points for net new revenue are calculated as billings minus credits and aggregated over 12 months.

• Net new revenue is calculated based on the following, qualifying products:

  • Customer Engagement-qualifying products include: Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Project Service Automation, Marketing, Microsoft Relationship Sales, Plan 1, Talent, and Enterprise Team Member.
  • Finance and Operations-qualifying products include: Unified Operations, Finance, Supply Chain Management, Retail, Commerce, Plan 2, Mixed Reality, Talent, and Enterprise Team Member.

• Sales channels include Enterprise Agreement (EA), Cloud Solution Provider (CSP), and Web Direct.

• For Enterprise Agreement revenue-only: This revenue includes revenue from the first year of the agreement. Recurring revenue from the second and third year is not included.

Definitions for PCI metric #2 - Net customer adds

Net customer adds is a performance indicator. This indicator's points are calculated for the Cloud Business Applications competency as follows:

• Net customer adds are summed up over a trailing 12-month period with a maximum possible earnings of 10 points.

• Net customers are added across all sales channels.

• Points for net customer adds are calculated monthly as customers added minus customers lost and are aggregated over 12 months.

• A customer add is defined under these conditions: When a customer has no paid seats across all their subscriptions in a prior month, but has at least one paid seat in the current month.

• A customer lost is defined under these conditions: When a customer has at least one paid seat across all their subscriptions in a prior month, and does not have any paid seats in the current month.

• Maximum and partial points can be earned for net customer adds. The following shows requirements to earn maximum points for a given competency:

  For this pathway	Net customer adds to earn maximum 10 points
  Customer Engagement	- 10 net customer adds (for partners in developed markets); - 5 net customer adds (for partners in developing markets)
  Finance and Operations	- 3 net customer adds (for partners in developed markets); - 1 new customer add (for partners in developing markets)

  Note

  For details about developed vs. developing markets, see these Microsoft Partner Network definitions.

• Sales channels include Enterprise Agreement (EA), Cloud Solution Provider (CSP), and Web Direct.

• For multiple partners/same customer or customer working directly with Microsoft: There are different calculations of customer adds and customer lost for cases where multiple partners are associated with the same customer through different subscriptions or for cases where the customer may already be working directly with Microsoft. These calculations appear below.

  For multiple partners, same customer, different subscriptions:

  • All partners associated with the customer will get credit for a new customer add in the month the customer is added.

  • Subsequent partners associating with the same customer via old or new subscriptions will not get new customer add credit for that customer.

  • All partners associated with the customer will lose credit for a new customer add in the month the customer is lost.

  • Any partner associating with the same customer subsequently, via old or new subscriptions, will get new customer add credit for that customer.

  When the customer is already working directly with Microsoft:

  • If a customer is already working directly with Microsoft and has met the new customer add criteria, partners associating with the same customer subsequently, via old or new subscriptions, will not get new customer add credit for that customer.

Definitions for PCI metric #3 - Functional consultants

Functional consultants is a capability indicator. This indicator's points are calculated for the Cloud Business Applications competency as follows:

• Functional consultant indicator points are based on the current month snapshot with a maximum possible earnings of 15 points.

• Functional consultants are defined as the number of individuals holding a currently active Functional Consultant Associate certification, such as a Customer Engagement Functional Consultant certification or a Finance and Operations Functional Consultant certification.

• Customer Engagement Functional Consultant certification requires an individual to pass:

  • MB-200* or PL-200
    and one of the following exams:
  • MB-210, MB-220, MB-230, MB-240, or MB6-898**.

• Finance and Operations Functional Consultant certification requires an individual to pass:

  • MB-300
    and one of the following exams:
  • MB-310, MB-320, MB-330, MB-897**, or MB6-898**.

Note

Exams marked with an asterisk (*) are being retired or replaced in the coming months. See below for specific details:

• Exams marked with a single asterisk (*) were retired on December 31, 2020. Exams retired on December 31, 2020 will remain eligible for competency attainment and renewal until December 31, 2021, if taken before they are retired.
• Exams marked with two asterisks (**) are retiring on January 31, 2021. Exams retiring on January 31, 2021 will remain eligible for competency attainment and renewal until January 31, 2022, if taken before they are retired.

Definitions for PCI metric #4 - Functional consultant growth

Functional consultant growth is a capability indicator. This indicator's points are calculated for the Cloud Business Applications competency as follows:

A partner has one of two options to attain the all-or-nothing points (15 or 0 points) available for this metric. No partial points will be awarded.

Option one to obtain points:

• Functional consultant growth is defined as the growth in number of certified Functional Consultant Associates since a baseline snapshot. Baseline snapshot date will be taken October 1, 2020.

• Functional consultant growth indicator points are based on the current month snapshot compared to the October 1, 2020 baseline. Partners can achieve 0 or 15 points with this indicator.

• The baseline snapshot will be subsequently reset on the next Cloud Business Applications competency renewal date.

• To be eligible for points, you must have a minimum of 15 Functional Consultant Associates for Developed market partners and 5 for Developing market partners when the baseline snapshot is taken.

• No partial points will be awarded. Growth on top of the baseline snapshot must meet or exceed the thresholds indicated in the following table. The table shows a Developed and Developing column with the functional consultant baseline needed to be eligible to earn points.

  Developed	Developing	Growth needed to earn all 15 points
  15-29	5-14	35%
  30-49	15-24	25%
  50 and above	25 and above	See options below

Option two to obtain points:

• Developed market partners can certify 50 or more functional consultants in time for their first PCI-based Cloud Business Applications competency anniversary. (Developing market partners can certify 25 or more functional consultants in time for their first PCI-based Cloud Business Applications competency anniversary.)

• If you reach this threshold, you will receive the full 15 points for Functional Consultant Growth for 24 months from that date. This effectively means you will get maximum points for Functional Consultant Growth for two Cloud Business Applications competency anniversaries.

Definitions for PCI metric #5 - Developers

Developers is a capability indicator. This indicator's points are calculated for the Cloud Business Applications competency as follows:

• Developers are defined as the number of individuals holding a currently active Developer Associate certification.

• Points for the Developers indicator are based on the current month snapshot with a maximum of 5 points available.

• Customer Engagement Developers get credit when they pass:

  • PL-400
    or
  • MB-200* and one of the following exams:
    • MB-400* or MB2-716**

• Finance and Operations Developers get credit when they pass:

  • MB-300
    and one of the following exams:
  • MB-500 or MB-894**

Note

Exams marked with an asterisk (*) are being retired or replaced in the coming months. See below for specific details:

• Exams marked with a single asterisk (*) were retired on December 31, 2020. Exams retired on December 31, 2020 will remain eligible for competency attainment and renewal until December 31, 2021, if taken before they were retired.
• Exams marked with two asterisks (**) are retiring on January 31, 2021. Exams retiring on January 31, 2021 will remain eligible for competency attainment and renewal until January 31, 2022, if taken before they are retired.

Definitions for PCI metric #6 - New large deployments

New large deployments are a customer success indicator. This indicator's points are calculated for the Cloud Business Applications competency as follows:

• New large deployments are summed up over a trailing 12-month period with a maximum of 20 points available.

• New large deployments are defined differently for Customer Engagement vs. Finance and Operations and for partners operating in developed markets vs. developing markets:

  • For Customer Engagement, new large deployments are defined as the number of production instances under a tenant that have crossed 250 monthly active users (for Developed market partners) and 150 monthly active users (for Developing market partners).

  • For Finance and Operations, new large deployments are defined as the number of production instances under a tenant that have crossed 100 monthly active users (for Developed market partners) and 50 monthly active users (for Developing market partners).

  (For details about developed vs. developing markets, see these Microsoft Partner Network definitions.)

• A tenant is considered to have crossed the monthly active user threshold if the tenant was:

  • Below the specified threshold 12 months ago, and

  • Crossed that threshold at least once over the subsequent 11 months.

• Monthly active users are counted at the tenant level and summed up across only the paid subscriptions under the tenant.

• Monthly active users are calculated at the end of every month.

• Partners are associated to tenants at the subscription level. Subscriptions are mapped to following, qualifying Customer Engagement products or to Finance and Operations products:

  • Customer Engagement-qualifying products include: Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Project Service Automation, Marketing, Microsoft Relationship Sales, Plan 1, Talent, and Enterprise Team Member.
  • Finance and Operations-qualifying products include: Unified Operations, Finance, Supply Chain Management, Retail, Commerce, Plan 2, Mixed Reality, Talent, and Enterprise Team Member.

• All partners associated to any paid subscription under a tenant will get credit for all the Customer Engagement or Finance and Operations production instances under that tenant.

Definitions for PCI metric #7 - Monthly active user growth

Monthly active user growth is a customer success indicator. This indicator's points are calculated for the Cloud Business Applications competency as follows:

• Monthly active user growth is defined as the growth of monthly active users across the entire customer base over the past 12 months.

• Monthly active users are counted at the tenant level and summed up across only the paid subscriptions under the tenant.

• The monthly active user growth indicator compares the current month against a baseline from 12 months ago. 25 maximum points are available.

• Monthly active users are calculated at the end of every month.

• Monthly active user growth is defined differently for Customer Engagement vs. Finance and Operations pathways, and for partners operating in developed markets vs. developing markets:

  • For Customer Engagement to be eligible for points, Developed market partners must have a baseline of at least 250 monthly active users, and Developing market partners must have a baseline of 150 monthly active users across their entire customer base 12 months ago.

  • For Finance and Operations to be eligible for points, Developed market partners must have a baseline of at least 100 monthly active users, and Developing market partners must have a baseline of 50 monthly active users across their entire customer base 12 months ago.

  (For details about developed vs. developing markets, see these Microsoft Partner Network definitions

• Partners are associated to tenants at the subscription level. Subscriptions are mapped to qualifying Customer Engagement products or to qualifying Finance and Operations products.

• All partners associated to any paid subscription under a tenant will get credit for all the Customer Engagement or Finance and Operations monthly active users summed up across all paid subscriptions under that tenant.

How to access Partner Contribution Indicators

This section describes how to access Partner Contribution Indicators from the Partner Center dashboard and how to read the associated charts.

To view your Partner Contribution Indicators charts and progress, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to the Partner Center dashboard.

2. Select CSP from the navigation menu, then select Partner Contribution Indicators.

   You should see the Partner Contribution Indicators dashboard with associated charts.

   Note

   If you don't see these options, try to select MPN from the menu, followed by Partner Contribution Indicators. If you still can't find these options, you may not have the appropriate user role assigned in Partner Center. Contact your Partner Center Global admin or MPN partner admin for help.

For more information on using this area, see the collection of resources and videos found at the end of this article.

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Next steps

View more PCI training videos and informational resources about attaining the Gold or Silver Cloud Business Applications competency.

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