General incentive patterns and policies reconciliation frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Appropriate roles: Incentives Admin and Incentives User

What is the difference between Microsoft commerce incentives and other incentive programs?

Traditionally, every time there's a new incentive offer, it was set up as a separate program or as a lever in one of the existing programs. However, since October 1, 2021, any commercial incentive offers that are new or undergo rule changes are launched as engagements under Microsoft Commerce Incentives or as new levers under existing engagements (think of engagements as containers).

Note

This does not apply to OEM (original equipment manufacturers) yet. Any transactions on new commerce will only be incentivized through a Microsoft Commerce Incentive engagement. Engagement names are unique and could change over time as they align around program refresh periods. Lever names could be the same across engagements and could change.

Diagrams showing existing incentive/store programs compared with Microsoft Commerce Incentives.

What are the different pages that I need to access for various incentive programs being paid on Partner Center?

Task Applicability Workspace
Start your incentives journey by making sure you are enrolled in the incentive program. Learn more at Enrollment overview All programs Incentives
Manage user permission for the enrolled programs. To learn more, see Permissions Overview All programs Account Settings
Make sure payout and tax profiles are up to date for each earning type within the program to continue receiving payments. All programs Incentives
View all available engagements under Microsoft Commerce Incentives and your eligibility status to qualify for the engagement. To learn more, see MCI engagements Microsoft commerce incentives Incentives
Understand the revenue/usage eligibility/ineligibility for Microsoft commerce incentives. To learn more about the insights covered in this page, see Earnings-revenue Microsoft commerce incentives Earnings
View aggregates and download earnings, payments and reconciliation details. To learn about earning insights and earning summary section definitions and purpose, see Earnings All programs Earnings
View upcoming or sent payment orders and download details in the Payment summary section. To learn about the payment summary section, see Earnings All programs Earnings
View and download reports queued from all pages on Earnings workspace or create a new download from this page. To learn more about how to use the page, see Earnings reports All programs Earnings

How do I learn about the new incentive offers and understand my eligibility to participate?

Learn about existing and new incentive offers at Partner Incentives.

For Microsoft Commerce Incentives, view all of the available engagements and your eligibility to participate by navigating to the Incentives workspace > Engagements Overview.

Screenshot of the Incentives MCI engagement screen.

You can check the Microsoft Commerce Incentives specific revenue eligibility using the Revenue page in the Earnings workspace (not applicable for build intent engagements).

How do I understand why I'm not eligible for any of the engagements-based Microsoft Commerce Incentives?

  1. Check if you're eligible for engagement by looking it up in the screen below. Green tick mark means you're eligible. If it's empty, then you aren't.

    Note

    For some engagements, partner eligibility is custom controlled and if it does not show up on your screen, then it means you aren't eligible.

  2. In the event you're eligible for engagement, check the Revenue page for specific customer or transaction level ineligibility. Revenue - Ineligible reason codes outlines the possible ineligible reason codes the system generates today and next steps (if any).

    Note

    Expanding the list of reason codes on the Revenue page will be an ongoing exercise.

  3. Product eligibility for incentives isn't shown in the above pages. Refer to the product eligibility list in the product addendum section of each engagement by navigating through this guide https://aka.ms/incentivesguide

  • For additional help, contact support