Microsoft Annual Licensing

About the Service

Lancashire County Council Education Digital Services are pleased to provide schools with the opportunity to access cost effective licensing for Microsoft Software and Cloud Services. We offer two distinct models for schools to choose from:

Microsoft Enrolment for Education Solutions (Annual Billing):

We have arranged a single framework agreement that allows school customers to join a centrally managed Microsoft Enrolment for Education Solutions (EES) Annual License Agreement. The Agreement runs from 01 January 2024 to 31 December 2026. It enables your school to ensure it has licenses for a range of Microsoft products, and that your school can comply with its Microsoft licensing obligations.

Microsoft Select (Perpetual Licences):

Our Microsoft EES Agreement allows schools access to all the licences likely to be required, but we also offer a separate Microsoft Select Agreement for schools who aren't subscribing to the annual licensing agreement and require perpetual licences.

What are the benefits?

Our EES Agreement for subscription Microsoft licensing offers schools the following benefits:

Access to the Latest Software: Provides the latest versions of Microsoft Office and Windows, ensuring licensing compliance for all software and services covered by the Microsoft 365 A3 licence for all staff and pupils.
Upgrade Rights: Ensures your school is licensed for current software and has the right to upgrade to the latest versions. This includes all PCs/laptops across the school and any new devices purchased during the agreement’s term.
Enhanced Security: Provides access to Conditional Access Multifactor Authentication (MFA), a key security feature for your staff.
Simplified Licensing Model: Uses the EQU model (Education Qualified User) for counting staff users, eliminating the need to count devices in school. Each EQU purchased provides 1 Faculty licence and 40 Student licences.
Student Benefits: Ensures pupils are licensed to use the latest software versions for the agreement’s duration, including the ability for them to download up to five copies of Microsoft Office for use on non-school devices.
Budget Planning: Helps budget planning with fixed pricing for the agreement’s term. Licensing costs do not increase when adding licences for new PC purchases, unless your EQU count increases.
Simplified Process: Keeps Microsoft licensing simple by including it in your SLA charges each year.
Additional Licences: Additional licences can be provided under the agreement. Server licences can be bought on a subscription basis as EES add-ons. Note: If you purchased subscription server licences under the previous agreement, you will need to continue purchasing these as add-ons in the new agreement.

What's Included?

Service Features

EES Service Features

Feature	Description
Minimum Term	The agreement runs from 01 January 2024 to 31 December 2026. Schools can join at any time, but will be committed to purchasing the subscriptions until 31 December 2026. Your subscription will be charged annually and cannot be cancelled part way through the term.
Licence Options	All EES annual licensing models are based on the new Microsoft 365 licence options (either A3 or A5).
Software Included in the EES Agreement (A3 Licence)	The A3 licence covers use of: Office 365. Classroom Tools (e.g. Teams, OneNote Class Notebook, Sway, Minecraft). Windows 10 Education and any new versions e.g. Windows 11. A range of CALs and services (includes Windows Server CALs for Staff Faculty licences). All online Office Apps included in the free A1 licence. Office 365 includes the latest full version of the Office desktop applications such as Outlook, Word, Excel, OneNote and PowerPoint, for download and use on all school PCs. Pupils can also download up to 5 copies of desktop Office software (Office ProPlus) for personal use as well as using the online only versions of Office Apps. Security features including Conditional Access Multifactor Authentication (MFA) to help protect staff accounts, whilst minimising the frequency of MFA requests whilst in school. For full details of all Microsoft products licensed under the A3 licence, please see the Comparison Table on the Microsoft website and the Additional Information section at the end of this service definition.
Add-on Server Licences to the EES Agreement	We can offer other Microsoft licenses e.g. Server licenses as add-ons to the EES Agreement. Licenses are subject to quote. Add-On pricing is based on an annual subscription per licence not. Please contact EducationDigitalServices@Lancashire.gov.uk to request a quote. Please provide the Microsoft Product ID codes if you have previously purchased these products an annual basis.
Software Assurance	All software included in the Microsoft EES Agreement includes software assurance (it can also be purchased at extra cost via our Select Agreement). This is a key benefit and means that you do not have to pay extra for licenses when a new version of the software is released by Microsoft and you wish to upgrade.
Licensing purchases (EES Agreement)	Charges are calculated on the number of Education Qualified Users (EQUs) in your school, not by device. An EQU (Education Qualified User) is any member of school staff, employee or contractor that uses any of the components that make up the Microsoft 365 Education platform (A3 licence) – these are Microsoft 365, Office 365, Windows 10 Education and EMS E3 (see pricing below).
Licensing purchases (Select Agreement)	Schools requiring perpetual licenses via a one-off payment can request a quote for pricing from our Select Agreement.
Allocation of Licences to users (EES Agreement)	All A3 and A5 licences purchased under the EES agreement will be made available in your school's Office 365 tenancy, where your school will be able to allocate licences to users. This will include any free A1 licences required (see Additional Information section below)
Access to Licence Keys and Software Media	Your licence keys will be managed as with the current agreement and distributed as required by Lancashire County Council Education Digital Services. We will arrange transfer of media if required. There is no charge for any schools that have already purchased this agreement.
Management	Under the EES agreement each school will have its own sub-tenant agreement. For schools for whom we hold the Office 365 Global Administration credentials, we work with Microsoft to ensure your new licences are allocated to your Office 365 tenancy. If we don't support your Office 365 tenancy, you will need to nominate a member of school staff (not a Third-Party) to sign your school's Microsoft e-agreement on behalf of your school. This person will receive all notification emails from Microsoft direct and will be responsible for allocating and assigning licences in your Office 365 tenancy to staff and pupils throughout the lifetime of the agreement. They will need to assign all your new agreement licences to staff / pupils within 90 days from allocation. The agreement is managed by Phoenix, our authorised Microsoft Reseller, and licences under our EES Agreement can only be bought via Lancashire County Council Education Digital Services. If your school has an existing Annual Microsoft OVS-ES agreement and wishes to transfer to our EES Agreement, please confirm this when you place your order and we'll arrange this via our Reseller.
Licence Validity	Software installed under the EES Agreement is licensed on a subscription only basis. The licences are not valid without a subscription to the annual agreement. If you require a perpetual licence, to "own" a licence (rather than subscribe), please request a quote under our Microsoft Select Agreement. Please note in most scenarios this is usually more expensive. All Microsoft software or licenses must be licensed through either an annual Microsoft agreement or an individual one-off purchase of a perpetual licence for each device/user. It is your school's responsibility to ensure you are fully licensed.

Installation Options

Feature	Description
Software Installation	Your licence does not include installation but if your school purchases technical support from us, your technician can: Update software to new versions under your support agreement (subject to the limitations on number of installations – please refer to your service definition for your support option). Install additional copies of the licensed software as part of the installation charge quoted when purchasing new equipment.