Cisco Smart Account and Smart Licensing Partner Q&A Forum

Cisco Smart Account and Smart Licensing Partner Q&A Forum
Date: August 31st 2017 Intended Audience: Cisco Partners and Distributors We will start at 8:05 AM PDT

Agenda list 1 2 3 4 5 6 Overview Pre-submitted Questions Quiz CCW Demo
Introduction Objectives / Ground Rules 1 2 Pre-submitted Questions Agenda list 3 Quiz 4 CCW Demo 5 Open Q&A Forum 6 Next Steps

Today’s Software Lifecycle
Multiple manual steps No Product Activation Key? Proof of Purchase? Problem Severe Pain, Stop, Call Cisco Licenses are locked to one device Manually re-host to different device No visibility to assets across the company Step 1, step 2, step 1, step 2 Activate Manage Fulfill Renew Upgrade Boxes of Product Activation Keys Boxes of CDs 3 steps, moderate pain, Wait No visibility into when my software needs to be renewed 6 steps each, stop, call Cisco Moderate to severe pain Purchase I don’t understand Cisco licensing I don’t know what I own 8 steps, stop and call Cisco, moderate pain In a traditional software lifecycle there are many steps and pain points to between the initial purchase of a license, to management and renewal because of the need for specialized knowledge, product activation, and a general lack of visibility.

Classic PAK Based Licenses
Change is Coming… “Customers don’t know what they own, and Cisco can’t tell them.” #1 Software CSAT Issue Smart Accounts User access control and Enterprise –Wide Visibility New Smart Licenses Flexible mobility and visibility into license usage reduces OPEX cost Classic PAK Based Licenses Enterprise view of PAKs, license and devices for selected users and automatic PAK registration Simplified license activation and management for customers provides you with easier selling points Increased & shared visibility to your customer’s Cisco devices, software instances, and licenses if you are granted access – up sell opportunities Opportunity to manage products and licenses on behalf of your customers as an added service to your customers Improve relationships with your customers and provide better competitive advantage Partner Benefits Cisco Smart Accounts and Smart Licensing resolves these problems by simplifying the entire process and enabling enterprise-wide visibility and user access controls, flexible licenses that reduce expenses, and simplified management. These features give you better, shared visibility to your customer’s Cisco devices, software, and licenses enabling you with more effective initial selling points and up-sell opportunities.

Customer Smart Account
Cisco Smart Accounts A customer or partner managed centralized account that provides full visibility and access control of Cisco Smart software licenses across customer’s company. Customer Smart Account Assets Users Pool all assets, user roles, and agreements Customer, designated channel partner, or other authorized party Additional End State Benefits of Smart Accounts include: Downloading new software Find out what new licenses you have Review Service contracts So to start off: what is a Smart Account? A Smart Account is a centralized account managed by a Partner or Customer that provides full visibility and access control to all Cisco Software licenses across the Customer’s company. You can think of it as a bank account where users can store, manage and move assets from one Virtual Account to another. Smart Accounts are becoming the heart of Cisco transactions. It is mandatory for Smart Licenses to be assigned to a Smart Account and it is highly recommended, but not required, for PAK-based licenses. Partners are responsible for designating the correct Smart Account for any smart license SKUs they are ordering. Review logs and specific cases you’ve opened Track Purchases

How Does Smart Software Licensing Work?
Cisco Smart Licensing is a new way of thinking about licensing at Cisco that is being applied to all products Smart Licensing provides a Software Inventory Management System that provides Customers, Cisco, and Selected Partners with information about Software Ownership and Software Utilization Ownership Usage Commerce (CCW) ‘Smart’ Account Cisco Product Hello, I am Device-East5, I belong to BigU.edu and I am using 1x Advanced License I Have Purchased 5 additional ‘Advanced’ Licenses for BigU.edu Hello, You are Device-East5, belonging to BigU.edu and the Physics department you are ‘In-Compliance’ BigU.edu I Own: 10 I am Using: Using Smart Licenses provides Customers, Cisco, and selected Partners with information on Software Ownership and Utilization through their Smart Accounts. Customers can manage all their Cisco Smart Software licenses from the Smart Software Manager one centralized website, or SSM. Within the SSM tool, Customers can: Transfer licenses and product instances between Virtual Accounts as required Maintain compliance through alerts and notification Register licenses to devices and how that connects back to the Smart Accounts +5 +1

Customer Smart Account
Smart Account Types Holding Smart Account Customer Smart Account Account where partners / distributors can temporarily deposit orders until the end customer smart account is identified. Also provide company-wide access to orders associated with the Holding Account Who needs this: All Channel Partners Account where smart account enabled products are deposited. Licenses can be managed by customer directly, channel partner, or authorized party. Who needs this: All customers, and Channel Partners purchasing products for their own use There are 2 types of Smart Accounts accounts. Partner Holding Smart Accounts are used by Partners to store orders temporarily before they are deposited to end Customer Smart Accounts. Holding Accounts are useful when you may not know the End Customer or their Customer Smart Account at the time of order, but you can still place the order in a Holding Account temporarily. Once the Customer is identified post-order, you will transfer it to a Customer Smart Account. The distinguishing feature between the two account types is that Licenses can only be consumed in the Customer Smart Account, not a Holding Account. Assigning a holding account on an order also provides company-wide access to the order. A Customer Smart Account is where licenses are deposited for Customers to access and use. It serves as the repository of the Customer’s Cisco assets. All Customers will need to create a “Customer Smart Account” for their own licenses, as well as Partners who will be ordering and consuming licenses for themselves. Partners may also have the additional role of helping manage their Customer’s Smart Account. Virtual Accounts are subsets of Customer or Holding Smart Accounts and are used to internally organize licenses by department or other logical entities. You can use Virtual Accounts to organize licenses by business unit, product type, geographic region, or whatever makes sense for your organization. On the slide is an example of how a Customer Smart Account could be broken up into Virtual Accounts into 3 departments. It’s recommended to use Virtual Accounts instead of multiple Smart Accounts since device and license visibility and management can only be done within a single Smart Account. <Note to Trainer - Another benefit if they ask more for info: When ordering, you need to assign the order to a Smart Account. If you have 2 main Smart Accounts and the order is deposited into the incorrect accounts, it is a slow, manual process on the Cisco side, to change that assignment. Whereas, if you only had one account and used Virtual Accounts, if the order was assigned to the incorrect Virtual Account, you could easily move the license between Virtual Accounts.>

Cisco Smart Account and Smart Licensing
Customers, Partners, Sellers Cisco Trainers Partner Q&A Seminar Objectives Partner Q&A Seminar - Ground Rules Accelerate our response time to your questions and capability requests Receive your feedback about the SaaS Annuity Platform firsthand Highlight new system functionality 360 Relationship Enter questions into the Partner Q&A window Questions will be addressed in the order received Participants will be taken off mute when their question is addressed My Stakeholders Feedback Manager The objectives is for Cisco to accelerate our response time to your questions and capability requests. You’ll have direct access to SMEs on the call so you can get direct answers to any of your questions on SaaS. We’d also like to use these seminars to highlight new system functionalities that have come online. If you do have any questions, please enter them into the Partner Q&A window instead of the Chat window. We’ll answer questions in the order they’re received and we will take you off mute to answer your questions.

Pre-submitted Questions
Question 1: What would a Customer see when they log into their Smart Account? Answer 1: The Customer should go to software.cisco.com and login with their Cisco ID and password. The Customer will mainly leverage the License section and the Administration section in the portal. From the License section they can access the Smart Software Manager to manage their Smart Licenses in the Smart Account. They can also access the License Registration Portal to manage their PAK-based licenses in their Smart Account. In addition, they can go to the ELA Workspace to manage and generate licenses from their Cisco Enterprise Agreement. From the Administration section the Customer can manage Users, Virtual Accounts, request access to an existing Smart Account, request a new Smart Account. For more details, check the following training modules: Cisco Software Smart Account Setup and Administration for Customers Cisco Software Smart Account Setup and Administration for Partners Cisco Software Smart Licensing Management with Smart Accounts Cisco Software Classic Licensing Management with Smart Accounts Nathan

Question 2: What are the types of software subscriptions available? Answer 2: There are four primary types of software subscriptions that are available. Individual products with software subscriptions Product examples include FirePower, CSR, and EMCS. CiscoOne Subscriptions SaaS Subscriptions Enterprise Agreement (EA) Subscriptions SPLA post-date subscriptions (coming soon) Ben

Question 3: How can a Customer can share or give access to their Smart Account to their Partner? Answer 3: A Customer can give access to their Smart Account to their Partner, by adding the Partner as a User or Admin. The Customer User needs to be a Smart Account Administrator or at least a Virtual Account Administrator (the Virtual Account Admin will be able to add new users only at Virtual Account level). The Customer will go to Cisco Software Central (software.cisco.com)  Administration  Manage Smart Account  Users  click ”New User”. For more details, check the following training modules: Cisco Software Smart Account Setup and Administration for Customers Cisco Software Smart Account Setup and Administration for Partners Nathan

Question 4: How can I have multiple Smart Accounts linked to the same Domain? Answer 4: You cannot have two Smart Accounts with the same Domain ID. However, you can use prefixes. For example, if you have already created a Smart Account with the Domain ID you can request a new Smart Account, but you will have to edit the Domain ID. On the first page of the Smart Account Request, under Account Identity Information, click on ”Edit” Account Domain Identifier and enter a prefix (for example us.customer.com, emear.customer.com, uk.customer.com). Please note that the Smart Account Request with a modified Domain ID will require a check and approval from Cisco. For more details, check the following training modules: Cisco Software Smart Account Setup and Administration for Customers Cisco Software Smart Account Setup and Administration for Partners Nathan

Question 5: Can you assign a Smart Account when creating an Estimate in Cisco Commerce (CCW)? Answer 5: No, currently you cannot assign a Smart Account to a SKU in a CCW Estimate. You can assign a Smart Account to a CCW Quote and Order. However, in the CCW Estimate you will see the blue SA icon for the Smart Account mandatory SKUs. Please note that all Smart Licensing SKUs are Smart Account mandatory. Each Smart Licensing SKU will be tagged as ”Smart Licensing SKU”, so you will be able to see which SKU is a Smart License. For more details, check the following training modules: Cisco Software Smart Account Setup and Administration for Customers Cisco Software Smart Account Setup and Administration for Partners Ben

Question 6: How can we find out who the Customer Admin is on a Smart Account? Answer 6: You can ask your Customer to share their Smart Account Admin contact with you. However, if you need to request access to your Customer’s Smart Account, you can also leverage the option to ”Request Access to an Existing Smart Account” available in Cisco Software Central. From CSC (software.cisco.com), go to Administration  Request Access to an Existing Smart Account. From there, you can search for your Customer’s Smart Account by Account Domain Identifier (e.g. Cisco.com). You will be shown a list of Smart Accounts. You need to select the appropriate Customer Smart Account, provide a reason for requesting access and then submit the request. It’ll be sent to all Smart Account Admins from the Customer’s side. If these options do not work, you can open a case with the Global Licensing Office (GLO) at For more details, check the following training modules: Cisco Software Smart Account Setup and Administration for Customers Cisco Software Smart Account Setup and Administration for Partners Request Access to an Existing Smart Account QRG Nathan

Question 7: Will Smart Accounts be required for Software as a Service (SaaS) orders? Answer 7: Currently Smart Accounts are not required for SaaS orders but this will likely change towards the end of FY18 or the beginning of FY19. Advanced notice will come during Partner outreach like newsletters and monthly calls with the Cisco Software team like this Partner Smart Account / Smart Licensing Forum and the SaaS Seminar. For more details, check the following training modules: Cisco Software Smart Account Setup and Administration for Customers Cisco Software Smart Account Setup and Administration for Partners Ben

Question 8: What is a Smart Account? When is it recommended? What are the requirements? Answer 8: A Smart Account is a digital account where customers can keep their Cisco assets for their company. It provides common identify and user management which enables access from a variety of tools. Smart Accounts are associated with different portals: For Smart Licensing it is Smart Software Manager, where you store and manage your smart licenses. For Classic Licenses there is License Registration Portal where you deposit and manage your classic licenses. ELA Workspace is a tool where you manage your Enterprise Agreement licensing. For more details, check the following training modules: Cisco Software Smart Account Setup and Administration for Customers Cisco Software Smart Account Setup and Administration for Partners Cisco Software Smart Licensing Management with Smart Accounts Cisco Software Classic Licensing Management with Smart Accounts Cisco Software ELA Workspace Nathan

Question 9: How can we manage legacy PAK keys? Answer 9: Classic, PAK-based licenses are Smart Account optional at the time of order placement in Cisco Commerce (CCW). It is recommended to assign Classic PAKs to a Smart Account when placing the order. If this hasn’t been done, the Customer can get their licenses in LRP and then assign the PAK-based licenses to their Smart Account. The Licenses will the be managed in LRP (License Registration Portal), in the Customer’s Smart Account. The Customer can also convert eligible PAK-based Licenses to Smart Licenses (if an equivalent Smart Licensing SKU is available). Once converted, these Smart Licenses will be management in SSM (Smart Software Manager). For more details, check the following training module: Cisco Software CCW Quoting and Ordering with Smart Accounts Cisco Software Classic Licensing Management with Smart Accounts Ben

Quiz Question #1 Out of the following, what are best practices for managing Virtual Accounts? a) Having up to 100 Virtual Accounts b) Managing licenses outside of your user Virtual Account c) Assigning your Virtual Account as either public or private d) Options A & C above

Cisco Software Central (CSC)
Manage Smart Accounts - Virtual Accounts Best Practices You can create up to 1000 Virtual Accounts within one Smart Account. Virtual Accounts should be used to enable access control for licenses. Cisco Commerce Search At this time having more than 100 Virtual Accounts per Smart Account is not recommended, because it would degrade User Experience. Virtual Account Users can manage only the licenses in their Virtual Account. Public Virtual Account names are visible for Partners in the Cisco Commerce (CCW) Smart Account search. Private Virtual Account Names are not visible in Cisco Commerce search, but can be assigned by typing the exact VA name. Let’s pause for a few moments to talk about recommendations and best practices for managing Virtual Accounts. You can create up to 100 Virtual Accounts within one Smart Account. At this time having more than 100 Virtual Accounts per Smart Account is not recommended, because it would degrade User Experience. Virtual Accounts should be used to enable access control for licenses, because Virtual Account Users can manage only the licenses Virtual Account(s) to which they have access. . As regards Cisco Commerce search, please note that Public Virtual Account names are visible for Partners in the Cisco Commerce (CCW) Smart Account elastic search. Private Virtual Account Names are not visible in Cisco Commerce elastic search, but can be assigned to a license on the quote or order by typing the exact Virtual Account name.

Quiz Question #2 What licensing action is performed in Smart Software Manager (SSM) in a simple resale ordering scenario? a) Create Holding Smart Account b) Assign Order to Customer Smart Account c) Customer manages licenses with no partner involvement d) None of the above

Smart Licensing Ordering Scenarios
Customer Partner Cisco Software Central (CSC) Cisco Commerce Workspace (CCW) Smart Software Manager (SSM) Scenario 1: Simple Resale Create Holding Smart Account Assign Order to Customer Smart Account Customer manages licenses with no partner involvement Scenario 2: Resale with Lifecycle Management Create Holding Smart Account Assign Order to Customer Smart Account Partner assists or manages licenses on behalf of customer Scenario 3: Partner also Consumer Create a Customer Smart Account Assign Order to Customer Smart Account Manage Own Licenses Smart Licenses are deposited into the End Customer’s Customer Smart Account once the order has been shipped. The licenses are active and ready for use in SSM. Building on what we learned in the earlier modules - you will either be using SSM to manage your own company’s licenses or you will be managing them on behalf of an end Customer, if you are a lifecycle Partner and that Customer has provided you access to their Smart Account.

License Conversion Demo

Open Q&A Forum Thank you everyone for attending today’s session.
We’ll now open it up for questions.

Next Forum will be the end of September
Next Steps References and Links Next Forum will be the end of September After the call I will be sending out this deck, along with links to some of the material we covered today. The next Partner Seminar is current planned for a date to be determined in Septmber

Customer Support Submitting Cases Online Email Phone
Software Licensing Support Customers with Software Licensing issues/questions can open a case using standard Cisco processes: Software Licensing Support Hours Monday – Friday: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm (US PT) Product Support Technical Assistance Center (TAC) Customers can contact TAC for product support issues & questions using existing Cisco processes Online Phone If you need assistance or run into any technical issues, you can contact Cisco online, via , or by phone. Or the tool support feature is also available. ->

Additional Resources Want More?
For a list of Smart Enabled Product Families please visit the Cisco Communities pages (

Thank you.

Changing Assignment from Partner Holding Smart Account to Customer Smart Account
Let’s see how to change assignment from Partner Holding Smart Account to your End Customer Smart Account.

What’s Changing: Re-Assigning Smart Accounts
How to assign an order from Holding Account to Customer Smart Account post order, so the Customers can consume their Smart Account Mandatory/Smart Licenses: Notification Search for Orders missing Customer Smart Accounts Change Smart Account assignment You will receive a reminder notifying that the order needs to be moved from your holding account and assigned to the end Customer Smart Account. Search for orders that are not yet assigned to a Customer Smart Account (unassigned status). You must change the order assignment from a Holding Smart Account to a Customer Smart Account in CCW or, for Distributors, a Resellers Holding Account in CCW (Then The Reseller will reassign the order to the Customer Smart Account) Now that you understand the process and what SA will be assigned, I will explain how you assign an order from Holding Account to Customer Smart Account post-order, so that Customers can consume their licenses: Check for Notification. Search for Orders without a Customer Smart Account. Change Smart Account Assignment.

CCW Email Notification
If a Holding Account is assigned, you will receive a notification upon order submission informing you that a Customer Smart Account assignment is required (for Smart Licenses Only). preferences are set in CSC. Notification Recipients Whoever normally receives CCW notifications Order Manager for Holding Accounts If a Holding Account is assigned, you will receive a notification upon order submission informing you that a Customer Smart Account assignment is required. preferences are set in CSC. The notification is sent to whoever normally receives the CCW notification and the order manager roles within the Holding Account upon order submission informing them that a Customer Smart Account assignment is required. The Holding Account Order Manager can go into CCW to assign orders from holding to Customer Smart Accounts.

CCW Search for Smart Account Orders
1 1 To reassign an order from a Holding Smart Account to a Customer Smart Account or to a different Holding Smart Account, search for the order. Under Orders, click Smart Account Orders. 2 2 Service Contracts and Subscriptions tabs are now consolidated under one single Services and Subscriptions Tab. 2 To reassign an order from a holding Smart Account to a Customer Smart Account or to a different holding Smart Account, search for the order. Under Orders, click Smart Account Orders.

CCW Filter Smart Account Assignment Status
1 1 All Orders with Smart Accounts Display. Click the Customer Smart Account Status column to filter the Not Assigned orders to the top. Click the Web Order ID to assign a Customer Smart Account to that order. 2 1 2 Not Assigned status indicates order was originally assigned to Holding Account and needs to be re-assigned to end Customer Smart Account so the end Customer can activate and consume the licenses. This status displays for orders with both SA mandatory and SA optional SKUs. All Orders with Smart Accounts Display. Click the Customer Smart Account Status column to filter the Not Assigned orders to the top. Click the Web Order ID to assign a Customer Smart Account to that order Not Assigned status indicates order was originally assigned to Holding Account and needs to be re-assigned to End Customer Smart Account so the End Customer can activate and consume the licenses.

CCW Change Smart Account Assignment
1 1 In the header level message, click View or change Smart Account Assignments to change the Smart Account assignment. 1 3 2 Order creators and users with whom the order has been shared are navigated to the View Status page. If the order is past the Shipment phase, the Customer Smart Account assignment cannot be changed. In the header level message, click View of change Smart Account Assignments to change the Smart Account assignment.

CCW Change Smart Account Assignment
1 Assign Smart Accounts at header or line level. Holding accounts can only be assigned at header level to the entire order. You can also select certain lines and assign a Customer Smart Account to all selected items. 2 Only one Holding Account can be assigned to an order, but different Customer Smart Accounts OR Customer Smart Account Virtual Accounts can be assigned to each line. 1 CCW displays the Smart Account Icon in the collapsed view of an Assemble To Order (ATO) when one of the minors is “Mandatory,” even if the ATO itself is not “Mandatory”. This applies to Order, Quote and Configuration. 1 In the Items tab of an Order, you can assign a Smart Account at the header level or item level, by clicking Assign Smart Account. Customer Smart Accounts can be assigned at either levels, but Holding Smart Accounts can only be assigned at the header level. That is because the entire Order is placed in the Holding Account when selected. Whereas the individual line items are deposited into a particular Smart Account when a Customer Smart Account is assigned. Only one Holding Account can be assigned to an order but different Customer Smart Accounts or Customer Smart Account virtual accounts can be assigned to each line You can also assign a Customer Smart Account at the individual line level, or select multiple lines to assign to a Customer Smart Account. 2

CCW Change Smart Account Assignment - Search
1 From Header, select account type and search. Smart Account will cascade across the order. From Line, search for Customer Smart Account Additionally, at Line level there is a link to Set the Smart Account at the Order Level. 2 3 1 2 3 From Header, select account type and search. Or From Line, search for Customer Smart Account. You can also see a link to set the Smart Account at the order level.

CCW Assigning Smart Account in Order – Search
1 Search using the end customer Domain ID or Smart Account Name. Results auto-populate. If you find the correct account, click Assign. If you cannot find the correct Customer Smart Account, and know the Customer information, click Request New Customer Smart Account. 2 3 This example shows searching for end Customer Smart Account. Process of searching and requesting smart account is the same for Holding Smart Account. 3 1 2 Search using Customer domain or Smart Account Name. Results auto-populate. Virtual Account names display in second column. If you find the correct account, click Assign. If you cannot find the correct Customer Smart Account, and know the Customer information, click Request New Customer Smart Account. This example shows searching for Customer Smart Account. Process of searching and requesting Smart Account is the same for Holding Smart Account.

CCW Submit Smart Account Request
1 1 Enter the approver’s address. This must be someone associated with the Customer company. Domain is defaulted from Approver s. To edit the Account Domain Identifier, click Pencil icon. Click Submit Account Request. This account will now be assigned to the order, and you can submit the order. 2 2 3 Editing domain identifier will require additional approval time. 1 2 3 To complete the request for Customer Smart Account, Enter approver address. This must be someone associated with the Customer company. Domain is defaulted from Approver s. To edit the Account Domain Identifier, click Pencil icon. Click Submit Account Request. This account will now be assigned to the order, and you can submit the order.

CCW Smart Account Assignment
1 1 Smart Account assignment now displays. Click Pencil icon to edit, or Eraser to delete. 1 Smart Account assignment now displays. Click Pencil icon to edit, or Eraser to delete.

CCW Smart License Delivery Email
1 1 For Smart License enabled products, the provisioning is not completed through the standard eDelivery process. In the received, Customer will need to click To View Your Smart Licenses. This will take them to SSM, where they will view licenses and register them to a device. If the licenses are Classic / PAK licenses, it will say Register Claim Certificates (PAKs) instead and those will be accessible in LRP through the as-is process today. 1 Note: PAKs will continue to be fulfilled through the selected option – physical or eDelivery - regardless of SA assignment status. They will be registered and managed in LRP following as-is process. Like you do for other licenses, Customers will receive an informing them about their licenses. For Smart Products, the provisioning is not completed through the standard eDelivery process. Instead, Customers will click To View Your Smart Licenses and view licenses in SSM and register them to a device. If the licenses are Classic /PAK licenses, then it will say “Register PAKs” instead.

Cisco Smart Account and Smart Licensing Partner Q&A Forum

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