Attention IT administrators: Announcing Office 365 ProPlus Device-based Subscription for Education!

Office 365 ProPlus enables schools to accelerate learning and inspire all students to create their best work. Connected to the cloud, students and teachers can work together in the same document at the same time, autosave, and easily share their work.

A world where every student has a device would make deploying and managing your school’s Office 365 ProPlus and devices much easier but isn’t always possible—students need to learn to share after all! We’ve heard from many schools and IT admins who would like an easier way to set up shared school devices with user-based licensing (just think about those wonderful libraries and computer labs, it’s like device musical chairs!).

We know this is a pain, and we want to make it easier to deploy and manage Office 365 ProPlus in shared-device scenarios so that all students and teachers can access the value of Office 365. That’s why we’re introducing Office 365 ProPlus Device-based Subscription for Education. Available exclusively in EES (Enrollment for Education Solutions) starting today, this new, no-additional cost add-on license will allow administrators to assign an Office 365 ProPlus license to a device rather than to a user with an AAD identity.

Would my school benefit from device-based subscription?

It depends! Device-based subscription may be beneficial if:

• Your school has several students per shared computer—device-based subscription makes it much easier to set up and manage shared devices.
• Your school has library and computer lab devices with Office 2016 or 2019 client apps—device-based subscription provides users with a consistent experience by enabling access to the Office 365 desktop apps.

Device-based subscription sounds right for my school; what’s the nitty gritty?

Office 365 ProPlus Device-based Subscription for Education will provide a device-based subscription experience that mirrors our user-based subscription model in ease of management and access to the desktop Office 365 desktop apps. Education customers may assign the device-based subscription on any device within the institution’s organization, including, but not limited to, any open access lab or library devices.

Once available, Admins will select the device-based subscription as a no-additional cost add-on to existing Office 365 ProPlus user-based licenses. Institutions with Office 365 ProPlus user licenses assigned to all faculty and staff in EES are eligible to acquire Office 365 ProPlus Device-based Subscription for the same number of Office 365 ProPlus Users licensed by the institution. If device-based subscriptions seems like a good solution for you, talk to your partner to get these licenses added to your contracts with your partners, AE or CEs.

With classes starting soon and preparation already well underway, we look forward to having this solution available for you the next time you set up and manage your devices. You can find this offering listed as “Office 365 ProPlus for Education (device)” on the price list and in support material. Want more info? Check out this article and read the FAQs below!

FAQs

Q: What is a “device-based subscription”?

Office 365 ProPlus Device-based Subscription for Education is an add-on license that will allow admins to assign an Office 365 ProPlus license to a device rather than to a user with an AAD identity.

Q: When will I be able to buy a device-based subscription?

Office 365 ProPlus Device-based Subscription for Education will be on the price list August 1st and available to use worldwide on August 15th.

Q: What is the cost of a device-based subscription?

There is no additional cost! Office 365 ProPlus Device-based Subscription for Education will be available as a benefit for every O365 Pro Plus, O365/M365 A3 or A5 Faculty and Student license, as long as all Education Qualified Users are covered with O365 Pro Plus, O365/M365 A3 or A5.

Q: How different is device-based subscription from user-based licensing?

The most important difference is in the licensing method. Users on a licensed device will have access to the Office 365 desktop apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.). Access to Office 365 services like OneDrive will depend on the user’s license.

Q: Would everyone have the same Office experience when using a computer with a device-based subscription? 

No. The specific user experience will depend on the user’s license. A student with a qualifying Office 365 or Microsoft 365 user-based license signing in to a licensed device would have full access to the Office 365 ProPlus apps—including Word, Excel and PowerPoint—as well as all licensed cloud services, such as OneDrive or SharePoint. A visitor without a license would have full access to the desktop apps but none of these cloud services.

Q: Will users have to use one of their five downloads?

No, users with Office 365 or Microsoft 365 licenses will not have to use one of their five downloads in order to access and use Office client apps on a device using/assigned a license for using Office 365 ProPlus Device-based Subscription for Education.

Q: Is the device-based subscription available through partner sales?

No. At launch, Office 365 ProPlus Device-based Subscription for Education is only available through EES, and will not be available through CSP at this time.

Q: Does device-based subscription replace the current “lab and library” benefit?

For EES, the Office 365 ProPlus Device-based Subscription for Education can be deployed on any device in the organization and will replace the need to deploy a different version of Office on open access lab or library devices. Starting in August 2019, we will remove the older “lab and library” benefit that relied on an Office 2019/16 license in favor of this new, more comprehensive solution. The lab and library benefit with the Office 2019/16 license will be only available for OVS-ES, where Office 365 ProPlus Device-based Subscription for Education is not available at this time.

Q: What are the qualifications and requirements?

• Device-based Subscriptions for Education will be available as a benefit for every customer who covers all Knowledge Workers or Education Qualified Users with an Office 365 ProPlus, an Office 365 A3/A5, or Microsoft 365 A4/A5 Faculty license.
• Qualifying customers are entitled to as many DBS licenses as the total number of Office 365 ProPlus, Office 365 A3/A5, and Microsoft 365 A3/A5 Faculty and Student licenses.
• Device-based subscription will be available through EES (Volume Licensing), and not CSP.
• Device must be Azure AD joined or Azure AD Hybrid joined.