To get up and running with the Marketplace Platform and make the most of its functionality, it's essential to understand how the platform works and be familiar with certain key concepts and terminology.

Our Getting Started video provides the foundation for you to quickly get started with the platform. It offers a brief overview of the platform and its interface, followed by in-depth information about some of the core concepts.

Certain concepts and terms are central to the functionality and design of the Marketplace Platform. We recommend that you understand the terminology because it's often referred to in our platform and documentation. Understanding the terminology will make it easier for you to interact with the platform and maximize its use.

Actors

The Marketplace Platform seamlessly brings together various actors to facilitate the buying, selling, provisioning, and billing of software products.

Actors represent different entities that interact with the platform for procurement and fulfillment-related activities, as well as other operations specific to the platform.

The following are the key actors in our platform:

Vendors - A vendor is a company or person from whom SoftwareOne buys software solutions. Vendors develop and sell their products and services. Examples include Microsoft, Dropbox, and more.

Distributors - A distributor is an entity that resells software solutions sourced from multiple vendors to resellers. Distributors facilitate software procurement in cases where direct relationships with vendors are not feasible.

Associates - Associates are internal SoftwareOne associates who administer the business network. Our associates are involved in various processes throughout your journey with both SoftwareOne and the Marketplace Platform.

Partners - Partners represent entities or businesses that buy products or services from SoftwareOne for resale to other businesses.

Clients - A client is a company or organization that uses our platform to buy software products for their own use or direct consumption.

Developers and system integrators - Developers and system integrators represent entities involved in building integrations within the business network.

Users, Accounts, and Groups

Users - Users represent individuals or persons who can sign in to the platform using their credentials and perform all operations associated with their permissions. To learn more, see .

Account - An account is an object that represents a company or an organization utilizing the Marketplace Platform. Three types of accounts exist in the platform: Client account, Vendor account, and Operations account.

• Client account - A client account is used by our clients and partners to establish agreements and procure software solutions for their enterprises.

• Vendor account - A vendor account is used by vendors to define the product structure and make those products available for ordering through the marketplace.

• Operations account - An operations account is used by SoftwareOne associates.

In the Marketplace Platform, an account can contain one or multiple users:

Additionally, users are not restricted to a single account. They can belong to multiple accounts and without signing out of the platform.

Group - A group is an object that facilitates permissions in the scope of an account. Groups contain users, and all users in the group have the same permissions. Permissions are assigned at the group level, rather than at the individual user level.

Users can also be a part of multiple groups, much like users can belong to multiple accounts. For details on how to manage groups, see .

Sellers, Buyers, and Licensees

Seller - A seller is a SoftwareOne entity (for example, SoftwareOne Canada) that buys software solutions from vendors (like Microsoft) and sells those solutions to clients.

Sellers are responsible for generating issues and issuing them to the buyer entities of clients. They act as an intermediary in the transaction process.

Buyers - Buyers represent an entity that engages in commercial activities with the SoftwareOne reselling entity (known as Sellers).

Buyers are the recipients of invoices issued by SoftwareOne, and they are essential for creating orders, agreements, and subscriptions. For details on how to manage buyers, see .

Licensees - Licensees are the entities that consume the software products or services procured by the buyer. Licensees are critical in establishing agreements alongside buyers and sellers.

Client account users can view licensees and manage them through the platform. To learn more, see .

Agreements

An agreement is an object outlining the relationship between the seller, buyer, and licensee. They are the foundation for placing orders and creating subscriptions in the platform.

They also establish the terms and conditions under which transactions occur. Without an agreement, orders cannot be placed through the marketplace.

For more details on agreements and how to manage them, see .

Orders and Subscriptions

Orders - An order is an object that signifies a business transaction under the framework of an established agreement.

The Marketplace Platform supports various types of orders to support different scenarios and the requirements of our clients and partners. The following order types exist in the platform:

• Purchase order - Purchase orders are created when you buy a new product or service by creating a new Marketplace agreement.

• Change order - Change orders are created when you modify your agreement or change the subscription quantity, such as downsizing the license quantity or buying additional resources.

• Terminate order - Terminate orders are created when you terminate your agreement or subscription with SoftwareOne.

For details on how to manage your orders, see .

Subscriptions - Subscriptions are linked to an agreement and represent service provisioned over a set period. An agreement can contain one or more subscriptions.

Subscriptions can be changed only through the order. For example, to terminate a subscription, you must place a termination order. Similarly, to add more licenses, a change order must be placed. It’s not possible to modify a subscription directly without placing an order.

For details on subscription management, see .

Products, Items, and Parameters

Products - Products are the solutions or services offered by vendors through the marketplace. They contain various items and parameters, which are also defined by vendors.

• Items - Represent the individual stock-keeping units (SKUs). A product can contain one or more items, each with its specific name and price.

• Parameters - Parameters represent structured data used by vendors to collect information from clients during the ordering process. Examples of this information might include contact details, address information, domain name, and more. Parameters can also be used by vendors to pass information to clients during provisioning.

Price List

A Price List is an object that holds key pricing details of each item within the product.

Vendors can define the price lists for different regions. These price lists are linked to specific sellers and are organized through an object called Listing.

The Listing object is established by SoftwareOne associates after reviewing products. It links the product price list with the seller, ultimately making the product available for our clients in the SoftwareOne Marketplace.

The Marketplace Platform is a SaaS application with three user interfaces, each catering to specific user types. These interfaces ensure that all actors can interact with the platform according to their specific business requirements.

The platform provides three distinct user interfaces, namely the Client Portal, Vendor Portal, and Operations Portal.

• Client Portal - Accessed by our clients and partners for software procurement.

• Vendor Portal - Used by vendors for setting up and configuring products.

• Operations Portal - Used by internal SoftwareOne associates for administration-related activities.

Accessing the interface

You can access the platform from an up-to-date desktop or mobile browser. For a list of supported browsers, see .

To access the Marketplace Platform user interface (UI):

1. Navigate to the sign-in page: .

2. Enter the email address associated with your account and select Continue.

3. Enter your password and select Continue. If the sign-in is successful, the Home page is displayed.

If you provide inaccurate credentials, an error message is displayed.

If you can’t remember your password, select the Forgot password? link on the Sign-in page and then follow the instructions. For more information, see .

Navigating the interface

The platform provides a seamless and intuitive interface, allowing access to the different modules and features within those modules. This section describes how to navigate the platform.

Main navigation menu

The Home menu at the top left opens the main navigation menu, provides access to all modules enabled for your account.

Search

The Search bar lets you search for various objects in the platform, such as your orders, agreements, subscriptions, and more. You can also search for specific products and items in our catalog.

You can also use search to find user documentation. For example, you can search for "manage subscriptions" to read documentation about how to manage your subscriptions.

When performing a search, start by choosing the category you want to search across and then enter the search term. Our platform supports free text, which means you can enter all or part of the object's ID or name. For example, when searching for an agreement using its ID, select the Agreements category and then enter the full order ID (such as ‘AGR-8981-7039-6781’) or part of it (such as 6781). The platform will then display results matching your specified search term.

Help icon

The Help icon contains links to various resources, including the , product documentation, , and our legal pages.

It also contains a Support option, allowing you to easily .

Spotlight actions

The Spotlight icon opens the Spotlight widget, containing all tasks requiring your attention. To learn more about this feature, see .

Account selector and profile menu

The profile menu lets you and . It also contains the Sign out option.

Information cards are small, interactive cards that display the key properties of an object within the platform.

These cards appear when you hover over an object's name. For instance, if you hover over an agreement, you'll notice that an information card appears and it shows you more information about that agreement.

Information cards make it easy to access information quickly. They display all the key attributes in one place, allowing you to learn more about the object without navigating to its details page.

The information displayed within a card might vary depending on the object, but each card contains general details, such as the object's name and ID, as well as the created and updated dates.

Information cards also contain quick links to the related objects. Selecting these links redirects you to the details page of the related object. For instance, if you select the licensee name, the details page of the licensee opens.

You can close a card by selecting Close in the upper right or by selecting anywhere outside the card. Alternatively, pressing the Esc key also closes the card.

Your profile contains the information associated with your account, including your name, email address, and preferences. You can edit your profile to keep your information accurate and up to date.

Managing your profile

To update your profile:

1. Select your profile menu in the upper right, then choose My profile.

2. On your profile overview page, select Edit. The Edit user page opens.

3. Change the General settings as necessary:

   • Profile picture - Add or update your profile picture. You can add a photo of yourself, a logo, or anything that represents you and helps others identify you easily on the platform. Your image must be in PNG or JPG format. The maximum file size is 5 MB.

   • First name - Update your first name.

4. Update your Preferences as necessary:

   • Language - Choose your language preference.

   • Regional settings - Select the date format you want to use.

5. Select Save. A message is displayed stating your profile has been updated successfully.

The Spotlight widget on the Home page is designed to highlight key platform objects that may require your attention.

These objects include your agreements, orders, subscriptions, invoices, and more. For example, if you have any overdue invoices, they will be spotlighted so you can take the necessary action. Similarly, expiring subscriptions are also included, so you can manage the renewal on time.

The widget is displayed on the Home page by default, but you can also access it by selecting the spotlight icon in the status bar.

Within the widget, the information is organized by object type; for example, renewing and expiring subscriptions are displayed under Subscriptions, orders that may be querying for additional information are shown under Orders, and so on.

The widget also provides a total count of items for each category, so you always know how many items need your attention. By default, a maximum of five items is displayed. If there are more items in a category, you can select the view all link to view those items on the object's main page.

SoftwareOne's legacy Partner Portal is being transitioned to the Marketplace Platform.

The Marketplace Platform offers the same self-service capabilities as the Partner Portal, but also includes several additional features that enable you (our partners) to expand your service offerings. The platform provides a more unified and streamlined experience, allowing you to take advantage of features that are specifically designed for you.

This topic outlines what you can expect during the transition and details the steps you must take to continue transacting with us.

Before migration

Before we begin the migration process, you'll see a message in the Partner Portal indicating that your account will be migrated.

If you use certain pages very often, you can mark those pages as your favorites. This way, you can find your most-used pages easily. Once added, favorites appear in the Favorites section of the main menu.

Adding a page to your favorites

To add a page to your favorites:

1. In the main navigation menu, navigate to the required page, for example, Agreements.

There are three ways to verify whether your account is configured as a partner account in the Marketplace Platform.

You can check this through the following pages, available under Settings in the main navigation menu:

1. Accounts - The page displays general information about your account. If you are set up as a SoftwareOne partner, you'll see a field labeled Partner program with the value Yes in the Additional Data section on the General tab. This field does not appear for client accounts.

2. Buyers

The Marketplace Platform allows an individual to be linked to several accounts and switch between those accounts without signing out of the platform. Switching can be done through your profile menu.

Switching accounts

To switch between your accounts:

The Marketplace Platform gives you the flexibility to upsize or downsize your licenses at any time.

If you need more licenses, you can alter the subscription to add additional licenses. You can also lower the number of licenses if you no longer require all of your ordered licenses.

When reducing the number of licenses, the following rules apply:

• If your subscription contains only one item, you can't lower its quantity to zero. In this case, you must terminate the subscription.

• If your subscription contains multiple items, at least one item must have a quantity greater than zero. You can't change the quantity of all items to zero.

Adding or removing licenses

To add or remove licenses from a subscription:

1. Navigate to the Subscriptions page.

2. Select the required subscription.

3. On the subscription details page, select Edit.

4. In the Edit subscription wizard, complete the following steps:

A change order is created in the system and sent to the vendor for processing. The new change order is also displayed in your list of orders on the Orders page.

When the change order is being processed, the status of the subscription and the agreement change to Updating. This indicates that the agreement is temporarily locked, and no further orders can be placed under this agreement until the change order is completed.

The Settings module includes functionalities that administrators can use to manage various aspects of the account. Admins can access the module from the main menu.

Account setting options

In your account settings, you'll find various options enabling you to review your basic account details and manage users, licensees, groups, and other properties.

Use the following links to learn about these options and how to use them:

• - Update the account information for your organization, such as your account name and logo, company contact information, and address.

• - Create API tokens to access the modules programmatically and manage your existing tokens as needed.

• - Track all activity within your account and view the audit records.

• - View a list of buyers mapped to your account and enable, disable, or edit buyer details.

• - View a list of groups in your account. Add or remove groups and edit groups as needed to easily manage the access permissions for each group of users.

• - Create new licensees and manage your licensees by updating the licensee information and enabling or disabling licensees.

• - Configure recipients and manage notifications and categories for your account.

• - View a list of SoftwareOne entities linked to your account.

• - Add or remove users from the account, resend invitation links, and edit groups to which the user has access.

SoftwareOne is a global provider of software and cloud technology solutions. Our Partner Program helps companies that sell cloud-based products and services expand their businesses by accessing new markets around the world.

The program supports partners such as Value-Added Resellers (VARs), System Integrators (SIs), and Managed Service Providers (MSPs), and other businesses like Cloud Solutions Providers (CSPs), Direct Marketing Resellers (DMRs), and Retailers to grow their revenue and scale their market presence. Our program equips partners with the tools, training, and support to accelerate growth, reach new clients, and build long-term relationships while minimizing the risks associated with competitive solutions.

Marketplace Platform and Partners Management

The Marketplace Platform includes a Partner Management feature, which allows partners to access features designed to support resale activities.

Unlike clients, who procure software or services for self-use, partners can procure SaaS products for their own use and resale to their end customers.

This is managed at the licensee level within the platform. Licensees are the end-users or consumers of a license, and they are linked to agreements in the platform. Partners can create new licensees through self-service and configure them as resale licensees. When a licensee is marked for resale, it becomes available during the ordering process, indicating that the purchase is intended for resale.

Partner enrollments and certificates

Through Partners Management, partners can also enroll in various programs, complete certifications, and apply those certificates when ordering products to access the benefits associated with those programs.

To learn more, see the following links:

The Marketplace Platform is designed to simplify the complex process of software licensing and procurement. It aims to simplify your buying journey by making it easier for you to find and compare products from multiple software vendors in one place.

Ordering products from the SoftwareOne Marketplace involves a series of steps, depending on the product's vendor. This topic describes these steps at a high level.

Buying products from the Marketplace

After the order is placed, we verify the details and process the order. The General tab on the displays the order's status. If there are any issues, the same details page provides information about the problem and the actions you must take so your order can be processed.

The SoftwareOne (SWO) CSP Partner Program is designed for SoftwareOne partners to ensure compliance with our established terms and conditions.

All SoftwareOne partners must enroll in this program to obtain a compliance certificate. This must be done before ordering products for resale. To learn more about this program, see Partner Programs.

Prerequisites

You can enroll in the SWO CSP Partner Program if your account has been set up as a partner account. For details on how to check this, see How to Verify If Your Account Has Partner Capabilities.

Enrolling in the SWO CSP Partner program

Next steps

Upon successful enrollment, a certificate will be created. You'll need to select this certificate when ordering CSP products and services through the platform.

The Marketplace Platform supports various types of orders, including change, purchase, configuration, and termination orders. All orders are displayed on the Orders page.

If you need to find a specific order, you can use the filter option to search for it. There are several filter options to help you narrow down the list. You can apply a single filter or create a combination of filters by selecting different fields, operators, and values. This topic describes how to use these filters.

Using filters to find an order

To find an order using a filter, such as status:

1. Navigate to the Orders page, then select the Filter option.

1. Select Add another condition to open a menu of conditions.

2. Define the conditions:

   1. In the first field, choose the property. For example, to filter your orders by their status, select Status.

   2. In the second field, choose the search operator. Different operators are displayed depending on the condition you selected in the first field. For this example, leave the value set to

Your list of orders is refreshed according to the filters. To reset the filters and revert to the default view, select Reset filters in the filter box.

Viewing your order's details

To view detailed information for an order, select the ID in the Order column. You can then view basic order information and specific order details such as items, subscriptions, and more.

From the order details page, you can complete these additional tasks:

• .

• .

• .

Account administrators can invite new users to the account from the Users page in the platform. The page is available under Settings in the main menu.

Admins can invite individuals who may already have an account, as well as individuals who don't yet have an account. When an administrator invites someone, an invitation email is sent. It's important to take action once the invitation has been emailed. Account invitations are valid for only 7 days from the send date. After 7 days, invitations expire and will need to be resent.

Inviting users to your account

Administrators can invite users through the Add option on the Users page. See for instructions.

When creating the invitation, you must provide details, such as name, email address, and contact information of the individual. You'll also need to select all the groups that the individual should belong to.

This tutorial describes how SoftwareOne partners can set up resale licensees within the platform.

Licensees are the entities that use the software products or services procured by the buyer. Partners who wish to order products from the Marketplace and resell them to other organizations must configure these licensees as resale licensees.

A resale licensee is defined as a licensee that engages in resale activities, specifically ordering products for resale rather than for their self consumption.

Prerequisites

Make sure you have permissions to create new licensees. Only account administrators can create and manage licensees in the platform.

To use the Marketplace Platform effectively as a Partner and make the most of its functionality, it's important to understand how the platform works and be familiar with its concepts.

Partner accounts include all the features and functionalities of client accounts, along with additional features to facilitate transactions and procurement within the Marketplace.

Watch the video guide for details on using the Marketplace Platform as a SoftwareOne partner, or see .

For clients using the Marketplace Platform, we have created various topics to help you easily manage your account, order subscriptions, and manage your software purchases.

Use the following links to get started:

Additional learning resources

Additional content resources to help guide you:

The Cloud Solution Provider Partner Program allows you to partner with SoftwareOne as your indirect CSP provider. To learn more about this program, see .

Prerequisites

You can enroll in this program if you meet these conditions:

• You have a Marketplace account with partner capabilities. For details, see

The Marketplace Platform sends notification emails based on specific events in your account. These alerts are triggered according to the notification categories enabled for your profile.

If you want to opt out of these alerts, you can update your preferences. There are two ways to do this:

• By signing in to your account and using the My profile option.

• By selecting the Manage notifications link in the footer of your notification email. This option allows you to update preferences without signing in to the platform.

Managing your notification preferences

To update your preferences using the My profile option:

1. Sign in to your account, then select the profile menu in the upper right.

2. Select My profile.

3. Go to the Notifications preferences tab. All notification categories are displayed.

4. Select the Edit option, then in Edit notification preferences, use the checkboxes to enable or disable the category.

To update your preferences from your notification email:

1. Open the notification email you received.

2. Scroll down to the footer and select the Manage notifications link. The Manage notifications form opens in your browser.

3. In the Manage notifications form, use the checkboxes to enable or disable the category.

4. Select Save to save your preferences.

The tutorial describes how you can order products for resale through the Marketplace Platform.

When ordering products, there are two options for agreements:

• If you have an existing agreement, you can use that agreement. However, you'll need to make sure that the agreement is mapped to a licensee configured as a resale licensee.

• If you don't have an agreement, you can create one during the ordering process and select an existing licensee configured as a resale licensee.

Prerequisites

Before starting this tutorial, make sure you have the following:

• A resale licensee in the active state, or permission to if you don't want to use the existing one. Licensee selection is required when setting up a new agreement.

• Company details of your client, like the company name, registration ID, and address. These details are required for creating a new Microsoft tenant.

• The contact details of your client who will manage the Microsoft account.

Ordering products for resale

Next steps

When your order has been placed, we verify the order details.

If there are issues with your order, the General tab on the will provide information about the problem and the actions you must take before your order can be processed.

You can add new items to your agreement using the Buy more option on the agreement details page.

Items can only be added to the agreements in the active state. If the agreement is not active, the Buy more option is unavailable.

When you select Buy more, the platform automatically detects the agreement and takes you directly to the Items step of the purchase wizard, where you can choose the items you want to order and place an order.

Adding items to your agreement

To add new items to your agreement:

1. Navigate to the Agreements page.

2. Select the required agreement. Make sure that the agreement is active.

3. On the agreement details page, select Buy more to start the purchase wizard.

1. In the Items step, do the following:

   1. Select Add items. A new window (also called Select items) opens, displaying the products you can order under this agreement.

   2. Select the items you want to order. You can use filters to find the items easily. When selecting items, be sure to verify the billing terms and the duration of the subscription.

1. In the Details step, add or update the reference ID and your comments. Then, select Next.

2. In the Review order step, verify the information and select Place order.

A change order is created for the agreement and sent to the vendor for fulfillment. Select View details to go to the order details page or select Close.

When your order has been placed, the agreement's status changes from Active to Updating. It means that the agreement is temporarily locked, and no further orders can be placed under this agreement until the current change order is completed. You can check the status of the order on the Orders page or within the Orders tab on the agreement details page.

To get started as a partner, you must have an account on the Marketplace Platform. This account must be set up as a partner account.

While partner accounts have the same features and functionalities as client accounts, they also provide additional features to help you procure for your end customers and transact successfully on the Marketplace.

Once you've signed in to your account, there are various ways to get started, depending on the actions you want to take. Use the following table as a guide to access the most important topics:

Additional resources

Use these additional resources to learn more about the platform:

Subscription management through self-service is a key feature of the Marketplace Platform, giving you the flexibility to order new subscriptions and manage the existing ones.

You can order new subscriptions through self-service, increase or decrease the number of licenses, and cancel your subscription. You can also edit the subscription name and manage renewals.

Viewing your subscription and subscription details

All subscriptions are listed on the Subscriptions page. The page displays all subscriptions, regardless of their status.

To open the details page for a subscription, select the subscription name.

Adding or removing licenses

You can change the quantity of licenses by creating a change order through the platform.

Change orders are required if you want to order additional licenses or lower the number of your existing licenses. For instructions, see .

Terminating subscriptions

You can cancel a single subscription in an agreement or all subscriptions by placing a termination order. Subscriptions can't be canceled without a termination order.

• To cancel a single subscription, use the Terminate option on the subscription details page. For instructions, see .

• To cancel all subscriptions in an agreement, terminate the agreement. For instructions, see .

The Marketplace Platform uses data grids to display data.

A data grid is a table with rows and columns, and it contains several operations that allow you to customize the display of information.

You can sort and filter data, show or hide columns, adjust the column width, change the default rows per page, and more. This topic describes each of these tasks.

Sorting data

Sorting enables you to reorganize your data in ascending or descending order so you can understand and visualize it better. There are two ways to use the sort function in the grid.

Split billing is a feature that allows you to divide the cost of a subscription across different buyers in your account. If your organization has multiple legal entities, split billing can be used to distribute costs effectively. To learn more, see Split Billing.

In the Marketplace Platform, the split billing process begins by activating the feature from the user interface (UI), selecting buyers for allocation, and then specifying each buyer's allocation percentage or license count. This tutorial describes how to complete all of these steps.

In this tutorial, an agreement named Adobe VIP Marketplace for Stark Industries contains three subscriptions. Currently, 100% of the billing for these subscriptions is assigned to a single buyer named Stark Industries. We'll activate split billing, add two new buyers named Stark Industries II and Stark Industries III, and then specify the allocation percentage for these buyers.

Prerequisites

Before getting started with the tutorial, it's essential to have an understanding of the platform's . You must also be familiar with the platform's interface and know how to navigate it.

Splitting the billing across buyers

Next steps

If you have additional subscriptions and want to split the billing, you can repeat the same steps for those subscriptions. You can also edit the split at any time. For instructions, see .

Certificates

Orders

Partner Programs

Platform Administration

Pricelists

Purchasing Process

Subscriptions