Immediate Discontinuation of Azure Passes
Important breaking news that has immediate impacts to TSPs delivering courses that currently use an Azure Pass. Effective immediately, Microsoft is discontinuing the use of Azure passes and recalling any Azure Passes in use by students and trainers. Why is Microsoft removing the Azure Pass option? As a part of the commitment to provide the best possible learner experience, Microsoft was in the process of moving away from using Azure passes to provide cloud access to course labs. The lab experience via the Lab Hosters (LH) removes friction for learners (i.e. activation and support considerations) and provides a more uniform training experience for our learners regardless of their location. Recently, Microsoft has experienced a significant increase in potential fraud and unintended use of Azure services, resulting in the immediate discontinuation of Azure Passes. Which courses are impacted by the discontinuation of the Azure Pass? The following course will not have labs available until end of January: SC-200T00: Microsoft Security Operations Analyst Lab Hosters are working quickly to convert the following courses to non-Azure Pass. Please consult directly with your Lab Hoster to find out the status of what they have available. AZ-2001: Implement Security Through a Pipeline Using Azure DevOps AZ-2008: DevOps Foundations: The Core Principles and Practices AZ-400T00: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps solutions SC-300T00: Microsoft Identity and Access Administrator All localized versions of labs for these courses are offline. An ETA on when they will be available will be provided at a later date. Please consult with your Authorized Lab Hosters to see if your delivery will be impacted as a result of not having Azure passes. Additional information can be found in the attached FAQ. Dan
Most Data Platform Labs Offline @ All Lab Hosters
Edited 2/14/25 to include all lab hosters. Hello partners, Many Data Platform labs have been taken offline at all lab hosters for newly discovered required fixes. The following labs are not currently available: DP-203 DP-3011 DP-3012 DP-3014 DP-600 DP-601 DP-602 DP-603 DP-604 DP-900 remains online, but Lab #3 is currently impacted by this outage. DP-3020 is not impacted. Lab hosters are reaching out to instructors who are scheduled to deliver the impacted course. We don't currently have an ETA but will update here as we know more.SC-200 Lab Solution Currently Unavailable
Note: I have deleted the post from Jan 27 titled: SC-200 Lab Solution Available; Still Waiting on AZ-400 from the forum to prevent confusion around availability. I will update again when this situation is resolved. New update for Jan 31, 2025: Hi all, All Azure Passes were stopped in early December. We announced on Jan 27 that a lab solution for SC-200 was available. This is no longer a true statement. Our content team is working diligently to update the content and resubmit to the lab hosters ASAP. I do not yet have a timeline on the availability of SC-200, or the AZ-400 solution we've been seeking. I will update again next week with a progress report.
Update on Labs Security Impacts (5/7)
Updated with additional information on 5/7 Hello TSPs, As outlined in today’s blog post by Charlie Bell (Executive Vice President, Microsoft Security), Microsoft continues to make security a top priority internally as well as with our partners and customers. Unfortunately, the unintended consequence of this focus continues to impact labs within our training ecosystem. We are keenly aware how these tenant issues are impacting your training business, from reducing the richness of the overall training experience all the way to potentially cancelled classes. We have updated the previously shared FAQ (attached) to provide additional details and answer your questions. While we’ve reached a resolution in some courses (see below), the larger question regarding when tenant access will be broadly available is still an unknown. As meaningful updates become available, we will share them here on our Training Services Partner Community (Forum). Today’s update (8 courses): SC-300: tenants are now being made available to the Authorized Lab Hosters (ALHs). We are working on creating stockpiles to support the quantity of classes PL-300 & DP-605: ALHs are now offering these labs via their own Azure subscriptions, and not the M365 tenants PL-100, PL-900, PL-7001, PL-7002, PL-7003: Skillable has created an M365 tenant solution which is now available to TSPs Our team is working hard behind the scenes to reinstate tenants or create workarounds for all impacted courses. If you have further questions, please post them via this thread. Thank you for your partnership, DanApplied Skills & ARB Guidance Document - Partner Feedback Requested
Hello TSPs, One of the recurring pieces of feedback we get are questions regarding the relationship between Applied Skills and Advanced Role-based (ARB) courseware. In October, we released a document titled Applied Skills and ARB Certs Suggested Guidance which aims to bridge that knowledge gap between the products. We'd like to get your input on the usefulness of that document and what ways we can alter and improve it (or create others) to best suit your needs. Please take a moment to complete this feedback survey. The survey includes both scale and free-form questions, and all results will go directly to the product team. You'll also find the document linked in the header of the survey for easy access. Thank you in advance for your time.New Training Services Partner Onboarding Update
Hello new TSPs. We are currently updating the onboarding process to provide better communications around process and timing. While we work to update, please send me a private message if you have completed the onboarding form and you are currently waiting on a response. I anticipate this workaround to last for a few weeks and for us to have a new process in place in January. Once the update is complete and the normal process resumes, I will delete this thread. Thanks, DanChallenges with the availability of Applied Skills Assessments for TSPs
Hi team. I’d like to raise a critical issue impacting TSPs concerning the Applied Skills Assessments. According to the latest Courseware Title Plan (tab 'Applied Skills Assessments'), 17 out of 31 non-retired Applied Skills Assessments are currently offline—more than 50%. For ILT providers, this presents a significant challenge, as these assessments are a vital component for students who opt for paid instructor-led training over the free Microsoft Learn-based alternatives. The unavailability of these assessments undermines the value of our ILT offerings. Students enrolling in these courses expect access to assessments to validate their knowledge. Without this, their incentive to choose a paid option diminishes, forcing us to reconsider offering these courses altogether. Key questions we need clarity on: Why have these assessments been taken offline? Why hasn’t this been proactively communicated to TSPs? Is there a timeline for their return? This lack of visibility and communication complicates planning and makes it harder for us to deliver a consistent, valuable experience to students. Clear updates and transparency on this issue would greatly help TSPs align with Microsoft’s strategy while ensuring student satisfaction. I’d appreciate hearing from others facing similar challenges and any insights from the team regarding next steps. Kind regards, Marnix Wolf
