June 30, 2011: Solution Finder and Solution Profiler Retire

Solution Finder and Solution Profiler will be retired on 30 June, 2011. Microsoft Pinpoint and the product-specific marketplaces it supports will replace these tools, helping business customers find the right IT experts, software applications and professional services to address their business needs.

Until June 30, you can go to Solution Finder and copy the text of any of the live solution listings your company has, create a new listing in Pinpoint and then paste the text from Solution Finder into your Pinpoint listing (providing the information meets the Pinpoint Profile Guidelines).

Microsoft Pinpoint is the primary directory for business customers to find Microsoft partners, and their applications and services built on Microsoft technologies. Already active in more than 60 countries, Pinpoint helps prospects find, evaluate, try and buy applications through a user experience that emphasises quality and trust. They can also find, evaluate and contact local IT experts that provide professional technology and business services.

Pinpoint further extends partners’ reach through strategic integration with Microsoft websites, search engines, products and product-specific marketplaces.

Over the next year, Pinpoint will launch in an additional 44 markets and regions covering nearly all the countries where Microsoft has a significant partner presence.

Only solutions created or last modified after 31 May, 2008 will be migrated into Pinpoint. Older solutions will not be imported.

May 12, 2011: The last day you can publish a solution via Solution Profiler and it will be migrated to Pinpoint.

May 12 – June 30, 2011: You can copy any of your solution listings that are live on Solution Finder, create a new listing on Pinpoint and paste the Solution Finder text into your Pinpoint profile (providing it meets the Pinpoint Profile Guidelines).

June 30, 2011: Solution Finder and Solution Profiler are shut down.

FOR ALL PARTNERS

• If you have a solution listing in DRAFT form in Solution Profiler: Go into your Solution Profiler account, finish your solution listing and then publish (via Solution Profiler). Do this before 12 May and the listing will appear on Pinpoint. Solutions published via Solution Profiler after 31 May 2008 and before 12 May, 2011 will migrate to Pinpoint.
• Activate your account on Pinpoint Partner Dashboard. You can make changes to your partner profile data (including company overview and solutions listings) using the Pinpoint Dashboard.
• After 12 May, your solution listings must be managed through the Pinpoint Dashboard. Listings currently published on Pinpoint should continue to be managed via the Dashboard as well.
• Any Draft solutions in Solution Profiler after 12 May will NOT migrate to Pinpoint.
• Any new solution listings should be created using Pinpoint Dashboard after 12 May, 2011.

If you are an MPN partner currently published on Pinpoint:

1. Log in to the Pinpoint Dashboard.
2. Make sure the following fields are accurate and up-to-date for your Company information:

   Company Name, Company Description, Company Logo URL, Company website URL, Company locations address, email and phone numbers. These should be managed /edited through Pinpoint Dashboard to be reflected on the Pinpoint site.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Any changes made to the above data fields in the PMC (Partner Membership Centre) will not reflect on Pinpoint after 12 May if you are already published on Pinpoint before this date. Similarly, changes made via the Pinpoint Dashboard will not reflect back to the PMC, they will only apply your profiles published on Pinpoint site(s) and product-specific marketplaces built on Pinpoint platform.

What information will and will not transfer from PMC to Pinpoint?

• Partner enrolment data, competencies, sub-programme affiliations (i.e. SBSC / Cloud Accelerate) will continue to be managed on Partner Membership Centre (PMC) and will be reflected on Pinpoint.
• Programme Contact Information i.e. Primary Programme Contact, Executive Programme Contact, Sales Contact etc. will continue to be managed on PMC.

If you are an MPN partner NOT published on Pinpoint as of 19 May.

1. Log in to the Pinpoint Dashboard.

   Your Partner data should show on Pinpoint as Unlisted.

2. Make changes to your company overview and application and service listings if necessary, then submit for approval by the Pinpoint team. Once approved, your profile should publish on Pinpoint within five business days.

   All future changes to your profile must be made using the Pinpoint Dashboard.

Q: How do I activate my Pinpoint Dashboard?

A: To manage your Partner/product profile through Pinpoint, you should be listed as one of the Program contacts for your organisation in MPN.

Just sign in to the Dashboard with the same Windows Live ID and password you use for your MPN account.

Q: What if Pinpoint is not available in the country where my company is located?

A: You can still log on to Pinpoint Dashboard and access your profile. You can add or edit your company overview and create application and service descriptions for markets where Pinpoint is supported