Create plans for an Azure application offer

The Plan overview page lets you create different plan options within the same offer. Plans (formerly called SKUs) can differ in terms of Plan type (solution template or managed application), Listing information, Pricing and Availability and Technical Configuration. Your offer must contain at least one plan.

You can create up to 100 plans for each offer: up to 45 of these can be private. Learn more about private plans in Private offers in Microsoft Marketplace.

After you create a plan, the Plan overview page shows:

• Plan names
• Plan type
• Audience (public or private)
• Current publishing status
• Any available actions

The actions available for a plan vary depending on the current status of your plan. They include:

• Delete draft if the plan status is a Draft.
• Stop distribution if the plan status is Published Live.

Create a plan

1. Near the top of the Plan overview tab, select + Create new plan.
2. In the dialog box that appears, in the Plan ID box, enter a unique plan ID. This ID will be visible to customers in the product URL. Use up to 50 lowercase alphanumeric characters, dashes, or underscores. You can't modify the plan ID after you select Create.
3. In the Plan name box, enter a unique name for this plan. Customers will see this name when deciding which plan to select within your offer. Use a maximum of 2,000 characters.
4. Select Create.

Define the plan setup

The Plan setup tab enables you to set the type of plan, whether it reuses the technical configuration from another plan, and what Azure regions the plan should be available in. Your answers on this tab will affect which fields are displayed on other tabs for this plan.

Select the plan type

• From the Type of plan list, select either Solution template or Managed application.

A Solution template plan isn't transactable and is managed entirely by the customer. Solution templates can be used to deploy paid VM offers billed via Microsoft Marketplace. A Managed application plan enables publishers to monetize the managed fee of an Azure application offers via Microsoft Marketplace. For details on these two plan types, see Types of plans.

Reuse technical configuration (being deprecated)

The reuse technical configuration option previously allowed you to share the same technical configuration settings across multiple plans within the same offer, enabling those plans to leverage the same technical configuration. As this feature is being deprecated, any plans that currently reuse the technical configuration of another plan must be detached.

What action is required
If your plan is currently reusing the technical configuration of another plan:

1. Navigate to the plan that is reusing the technical configuration.
2. Disable the Reuse technical configuration option.
3. Save your changes and publish your offer.

After detaching, the plan will retain a copy of the technical configuration settings as they existed at the time of detachment. From that point forward, each plan can be updated independently and may diverge in configuration.

How to manage plans after detaching
After detaching plans, you have the following options:

• Maintain plans separately within the same offer
  Use this option if you want plans to evolve independently while remaining part of a single public offer.
• Use a private offer for negotiated terms
  If your goal is to extend negotiated pricing, terms, or conditions to a specific customer, consider creating a private offer instead of maintaining multiple public plans. Private offers are the recommended approach for customer-specific pricing and contractual terms.

Select Azure regions (clouds)

Your plan must be made available in at least one Azure region. After your plan is published and available in a specific Azure region, you can't remove that region from your offer.

Azure Global region

The Azure Global check box is selected by default. This makes your plan available to customers in all Azure Global regions that have Microsoft Marketplace integration. For Managed Application plans, you can select with markets you want to make your plan available.

To remove your offer from this region, clear the Azure Global check box.

Azure Government region

This region provides controlled access for customers from U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal entities, as well as partners eligible to serve them. You, as the publisher, are responsible for any compliance controls, security measures, and best practices. Azure Government uses physically isolated data centers and networks (located in the U.S. only).

Azure Government services handle data that is subject to certain government regulations and requirements. For example, FedRAMP, NIST 800.171 (DIB), ITAR, IRS 1075, DoD L4, and CJIS. To bring awareness to your certifications for these programs, you can provide up to 100 links that describe them. These can be either links to your listing on the program directly or links to descriptions of your compliance with them on your own websites. These links are visible to Azure Government customers only.

To select the Azure Government region

1. Select the Azure Government check box.
2. Under Azure Government certifications, select + Add certification (max 100).
3. In the boxes that appear, provide a name and link to a certification.
4. To add another certification, repeat steps 2 and 3.

Select Save draft before continuing to the next tab: Plan listing.

Define the plan listing

The Plan listing tab is where you configure listing details of the plan. This tab displays specific information that shows the difference between plans in the same offer. You can define the plan name, summary, and description as you want them to appear in Microsoft Marketplace.

1. In the Plan name box, the name you provided earlier for this plan appears here. You can change it at any time. This name will appear in Microsoft Marketplace as the title of your offer's software plan and is limited to 200 characters.
2. In the Plan summary box, provide a short summary of your plan (not the offer). This summary is limited to 100 characters.
3. In the Plan description box, explain what makes this software plan unique and any differences from other plans within your offer. Don't describe the offer, just the plan. This description can contain up to 3,000 characters.
4. Select Save draft before continuing.

Related content

Do one of the following:

• Configure a solution template plan
• Configure a managed application plan