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THIS IS AN AUTHENTIC communication with customers and has been confirmed by Microsoft as being authentic.  Microsoft has confirmed as coming direct from their country managers.

I tried to contact you by phone today to follow up on the letter your organisation should have received from Microsoft notifying you of the Software Asset Management (SAM) review process. However, I was unable to make contact with you so have taken the liberty of sending you this email to outline the process.

Microsoft has engaged Accordo Group to carry out this activity on their behalf. Please note that Accordo Group is an independent consulting organisation. We do not sell software licenses and our role in this review is purely that of expert advisor on licensing matters.

The steps in the review process are as follows;

Process Steps

1. We ask you to complete the attached deployment summary (spreadsheet format) and return to us via email.

2. Once we receive your deployment summary we will analyse the Microsoft software in use against the licenses held and provide you with an Estimated Ownership Position. There may be areas that require further clarification;

3. When this is done, a finalised License Ownership Position (as of the date of the review) will be provided, detailing what you own and what we understand you are using, based on the information you have supplied. This final summary will detail over-licensing or any apparent variances that may need to be remedied;

4. Along with the final License Ownership Position summary you will also receive a Software Asset Management Tips guide.

In order to make the process as efficient as possible we would highlight the following:

1. You may wish to engage your IT Partner to assist you through (or even manage) the process on your behalf;

2. We recommend that you request from your IT partner/s a list of Microsoft licenses you have purchased via OEM (bundled with hardware) or FPP (boxed retail copies). Please note that records of licenses purchased under a Volume License Program (such as Open, Select or Enterprise) will be already available in the Microsoft records system;

3. Microsoft do make available a free software audit tool called MSIA that might be of assistance in establishing exactly what Microsoft software you have installed on each device. Details on this tool and the location to download it from can be found on the internet as follows: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/sam/msia.mspx ;

4. If you have purchased Volume Licenses under a different company name or have acquired other organisations who may have purchased licenses, please try to have this information available. This will enable us to identify any licenses you own which have been purchased under alternative names.

The documents attached to this email:

A generic copy of the letter originally sent to your organisation by Microsoft;

A document that covers some of the frequently asked questions regarding the review process;

A copy of your organisations Volume License Purchase Summary from the Microsoft licensing database;

A deployment summary that we would appreciate your response to by 14 June 2007. If, for any reason, you are unable to meet this timeframe please contact us by return email.

What you can expect to get out of the review?

Consolidation of all your licensing records into one concise report which can then be maintained and modified by your organisation in the future;

Assistance with understanding licensing rules, and, in particular, how they relate to your own specific situation;

Licensing expertise and advice available to you throughout the process, free of charge;

Guidance regarding ongoing Software Asset Management.

Please do ask questions if you are not sure about the information you are being asked to provide, or if you have any queries whatsoever in regards to the SAM review process. Alternatively, should you wish to discuss this directly with Microsoft Small Business Manager, please feel free to contact            @microsoft.com .