Get ready for Microsoft Engage Center (Services Hub)
Note
Be aware that some of these features are upcoming and have not been deployed yet; documentation will be updated prior to the general release of Microsoft Engage Center.
Overview
Microsoft Engage Center is the new digital experience replacing Services Hub. Based in and built from Azure, it brings new features to help customers collaborate with Microsoft, along with capabilities that exist today in Services Hub.
With the launch of Microsoft Engage Center, customers transition to a new modern digital experience with Support Insights, IT Health, and Skilling capabilities, plus access to new capabilities to engage with Microsoft.
To get started, follow the steps in the Transition Checklist. This article provides you with best practices to prepare for your transition to Microsoft Engage Center. It also provides information about platform features and capabilities in Services Hub and in Microsoft Engage Center and notes what's changing with the transition.
Transition checklist
For administrators
Depending on your network configuration, you might need to add the Microsoft Engage Center URL to your allowlist. For more information, see Allow the Microsoft Engage Center URLs on your firewall or proxy server.
Review the best practices for Management and administration and for Features and take action as needed.
For general users
Review the best practices for Features and take action as needed.
Management and administration
Roles and Permissions
| Services Hub | Microsoft Engage Center | Changes with the transition |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft and/or customer manages users | Customer manages users and groups (via Microsoft Entra) | Customer alone determines who has access to their Microsoft Engage Center resources, aligning with Microsoft's cloud portal standards. Microsoft users aren't provided systemic permissions to have invite permissions for each customer's Microsoft Engage Center resources. |
| Individual user management by email or through Microsoft Entra | Individual user management through Microsoft Entra | Enhanced interface for adding users with Microsoft Entra IDs. |
| Microsoft Entra groups for all roles except for support | Microsoft Entra groups for all roles (support entitlement management is individual) | Enhanced interface for managing group access |
| Personal Microsoft Accounts (MSA) users permitted | Support for native MSA users (phasing out) | Personal Microsoft Accounts are supported when a user signs in to customer's tenant as a guest Personal Microsoft Accounts are supported when a user signs in directly to Microsoft Engage Center (phasing out) |
| Roles and Permissions are granted at the Services Hub Workspace level and in the Admin Center | Roles and Permissions are granted at the Microsoft Engage Center workspace level | Workspaces in Microsoft Engage Center include workload capabilities in addition to support. |
| Users can use Services Hub groups to share support request details | Users can share support request details individually or through Microsoft Entra Groups | Supports customer ability to use Microsoft Entra Groups to share support request details. |
Best practices for Roles and Permissions
There are no required actions for the migration.
All existing Services Hub users will be migrated to Microsoft Engage Center with one or more appropriate roles based on their current Services Hub roles.
Optional: Audit your users to ensure the correct users have the appropriate level of access in Services Hub.
Workspaces
| Services Hub | Microsoft Engage Center | Changes with the transition |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft CSAM and customers create and manage workspaces | Customers create and manage workspaces | Customers are in control of their spaces |
Best Practices for workspaces
Review Microsoft Engage Center workspaces to become familiar with the concept of workspaces.
Optional: Review your current Services Hub workspaces and delete any you no longer need.
Note
We'll update the workspaces documentation prior to the migration to include details about Unified Support and Premier Support workspace types.
Features
Assessments
| Services Hub | Microsoft Engage Center | Changes with the transition |
|---|---|---|
| Ability to see On-demand Assessment results within Services Hub Ability to see an offline assessment package within Services Hub and download Ability to see a RaaS within the Services Hub and utilize |
Your On-Demand Assessment including Assessment Surveys experience comes from the Services Hub Connector | Your full On-Demand Assessment including Assessment Surveys experience comes from the Services Hub Connector. You can access the Services Hub Connector through Microsoft Engage Center. |
Best Practices for Assessments
Create a Services Hub Connector to access Assessments.
Ensure you grant the correct access permissions.
Create a Microsoft Entra Group for each workspace to manage access to IT Health, or just add users to your Azure resource "Services Hub Connector".
Download any Offline Assessments before you migrate to Microsoft Engage Center.
It's important to download your offline assessment package and your survey recommendations before migrating to Microsoft Engage Center. Your offline assessment package and survey recommendations might not be immediately available in Microsoft Engage Center after migration.
Learning
| Services Hub | Microsoft Engage Center | Changes with the transition |
|---|---|---|
| Users with Learning Manager permissions can assign courses to users, plus track progress and completion. Users can search for Scheduled Services in the Services Hub Services Catalog and contact their CSAM to learn more or to schedule, and they can request enrollment in Open Workshops. |
Individual users see a static view of their assigned learning migrated from Services Hub. Links to Unified Services pages on Microsoft.com provide users with information about Specialized Services such as Value Acceleration, and Mission Critical Services. |
The Microsoft Engage Center initial release doesn't support the ability for users with Learning Manager permissions to assign and track the progress and completion of learning assignments. |
Best practices for Learning
Learning Managers should set assignment completion dates before your scheduled migration, which helps you ensure that individual users complete their tracked assignments before you migrate to Microsoft Engage Center.
Review the available Scheduled Services in the Services Hub Catalog and request enrollment before your scheduled migration.
For assistance selecting services post-migration, contact your organization's CSAM.
Cloud Case Visibility
| Services Hub | Microsoft Engage Center | Changes with the transition |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy restrictions require consent to show details of support cases. Once consent is given, users with the proper permissions can see their cloud cases and case details. Customers need to manually enable consent for each subscription or tenant. |
Cloud Support Request Visibility consent is no longer required. For detailed access to cloud cases, Microsoft Engage Center redirects customers to the respective cloud portal where customers control access. |
Customers no longer have to provide consent in order to see their cases in Microsoft Engage Center. For detailed access to cloud cases, Microsoft Engage Center redirects customers to the respective cloud portal where customers control access. |
Best practices for Cloud Case Visibility
For granular access to case details, make sure proper permissions are required within the respective Microsoft cloud support portals.
Support Insights
| Services Hub | Microsoft Engage Center | Changes with the transition |
|---|---|---|
| Customer-level cross-cloud + on-premises support insights 6 report options Customizable reports Azure health service events |
Customer-level cross-cloud + on-premises support insights 1 standard interactive dashboard |
The initial launch of Microsoft Engage Center doesn't have customizable report capability or Azure health service events reporting. |
Best practices for Support Insights
No recommended action.
Programs
| Services Hub | Microsoft Engage Center | Changes with the transition |
|---|---|---|
| Programs are a way to share and track information with your organization or your Microsoft rep about outcomes you're trying to achieve | The initial launch of Microsoft Engage Center doesn't support the Services Hub digital delivery experience of Programs | Programs aren't available in the initial launch of Microsoft Engage Center |
Best practices for Programs
Make sure to download any Program reports that you need before your migration to Microsoft Engage Center.
Newsletters
| Services Hub | Microsoft Engage Center | Changes with the transition |
|---|---|---|
| Published library and self-service subscription management Admin enable/disable service (Premier) Admin view of subscribers |
Published library with mailto: link User sends emails to opt in to desired subscriptions Internal management of subscription/subscribers |
Users can't directly self-subscribe in the initial launch of Microsoft Engage Center Slight delays might occur in the processing of new user subscription requests Admins can't see newsletter subscriber lists |
Best practices for Newsletters
No recommended action.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The documentation on other pages seems inconsistent with the information shared on this page. Why are there differences?
Microsoft Engage Center has been in a Private Preview for a small set of customers for several months, and there's a set of documentation specifically for those users.
This page details more functionality to be deployed before Unified and Premier support customers are migrated. As the new functionality comes online in production, we'll update the rest of the documentation to match.