Implications of PBO and COA Consolidation for ISV Partners

Consolidation Scenarios

• If you are an existing partner and you want to merge your operations under your existing Partner Business Org (PBO), whether because you have acquired another partner, acquired an application from another partner, or otherwise, you will need to have the acquired products added under your Channel Order App (COA) instance:
  • The acquired Partner’s Partner Channel Contract Term (PCCT) will need to be recreated under the acquiring Partner's account and Partner will need to refresh their Channel Order App (COA).
• If you are an existing partner you want to merge your operations under another Partner's PBO, whether because you have acquired another partner, acquired an application from another partner, or otherwise:
  • You will need to migrate your own existing Partner Channel Contract Term (PCCT) / Partner Product Catalog (PPC) into the acquired Partner’s org and refresh their Channel Order App (COA).
• If you are a new Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Partner (without your own Channel Order App (COA) set up already) acquiring another partner or an application.
• If you want to take over the existing Partner's PBO:
  • Typically no further steps are needed with SFDC - you will gain access to the existing Partner Business Org (PBO) and  Channel Order App (COA) instance from the acquired partner.
• If you have your own Salesforce org you now want to use as a Partner Business Org (PBO):
  • You will need to reach out to your Partner Account Manager (PAM) and the PAM will work with Partner Ops to create a new Partner Channel Contract Term (PCCT) with applicable Partner Product Catalog (PPC) records for the acquired app(s), under the new Partner Account and create new Service Order credentials for the new COA instance.

Channel Order App (COA) Catalog Policies

• If you want to keep the acquired application separate and run that business from a separate  Channel Order App (COA) org, that is possible. However, you cannot submit Service Orders for the same application from different COA orgs.
• If you want to merge multiple catalogs into one catalog, then you need to merge those into one COA instance

Channel Order App (COA) Service Orders Data

• In the event that you want to migrate your Channel Order Application (COA) from one org to another and/or wish to import COA Service Order data from one org to another, the following data will be synced:
  • Partner Product Catalog
  • Partner Contract Terms
  • Customer records for existing active customers
  • Customer Order Product History (this is what enables the COA to validate your active customers and their active products)

Note: Existing Service Orders will not be automatically synced when moving from one instance to another. If you wish to import Service Order data, Dataloader instructions can be provided upon request.

• However, please understand that there is no special way to move COA Service Order data. It behaves just like any other data migration, and that means the order received dates will all reset with the new imported timestamp. In the past, this has been a problem for most Partners, but unfortunately there is no other option at this time.

Channel Order App (COA) Partner Product Naming Convention Requirements

• The Partner Product Name helps identify product names within a Partner’s Product Catalog. In the event that you are merging Product Catalogs, you will be required to do the following: 
  • Apply the standard naming convention format to all products: [Reseller Application Name] [Salesforce Product Name] [PNR %]
  • Ensure there are no duplicative or confusing product names
• These requirements exist to ensure that partner and SFDC operations personnel will be able to distinguish between products associated with different orders when performing updates or reconciliations in the future.

Billing Information

• A Partner's Billing Contact, Address & Email Address will generally need to be updated post acquisition, to match the acquiring company's information.
  • To do this, log a support case Salesforce Help under:
    • Product: Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Billing & Order Support
    • Topic: Update Billing Information/Payment Application
• If a partner wants to maintain the original billing information of the acquired entity for orders of that application, it is only permitted if they still have operations at their original address, and the partner would have to maintain a separate catalog and  Channel Order App (COA) setup. If the partner is merging their catalogs then the billing address of the parent company would apply to all Service Orders.
• It is the Partners’ responsibility to manage any and all tax implications of collecting revenue in multiple countries, to the extent that it is applicable under this scenario.
  • For more specific assistance in this area, log a support case Salesforce Help under:
    • • Product: ISV Billing & Order Support
      • Topic: Update Billing Information/Payment Application

Other Partner Business Org (PBO) Migration Considerations

You may need to also log separate cases to update the Partner Business Org (PBO) for your Licence management App (LMA), AgentExchange Listings, and Partner Community, if applicable. The Topics and Subtopics area as follows: 

• LMA - Product: Sales or Service Topic: AgentExchange & Managed Packages
• AgentExchange Listings - Product: Partner Community & AgentExchange, Topic: AgentExchange Support
• Partner Community - Product: Partner Community & AgentExchange, Topic: Partner Community Support