Microsoft Limited

App Configuration

Fast, scalable parameter storage for app configuration.

Features

• Centralized Management of application settings.
• Feature management capabilities to control availability of features in applications.
• Dynamic Configuration of applications.

Benefits

• Manage configurations: Effectively handle settings in real-time.
• Reliably without affecting: Facilitate customer activities remain uninterrupted.
• Avoid time-consuming: Bypass lengthy redeployment processes.
• Azure App Configuration: Designed for operational efficiency.
• Built for speed: Enjoy rapid configuration updates.
• Scalability assured: Easily adapts to growing demands.
• Security prioritized: Safeguards your configuration integrity.
• Real-time management: Instantly apply changes globally.
• Without affecting customers: Maintain seamless user experiences.
• Avoid redeployments: Save time with direct updates.

£12.17 an instance

• Free trial available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  ODS

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at msukservices@microsoft.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

452894076811245

Contact

Microsoft G Cloud Team
01189094502
msukservices@microsoft.com

Service scope

• Service constraints: Azure subscription limits and quotas - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-resource-manager/management/azure-subscription-service-limits
• System requirements: Service selection dictates system requirements; consult online pages for details.

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: "The Initial Response Time varies with both the support plan and the Business Impact of the request (also known as Severity). For a breakdown of initial response times by several level and business impact, please visit https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/plans/response/; Weekend support availability varies depending on your Azure support plan. For more information, please visit https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/plans/ "
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support: Web chat
• Web chat support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Web chat accessibility testing: "Microsoft commitment to accessability can be found here - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/trust-center/compliance/accessibility#accessibility; ; Accessibility Conformance Reports can be found here including details of support and administration accessability details - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/conformance-reports; ; Microsoft is committed to developing technology that empowers everyone, including people with disabilities. Microsoft has a Disability Answer Desk where customers with disabilities get support with Microsoft Office, Windows, and other products. Microsoft also has Accessibility Conformance Reports (ACR) which describe how products and services support recognized global accessibility standards.; https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Accessibility/disability-answer-desk ; https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/conformance-reports ; https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/design/accessibility/accessibility-testing "
• Onsite support: Onsite support
• Support levels: "Microsoft provides four (4) Azure support plan options, which includes varius levels of technical account management and cloud support engineering. The support options and cost include the following:; - BASIC (included for all Azure customers); - DEVELOPER ; - STANDARD ; - PROFESSIONAL DIRECT; - UNIFIED SUPPORT; For more information, vist https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/plans/ and https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/unifiedsupport/overview; ; "
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: "Microsoft provides all Azure customers with 24/7 self-help resources, including Microsoft Learn, Azure Portal how-to videos, documentation, and community support. For more information, visit:; - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support; - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/; - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/resources/videos/; - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/community/"
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: "As a customer, you maintain ownership of your data—the content, personal and other data you provide for storing and hosting in Azure services. Microsoft will not store or process customer data outside the geography you specify, except for certain non-regional services. You are also in control of any additional geographies where you decide to deploy your solutions or replicate your data.; Azure has established internal records-retention requirements for back-end data. You are responsible for identifying your own record retention requirements. For records that are stored in Azure, you are responsible for extracting your data and retaining your content outside of Azure for a customer-specified retention period.; Azure allows you to export data and audit reports from the product. The exports are saved locally to retain the information for a customer-defined retention time period.; For more information on protection of customer data, visit: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/fundamentals/protection-customer-data"
• End-of-contract process: "Microsoft is governed by strict standards and follows specific processes for removing cloud customer data from systems under our control, overwriting storage resources before reuse, and purging or destroying decommissioned hardware. In our Online Service Terms, Microsoft contractually commits to specific processes when a customer leaves a cloud service or the subscription expires. This includes deleting customer data from systems under our control.; ; Please see Data Protection Addendum for full and up to date details about how Microsoft manages your data. https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/docs/view/Microsoft-Products-and-Services-Data-Protection-Addendum-DPA?lang=1"

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Using the web interface: "Azure provides several web interfaces that allow users to interact with the platform, manage resources, and build applications. These interfaces include, but are not limited to, the following:; - Azure Portal - provides a unified view of all your Azure resources; users can create, configure, and manage various services, virtual machines, databases, etc.; - Azure Cloud Shell: interactive, browser-based shell environment that allows users to manage Azure resources using either Bash or PowerShell; provides a command-line interface directly within the Azure Portal, eliminating the need to install any local tools"
• Web interface accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Web interface accessibility testing: One of the key tools Microsoft uses is Accessibility Insights. This is an open-source web extension that allows users to perform more than 50 automated and manual tests and easily document the detected issues. As of now, it catches up to 40 percent of accessibility bugs, and Microsoft plans to improve this through more automated testing and the expanded use of AI. https://accessibilityinsights.io/docs/web/overview/; In addition, Microsoft’s web development practices include the use of Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA), a W3C specification that helps make dynamic web content and custom user interfaces accessible.; Microsoft's accessibility conformance reports: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/conformance-reports"
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: "Azure users can set up services and make changes via Microsoft’s API using Azure API Management. To set up a service, users can sign in to the Azure portal, navigate to your API Management instance, and create a resource from the Azure portal menu. Detailed instructions for setting up services are available at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/api-management/get-started-create-service-instance; From the API Management section of the Azure Portal, users can make changes using by selecting ""Add API"" and following the steps listed at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/api-management/add-api-manually; There are some limitations when using Azure API Management. For instance, the maximum number of subscription (API Keys) per service instance is 500. Additional API import restrictions are available at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/api-management/api-management-api-import-restrictions"
• API automation tools:
  • Ansible
  • Chef
  • OpenStack
  • SaltStack
  • Terraform
  • Puppet
  • Other
• Other API automation tools: 1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/api-management/automation-manage-api-management
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats:
  • Open API (also known as Swagger)
  • HTML
  • Other
• Command line interface: Yes
• Command line interface compatibility:
  • Linux or Unix
  • Windows
  • MacOS
• Using the command line interface: "The Azure Command-Line Interface (Azure CLI) allows users to interact with Azure services and manage their Azure resources in many ways, including the following:; - Create, update, delete, and manage Azure resources (e.g., virtual machines, storage accounts, web apps, databases, and networks); - Automate routine tasks (e.g., deploying applications, scaling resources, and configuring networks); - Integrate with other tools and services (e.g., with Azure DevOps for CI/CD pipelines); - Using multiple shell environments (e.g., Windows Command Prompt, Bash, PowerShell); - Learning and understanding Azure services; ; For more information on Azure CLI's features and capabilities, visit:; - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/; - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/use-azure-cli-successfully"

Scaling

• Scaling available: Yes
• Scaling type:
  • Automatic
  • Manual
• Independence of resources: Prometheus metrics are collected from Kubernetes clusters including Azure Kubernetes service (AKS) and use industry standard tools for analyzing and alerting such as PromQL and Grafana.
• Usage notifications: Yes
• Usage reporting:
  • API
  • Email

Analytics

• Infrastructure or application metrics: Yes
• Metrics types:
  • CPU
  • Disk
  • HTTP request and response status
  • Memory
  • Network
  • Number of active instances
• Reporting types:
  • API access
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• Government security clearance: Up to Developed Vetting (DV)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations:
  • United Kingdom
  • European Economic Area (EEA)
  • Other locations
• User control over data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Penetration testing approach: In-house
• Protecting data at rest: Other
• Other data at rest protection approach: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/explore/trusted-cloud/privacy/
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type:
  • Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
  • Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
  • Hardware containing data is completely destroyed
• Equipment disposal approach: Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v.30, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001

Backup and recovery

• Backup and recovery: Yes
• What’s backed up:
  • Files
  • Folders
  • System state
  • Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) - Windows or Linux
  • Azure Managed Disks
  • Azure File shares
  • Databases running on Azure VMs (SQL Server or SAP HANA)
  • Azure PostgreSQL databases
  • Azure Blobs (blob storage)
  • Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible server backup
• Backup controls: "Role-Based Access Controls (RBACs) allow users to segregate duties within their team and give specific permissions to perform backup tasks. Azure Backup has three built-in roles (Backup Contributor, Backup Operator, and Backup Reader), with the ability to create custom roles.; Azure Backup Policy has two components: Schedule (when to take backup) and Retention (how long to retain backup). You can define the policy based on the type of data that's being backed up, RTO/RPO requirements, operational or regulatory compliance needs and workload type (for example, VM, database, files). For more information, visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/guidance-best-practices#backup-policy-considerations"
• Datacentre setup: Multiple datacentres with disaster recovery
• Scheduling backups: Users schedule backups through a web interface
• Backup recovery: Users can recover backups themselves, for example through a web interface

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Other
• Other protection between networks: "Microsoft employs robust encryption measures to safeguard customer data during transit. Here are the key aspects of data protection:; https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/explore/trusted-cloud/privacy/"
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Other
• Other protection within supplier network: Microsoft secures data in transit internally within the Azure network and externally across the Internet to the end user. These include communication through Virtual Private Networks (utilizing IPsec/IKE encryption), Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2 or later (via Azure components such as Application Gateway or Azure Front Door), protocols directly on the Azure virtual machines (such as Windows IPsec or SMB), and more.; Additionally, ""encryption by default"" using MACsec (an IEEE standard at the data-link layer) is enabled for all Azure traffic traveling between Azure datacenters to ensure confidentiality and integrity of customer data.

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Microsoft provides detailed service level agreement (SLA) metrics for all Azure components and services. To review SLAs for individual Azure services, visit https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/docs/view/Service-Level-Agreements-SLA-for-Online-Services
• Approach to resilience: "Many Azure regions provide availability zones, which are separated groups of datacenters within a region. Availability zones are close enough to have low-latency connections to other availability zones. They're connected by a high-performance network with a round-trip latency of less than 2ms. However, availability zones are far enough apart to reduce the likelihood that more than one will be affected by local outages or weather. Availability zones have independent power, cooling, and networking infrastructure. They're designed so that if one zone experiences an outage, then regional services, capacity, and high availability are supported by the remaining zones. They help your data stay synchronized and accessible when things go wrong. Datacenter locations are selected by using rigorous vulnerability risk assessment criteria.; ; Furthermore, you have the ability to build high availability into application architecture by co-locating your computer, storage, networking, and data resources within a zone and replicating in other zones. Azure services that support availability zones fall into two categories:; - Zonal services: you pin the resource to a specific zone (e.g.,, virtual machines, managed disks, standard IP addresses), or; - Zone-redundant services: platform replicates automatically across zones (e.g., zone-redundant storage, SQL database)"
• Outage reporting: Azure Service Health provides you with a customizable dashboard that tracks the health of your Azure services. In this dashboard, you can track active events like ongoing service issues, upcoming planned maintenance, or relevant health advisories. When events become inactive, they get placed in your health history for up to 90 days. Finally, you can use the Service Health dashboard to create and manage service health alerts that proactively notify you when service issues affect you. Service Health tracks four types of health events that may impact your resources:; - Service issues: Problems in the Azure services that affect you right now.; - Planned maintenance: Upcoming maintenance that can affect the availability of your services in the future.; - Health advisories: Changes in Azure services that require your attention. Examples include deprecation of Azure features or upgrade requirements (e.g., upgrade to a supported PHP framework).; - Security advisories: Security-related notifications or violations that may affect the availability of your Azure services.; ; Azure Resource Health: diagnose / get support for service problems that affect your Azure resources. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/service-health/resource-health-overview; ; Microsoft also offers public dashboards that provide service status across all Azure regions. ; - https://azure.status.microsoft/en-us/status; ; https://ms.portal.azure.com/#view/Microsoft_Azure_Health/AzureHealthBrowseBlade/~/serviceIssues

Identity and authentication

• User authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google apps)
  • Limited access network (for example PSN)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Customer data is encrypted at rest by default when stored in Azure, and customers can control their own encryption keys in Azure Key Vault. Microsoft engineers rely heavily on logs to provide customer support. Azure has controls in place to restrict access to customer data for support and troubleshooting scenarios should that access be necessary. As part of the support workflow, Microsoft Purview Customer Lockbox puts customers in charge of approving or denying access to customer data by Microsoft engineers. Data encryption, JIT, Microsoft Purview Customer Lockbox provide appropriate risk mitigation to safeguard the confidentiality and integrity of customer data.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Limited access network (for example PSN)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
• Devices users manage the service through:
  • Dedicated device on a segregated network (providers own provision)
  • Dedicated device over multiple services or networks
  • Directly from any device which may also be used for normal business (for example web browsing or viewing external email)

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: User-defined
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: User-defined
• How long system logs are stored for: User-defined

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: The Certification Body of Schellman & Company, LLC
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: November 28, 2023
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: Not Applicable
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: Yes
• CSA STAR accreditation date: 2013
• CSA STAR certification level: Level 2: CSA STAR Attestation
• What the CSA STAR doesn’t cover: N/A
• PCI certification: Yes
• Who accredited the PCI DSS certification: Coalfire, an independent Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) company
• PCI DSS accreditation date: 15-Mar-21
• What the PCI DSS doesn’t cover: Not Applicable
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/compliance/regulatory/offering-home?view=o365-worldwide

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards:
  • CSA CCM version 3.0
  • ISO/IEC 27001
  • Other
• Other security governance standards: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/resources/cloud-computing-dictionary/what-is-a-data-governance/?ef_id=_k_8f5206262c361a453937603366aa0819_k_&OCID=AIDcmm6oh50i8d_SEM__k_8f5206262c361a453937603366aa0819_k_&msclkid=8f5206262c361a453937603366aa0819
• Information security policies and processes: "An Information Security Policy exists to provide Microsoft staff and contractor staff with a current set of clear and concise Information Security Policies including their roles and responsibilities related to information assets and security. These policies provide direction for the appropriate protection of Microsoft 365. The Information Security Policy has been created as a component of an overall Information Security Management System (ISMS) for Microsoft 365.; The Information Security Policy is made available to new and existing Microsoft 365 employees for review as part of an information security education and awareness program. ; A version of the Information Security Policy is available for download from the Service Trust Portal (STP) at https://servicetrust.microsoft.com/; ; Azure uses the Microsoft Security Policy (MSP) to govern its information systems, which include the following components:; - Infrastructure: ; - Software: ; - People: ; - Procedures: ; - Data: ; ; Microsoft's risk management aligns to the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework. ERM enables the overall enterprise risk management process and works with management across the enterprise to identify and ensure accountability for Microsoft's most significant risks. ; ; Each online service follows ERM guidance to manage risks across Microsoft services. ; ; For more information, visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/compliance/assurance/assurance-governance"

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Configuration and change management approach: "Azure addresses change management practices through Microsoft's configuration management policy, which is part of the Microsoft Security Policy (MSP) and the Microsoft Security Program Policy (MSPP). Azure implements the configuration management policy and associated controls through a series of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), including the Microsoft Change Management Standard, the Azure Software Change and Release Management SOP, Azure Hardware Change and Release Management SOP. The Azure SOPs cover the change management process around information system design, development, and implementation of changes and align with Microsoft’s Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) process.; For additional details, https://servicetrust.microsoft.com/viewpage/FedRAMP "
• Vulnerability management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: "Azure uses integrated deployment systems to manage the distribution and installation of security updates for Microsoft software. Azure is also able to draw on the resources of the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC). The MSRC identifies, monitors, responds to, and resolves security incidents and cloud vulnerabilities around-the-clock, every day of the year.; Vulnerability scanning is performed on server operating systems, databases, and network devices. The vulnerability scans are performed on a quarterly basis at a minimum. Azure contracts with independent assessors to perform penetration testing of the Azure boundary. Red-team exercises are also routinely performed."
• Protective monitoring type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Protective monitoring approach: "Azure security has defined requirements for active monitoring. Service teams configure active monitoring tools to provide time alerts to Azure security personnel in situations that require immediate action.; Azure continuously monitors and detects risk in your organization, even when devices aren’t connected to the corporate network. ; Microsoft conducts thorough investigations examining the risky users and Azure Monitor activity logs to confirm the compromise and contain the exposure immediately, taking the required steps to identify and evict the threat actor quickly. ; The Initial Response Time varies with both the support plan and the Business Impact of the request. Please visit https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/plans/response/"
• Incident management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Incident management approach: " If Microsoft notices unauthorized access to customer data that's stored on its equipment or in its facilities, or it notices unauthorized access to such equipment or facilities resulting in loss, disclosure, or alteration of customer data, Microsoft takes the following actions:; - Promptly notifies the customer ; - Promptly investigates the security incident and provides customers detailed information about the security incident.; - Takes prompt steps to mitigates and minimize any damage resulting from the security incident.; The Azure security incident management team is responsible for managing security incidents and ensuring the involvement of specialist teams when necessary. "

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v3.0)

Separation between users

• Virtualisation technology used to keep applications and users sharing the same infrastructure apart: Yes
• Who implements virtualisation: Supplier
• Virtualisation technologies used: Other
• Other virtualisation technology used: Microsoft uses a combination of virtual machines (VMs), virtual disks, data virtualization, and container technologies, automatically deployed through Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates to enable a dynamically scalable and resource-rich data platform. Including: VMware, Hyper-V, Oracle VM, Red Hat Virtualisation, KVM hypervisor
• How shared infrastructure is kept separate: "Azure ensures isolation of resources and data for different organizations (tenants) sharing the same infrastructure through several mechanisms:; - Tenant Level Isolation: Each Azure subscription is associated with one Microsoft Entra directory. A Microsoft Entra tenant is logically isolated using security boundaries so that no customer can access or compromise co-tenants, either maliciously or accidentally.; - Azure Virtual Network (VNet): Azure VNet helps ensure that each customer’s private network traffic is logically isolated from traffic belonging to other customers.; - Isolated VM Sizes: Azure offers isolated VM sizes that are dedicated to a single customer. ; "

Energy efficiency

• Energy-efficient datacentres: Yes
• Description of energy efficient datacentres: "Microsoft datacenters adhere to the EU Code of Conduct for Energy Efficiency in Data Centres by implementing a variety of best practices and measures. Here are some key aspects:; Power Utilisation Effectiveness (PUE): The EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres uses PUE as a key metric to assess the overall efficiency of a data center. PUE represents the ratio of total data center input power to IT load power. The lower the PUE value, the higher the efficiency of the facility1. The ultimate goal is to achieve a PUE close to 1.0, indicating a perfectly efficient data center where almost all power is delivered to IT equipment.; Monitoring and Improvement: By regularly monitoring PUE, data center operators can identify areas of inefficiency and implement targeted energy-saving measures. ; Adoption of Best Practices: The Code of Conduct encourages data center operators and owners to adopt best practices that reduce energy consumption and promote sustainability. ; Assessment Framework: The Code of Conduct provides auditors with the necessary tools to assess if data centers apply the Practices correctly. ; Microsoft’s commitment to energy efficiency and sustainability is also demonstrated by its ambition to power its data centers with 100 percent renewable energy.

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Covid-19 recovery
  • Tackling economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

  Fighting climate change

  "Microsoft’s approach to addressing the climate crisis starts with the sustainability of our own business. In 2020, we made a bold set of commitments: to be a carbon negative, water positive, zero waste company that protects ecosystems—all by 2030. Three years into this journey, we remain steadfast in our commitment. 2022 was a reminder that to mitigate the most severe impacts of climate change, our commitments need to extend beyond our four walls, and we must continue to accelerate investments that will enable progress for decades to come.; In 2022 we launched Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, a comprehensive suite of enterprise-grade sustainability management tools. We also helped to advance a set of global sustainability initiatives that aim to benefit every person and organization on the planet. These include accelerating the availability of new climate technologies through our Climate Innovation Fund, strengthening our climate policy agenda, helping to develop a more reliable and interoperable carbon accounting system, advocating for skilling programs to expand the green workforce, and working to enable a just transition for the vulnerable populations of the global south.; We believe that Microsoft has an important role to play in developing and advancing new climate solutions, but also recognize that the climate crisis can’t be solved by any single company, organization, or government. The global community needs partnerships, new innovations, policies, and global commitment to ensure a healthy future for all."

  Covid-19 recovery

  ". A few of the specific actions we are taking include:; • Using Azure high-performance computing capabilities and our data scientists and Microsoft researchers to protect public health. One example of this is our expanded commitment to our AI for Health Program, dedicating an additional $20 million in funding to advance the efforts of researchers on the front lines of COVID-19.; • Through AI for Health we are focused on funding projects that use data to help public health authorities make informed and effective decisions on social distancing policies and healthcare capacity needs, help healthcare providers respond to the immediate crisis more safely and effectively, and accelerate scientific efforts to understand and treat COVID-19 and develop a vaccine.; • We have awarded more than 150 grants through AI for Health to organizations tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, including:; • Duke University, selected through the White House High Performance Computing Consortium, whose research team is addressing the short supply of ventilators by developing a new technique that allows them to be split and used with multiple patients.; • COVID-19 Moonshot project by UCB that is leveraging Azure to screen targets and potential entities for research.; • Folding@home, a global organization using distributed computing to research COVID-19 proteins and inform new therapies.; • Helping establish and make available the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset, representing the most extensive machine-readable coronavirus literature collection available for data and text mining to date, with more than 130,000 scholarly articles. ; • Microsoft’s subsidiary GitHub is also hosting important data on the spread of COVID-19, making it easier for researchers to use and analyze this vital data. We also use this data to develop visualizations in Power BI to support policymakers around the world as well as deliver a real-time public view of the progress we’re making together. "

  Tackling economic inequality

  "A significant focus of our social impact work globally is done under the banner of ‘skills for jobs’, a belief that everyone should have access to the skills, technology, and opportunity they need to succeed in a changing economy.; ; In the UK, we launched our GetON Campaign, helping 1.5 million people build tech careers and connecting 300,000 to tech job opportunities. ; ; We have a long history of driving apprenticeships across our industry, and in collaboration with social enterprise GetMyFirstJob, have created the Microsoft Connector – a platform to encourage those seeking apprenticeships and our partner ecosystem to find each other and give people opportunity.; ; Our business is one of collaboration, co-creation, partnership, and interdependence, particularly with our partner ecosystem, which includes over 40,000 organisations in the UK, employing over 570,000 people. ; Through our Partner Pledge we extend this ambition to our partner ecosystem, focusing on five critical themes: digital skills, apprenticeships, diversity, responsible & ethical AI, sustainability.; ; Microsoft’s mission is empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more - with inclusiveness at it’s core. ; • Diverse and inclusive hiring: We believe diversity brings unique perspectives, accelerates innovation, and contributes to economic equality.; • Skills development: We're dedicated to providing ongoing training and development opportunities for our employees to improve their skills, increase their knowledge, and advance their careers.; • Pay equity: We regularly review our compensation packages to facilitate parity across roles, experience, and locations, regardless of gender, or ethnicity.; • Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and Employee Networks: Microsoft supports various ERGs which provide career development and networking opportunities, as well as activities that promote community engagement and cultural awareness.; • Transparency: We publicly share our diversity and inclusion metrics, pay equity analysis, and progress towards equality goals.

  Equal opportunity

  "We promote a cooperative and productive work environment by supporting the cultural and ethnic diversity of our workforce, and are actively committed to providing equal employment opportunity to all qualified employees and applicants. We have many initiatives and programs in place to promote diversity and inclusion, including employee resource groups, diversity and inclusion training, and partnerships with organizations that support underrepresented groups.; ; Microsoft does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. We adhere to these principles in all aspects of employment, including recruitment, hiring, training, compensation, promotion, benefits, social and recreational programs, and discipline. In addition, it is the policy of Microsoft to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified employees who have protected disabilities to the extent required by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances where a particular employee works. We are committed to equally opportunity practices as demonstrated in the following links:; https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/legalpolicies; https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/diversity/default.aspx; https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/diversity/inside-microsoft/default.aspx; Microsoft is committed to equal opportunities employment practices. Microsoft policies on managing and developing workforce, how to empower employees and Inclusive hiring can be found here:; ; https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/corporate-responsibility/empowering-employees

  Wellbeing

  "Microsoft has implemented several initiatives to foster the wellbeing of its employees:; ; Microsoft Viva: Microsoft Viva is an employee experience platform that fosters a culture of wellbeing and improves productivity. It provides data-driven, privacy-protected insights and recommendations to help improve employee wellbeing.; Work-Life Integration: Microsoft promotes work-life integration, which is the natural evolution of work-life balance. In many flexible employment situations, the boundaries between work life and home life are blurred. This makes it even more important to consider how work—and the rest of life—are more integrated than we might think.; Mental Health Resources: Microsoft has deeply invested in mental health resources as an integral part of employee wellbeing, through its benefits package and workplace culture.; Employee Empowerment: Microsoft focuses on bringing out the best in people, supporting their goals, and allowing them to find deep meaning in their work. They strive to create a respectful, rewarding, diverse, and inclusive work environment.; Diversity and Inclusion: Microsoft believes in empowering everyone on the planet and sees diversity and inclusion as core to its business model. The better they represent diversity inside Microsoft, the better they’re able to innovate for those they seek to empower.; Learning and Development Opportunities: Microsoft provides personalized, integrated, and relevant views of all learning opportunities on Microsoft Learning and LinkedIn Learning. They also offer frequent promotion opportunities.; Benefits and Rewards: Microsoft develops dynamic, sustainable, and strategic programs that together provide a highly differentiated portfolio to attract, reward, and retain top talent."

Pricing

• Price: £12.17 an instance
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: Depending upon the service there are range of trial offerings available. There is also a free trial of Azure
• Link to free trial: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/free/search/?ef_id=_k_d00f79182b1a1d5b7a5a1f0d4a8f4aaf_k_&OCID=AIDcmm3bvqzxp1_SEM__k_d00f79182b1a1d5b7a5a1f0d4a8f4aaf_k_&msclkid=d00f79182b1a1d5b7a5a1f0d4a8f4aaf

Service documents

• Pricing document

  ODS

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at msukservices@microsoft.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.