Monthly Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program update

On this page10 sections

1. Partner University Retirement Reminder
2. Changes to Specializations and Solutions Partner Designations
3. Coming Soon
4. Upcoming Skilling Changes
5. The Adoption and Change Management specialization will be retired June 25, 2026
6. Upcoming Specialization Mergers
7. Audit Checklists for All Four Security Specializations
8. Microsoft 365 Copilot specialization updates coming in July
9. What’s changing
10. Audit Checklists Preview is available now

What’s new for Solutions Partner designations, specializations, and other Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program offerings and benefits.

Impacted audience

Partners enrolled in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program

This month’s updates continue to enhance partner differentiation and readiness across high-demand solution areas. Key changes include specialization updates that integrate AI capabilities, revised skilling and performance requirements, and streamlined qualification frameworks to support partner growth and agility.

Partner University Retirement Reminder

Partner University will be retired effective 15 June 2026, impacting partners aspiring to enroll in the Modern Work Solutions Partner designation and two Modern Work specializations.

Here’s what partners need to know:

• Existing Partner University user linkings continue to be honored. Partners receive credit and skilling score for these linkings until June 2027.
• After June 2027, all Partner University assessments will be fully retired and will no longer be used for reporting, skilling score calculation, or as a program requirement.
• No new user linkings to Partner University will be allowed after 15 June 2026.
• The current Partner University user experience available through the Learn profile page in Membership will also be retired as part of this change.
• In the coming months, Partner University assessments will be complemented by a new set of skilling requirements. These new requirements are added as an OR condition alongside the existing Partner University assessments during the transition period.

Changes to Specializations and Solutions Partner Designations

The following skilling options have been added to the specialization as of June 5, 2026:

• The AI Platform on Microsoft Azure specialization has added the Microsoft Certified: Machine Learning Operations Engineer Associate certification as a skilling option to address the retiring of the Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist Associate.

Coming Soon

Upcoming Skilling Changes

The following skilling changes are coming to the below specializations at the end of June 2026:

The following skilling changes are coming to the below Solutions Partner designations at the end of June 2026. All changes apply to both Enterprise and SMB tracks:

The following skilling changes are coming to the below specializations at the end of July 2026:

The following skilling changes are coming to the below Solutions Partner designations at the end of July 2026. All changes apply to both Enterprise and SMB tracks:

Certifications and Applied Skills are regularly updated throughout their lifecycle, which can impact specializations and Solutions Partner designations. In the case of a retiring certification or applied skill impacting a specialization or Solutions Partner designation, the following are true:

• Skilling achieved prior to its retirement remains valid for one year.
• New skilling will be added, if the replacement skilling is applicable to those specializations and designations.
• We’ll detail the new requirements in Partner Center as they go into effect.

The Adoption and Change Management specialization will be retired June 25, 2026

The Adoption Change Management specialization is being retired. Rather than have a standalone specialization, adoption & change management capabilities are embedded within product-aligned specializations, ensuring change management is evaluated in the context of specific solutions while we retire this more general-purpose specialization. After retirement, new enrollments and renewals will no longer be accepted. If you're currently enrolled, your specialization remains active until your anniversary date.

Upcoming Specialization Mergers

Three new specializations are created by merging existing specializations in the coming months. Stay tuned for more information on these exciting new offerings!

• The Analytics on Microsoft Azure, Data Warehouse Migration to Microsoft Azure, and Business Intelligence specializations are merging into a new Analytics on Microsoft Azure specialization. Partners who are currently enrolled in Analytics or Data Warehouse Migration will be automatically enrolled into the new merged Analytics specialization with the same anniversary date.
• The Low Code Application Development and Intelligent Automation specializations are merging into a new Agentic Business Solutions specialization. Partners who are currently enrolled in Low Code or Intelligent Automation will be automatically enrolled into the new merged Agentic Business Solutions specialization with the same anniversary date.
• The Kubernetes on Microsoft Azure and Migrate Enterprise Applications to Microsoft Azure specializations are merging into a new App Modernization on Microsoft Azure specialization. Partners who are currently enrolled in Kubernetes or Migrate Enterprise Applications will be automatically enrolled into the new merged App Modernization specialization with the same anniversary date.

Audit Checklists for All Four Security Specializations

Coming July 2026, we're moving to an audit-based model for all four Microsoft Security Specializations (Cloud Security, Data Security, Identity & Access Management, and Threat Protection). The new audit validates whether partners can deliver Microsoft Security solutions in real customer environments.

This audit will be conducted by an independent, third-party auditor. The duration of the audit depends on scheduling between the auditor and the partner. The audit will be funded by the partner and conducted every two years.

When the change goes live, partners are given a six-month extension to their anniversary date to allow time to prepare for the audit.

Partners receive a Pass or No Pass result upon completion of the audit process, including if they withdraw from the audit.

How you can prepare your partners today:

• Get familiar with the four Security Specializations.
• More details on what is included in the audit will be released in the coming months. In the meantime, identify SMEs within your partners’ organizations who can support sourcing the required artifacts.

Microsoft 365 Copilot specialization updates coming in July

Microsoft is updating the Microsoft Copilot specialization to align with evolving customer demand and the latest Microsoft 365 Copilot and agent capabilities. Beginning in July 2026, the specialization is renamed to the Microsoft 365 Copilot specialization.

What’s changing

• Performance measurement updates
• Performance requirements measure paid Microsoft 365 Copilot monthly active usage (MAU) only.
• Updated certification requirements
• The Microsoft 365 Certified: Administrator Expert (MS-102) certification requirement is removed, along with Applied Skills: Prepare security and compliance to support Copilot (APL-4002) and Create custom agents with Microsoft Copilot Studio (APL-7008), which retire at the end of June 2026. New certification requirements, including Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect (AB-100) and AI Agent Builder Associate (AB-620), will be added to address the retirement of APL-7008.
• Customer references replaced with a capabilities audit
• Customer references is replaced with a third-party capabilities audit. The audit will require real customer examples and remain valid for two years.

Audit Checklists Preview is available now

Starting this month all of the Azure Specialization checklists have been updated to contain the Preview Link for the upcoming changes and updates. These Preview versions will be available for one month before the changes go public on July 1.