The SAM Engagement Response Kit
A Microsoft SAM engagement arrives as a free optimization. It is sales led, and what it finds becomes the basis for a sales motion or a formal demand. This kit shows you how to respond from a controlled position rather than an open one.
- What a SAM engagement really is, and how it differs from a self verification and a formal audit
- Why a clean internal SAM tool report is not the same as Microsoft's own calculation
- The decision framework for declining the initial review and assessing yourself first
- A worked example of the 5 percent clause and the 125 percent acquisition rate
- A response checklist you can hand to IT, procurement, and general counsel today
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What the kit covers
The problem stated plainly
Microsoft verifies end customer licensing three ways. A SAM engagement is voluntary and sales led, presented as a free optimization but used to find gaps and create a sales motion. A self verification is a contractual demand under your agreement and is not optional. A formal audit runs through a third party accounting firm under the MBSA audit clause and produces an Effective License Position. The SAM engagement is the softest entry point, which is exactly why it deserves a hard look before you say yes.
The mechanics with real numbers
The kit walks the 5 percent clause in full. If unlicensed use reaches 5 percent or more of total use, you reimburse Microsoft's verification costs and acquire the missing licenses at 125 percent of the current price. It also explains why a clean internal SAM tool report can still differ from Microsoft's number: Microsoft counts with its own methodology and its own data from Azure, Microsoft 365, and management tooling, and its calculation governs.
| If unlicensed use is | What follows |
|---|---|
| Below 5 percent | Acquire missing licenses, verification costs typically not reimbursed |
| 5 percent or more | Reimburse verification costs and acquire at 125 percent of price |
Figures are indicative and depend on your agreement.
The decision framework
The recognized defensive move is to decline the initial SAM review and run your own internal assessment with independent help first, then respond to any formal demand from a controlled position. The kit gives you the framework for that decision and the language to decline the review without escalating it.
The checklist
The kit closes with a checklist you can act on: who to brief, what data to control, what to assess before Microsoft sees anything, and how to keep a SAM motion from hardening into a formal audit. It points to a Strategy Call if you want a hand running it.