3rd Party Control Panel Data Import Wizard and Bulk Option to subscribe Resellers to SfB(Lync) and SharePoint (To be released in July 2015)


Summary

This article provides information for using 3rd Party Import Utility for importing Exchange Subscriptions and Organizations for Resellers and End Customers from "Hosting Controller" and "WebSitePanel" to MachPanel.  Also it offers the option to bulk subscribe all the resellers to SfB(Lync) and SharePoint services.  

Applies To
MachPanel Version 5.2.22 (released on July 2015) and above.
Pre-Requisites
Before moving forward with the import from any panel to MachPanel, following pre-requisites must be fulfilled.

    Exchange:
        At least one Reseller Exchange Service Plan should be created in MachPanel for Reseller Subscription.
        At least one Customer Exchange Service Plan should be created in MachPanel.
    Skype for Business (SfB):
        At least one Reseller SfB (Lync) Service Plan should be created in MachPanel.
        At least one Customer SfB (Lync) Service Plan should be created in MachPanel.
        At least one SfB (Lync) Add-on should be created in MachPanel.
    SharePoint:
        At least one Reseller SharePoint Service Plan should be created in MachPanel.
        At least one Customer SharePoint Service Plan should be created in MachPanel.

Note:  Provider needs to plan out their business strategy during the service plan creation phase because the plan you create up front and choose during the import will be applied to your customers.

Backup Critical Data before you begin

ALWAYS ENSURE TO BACKUP YOUR FILES AND DATABASE BEFORE STARTING A MIGRATION
It's very easy to backup MachPanel.
Open MachPanel Configuration Studio after you RDP to your Control Panel Server and click the "Take Backup now" button.

You can take backup of Control Panel and SQL database at specified locations and interval (Frequency & Time). Apply required setting and click on "Update Settings". You can enable Auto-Backup option and change Backup frequency and the backup location as well. Also, you can auto-purge backups by selecting Keep Last (Select numbers) and also you can provide Backup Email Address.
Steps to perform for migration:
  1. Login to MachPanel as Provider (Super Administrator)
  2. Navigate to Path: Home » Import Utilities » 3rd Party Import

Import Settings:

You have to provide following for Exchange import under Import Settings:

  1. Select 3rd party Control panel option allows you to choose which control panel you are importing data from. Choose your source control panel name from the available options.
  2. Import As option lets you choose which type of reseller to create in MachPanel. Any reseller you have in the source control panel will be picked up and then created as the chosen reseller type.
  • Subscription based reseller is a stand-alone reseller in MachPanel that does not inherit business logic/prices/plans from the provider. This type of reseller has its own service plans. This reseller purchases a bulk quantity from provider (any number of resources or even unlimited resources), then creates his own service plans, and sells the services on his own terms and conditions, business logic and pricing. This is a little complex to set up compared to Commission based reseller but has advantage of being able to offer services of his choice and on his own terms.
  • Commission based reseller is a subsidized reseller in MachPanel that inherits business logic/service plans and pricing set by the provider. This type of reseller does not have the ability to create his own service plans or pricing. This type of reseller uses and sells existing service plans offered by the provider and earns commission while selling services to his own customers. The services maintain same naming, business logic, pricing conventions as set by the provider. This type of reseller is easy to set up and maintain as compared to Subscription based reseller but has the disadvantage of being unable to offer services of his own choice, terms or pricing.


After selecting 3rd party panel and Import As option you have to provide following:
  1. Control Panel Database Connection string: Provide Connection String of the source Control Panel Database. This is connection string of your "MSPControl", "WebSitePanel" or "Hosting Controller database.
  2. Import AD Organization Only: If Checked, only Active Directory Organizations will be imported, Subscriptions on those Organizations (Exchange in this case) will not be imported.
  3. Reseller Exchange service plan: Select Reseller's Exchange service plan which should be assigned to all your resellers selected during import. After import this plan will be assigned as subscription to the selected resellers in MachPanel.
  4. Customer Exchange service plan: Select Customer's Exchange service plan which should be assigned to all your end customers selected during import. After import this plan will be assigned as subscription to the selected customers in MachPanel.
  5. Select Exchange Server: Select Exchange Server that you want to assign to selected resellers / customers.
  6. LDAP URL: Provide LDAP URL. This is the source LDAP URL that contains the organization Units for each of your organizations. This is mostly the default LDAP URL of your current panel where all sub OUs are created for each organization.
  7. Now Click the Get resellers option to see list of all available reseller that can be imported.
  8. Select resellers to import: Select Resellers from the List and Click Import button. To multi-select press SHIFT or CTRL key and select ALL in sequence or select required resellers one by one respectively.



Post-Import Tasks:

Once the import process ends after hitting Import Button, you have to verify and fix resources allocated to customer and reseller(Owner) according to actual usage.

Bulk Operations (optional):

Please note that these Bulk Operations are not for Import or Automatic provisioning for an organization, rather this gives the providers an option to sell and subscribe Skype for Business (Lync) and SharePoint service in bulk to existing resellers and to have a product ready for them which they can sell to their end customers if needed. This way a copy of the selected Service Plan and Add-on will be sold to each reseller as well as an End Customer Service Plan and Add-on will be created for all resellers. This way, all your resellers will have the ability to sell these two services to their customers without going into the hassle of creating service plan and add-on themselves.

Using Bulk Operations, you can subscribe all resellers for SharePoint and Skype for Business (Lync) services and create End Customer plans under each reseller in a single go.

You have to select following for Skype for Business (Lync) and then Click Create and Subscribe Lync Plans for All Resellers
     Select Lync Reseller Package
     Select Lync Customer Package
     Select Lync Reseller AddOn
     Select Lync Customer AddOn


For SharePoint select following and Click Create and Subscribe for SharePoint Plans for All Resellers
     Select SharePoint Reseller Package
     Select SharePoint Customer Package