A Microsoft Enterprise Agreement renewal is decided in the twelve months before signature, not in the final negotiation. This checklist is the buyer side sequence we run on live engagements, condensed into a PDF you can put in front of your own team. It covers the work that has to happen at twelve months, six months, ninety days, and the final stretch. Most of the savings are won before the account team sends a number.
The checklist is organized around the renewal calendar, because timing is the single largest lever a buyer controls. It walks the full cycle from the moment the clock starts to the day you sign, with the specific work that has to be complete at each gate. It is the same structure used across the 112 EA renewal engagements the practice has delivered.
The checklist is written for the people who own the outcome of a renewal: the CIO and CFO who answer for the run rate, the procurement leaders who run the process, and the IT asset and licensing managers who hold the detail. It assumes a large estate and a renewal that matters, and it is deliberately blunt about where buyers lose ground by starting late.
A renewal you start preparing twelve months out is a negotiation. A renewal you start three months out is an acceptance.
| Gate | Primary work | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 12 months | Reconstruct the baseline, open the data effort, map the estate against consumption. | Everything downstream depends on a clean picture you control. See the twelve month timeline. |
| 6 months | Set concession targets, size Azure commitments, identify shelfware to shed. | This is where the target number is built. See the six month timeline. |
| 90 days | Resist the opening uplift, structure term and protection language, manage escalation. | The account team applies pressure here. A prepared buyer does not move on it. See uplift resistance. |
| Final stretch | Lock pricing, confirm exit and rollover terms, align signatures. | The last details decide the run rate for years, not days. |
The full checklist expands each gate into specific, checkable line items. It pairs naturally with the longer form EA renewal checklist guide and the flagship EA renewal negotiation service.
Enter a corporate email below and the checklist arrives as a PDF. There is no sales sequence attached to it. If it is useful and you want a read on your own renewal, the practice is one form away, but the document stands on its own.
Tell us who you are and the full checklist opens immediately in your browser. No wait and no email attachment. We ask for a corporate identity because the buyer side method inside is shared with practitioners, not crawlers.
The checklist is the sequence. On a live renewal we run it against your consumption data, your peer pricing, and the concession bands actually being signed this quarter. Two analyst calls, no pitch.