Office Business Standard



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Important

You must be an admin for a business subscription to use these support methods. If you're not a business admin, please use this support page.

Start by checking the current health of your services. You can view detailed information about current and past issues on the Service health dashboard. If you're experiencing an issue that isn't listed, you can get support in one of the following ways:

Download Microsoft Business Standard

Online support

Save time by starting your service request online. We'll help you find a solution or connect you to technical support.

To provide customers with the greatest amount of flexibility, different payment options are available. Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Apps for business, Business Standard, and Business Premium plans are available for monthly commitment payment or annual commitment payment. With Microsoft 365 Business Standard you get email hosting plus desktop premium Office apps including Word Excel PowerPoint Outlook as well as other tools to help run and grow your business. Apps are always updated so theyre never outdated. One license covers fully installed always up to date Office apps on 5 phones 5 tablets and 5 PCs or Macs.

  1. Go to the admin center at https://admin.microsoft.com. If you get a message that says you don't have permission to access this page or perform this action, then you aren't an admin. Who has admin permissions in my business?

  2. Select the Need help? button.

  3. In the Need help? pane, tell us what you need help with, and then press Enter.

  4. If the results don't help, select Contact support.

  5. Enter a description of your issue, confirm your contact number and email address, select your preferred contact method, and then select Contact me. The expected wait time is indicated in the Need help? pane.

Phone support

Billing support is provided in English from 9 AM-5 PM (9 AM-6 PM in Australia), Monday-Friday.
Technical support is provided in English 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Admins, have your account details ready when you call.

Note

To better protect your organization, we added a PIN-based verification step to our existing phone-based verification process. If you contact us from a number that isn't registered with your organization profile, the Microsoft support representative sends a verification code to the registered email or phone number in your Microsoft 365 admin center profile. You must provide this code to the support representative to grant them access to your organization’s account.

  • In the United States, call 1 800 865 9408.

  • In Australia, call 1 800 197 503.

  • In Canada, call 1 800 865 9408.

  • In the United Kingdom, call 0800 032 6417.

If your support phone number isn't listed above, use the drop-down menu below to find the number for your country or region.

  • Select your country or region

With every subscription of Office 365 operated by 21Vianet, 21Vianet support provides technical, pre-sales, billing and subscription support. Support is available both online through the Office 365 operated by 21Vianet portal, and by telephone for both paid and trial subscriptions.

Authorized administrators can use the Office 365 operated by 21Vianet portal to submit service requests online and access support telephone numbers. For instructions, see Contact support.

The Office 365 operated by 21Vianet technical support team troubleshoots only those issues that are related to Office 365 operated by 21Vianet. Issues that originate in customer networks fall outside of the Office 365 support boundaries, and in these cases, customers must work with their networking team for assistance.

Community and self-service support options

Self-service support is available for all Office 365 operated by 21Vianet users, and includes troubleshooting tools and videos, help articles and videos, as well as forums and wikis in the Office 365 community. For more self-help resources, see Learn about Office 365 operated by 21Vianet.

Pre-sales support

Pre-sales support for Office 365 operated by 21Vianet provides assistance on subscription features and benefits, plan comparisons, pricing and licensing, and helps to identify the right solution to meet your business needs. In addition, pre-sales support can help you find a Partner, and purchase and sign up for a trial. You can call during local business hours, Monday through Friday. Pre-sales support can be accessed using the same phone number as with technical support. For instructions, see Contact support.

Billing and subscription management support

Assistance for billing and subscription management issues is available online or by telephone during China business hours (Beijing Time), Monday through Friday. Billing and subscription management support can be accessed using the same phone number and online service request process as with technical support. The support telephone number can be found on the Office 365 operated by 21Vianet portal. For instructions, see Contact support.

Here are some examples of billing and subscription management issues:

  • Signing up for a trial or purchasing a subscription

  • Converting from a trial subscription to a paid subscription

  • Understanding the bill

  • Renewing a subscription

  • Adding or removing licenses

  • Canceling a paid subscription

Technical support

Technical support for Office 365 operated by 21Vianet subscriptions provides assistance with basic installation, setup, and general technical usage. Some examples of these issues are listed in the following table.

Support categoryExamples
Installation and setupExchange Online
  • Office 365 mailbox migration
  • Recipient configuration (mailbox permissions, configuring mail forwarding, configuring shared mailbox)
  • Autodiscover configuration
SharePoint Online
  • Permissions and user groups
  • Configuration of external users
Skype for Business Online
  • Installation and creating contacts
Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise
  • Installation and setup
ConfigurationService configuration issues
  • Single sign-on (SSO)
  • Active Directory synchronization

Note

You can learn how to contact technical support here: Contact support.Technical support does not include troubleshooting third-party services or add-ins. Learn about finding answers from other customers in the Community.

Technical support case handling

21Vianet assigns a severity level to a case when it is opened, based on an assessment of the issue type and customer impact. Examples of issue types and severity levels are shown in the following table.

Severity levelOperations and support descriptionExamples
Sev A (Critical)One or more services aren't accessible or are unusable. Production, operations, or deployment deadlines are severely affected, or there will be a severe impact on production or profitability. Multiple users or services are affected.
  • Widespread problems sending or receiving mail.
  • SharePoint site down.
  • All users can't send instant messages, join or schedule Skype for Business Meetings, or make Skype for Business calls.
Sev B (High)The service is usable but in an impaired fashion. The situation has moderate business impact and can be dealt with during business hours. A single user, customer, or service is partially affected.
  • Send button in Outlook is garbled.
  • Setting is impossible from EAC (Exchange admin center) but possible in Windows PowerShell.
Sev C (Non-critical)The situation has minimal business impact. The issue is important but does not have a significant current service or productivity impact for the customer. A single user is experiencing partial disruption, but an acceptable workaround exists.
  • How to set user password that never expires.
  • User can't delete contact information in Exchange Online.

Technical support initial response times

Initial response time is based on the severity levels described above. 21Vianet customer service team follow up with investigation and customer communication in reasonable rhythm according to severity levels. 21Vianet also expect customer to collaborate at reasonable level accordingly.

Security level 121Vianet customer support team Initial responseCustomer responsibility
Sev A 2 (Critical)Initial Response: 1 hour or less; Follow up: continues effort until problem resolution.Provide solid business impact statement (see the severity A description and examples above); Allocate resource to ensure continues collaboration with 21Vianet customer support agent for the joint investigation and necessary communication; Provide accurate contact information and ensure reliable communication throughout the service request lifecycle.
Sev B (High)Initial Response: 1 business day or less.Provide accurate contact information and ensure reliable communication throughout the service request lifecycle.
Sev C (Medium)Initial Response: 3 business day or less.Provide accurate contact information and ensure reliable communication throughout the service request lifecycle.

1 If the customer cannot provide required resource or make response for collaboration with 21Vianet customer support agent investigation in reasonable time, 21Vianet support team may lower down the severity level of a service request.

2 Severity A is only available to customers who had signed an advanced online service agreement with 21Vianet through a sales account manager. Severity A is available only for technical support. For billing and subscription management support, the highest severity level is B.

Technical support working hours

Severity A: 24*7 continuous service

Severity B/C: 9:00 ~24:00 (Beijing Time) a day, 365 days.

Contact support

Note

Assisted support options are for admins of Office 365 subscribed organizations only. If you use Office 365 but you're not an admin, you can still get support in the community forums, or by contacting your admin.

Office

Open an online request

Save time by starting your service request online. In the Microsoft 365 admin center, choose Support > New service request.

Call support

Call support. If you encounter any problem with online request, phone support is available at (86) 400-089-0365.

Shared support responsibilities

21Vianet understands that receiving timely technical support from qualified professionals is a key aspect of cloud services. Equally important is the critical role that the customer's IT department plays in the support of its users.

Administrator roles and responsibilities

People with administrator roles are the only ones in the customer's organization authorized to access the Admin section of the Office 365 operated by 21Vianet portal and to communicate directly with 21Vianet about Office 365 service requests.

With Office 365 you can designate several types of administrators who serve different functions. This service description uses the generic title administrator to refer to all categories of administrators. For more information about the types of administrator roles, see Assign admin roles in Microsoft 365 for business.

The administrator is:

  • Responsible for service administration and account maintenance.

  • The primary contact that sets up and supports each service user.

  • Authorized to submit service requests to 21Vianet.

The administrator's role is to:

Office Business Standard
  • Provide user account setup and configuration to allow users access to the services.

  • Address client connectivity, client software, and mobility installation issues.

  • Address service availability issues within the customer's organizational span of control.

  • Use self-service support resources to resolve support issues.

The administrator is expected to provide initial assistance for the customer's users. However, if the administrator is unable to resolve issues with the help of self-service support resources, he or she should Contact support.

21Vianet support role

21Vianet's support role is to:

  • Troubleshoot and provide technical guidance for customer issues and escalations.

  • Gather and validate information related to specific service requests.

  • Provide issue coordination and resolution management.

  • Maintain communication with the administrators to help ensure that issues are addressed on an ongoing basis.

  • Provide assistance with licensing, invoicing, and subscription inquiries.

  • Provide assistance with purchasing and trial inquiries.

  • Continually gather customer feedback on how to improve the service through surveys.

Office Business Standard Vs Premium

Feature availability

To view feature availability across Office 365 plans, see Office 365 Service Description

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Scan this QR code to follow us on WeChat and get the latest updates for Office 365 operated by 21Vianet.

This article applies to customers of Office 365 Germany, which has domains ending onmicrosoft.de. For more information, see Learn about Office 365 Germany.

As an admin for Office 365 Germany, you get free access to our knowledgeable support agents for help resolving technical issues, as well as for pre-sales, account, and billing support. You can also contact us on behalf of Office 365 Germany users in your organization.

Note

Business

All of the support options below are for Microsoft Cloud Germany. For more information about how Microsoft uses the data that you provide when you contact Microsoft support, please see the privacy statement.

Get assisted support

Assisted support options are for admins of Office 365 Germany subscribed organizations only. If you use Office 365 Germany at work or school, but you're not an admin, you can still get support in the community forums, or by contacting your admin or IT department.

Office Business Standard Download

  • Open an online request. Save time by starting your service request online. In the admin center, choose Support > New service request. We'll help you find a solution or connect you to an expert who will contact you by email or phone.

  • Call support. We're here to talk. Admins, have your account details ready when you call support.

RegionPhone numberHours
Germany0800 589 2330Billing Support:
  • German: Mon-Fri 9-5 Berlin
  • English: Mon-Fri 9-5 Berlin
Technical Support:
  • German: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
  • English: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Alternative Phone Number: 069 380 789 305 (Local call charges apply)
All other markets within the European Economic Area+49 69 380 789 305Billing Support:
  • German: Mon-Fri 9-5 Berlin(UTC+1)
  • English: Mon-Fri 9-5 Berlin (UTC +1)
Technical Support:
  • German: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
  • English: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Telephone support is available via international call to Germany. International call charges apply. Call charges can be avoided by submitting a support ticket through the admin center.

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Let our community help

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You can also search the Microsoft 365 for business community forums to find known issues and trending topics, or to post a new question. The community forums are monitored by trained Microsoft support agents who can help resolve your issue.