ACE Opportunity Submission

AWS Technology Partner Quick Guide | v202103

CHEAT SHEET
Simplified form (default
view) vs. Comprehensive
form (more info)

Company name of end

customer

Industry of end customer

Country where end Postal code where end

customer is located customer is located

Website of end customer

Clear description of
Name of opportunity opportunity: Customer's
pain point and / or
business requirement;
Solution proposed; Pre-
sales activities;
Incremental consumption
of AWS

Name of campaign

Support needed from

AWS

Use case of opportunity

Expected monthly usage
of AWS (12 months after Expected date when AWS
launch; $1 for multi- billing will start to occur
tenant SaaS)

Delivery model of
opportunity

Remarks, notes,
comments

Contact details of decision-

maker within customer
(upon customer’s consent) Contact details of sales
rep within your
organization
© 2020, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved
 ACE Opportunity Submission
AWS Technology Partner Quick Guide | v202103

REFERENCE
Introduction
The APN Customer Engagements (ACE) Program provides the framework to enable AWS Partners to drive successful
customer engagements across three sales motions: Partner Opportunity Referrals, AWS Opportunity Referrals, and
AWS Lead Referrals. This document provides guidance on Partner Opportunity Referrals, in particular, how to submit
an opportunity.

Value of Opportunity Submission

When you submit opportunities, it gives our AWS Sellers (AM, ISR, etc.) visibility into where you are engaging with our
joint customers through pipeline visibility, and more importantly, where you are supporting customer needs by seeing
where you are winning and launching opportunities. This visibility builds trust within the AWS Sellers on your
competencies, which can grow into AWS sharing opportunities with you, once you are ACE-eligible.

ACE Pipeline Manager

ACE Pipeline Manager is where you can start by submitting and managing opportunities. To submit an opportunity,
you need access to APN Partner Central and ACE Pipeline Manager (‘My Customers’ tab in APN Partner Central):
 First, you need to have an account in APN Partner Central. To get an account, go to APN Partner Central Self-
Registration page (link) and create a user account by using an email with your company domain.
 Second, you need to gain access to ACE Pipeline Manager. Alliance Lead of your organization can grant access
to each user account (Alliance Lead logs into APN Partner Central > Click “View My APN Account” on the left > Click
“Manage ACE Pipeline Manager Users” under “Manage ACE Pipeline Manager Users” section Click “Grant Access” beside the
user account).

Opportunity Validation Criteria

All opportunities submitted through ACE Pipeline Manager should represent net-new AWS Business and have been
thoroughly prospected by your firm to clearly define the end-customer’s needs, pain points, and what your firm is
proposing to solve. Before you submit an opportunity, you are responsible for obtaining customer’s consent for you
to share their information with AWS. We’ve established criteria of what defines a qualified opportunity on AWS,
which is generally as follows:

© 2020, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved
 ACE Opportunity Submission
AWS Technology Partner Quick Guide | v202103

Opportunity Submission Form

Opportunity Submission Form helps you provide relevant information when submitting an opportunity. The form
resides within ACE Pipeline Manager. Below are 12 required fields and descriptions of each field. By clicking ‘All fields’
option at the top of the form, you can share more relevant information on the opportunity (e.g. AWS Marketplace
opportunity, Marketing Development Fund).

Account Name (Customer Company Name) | Company name of end customer

The field helps you get connected to the correct AWS Seller (AM, ISR, etc.), who owns the relationship in AWS with the specific
end customer, and who in turn, will be able to provide relevant support for the opportunity.
Industry Vertical | Industry of end customer
The field helps you showcase your expertise in specific industry, as well as gain more relevant resources from AWS.
Country | Country where end customer is located
Similar to “Account Name (Customer Company Name)”, the field helps you get connected to the correct AWS Seller.
Postal Code | Postal code where end customer is located
Similar to “Account Name (Customer Company Name)”, the field helps you get connected to the correct AWS Seller.
Customer Website | Website of end customer
Similar to “Account Name (Customer Company Name)”, the field helps you get connected to the correct AWS Seller.
Partner Project Title | Name of opportunity
The field helps you manage opportunities at a quick glance.
Project Description | Clear description of opportunity
The field helps you share the value of and increase visibility of your AWS-based services and solutions.
Note: Refer to the detailed guiding questions in a section below.
Partner Primary Need from AWS | Support needed from AWS
The field helps you gain relevant support from AWS in pursuing successful customer engagement.
Note: Refer to detailed description of options for the field.
Use Case | Use case of opportunity
The field helps you to showcase your expertise in specific use case, and gain more relevant resources from AWS.
Expected Monthly AWS Revenue | Expected monthly usage of AWS (12 months after launch)
The field helps you inform AWS Seller about the expected monthly usage of AWS.
Note: For AWS-based multi-tenant SaaS, the field should be keyed in as $1.
Target Close Date | Expected date when significant AWS billing will start to occur
The field helps you inform AWS Seller about when the opportunity will launch & start to incur meaningful AWS usage.
Note: Opportunity submitted should be net-new workload or use case. Hence, “Target Close Date” of the opportunity should
not be in the past. Past-won opportunities can be registered as ‘Public Reference’, upon customer’s consent.
Delivery Model | Delivery model of opportunity
The field helps you inform AWS Seller about how your AWS-based services and solutions are delivered to the end customer.
Note: Refer to detailed description of options for the field.

© 2020, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved
 ACE Opportunity Submission
AWS Technology Partner Quick Guide | v202103

Project Description
Below are guiding questions for “Project Description” field. Please feel free to share more details on the opportunity.
 What is the customer’s pain point / problem you are trying to solve?
 What is the goal of the project and the proposed solution that you are planning to use?
 What pre-sales activities have taken place with the end customer? (e.g. Partner SA validation, TCO analysis,
Architectural Sizing, Bill Of Material assessment, No pre-sales activity yet, others) Or what is the current sales stage?
 Will this opportunity result in an incremental consumption of AWS? If yes, please share the details (e.g. potential
AWS services to be utilized in this solution, or additional users/department using your AWS-based solution).
 What next steps would you like to share with AWS?

Below is a sample “Project Description”. If your AWS-based solution is solving similar problems of different
customers, having a standard description for each of your AWS-based solutions can make opportunity submission
easier, especially for SaaS. Together with the standard description, please flag out any other important information
for the opportunity (e.g. upgrade, cross-sell). Also, having a crisp and comprehensive standard description is an indirect
way for you to increase visibility of your AWS-based solution to AWS.

Customer needs to scan and diagnose misconfigurations in their cloud infrastructure to minimize security risk.

Our AWS-based solution, XXX, identifies key security vulnerabilities in customer’s cloud infrastructure (from any
cloud vendor), recommend best practices, and prevent risks from turning into incidents from early on.

Our AWS-based solution, XXX, will be sold to the customer as multi-tenant SaaS on AWS. On top of XXX, customer
might also consider using AWS Guard Duty and AWS Cloud Trail as part of this security-focused project.

We will sell our AWS-based solution directly to the customer. We have shared the statement of work, and is at the
sales stage of ‘Qualified’.

Sales Stage
Below are descriptions of sales stage:

Lead | Meeting with end customer is yet to be scheduled.

Note: Lead needs to be further matured to a ‘Qualified’ opportunity before submission in ACE Pipeline Manager.
Prospect | Opportunity has been identified. Opportunity can be active (i.e. coming directly from the end customer via a lead,
etc.) or latent (i.e. your Account Team believes exists based on research, account plans, sales plays, etc.).
Note: ‘Prospect’ opportunity needs to be further matured to a ‘Qualified’ opportunity before submission in ACE Pipeline Manager.
Qualified | Your account Team has engaged with prospect / end customer to discuss viability, understand requirements, etc.
Prospect / End customer has agreed the opportunity is real, of interest, and may solve for key business / technical needs.
Technical Validation | Once implementation plan is understood.
Business Validation | Once pricing has been proposed and steps to close have been agreed upon.
Committed | Once launch date is committed and final obstacles understood.
Launched | Workload is complete and billing has started on AWS.
Note: Opportunities which had launched before submission are NOT suitable for submission in ACE Pipeline Manager.
Closed Lost | Opportunity is lost and there are no steps to move forward.
Note: Opportunities which were closed/lost before submission are NOT suitable for submission in ACE Pipeline Manager.

© 2020, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved
 ACE Opportunity Submission
AWS Technology Partner Quick Guide | v202103

Partner Primary Need from AWS

Below are descriptions of options from “Partner Primary Need from AWS” field:

Architectural Validation | Confirmation from AWS that the AWS Partner’s proposed solution architecture is aligned with AWS
best practices and poses minimal architectural risks
Business Presentation | Request AWS Seller’s participation in joint customer presentation
Competitive Information | Access to AWS Competitive resources and support for AWS Partner’s proposed solution
Deal Support | Request AWS Seller’s support to progress the opportunity (e.g. joint customer call, strategic positioning)
Pricing Assistance | Connection with AWS Seller for support situations where an AWS Partner may be receiving an up-front
discount on a service (e.g. EDP deals)
Technical Consultation | Connection with an AWS SA to address AWS Partner’s questions of proposed solution
Total Cost of Ownership Evaluation | Assistance in quoting the different cost savings of running the proposed solution on AWS
vs on-premises or a traditional hosting environment
For Visibility – No Assistance Needed | No assistance needed and submitted for tracking purposes only
Other | Assistance required not currently described

Delivery Model
Below are descriptions of options from “Delivery Model” field, whereby multiple options can be chosen:

SaaS or PaaS | Your AWS-based solution deployed as SaaS or PaaS in your AWS environment
BYOL or AMI | Your AWS-based solution deployed as BYOL or AMI in end customer’s AWS environment
Managed Services | Management of AWS Business of end customer (e.g. consulting, design, implementation, billing support,
cost optimization, technical support)
Professional Services | Collection of offerings to help enterprise end customers achieve specific business outcomes related to
enterprise cloud adoption (e.g. advisory, transformation planning)
Resell | Connection with an AWS SA to address AWS Partner’s questions of proposed solution
Other | Delivery model not currently described

Status
Status is a key way to identify the status of submission and validation. Below are descriptions of status:

Draft | Not submitted for validation. Editable.

Submitted | Submitted for validation and not yet in review by AWS Validator. NOT editable.
In Review | Being researched by AWS Validator. NOT editable.
Approved | Validated and converted into AWS Seller’s pipeline. Editable.
Rejected | Disqualified. NOT editable.

© 2020, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved
 ACE Opportunity Submission
AWS Technology Partner Quick Guide | v202103

Disqualification Reason
Below are descriptions of disqualification reason:

Incomplete | There is limited information to determine if it meets the validation criteria and no additional information has been
provided upon request.
Duplicate | Your collaboration with AWS on this project is already captured in an AWS Opportunity or your previous submission.
This record is disqualified to prevent duplication.
Forecast Conflict | At this time, there is an already existing AWS Opportunity and discussion with the customer at an advanced
sales stage, and a significant partner need was not identified.
Invalid | Submission does not meet the validation criteria, including but not limited to following scenarios: 1) Outdated
opportunity (e.g. Target Close Date is in the past); 2) Internal workload; 3) No incremental revenue for AWS; 4) Missing mandatory
information (e.g. no postal code, no project description, invalid/incorrect website); 5) Sales activity that is not yet mature enough
in the sales cycle; and 6) Staff augmentation

Opportunity Exceptions
Please find below, common types of opportunities that are submitted in ACE Pipeline Manager but do not meet
Opportunity Validation Criteria (i.e. do not directly generate net-new AWS revenue), and whether each is suitable for
submission.

Well-Architected Review (WAR) | WAR opportunities are suitable for submission in ACE Pipeline Manager.
Cost Optimization | Cost Optimization opportunities are suitable for submission in ACE Pipeline Manager.
Managed Services | Managed Services opportunities are suitable for submission in ACE Pipeline Manager, if and only if there is
net-new AWS workload(s) as part of the Managed Services. Managed Service opportunities for renewal or Share Shift are NOT
suitable for submission in ACE Pipeline Manager. Clear description of incremental AWS consumption is required.
Advisory / Business Case | Advisory opportunities are suitable for submission in ACE Pipeline Manager, if and only if there is a
specific net-new AWS workload (e.g. migration of application) resulting from the activities outlined in the opportunity. Clear
description of incremental AWS consumption is required.
Staff Augmentation | Staff Augmentation opportunities are NOT suitable for submission in ACE Pipeline Manager.
Enterprise Discount Program (EDP) / Reserved Instances (RI) / Savings Plans & Renewal | EDP or RI or Savings Plans and its
renewals are suitable for submission in ACE Pipeline Manager. Clear description of AWS consumption is required.
AWS Marketplace | AWS Marketplace Private Offer opportunities are suitable for submission in ACE Pipeline Manager.
ISV Contract Renewal | Renewals of existing ISV contract are suitable for submission in ACE Pipeline Manager, if and only if
there is incremental consumption of AWS (e.g. upsell). Clear description of incremental AWS consumption is required.
Renewals of AWS Marketplace Private Offer are suitable for submission in ACE Pipeline Manager.
Internal Workload | Workloads within your own company are NOT suitable for submission in ACE Pipeline Manager, unless the
“end customer” is a subsidiary or separate business segment within a different website domain.
Note: Internal workloads should be managed through the AWS Seller assigned to the AWS Partner’s account.
Past-Launched Engagement | Opportunities which had launched before submission are NOT suitable for submission in ACE
Pipeline Manager.
Note: ‘Launched’ refers to ‘Workload is complete and billing has started on AWS.’

© 2020, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved
 ACE Opportunity Submission
AWS Technology Partner Quick Guide | v202103

Bulk Import
Bulk Import feature helps you maximize efficiency when you have multiple opportunities meeting the Opportunity
Validation Criteria. This feature allows you to submit opportunity of up to 250 in bulk. It is best practice to ensure
information is accurate prior to using the feature, as edits cannot be made until it has been reviewed. More
importantly, if you are getting started on using the ACE Pipeline Manager, it is best practice for you to start submitting
a few opportunities first to get a sense of the key information needed and how to work with AWS validators and the
system. Step-by-step instruction can be found in the following webpage: Link.

© 2020, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved