I feel it would be helpful if FRP implemented a policy requiring all FRP Dispute statuses to be updated at least every 7 days. We have open disputes that have are not getting updated. I know this will all be moving to OCP eventually, but until it does can we please get regular updates?
We have disputes opened in January (yes, they are M365 Apps) that have not been updated since they were put "In Review" status a week later (1/13/21). I have requested updates in the tool but have not gotten a response, so we had to ask our FPM to take time out of her already busy day to chase down statuses for us. She should not have to do that for us.
It is difficult to show the value of the program to leadership when I have to tell them we didn't get paid, but I filed a dispute. Then, not being able to report on the status of those disputes or where the money is for the work we completed, makes it even more challenging.
Additionally, we have disputes that were opened over a week ago that are still sitting in a "Submitted" status.
I sincerely ask that FRP Help please put a little more effort in updating our payment disputes.
Status details
2021-03-09 - Assignment Team - assigning to FRP Incentive Team to triage.2021-04-13 - FRP Incentive Team Response
Thank you for sharing your feedback related to FRP Disputes.
Currently, the FRP Incentives Team spends two weeks out of every month heads down processing statements. To provide a period of focus for the team, and to help manage response time expectations, we updated our SLA In October to let partners know disputes and incentive based questions sent to FRPHelp will be addressed from the 1st - 14th of every month. As new FRPHelp incentive emails roll in during that time, Lori who does a fantastic job of supporting our team, replies to each partner to let them know their query will be addressed once we've completed statement processing.
We try our best to update partners about process changes (like the update to our SLA) in our monthly statement emails, in the Heads Up Newsletter, on Partner Success Calls and via Yammer. We use these forums to share incentive program updates as well, and include information about when we anticipate paying new or on-hold incentives. Payments for the M365 Apps workload is a great example of this; our monthly partner statement email has included the following note since January:
- M365 Apps payments are temporarily on hold until the Partner Center Data Stream has been integrated into the FRP incentive platform. Milestones earned starting in December will be added to the first statement after that effort is complete. If you think you have a M365 Apps dispute for a milestone achievement from October 2020 – February 2021, please wait until we make our first payment using the new data source to submit on the FastTrackReady Support Site. We anticipate your statement may include payment for items previously thought to be disputes.
Beyond communicating in the ways mentioned above, the team recently chatted about is how we can provide updates to partner disputes for workloads currently on hold. Our initial response needs to let the partner know the workload is on hold, and if possible, include an anticipated date for when they could expect processing to resume. If the timeframe isn't known at the time, we will continue to share updates in the partner statement email, etc, and will also update individual disputes with specific dates as soon as we have more clarity around when payments will begin.
I hope this shares some light on our processes, and please know our team is looking at additional solutions to ensure partners are updated in a timely manner. We have most definitely taken your suggestions into consideration!