As a Microsoft Cloud Solution Architect supporting enterprise customers, I occasionally encounter a specific scenario where customers with an Enterprise Agreement (EA) or Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA-E) allow a service provider (SP) to manage one or more of their Azure subscriptions via the SP’s tenant. This setup has notable implications for cost and commitment management, which I’ll explore in this article.

Recommended prerequisite reading: Microsoft Cost Management: Billing & Trust Relationships Explained

Scenario Overview

A customer signs a contract with a service provider to outsource the management of certain resources. The customer retains full control over resource pricing and expects the usage of these resources to contribute towards their Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC).

To achieve this, the customer associates one or more Azure subscriptions with a Microsoft Entra ID tenant owned and managed by the SP. In our example, this is “Subscription B.” The SP gains full RBAC access to the subscription and its resources, while the billing relationship remains tied to the customer’s billing account (EA) or billing profile (MCA-E).

Let’s have a look at the implications from both the customers and the service providers perspective:

Customers perspective

Cost & Pricing

• All cost in Subscription B that occurs because of resource usage are tied and therefore billed to the customers billing account (EA) or billing profile (MCA-E).
• The prices used for the usage are based on the negotiated customer price list associated with the billing account (EA) /profile (MCA-E).
• The Azure resource consumption of Subscription B plus any eligible Marketplace offer consumption within the subscription contributes to the MACC of the customer.
• Customer has full cost visibility of Subscription B via Azure Cost Analysis on the billing account/billing profile level.

Commitments (Reservations / Savings Plans)

• Shared commitments at the billing account/billing profile level are utilized by matching resources in Subscription B.
• Commitments scoped to Subscription B or lower can only be purchased by the customer, if the customer has RBAC rights on the subscription and the global billing policy allows purchases for subscription owner / reservation purchasers.

Service Provider Perspective

Cost & Pricing

• The service provider is responsible for managing Subscription B’s resources and the associated costs.
• Subscription B’s actual and amortized cost view is limited for the service provider as they have only access at the subscription level.
• The service provider has no direct access to the customer price (Price Sheet) or invoice information.

Commitments (Reservations / Savings Plans)

• The service provider can purchase commitments scoped at Subscription B or lower (resource group) if the global customer’s billing policy allows purchases for subscription owners / reservation purchasers. The associated costs of the commitment are attributed to the customer’s billing account/profile.
• Shared or management group scoped commitments purchased by the service provider based on their own billing account / billing profile do not apply to Subscription B.

Key take aways

• Decoupled Ownership: Customers can separate subscription management from billing ownership, enabling flexible operational models.
• Cost Control: Customers retain full visibility and control over pricing, cost allocation, and commitment utilisation—even when subscriptions are managed by a service provider.
• Governance and Policy Alignment: Successful implementation depends on clear billing policies and RBAC configurations that align with both customer and provider responsibilities.