Partner with Distributors in the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) Program

Appropriate roles: Admin agent | Sales agent

Overview

In the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) authorization, distributors (formerly indirect providers) collaborate with indirect resellers to provision Microsoft cloud solutions to customers. This article outlines how to establish partnerships, manage transactions, and comply with Partner of Record (POR) validation requirements. Beginning December 1, 2025, Partner Center will enforce POR validation for changes to existing subscriptions, in addition to new orders.

Establish and Manage Partnerships with Indirect Resellers

To set up this relationship, distributors must send a partnership request to the reseller in Partner Center. Once accepted, the reseller's PLA ID is added to the distributor's reseller list and can be used for subscription assignments.

Connect with Indirect Resellers

Step-by-Step: How to Connect with Indirect Resellers

Reviewing and maintaining your distributor listing ensures that indirect resellers can identify and connect with you in Partner Center. A current listing is foundational for enabling PLA ID assignments and avoiding transaction blocks once enforcement begins.

1. Review your company's profile on Microsoft's official indirect providers list.
   • Visit search site.
   • To update your listing, contact your Microsoft account manager.
2. Send a partnership request email to the reseller: Follow the steps here to send a partnership request:
3. From the Partner Center home menu, navigate to the Customers workspace.
4. Select Indirect resellers.
5. Select Request a partnership.
6. A draft email message appears.
   • Select Open in email to open the message in your default email application.
     - or -
   • Select Copy to clipboard to copy and then paste the message into an email.
7. Select Done.

What You Can Do After Partnership Is Established

Once the reseller accepts your request, you can manage your reseller partnerships on the indirect resellers page:

• Add new customers on their behalf
• Submit orders for their customers
• Assign the reseller's PLA ID (partner location account, formerly MPN ID) to subscriptions for incentives attribution
• Designate the reseller as the support contact for specific subscriptions

Important: Reseller Authorization Required

Before you can transact with a reseller, they must be authorized as a CSP indirect reseller in Partner Center.

• Direct your resellers to Partner with indirect providers in CSP for information about enrolling as a CSP reseller partner.

What's changing?

Phase 1: New Subscription Orders (Effective December 1, 2025) Distributors must assign a valid POR at the time of purchase. Validation checks include:

• PLA ID format and validity
• Active CSP indirect reseller tenant
• Regional match between distributor and reseller

Phase 2: Existing Subscription Updates (Effective December 1, 2025) POR validation will also apply when making changes to existing order. These include:

• Seat count changes
• Billing plan changes
• Term changes
• Partner to Partner (P2P) transfers
• Legacy-to-new commerce migrations

Key requirement summary

To be valid as a POR, an indirect reseller must:

• Verify their PLA ID by going to Partner Center > Account Settings > Identifiers and confirming that the number is a valid PLA ID, not a PGA ID.
• Ensure the PLA ID is linked to an active CSP indirect reseller tenant. If not, the reseller must enroll for CSP indirect reseller authorization.
• Confirm that their CSP tenant's business address is in the same CSP region as their distributor's tenant. If not, they may need to onboard a new tenant in the correct region.

What do the new validation checks impact?

• New subscription orders
• Existing subscription orders
• GDAP Relationships: If a reseller is suspended or their assignment to the customer is removed, all reseller admin privileges are revoked.
• Error Handling: System-generated error codes will help identify the cause of the blocked order.

How to Validate Resellers' Status Before You Transact

Before placing an order, distributors must confirm that the indirect reseller meets all Partner of Record (POR) eligibility requirements. There are two ways to validate reseller status:

• POR Validation API – a real-time API that checks whether a specific PLA ID is valid before submitting a transaction.
• Reseller Eligibility Report – a downloadable report in Partner Center that provides a bulk view of your resellers’ compliance.

Which method should you use?

• Use the POR Validation API for all compliance checks. The API provides real-time validation of a reseller’s PLA ID and confirms POR eligibility before you submit an order. It’s the only reliable way to validate all resellers, including new or non-transacting ones.
• Use the Reseller Eligibility report for bulk visibility only. This report is for proactive audits and shows a historical snapshot of resellers that have transacted with you in the last 36 months. It doesn't include:
  • Resellers with no transactions in the last 36 months
  • New resellers you plan to onboard
  • Proof of an established relationship with the distributor

Using the reseller eligibility report

To help distributors proactively address potential POR validation failures, Microsoft provides a report in the Partner Center Insights workspace to confirm reseller compliance.

🔍 How to Access the Report

1. Go to Partner Center > Insights > Analytics > Download Hub
2. Find the report under Cloud Product Performance
3. Report name: ResellerEligibility
4. Required role: Executive Report Viewer

This role is only available to partners enrolled in MAICPP. If your CSP tenant isn't tied to MAICPP, work with your account admin to enable appropriate access.

• For more steps go here: Roles, permissions, and workspace access for users

Understanding Report Columns

• Click here for more information: Cloud product performance reports - Data definitions

Important scope and limitations for Reseller Eligibility report###

• What this report lists: The dataset lists indirect resellers that have transacted with the distributor as POR in the last 3 years. If a reseller hasn’t had a POR based transaction with you in that time window, they won’t appear in the file—even if they’re otherwise eligible.
• What it tells you: For each reseller in scope, the report shows compliance status and includes error codes when the reseller is non compliant, so you can triage what to fix before ordering. See Error code definitions for guidance.
• What it doesn't guarantee: A reseller appearing in the list doesn't mean you have an established partnership with that reseller in Partner Center. Likewise, absence from the list doesn't mean the reseller is ineligible; it may simply mean there was no POR transaction with you in the last 36 months.
• New or not yet listed resellers: If you want to assign a new reseller as POR (or any reseller that isn’t in your report), use the POR Validation API to check compliance in real time before you submit the order.

Use the POR Validation API to Precheck Reseller Eligibility

To help distributors proactively identify and resolve POR issues before submitting a transaction, Microsoft released a Partner of Record (POR) Validation API.

What the API Does

• Helps reduce failed transactions by enabling prechecks before order submission.
• Confirms whether a PLA ID associated with the reseller's business location aligns with an active CSP indirect reseller tenant.
• Returns error codes and descriptions if the PLA ID is invalid, inactive, or not authorized.
• Complements the Reseller Eligibility Report by offering real-time validation.

How to Use the API - Validate reseller partner of record.

Common error messages and how to fix them

Step-by-step: How to validate resellers' status before you transact

Distributors should proactively verify their resellers' authorization status before placing orders:

1. Navigate to Partner Center > Insights Workspace > Resellers tab
2. The user can filter by CSP Authorization, Region, and Tenant Status
3. The user can validate:
   • CSP authorization is active
   • Reseller tenant region matches your own
   • Correct PLA ID (formerly MPN ID) is associated with the tenant

Add an indirect reseller as Partner of Record (POR) on a new subscription purchase

New purchase flow: Adding the POR

When placing a "new subscription order", see the field highlighted in red below:

• If the reseller isn't listed in the "Reseller (ID)" drop-down menu, enter the reseller's PLA ID (formerly MPN ID) manually in the "Indirect reseller not in the list? Enter ID" field and select Verify.
• If the reseller doesn't pass validation, you'll see an error message that prohibits completion of the order

How to take action

If you're a distributor:

• Use the Reseller Eligibility report to identify issues  - Filter using "IsCompliant = FALSE"  - Match error codes to fixes  - Guide the noncompliant reseller to resolve the issue, or replace that reseller with a compliant one for assignment to the customer  - Use the reseller's correct PLA ID (formerly MPN ID) when placing an order

If you're an indirect reseller:

• Ensure your company has an active CSP indirect reseller tenant  - Share your valid PLA ID ( (found under Account Settings > Identifiers) with the distributor  - Confirm that your tenant location's CSP region matches your distributor's region

Enroll as CSP indirect reseller

Update an Existing Subscription to Assign a Reseller

To assign or update the Partner of Record (POR) for an existing subscription: Go to the subscription details page in Partner Center. In the PLA ID (formerly MPN ID) field: - Select the reseller from the dropdown list, or - If the reseller isn't listed, select "Indirect reseller not in the list? Enter Partner ID," enter the reseller's PLA ID, and click Verify.

1. Click Submit to save the update.

Set the level of access and involvement for a reseller

Depending on the reseller's level of access and customer management, you can take one or more of the actions described below.

Remove a Reseller Partnership

1. In Partner Center, go to "Indirect resellers."

2. Click "Remove partnership" next to the reseller name.

3. Confirm by clicking "Yes."

   

Removing a Reseller Partnership

To remove a partnership with an indirect reseller, you must have either the Admin Agent or Sales Agent role on your CSP distributor tenant in Partner Center.

Before removing a reseller, consider the following:

• Communicate the change to both the reseller and the end customer, especially if the reseller is actively managing subscriptions or providing support.
• Ensure that the decision:
  • Was made in good faith
  • Is based on legitimate business reasons
  • Complies with your agreement with the reseller or customer
• You're responsible for defending and holding Microsoft harmless from any third-party claims related to the termination.
• If your agreement requires it, you must provide formal legal notice to the reseller or customer.

Partner Center does not generate or send thisn'tice automatically. Once removed, the reseller doesn't appear in your Indirect Reseller list in Partner Center.

Related Resources

• Insights Dashboard: Analyze Indirect Resellers
• Partner Center Overview
• Request a Partnership
• Add or Update Reseller on a Subscription
• Manage Customer Permissions
• Validate reseller partner of record
• Partner Center REST error codes
• Enroll in the Cloud Solution Provider program
• Partner Center Account Setup
• Work with indirect providers in the CSP program
• Sell Customer Subscriptions for CSP
• The Microsoft Partner Agreement (MPA) for CSP
• Restore a suspended Partner Center account
• Supported CSP partner relationships