Unable to detect customer subscriptions for Indirect Resellers via Partner Center

[cjmod]

We've been getting information from multiple sources that contradicts information in Microsoft docs.

Request: Can someone who's informed on the upcoming Partner Agreement updates confirm whether Indirect Resellers should see customer subscriptions via Partner Center APIs?

Included below are a few of docs that have come into question, as each references (in one way, shape, or form) that Indirect Providers should associate Indirect Resellers with customers AND subscriptions in Partner Center.

Link1: https://docs.microsoft.com/partner-center/partner-security-requirements-faq 
Link2: https://partner.microsoft.com/pcv/announcements (see "New Microsoft Partner Agreement for Cloud Solution Provider program" from August 1, 2019)
Link3: https://assetsprod.microsoft.com/mpn/faq-microsoft-partner-agreement-indirect-reseller.pdf 
Link4: http://assetsprod.microsoft.com/microsoft-partner-agreement-indirect-resellers.pdf
Link5: https://docs.microsoft.com/partner-center/indirect-provider-tasks-in-partner-center

[cjmod]

@Andra & @idwilliams: Thank you both for all your help & guidance. I can't express how deeply it's appreciated  Would it possible to get the page below updated?

Link: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/partner-center/develop/get-started (see Note "API access to Partner Center for indirect resellers is not a supported scenario.")

It seems this doc hasn't been updated since September 2018 & is now being used by a few Microsoft support colleagues & Indirect Providers to contradict what we're discussing here.

Note: I've also submitted https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/partner-center-sdk/issues/21 with this request.

[idwilliams]

@cjmod the reason that note was included is that an indirect reseller cannot interact with the Partner Center API. Only partners who have a direct bill or indirect provider enrollment can actually call the Partner Center API. Since there is some confusion on this I believe that it would be good to modify what is included to avoid any further issues.

[cjmod]

@idwilliams: Fairly sure I understand, but just to re-verify (because we have colleagues + Indirect Providers + Indirect Resellers actively monitoring this thread)

Can CPV applications interact with Partner Center APIs on behalf of Indirect Resellers to view an Indirect Resellers' customer and subscriptions? (assuming the customer subscriptions have been properly stamped by the Indirect Provider and the MPN the subscription was stamped with is properly onboarded to Partner Center as an Indirect Reseller)

[lslutzky]

@idwilliams Very confused.. we are getting mixed information from Indirect Distributors that state that we should NOT see the subscriptions under our partner center and then vendors like ConnecWise stating that we should.  There is no real place for us as partners or Indirect CSPs to know how to proceed.My portal for same clientDistribution's portal for client

[cjmod]

@lslutzky: Thank you for chiming in & your point is the reason we're having this conversation is a public forum like the Microsoft Partner Community.

The Microsoft employees engaged with us here (e.g. @idwilliams & @Andra) are extremely knowledgable about Partner Center and how it works for all parties involved. That said, I would suggest ConnectWise partners refer to ConnectWise docs to determine how ConnectWise products interact with Microsoft.

Link: https://docs.connectwise.com/ConnectWise_Unite/800/070?psa=1 (see the Q&A for "What if Unite is not loading Office 365 billing data?")

[idwilliams]

I would like to clarify indirect resellers currently do not have a view in Partner Center that provides them a list of subscriptions. My statements should have been worded differently, what I was trying to say is that revenue recongition is based on the subscriptions being tagged with the appropriate MPN identifier. My apologizes for the confusion here. 

@cjmod a control panel vendors will not be able to use the Partner Center API to access data for an indirect reseller. Since this information is only available through the Indirect Provider you will need to find a different way other than the Partner Center API to get the information you are seeking.  

[cjmod]

@idwilliams: Our CPV application is already in production use by multiple Indirect Resellers and it is actively pulling information on their behalf from multiple Partner Center APIs (e.g. customers). That said, as a CPV vendor, we now have two questions on this subject:

1. When you say "currently", do you mean Indirect Resellers will never see an option to "View Subscriptions" in Partner Center or that the option to "View Subscriptions" won't be available until after the new Partner Agreement is accepted?
2. What other way(s) exists to determine the customer subscriptions an Indirect Reseller is responsible for?

I ask because the only way (that we've found) to get this information is from the Partner Center v1/customers/ API. There's even a Partner Center API to get an Indirect Resellers's list of Indirect Providers. (sharing a screenshot just in case).

We onboarded with Microsoft as a CPV to help ALL Microsoft partners comply with Microsoft's Partner Security Requirements. We implemented all recommendations based on the information available in Microsoft's documentation (see original post). Yet, if I'm understanding correctly, we're now being told there's no way to determine which customer subscriptions an Indirect Reseller is responsible for.

What's the path forward?

[cjmod]

Can someone from Microsoft please provide a path forward ASAP?

This link has a note that says "API access to Partner Center for indirect resellers is not a supported scenario."

Link: https://docs.microsoft.com/partner-center/develop/get-started

But we were told at Inspire & have evidence to the contrary, because our CPV application (which is in production use by ALL types of Microsoft Partners) is successfully pulling information from many Partner Center APIs on their behalf - including Indirect Resellers. For example.

Link: https://docs.microsoft.com/partner-center/develop/get-a-list-of-customers (currently works for all partners)
Link: https://docs.microsoft.com/partner-center/develop/get-all-of-a-customer-s-subscriptions (does not currently work for customers where the partner has an Indirect Reseller relationship)

Based on initial evidence from Microsoft documentation, this appeared to be because Indirect Resellers had not been properly onboarded to Partner Center... So we began directing partners to complete all steps listed here.

Link: https://docs.microsoft.com/partner-center/indirect-reseller-tasks-in-partner-center

After walking multiple partners thru all tasks & still not seeing any of their customer subscriptions in Partner Center, we began asking partners to engage their Indirect Provider(s) / ensure their Indirect Provider(s) completed all steps listed here (especially associating the parnter with the appropriate customers & customer subscriptions).

Link: https://docs.microsoft.com/partner-center/indirect-provider-tasks-in-partner-center

After verifying this with multiple Indirect Resellers and Indirect Providers & still not seeing customer subscriptions for any customer where the partner has an Indirect Reseller relationship, we're asking for a path forward. Specifically

1. Will Indirect Resellers ever see an option to "View Subscriptions" in Partner Center?
2. If yes, when? (example: The option to "View Subscriptions" won't be available until after the new Partner Agreement is accepted)
3. If no, what other way(s) exist to determine the customer subscriptions an Indirect Reseller is responsible for?

We know the data's there, because the Partner Center API in question ({baseURL}/v1/customers/{customer-tenant-id}/subscriptions) returns a 403 "The supplied role does not have the rights to perform the requested operation." - which implies Partner Center is actively preventing Indirect Resellers from seeing which customer subscriptions they're responsible for.

We've found a few hacky alternatives, but none of them give the actual subscriptions.

Example: https://docs.microsoft.com/partner-center/develop/get-a-list-of-available-licenses (which also works for all partners - but returns ALL licenses in the customer tenant, not only the licenses associated to subscriptions the partner is responsible for).

Please... Can someone from Microsoft please provide a path forward?

[cjmod · Accepted solution]

After multiple private conversations with Microsoft, two things have happened.

1. An immediate path forward has been identified and our CPV application will now use Partner Center Powershell to return ALL customer subscriptions from the customer tenant via https://docs.microsoft.com/powershell/module/msonline/get-msolsubscription (regardless of whether the Indirect Reseller is resposible for the subscription or not)
2. A Design Change Request has been initiated by Microsoft for Partner Center to return customer subscriptions assocaited with the Indirect Reseller by their Indirect Provider(s) via https://docs.microsoft.com/partner-center/develop/get-all-of-a-customer-s-subscriptions

An important cavet here is that Microsoft is not being asked to support any Indirect Reseller's API access to Partner Center. Instead, Microsoft is being asked to support CPVs that (A) consume Partner Center APIs and (B) support Indirect Resellers. Meaning it is the CPV's responsibility to determine which Partner Center APIs can be used for Indirect Reseller scenarios.

While this particular scenario (detecting customer subscriptions an Indirect Reseller is responsible for) was not a part of Microsoft's original API design, the case for why CPVs need this information from Microsoft for Indirect Resellers has been made and we eagerly await any updates regarding the Design Change Request.

I would like to personally thank @idwilliams, @Andra, and Abhijit Tiwari of Microsoft's Partner Center Engineering Team for their understanding and compassion regarding this scenario.

[lslutzky]

One more issue is that MS Partner support is stating that we should NOT see the subscriptions as we are indirect CSPs

[Andra]

Thank you @idwilliams ,

I can confirm, I have received the same message.

The Indirect Reseller wil need to accept the new MPA in the Partner Center.

Going forward you will establish the reseller relationship with the Customer via Partner Center, so you should be able to see the customer list and subscriptions.

Thanks

Andra

[Andra]

Hi CJ,

Thanks for these links! Seems they are consistent on the topic.

The contradicting sources you are mentioning are Microsoft official and can you redirect me to these, so I can have a look ?

Kind regards,

Andra

[cjmod]

@Andra: The sources that contradict this information are the Indirect Providers used by Indirect Resellers and the Microsoft employees these Indirect Providers are pulling into conversations with the Indirect Resellers.

In other words, what we're hearing from people contradicts with Microsoft's documentation.... which is causing confusion with Indirect Resellers because the docs say one thing, but their Indirect Providers and certain Microsoft employees are saying something else.

[idwilliams]

@cjmod there are a number of variables that should be considered when answering this questions. There are a number of partners who are transacting through an indirect provider, where the indirect provider is stamping the subscription with the MPN identifier of partner who has not offically on-boarded to be an indirect reseller. In this circumstance the indirect reseller does not have an actual indirect reseller tenant, which means they will not be able to access Partner Center. With the introduction of the Microsoft Partner Agreement, this type of operation will no longer be premitted because all partners involved in the Cloud Solution Provider program will need to accept the Microsoft Partner Agreement. Acceptance of this agreement will be done through Partner Center, so all partners will need to be on-boarded correctly. 

If the indirect reseller is on-boarded correctly, then they should be able to see customers in Partner Center. If they are not see anything, then it is possible the indirect provider did not stamp the subscription correctly.

EDIT - Note that is not possible for indirect reseller to see subscriptions in Partner Center. This functionality is only available for direct bill and indirect provider partners.  

[Andra]

Right!

This is useful feedback, I am sorry you are getting those mixed messages.

Allow me to check from my end if there is anything missing from the docs, however my recommendation is to stick to the official documentation.

Thanks,

Andra