Report a service problem on behalf of a customer - including when and how to do so
Applies to: Partner Center | Partner Center for Microsoft Cloud for US Government
Appropriate roles: See GDAP role guidance
If your customer has a service problem you can't resolve, you as an CSP Direct or Indirect Provider can file a support ticket for the customer.
Service requests on behalf of customers should be filed through Partner Center to ensure access to technical support entitlement for CSP. They're available for Azure, Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, and Enterprise Mobility Suite. As a partner participating in the Cloud Solution Provider program, you can expect your major issues to receive priority for a response.
Report problems on behalf of a customer
Users with the Admin agent role and the appropriate GDAP role can select Administer under CSP in the left navigation menu, select Service Requests, and select New request. When you select the relevant workload, the workload-specific portal opens, where you can add a support contract and create a request.
File a support ticket for a customer
Select the customer from the Customer List or from the Administer menu.
Confirm that you have an active Administrative relationship with the appropriate Security role and user assignment*
Select Service request > New Request and then select Required product or Workload.
This will redirect you to the appropriate product portal in the context of your partner account for the customer tenant.
Perform administrative tasks for your customers
As a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partner, you have Granular Delegated Admin Privileges (GDAP) that gives you access to your customers' environments. These privileges provide you with the ability to directly support, configure, and manage your customers' subscriptions.
In Partner Center, you can:
- View customer service health
- View customer service incidents
- From the Partner Center menu, select Customers. Choose your customer from the list.
- In the customer menu, select Service management.
- In the Administer services section, choose the service you need to work in to open the management portal for the service.
- If you find a problem with a customer's account, like services being down or a degraded experience, start by checking the service health.
- To escalate an ongoing problem to Microsoft, file a service request. See Report problems on behalf of a customer.
Submit a service request in Microsoft Azure
Important
Indirect resellers and/or Advisors can't open support requests in the Azure portal on customer's behalf, even if they have a support contract. Only the provider of the Azure Subscription (either CSP Direct or Indirect Provider) can create a support request in this particular case.
Prerequisites – If you are the provider of the Azure Subscription, you need to have an active GDAP relationship with appropriate roles along with RBAC permissions on the subscription to open a support ticket for Azure Subscription please review the article for role guidance.
To submit a service request for a customer in Microsoft Azure:
- Select New support request.
- Enter the required information in the request.
- In the Basics section, be sure to select Cloud Solution Provider in the Support plan field.
- In the Contact information section, enter your contact information, not your customer's information.
- Select Create.
- Later, you can review your customer's service requests at the Microsoft Azure portal by selecting Manage support requests.
*Submit a support request in Microsoft Azure when you don't have administrator permissions for the customer.
Create a service request in Office 365, Enterprise Mobility Suite, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online
To create a service request in Office 365, Enterprise Mobility Suite, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online:
Prerequisites – You must have an active GDAP relationship with appropriate roles to submit a support request for a customer tenant. Please refer to the article for role guidance.
In the Create a service request section, choose the appropriate support category.
(You might need to select More... to view more articles.)
Complete the service request form and select Submit.
Tip
Be sure to enter your contact information on the form, not your customer's.
Later, review your customer's service requests by going to the Microsoft 365 admin center and selecting See all support tickets.
Support experience for customers in Microsoft 365 Admin Center
Customer with both CSP and Direct TRIAL subscriptions only have the option to contact their CSP partner for support.
Customers with both CSP and Direct PAID subscriptions have the option to open a service request with Microsoft or contact their Partners for support.
Support for commercial marketplace products
Microsoft doesn't provide product support for commercial marketplace products. You need to contact the independent software vendor (ISV) who published the product to get support.
To find an ISV's contact info:
- On the Marketplace page, select the product that you need help with.
- On the product's page, you find support contact info. This information might be in one or more of the following forms:
- A link to a support entry point on the ISV's website
- A support email address
- A support contact phone number
What happens if I sign into Azure or Microsoft 365 admin center portals and bypass Partner Center?
When you sign into Microsoft Azure or Microsoft 365 admin center portals directly, you're viewing those experiences in your own context, not a customer's context. For that reason, the only time you should sign-in to the Microsoft Azure and M365 portals directly is when you're creating a service request for your own subscriptions.
Your CSP program support entitlement doesn't provide support for your own partner subscription. Because of this limitation, you need to provide your valid support plan entitlement when you create a service request that concerns your own partner subscription. Examples include Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program contract ID, Premier, or an Azure support plan. For more information, see the Azure Support FAQ.