What is Partner Center?

Appropriate roles: All partners interested in Partner Center

Partner Center streamlines several business processes to make it easier for Microsoft partners to manage their relationship with Microsoft and their customers. Partner Center gives you access to the tools you need to get work done. Use Partner Center to:

Manage your account

Whether you're a partner in the Cloud Solution Provider program or a developer selling your apps, you manage your Partner Center account from one location: the Partner Center. From there, you can view and modify tenants, business locations, users and permissions, tax information, and specific programs in which your company is enrolled.

Note

The information you see in Partner Center depends on your role and permissions. Learn more in Roles and permissions.

Membership programs

In Partner Center, you can purchase a Microsoft Action Pack that provides Microsoft software and tools to develop expertise, such as developing skills toward attaining competencies and earning advanced specializations. The benefits included with these programs help you build solutions and go to market. Compare different Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program membership programs.

Connect with customers

Build your business profile to display your company's areas of expertise. Highlight your technical and solution-area expertise, showcase the breadth and depth of your skills, and lead in new market opportunities.

Through Partner Center, partners have increased access to marketing resources to help them accelerate time to market, generate leads, and grow their cloud business. The commercial marketplace product catalog, which includes Microsoft AppSource and Azure Marketplace, lets you offer information and in-product purchase experiences.

Your solutions are listed in our online stores beside our own Microsoft solutions, connecting you with businesses, organizations, and government agencies around the world. To learn more about referrals, see Manage leads. To learn more about your business profile, see Create a business profile.

Co-sell with Microsoft and other partners

Co-sell is the path for partners to jointly sell with Microsoft and other partners for collaborative, better-together selling and positive customer outcomes. Co-sell lets you use the Microsoft global brand, sales teams, demand-generation capabilities, and the commercial marketplace to reach new customers worldwide. Sell with other partners and with us. Learn more at Manage co-sell opportunities.

Manage customer software needs

As a trusted partner, you play a critical role in all stages of the customer lifecycle, regardless of how customers choose to purchase Microsoft software and services. If your customer gives you administrative privileges, you'll be able to deploy and manage subscriptions, maintain performance, set up users, and create support tickets on their behalf. Partner Center provides quick and easy access to Microsoft support on-demand to help you better solve challenges and meet customer needs. Learn more at offering customer support.

Maintain a secure environment

With Microsoft Entra ID as a main element of your Partner Center account, ensure your team uses multifactor authentication to keep data secure. Privacy safeguards and security are among our top priorities.

Data and analytics

Partner Center provides a unified analytics hub that addresses all your data analytics and business intelligence needs. You can get access to reports, forecasts, and recommendations designed to help you make data-driven decisions for your business.

  • Partner Contribution Indicators (PCI) show partner impact on seven key measures of customer success.
  • Partner Insights data reports identify where your sales are high, help you find out which customers have deployed their subscriptions or need support, and show how well your products are selling.

Partner Center acronyms

This section provides a list of acronyms used in Partner Center documentation.

Use these links to jump to acronyms starting with the letter:

0 - 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

0 - 9

  • 2FA | two-factor authentication (2FA)

A

  • AI | artificial intelligence (AI)
  • ARC | Azure consumed revenue (ACR)

B

  • BA | business applications (BA)
  • BI | business intelligence (BI)
  • BPF | business process flow (BPF)

C

  • CE | customer engagement (CE)
  • CPOR | claiming partner of record (CPOR)
  • CPV | Control Panel vendor (CPV)
  • CSA | cloud solution agreement (CSA)
  • CSAM | customer success account manager (CSAM)
  • CSP | Cloud Solution Provider (CSP)
  • CSU | customer success unit (CSU)

D

  • DevOps | developer operations (DevOps)
  • DPOR | digital partner of record (DPOR)

E

  • EAS | {Microsoft} Exchange ActiveSynch (EAS)
  • EXO | {Microsoft} Exchange online (EXO)

F

  • F&O | Finance and Operations (F&O)

G

  • GDAP | granular delegated admin privileges (GDAP)

H

  • HR | Human Resources (HR)
  • HWM | high-water mark (HWM)

I

  • IoT | Internet of Things (IoT)
  • ISV | independent software vendor (ISV)
  • ITIN | individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)

J

  • No entries at this time.

K

  • No entries at this time.

L

  • No entries at this time.

M

  • MAU | monthly active users (MAU)
  • MCEM | Microsoft customer engagement methodology (MCEM)
  • MCI | Microsoft commerce incentives (MCI)
  • MFA | multifactor authentication (MFA)
  • MSP | managed service provider (MSP)
  • MSX | Microsoft Sales Experience (MSX)
  • MSXI | Microsoft Sales Experience Insights (MSXI)
  • MW | modern work (MW)

N

  • NCE | new commerce experience (NCE)
  • NPSA | net paid seats added (NPSA), seats = license (preferred)

O

  • OIDs | object identifiers (OIDs)
  • OSA | {Microsoft} online service advisory (OSA)
  • OSU | online services usage (OSU)

P

  • PAL | partner admin link (PAL)
  • PCS | partner capability score (PCS)
  • PUID | partner unique ID (PUID)

Q

  • No entries at this time.

R

  • RevRec | revenue recognition (RevRec)
  • RI | reserved instance (RI)
  • RPA | robotic process automation (RPA)

S

  • SAP | systems applications and products (SAP)
  • Sec | security (Sec)
  • SFI | security future initiative (SFI)
  • SKU | stock keeping unit (SKU)
  • SMC | small, medium, and corporate (SMC)
  • SPD | solutions partner designation (SPD)
  • SPO | special payment order (SPO)

T

  • TPID | top parent identifier (TPID)
  • TUP | true-up (TUP)

U

  • UAT | unified action tracker (UAT)
  • UPA | unauthorized party abuse (UPA)

V

  • No entries at this time.

W

  • WL | Windows license (WL)

X

  • No entries at this time.

Y

  • No entries at this time.

Z

  • No entries at this time.