Microsoft partner glossary
MCI, ECIF, ACR, MCAPS. Microsoft's field talks in acronyms. Here is what each one means, why it matters to your business, and the Microsoft page that backs it up.
Each definition links to the Microsoft page it comes from. Open a card to see why the term matters and which terms connect to it.
Incentives and credit
Azure consumed revenue
Also called Azure consumption revenue
The dollar value of the Azure services a customer actually uses. Microsoft tracks it for each subscription and credits it to partners linked to that customer through CSP, Partner Admin Link or Digital Partner of Record.
Source: Azure usage report (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
Microsoft uses the ACR of your linked customers to score you for Azure designations and specializations.
Partner program
Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program
Also called the Microsoft Partner Network, or MPN (former name)
Microsoft's partner program: the membership a company joins to work with Microsoft as a partner. Membership opens up Microsoft's partner tools, benefits, designations and go-to-market programs.
Source: Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program Membership Overview (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
Every other credential and program on this page starts with membership.
Partner program
Azure Expert Managed Services Provider
Also called AEMSP
An audited Microsoft program that recognized managed service providers with deep Azure expertise. Microsoft is retiring it: it stopped taking new applications on September 15, 2026, and points partners to the new Frontier Partner specialization instead.
Source: Azure Expert Managed Services Provider (Azure Expert MSP) program (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
If you hold it or planned to apply, the path forward is now the Frontier Partner specialization.
How Microsoft sells
Also called Cloud Ascent, propensity reports
Monthly reports in Partner Center that use Microsoft's sales data and machine learning to show which of your existing small and mid-sized customers are most likely to buy more, across areas such as Azure, Microsoft 365 and Copilot, security and renewals.
Source: CloudAscent Partner Center Learn Portal (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
It shows which of your current customers are most likely to buy, so your team knows where to start.
Co-sell
Also called co-selling, sell with Microsoft
Working a customer deal together with Microsoft's sales teams, another Microsoft partner, or both. It covers shared work such as building demand, planning the sale and passing leads back and forth.
Source: Co-sell with Microsoft sales teams and partners overview (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
Co-selling puts you on real customer deals alongside Microsoft's field, instead of selling alone.
Co-sell
Also called co-sell status, co-sell solution
A status Microsoft gives an offer once it is live in Microsoft Marketplace and the partner has added the co-sell details, such as sales contacts, a one-page overview and a pitch deck. Services offers also need at least one Solutions Partner designation.
Source: Co-sell requirements (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
Co-sell ready offers and their documents show up in the catalogs Microsoft's sellers use to find and assess partner solutions.
Incentives and credit
Claiming Partner of Record
Also called customer association
How a partner claims in Partner Center that it helped a customer adopt specific Microsoft 365 or Dynamics 365 products. The partner submits proof of the work, Microsoft reviews it, and the customer is told and can decline. Only one partner can claim each workload.
Source: Manage customer associations (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
An approved claim lets you see that customer's usage data and can count toward designation scoring and some incentive engagements, though approval alone does not make the work eligible for payment.
Buying and billing
Cloud Solution Provider
Also called CSP program, CSP authorization
The Microsoft program that lets partners resell Microsoft cloud services, and some software, to their own customers. The partner owns the customer relationship, usually bundles the licenses with its own services, and handles billing and support directly or through a distributor.
Source: Cloud Solution Provider program overview (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
Microsoft positions CSP as the way to own the whole customer relationship and build revenue from deployment, support and managed services.
Buying and billing
Direct bill and two-tier CSP
Also called Tier 1 and Tier 2
The two ways to work in CSP. A direct bill partner buys straight from Microsoft and handles billing and support itself. In the two-tier model, a distributor (formerly called an indirect provider) buys from Microsoft and supplies indirect resellers, who sell to customers but have no billing relationship with Microsoft.
Source: Supported CSP partner relationships (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
The model decides who bills you, who supports you and how much billing and support capacity you have to build yourself.
Incentives and credit
Digital Partner of Record
Also called Partner of Record
A link that attaches a servicing partner to a customer's Microsoft cloud subscription, mainly ones bought under an Enterprise Agreement. Each subscription has one at a time, and the customer can add, change or remove it.
Source: Link to a Partner ID by Using a PAL or DPOR (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
It is one of the ways Microsoft credits a partner for a customer's usage, and it lets you see that subscription's usage data.
Buying and billing
Enterprise Agreement
Also called EA enrollment
A Microsoft volume licensing contract that lets larger organizations license software and cloud services for at least three years at agreed prices. Once a year the customer accounts for anything it added during the year, a step called the true-up.
Source: Enterprise Agreement Licensing Guidance (Microsoft.com), checked November 7, 2026
EA customers buy through Microsoft licensing partners and their Microsoft account team rather than CSP, which changes how you sell to them and how you get credit for your work.
Incentives and credit
End Customer Investment Funds
Money Microsoft's own sales and marketing teams use to pay for services for a customer, such as a proof of concept or help deploying Microsoft products. Microsoft decides where it goes and pays approved partners to deliver the work. It is not a discount on the customer's purchase.
Source: End-Customer Investment Funds (ECIF) Request for Quote Sourcing Events Toolkit (Microsoft, PDF), checked November 7, 2026
Partners can't apply for it directly. Microsoft's field teams decide where it goes, and approved partners are engaged and paid to deliver the work.
How Microsoft sells
Microsoft fiscal year
Also called FY27, Microsoft FY
Microsoft's fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30 and is named for the year it ends in. FY27 runs from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, so its first quarter is July through September.
Source: FY Operations Processing Calendar for Partners (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
Microsoft processes deals and closes quarters on this calendar, so plan submissions and forecasts around its quarter-end dates.
Marketplace
Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment
Also called Azure consumption commitment, Azure commit
A contract in which a customer agrees to spend a set amount on Azure over a set period. Azure usage counts toward that total, and so do eligible partner solutions bought through Microsoft Marketplace in the Azure portal.
Source: Track Your Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
A purchase that counts toward the commitment draws on money the customer has already pledged to Microsoft, which can make it easier to approve. Check whether your offer is eligible.
How Microsoft sells
Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions
Microsoft's global sales organization. Microsoft's chief executive has called it the company's most important growth engine.
Source: Accelerating our commercial growth (The Official Microsoft Blog), checked November 7, 2026
When someone mentions "MCAPS priorities," they mean where this organization is pointing Microsoft's field for the year.
Incentives and credit
Microsoft Commerce Incentives
Also called Microsoft Commercial Incentives, MCI engagements
Microsoft's incentive program for partners, run from the Incentives area of Partner Center. It is organized into engagements: specific earning opportunities, each with its own partner and customer requirements and proof-of-work rules. A partner claims an engagement for a named customer, and the customer has to agree before the work goes ahead.
Source: MCI engagements overview and eligibility (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
It is where an enrolled partner sees which earning opportunities it is eligible for and submits claims for qualifying customer work.
Marketplace
Also called Azure Marketplace or AppSource (former names)
Microsoft's online store where business customers find, try and buy partner software, AI apps and agents, and professional services. It also appears inside the Azure portal and in products such as Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365.
Source: Microsoft Marketplace overview (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
Consulting, implementation and managed services are listed there alongside software, so a services partner can be found by buyers already shopping with Microsoft.
Marketplace
Multiparty private offer
Also called multiparty private offers
A private offer where a software company and a channel partner, such as a reseller or MSP, sell to one customer together through Microsoft Marketplace. The software company sends the offer to the partner, the partner finalizes it for the customer, and Microsoft bills the customer and pays both companies.
Source: Multiparty private offers (for channel partners) (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
You keep the customer relationship while reselling a software company's product through Marketplace.
Buying and billing
New commerce experience
Also called new commerce
Microsoft's current system for buying and managing CSP subscriptions. It sets the terms and billing rules for products like Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365, including monthly, annual and multi-year terms and how renewals and changes work.
Source: New commerce license-based overview (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
Almost every license-based CSP purchase now runs on it, so its rules apply to nearly every license deal a CSP partner writes.
Incentives and credit
Partner Admin Link
Also called link a partner ID
A way to tag the accounts your team uses inside a customer's Azure environment with your company's partner ID. Once they're tagged, Microsoft can see you work on that customer's Azure and credit you for the usage those accounts manage.
Source: Link a partner ID to your account that's used to manage customers (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
It is one of the ways Azure usage gets credited to you, which feeds your designation and specialization scores. If the tagged account is deleted or disabled, the credit stops.
Partner program
Also called PCS
A score Microsoft calculates for each solution area to decide whether a partner qualifies for a Solutions Partner designation. It measures performance, skilling and customer success, using data already in Partner Center.
Source: Solutions Partner program Partner Capability Score (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
Customers only count toward your score when they are linked to you in Microsoft's systems, so keeping those links in place affects whether you earn and keep a designation.
Partner program
Also called Microsoft Partner Center
Microsoft's online portal for partners. It is where you manage your account and users, buy and manage customer subscriptions, sign up for incentives, work co-sell deals and referrals, see billing and earnings, and contact support.
Source: What is Partner Center? (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
Most of a partner's business with Microsoft runs through it, from co-sell deals to incentives to getting paid.
Partner program
Also called MPN ID (former name)
The free, unique number Microsoft gives a partner company when it joins the partner program. Microsoft uses it to tie customers, licenses, incentives and program status to that partner.
Source: Business profile product-related FAQs (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
The ID on a deal is how Microsoft knows the work was yours, so the wrong one can cost you credit.
Marketplace
Also called customer private offer
A Microsoft Marketplace deal built for one customer, with that customer's own price, terms and end date. The customer buys through Marketplace, Microsoft bills them, and Microsoft pays the partner.
Source: ISV-to-customer private offers (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
You can quote negotiated pricing and custom terms while the customer pays through the Microsoft billing account it already has.
Co-sell
Also called Partner Center referrals, co-sell deals, leads, partner-led deal
The area of Partner Center where you receive and manage leads and co-sell deals, both the ones Microsoft sends you and the ones you log. A deal you log can be private (Microsoft can't see it), partner-led (Microsoft's sellers can see it, but you aren't asking for help) or co-sell (you ask Microsoft's sellers for help, though they don't have to join).
Source: Manage co-sell opportunities (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
Logging deals here is how Microsoft's sellers see your pipeline, and it is how you ask them for help on a specific deal.
How Microsoft sells
Solution areas and solution plays
Also called solution area, solution play, GTM solution plays
Solution areas are the broad groups Microsoft uses to organize how it sells, such as AI Business Solutions, Cloud and AI Platforms, and Security. Each area is split into solution plays: Microsoft products grouped around a specific customer outcome, with sales guidance and target buyers.
Source: Understanding solution areas and solution plays (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
Services co-sell deals in Partner Center must name a solution area and play, which is how the deal reaches the right Microsoft sales team.
Partner program
Solutions Partner designation
Also called designation (replaced the old Gold and Silver competencies)
A public credential Microsoft gives a partner that has shown proven skill and customer results in one area of Microsoft technology. A partner qualifies through its partner capability score and has to keep qualifying to keep it.
Source: Introduction to the Solutions Partner Program (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
It sets you apart from competitors, comes with added benefits, and is the first step toward most specializations.
Partner program
Also called advanced specialization
A narrower credential a partner can earn on top of a Solutions Partner designation. It shows deep expertise in one specific scenario, such as a type of migration or Microsoft 365 Copilot. Many require an outside audit or customer references.
Source: Specializations Overview (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
It helps customers find you for a specific need and sets you further apart from partners that hold only the designation.
How Microsoft sells
Top Parent ID
Also called Top Parent Organization ID
The number Microsoft uses in its sales data to identify a customer's parent organization. Partner Center's insight reports list customers by it.
Source: Education Growth Opportunities Data in AI Business Solutions and Security Insights (Microsoft Learn), checked November 7, 2026
Matching TPIDs to your own customer records is how you line up Microsoft's view of a customer with yours.
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Microsoft renames programs and changes the rules often. Each definition links to the Microsoft page it comes from and the date we last checked it. Check that page before you act on anything here. This glossary explains terms; it is not Microsoft guidance.
Test yourself
Six acronyms your Microsoft contacts use. Say what each one stands for, then flip the card.
Using them to win business is harder. RYZE Revenue Plays turns them into plays your team runs every month: which customers to call, what to say, and which Microsoft funding helps them say yes.
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