14.1 Enterprise Agreements, CSP, and Direct Billing

Quick Answer: Enterprise Agreement (EA) = large organization, volume licensing, typically through a Microsoft representative or licensing specialist, multi-year conceptually. Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) = you buy from a partner who can also support and manage the tenant. Direct = you buy from Microsoft on the website or in the Microsoft 365 admin center. The exam asks who you buy from, not the SKU string.

The April 30, 2025 MS-900 outline asks you to describe the pricing model for Microsoft cloud services including enterprise agreements, cloud solution providers, and direct billing. “Pricing model” here is a commerce channel, not a spreadsheet of per-user list prices. Microsoft does not publish a single worldwide price that every tenant pays, and this guide will not invent one. What the exam needs is a clean map: who signs the agreement, who sends the invoice, and who you call when a seat count changes.

A subscription is the commercial agreement that lets the organization use Microsoft 365 (or another cloud offering). A license is the per-user (or per-device) right inside that subscription. A tenant is the Microsoft Entra directory that holds the user accounts. Channel, subscription, license, and tenant are four different nouns. Buying through CSP does not create a new tenant. Signing an EA does not automatically assign Adele an E5 license. Those next jobs belong to later sections.

Enterprise Agreement — volume, multi-year, specialist-led

An Enterprise Agreement (EA) is Microsoft’s volume licensing program for organizations that want one manageable contract for cloud services and software licenses. Microsoft’s own Enterprise Agreement page positions it for organizations with 500 or more users or devices. Treat that figure as the official “this is a large-organization program” signal, not as a trick number you must compute on the exam. If the stem says a multinational wants a single multi-year agreement covering Microsoft 365 plus on-premises Windows and servers, think EA.

How an EA works, conceptually:

• You work with a Microsoft representative or a Microsoft Certified Partner / licensing specialist (often a Licensing Solution Provider). You do not casually check out an EA in the same cart a 20-person company uses for Business Standard.
• The agreement is designed for a minimum three-year period. Organizations can lock pricing conceptually and spread payments (classically three annual payments) instead of writing one giant check on day one.
• Cloud services and on-premises software can live under one agreement. That mix is the EA’s historic strength: Microsoft 365 seats plus Windows Enterprise plus server licenses, not only a credit-card SaaS checkout.
• During the term, seat counts can change and be reconciled through the agreement’s true-up style process rather than a new retail order for every hire.
• Software Assurance is part of the EA story for software: new-version rights and related benefits. You do not need the Software Assurance catalog for MS-900; you need to know EA is the volume, multi-year, specialist-assisted channel.

An EA is not a Microsoft 365 SKU. “We have an Enterprise Agreement” does not tell you whether users have E3 or E5. It tells you how the company bought the rights.

Cloud Solution Provider — buy from a partner who can also run the service

The Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program lets a Microsoft partner sell Microsoft 365, Azure, Dynamics 365, and related cloud offers to a customer. The partner places the order in Partner Center. Before the partner can order, the customer must accept the Microsoft Customer Agreement. Partners operate under a Microsoft Partner Agreement (MPA) billing account — that account type exists so CSP partners can manage customers, not so every Contoso employee becomes a partner.

Why organizations choose CSP:

• Someone local (or specialized) owns the commercial relationship. The partner invoices the customer, helps size the mix of Business and enterprise seats, and can add or reduce licenses as the workforce changes.
• Support and managed services travel with the license. A CSP can provide onboarding, migration, helpdesk, security monitoring, or a fully managed Microsoft 365 tenant. Direct and EA customers can hire a partner too, but CSP is the channel built so the seller is also the services firm.
• Terms are typically more month-to-month or annual than a three-year EA. Exact commercial flexibility depends on the partner and the offer, so do not memorize a cancellation fee the exam never published.

Two exam facts hide in CSP. First, the tenant is still the customer’s tenant. Users still sign in to contoso.com. The partner does not become Microsoft. Second, some products a partner bought on the customer’s behalf — official Learn calls out certain perpetual software as an example — are assigned from the Licenses page, not from Your products. The admin still assigns people to seats; the partner is the storefront.

Direct billing — buy from Microsoft yourself

Direct billing (also called web-direct or buying from Microsoft) is the path where the organization has a billing relationship with Microsoft, not with a CSP partner and not through an EA enrollment. You purchase on microsoft.com or inside the Microsoft 365 admin center (Marketplace / purchase services). Official enterprise documentation says an easy way to add SaaS subscriptions is: sign in at admin.microsoft.com, open Marketplace, and buy. The new subscription attaches to the same organization and Microsoft Entra tenant.

Direct is the everyday channel for:

• Microsoft 365 Business plans (Basic, Standard, Premium, Apps for business) that a small or midsize company buys with a card.
• Trials that convert to paid subscriptions in the admin center.
• Many add-on purchases an admin makes after the tenant already exists.

Direct customers land on a Microsoft billing account — commonly a Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement (MOSA) for older self-serve sign-ups, or a Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) when the organization works with a Microsoft representative, an authorized partner, or buys independently under the newer commerce platform. Those agreement names matter in the next section (invoices and payment methods). For this skill, remember: Microsoft bills you.

Side-by-side: who is on the other end of the invoice?

A single tenant can mix channels. Official partner guidance states a customer can hold licenses bought direct, through one CSP, and through another CSP in the same tenant (Business-family seat caps still apply across the tenant). Do not invent a rule that “EA tenants cannot add a Marketplace add-on.” The exam still wants the primary channel in the stem.

Realistic exam-style scenarios

Regional manufacturer, 4,000 employees, wants one three-year agreement for Microsoft 365, Windows Enterprise, and server licenses, with annual true-up. That is an Enterprise Agreement, worked with a Microsoft representative or licensing specialist. It is not “buy Business Premium in the admin center.”

Dental practice, 18 people, owner enters a credit card at microsoft.com and later adds seats under Billing in the admin center. That is direct. There is no CSP unless they later hire one, and they are nowhere near EA volume.

School district wants Microsoft 365 plus a partner that will migrate mail, train teachers, and take after-hours tickets. That is CSP (or a partner layered on another channel). The scoring key is the partner as the seller and services firm.

Finance asks whether switching from direct to CSP means creating a new tenant and moving every mailbox. No. Subscriptions can change channel; the Microsoft Entra tenant stays. Official partner documentation even describes moving seat-based services between EA and CSP without inventing a new directory.

A Global Administrator sees Marketplace in the admin center and also sees a CSP partner listed on some subscriptions. Mixed commerce is allowed. Assign licenses the same way; the invoice just may come from more than one place.

Exam traps

• Channel is not SKU. EA is how you buy. E5 is what you assign. Do not answer “Enterprise Agreement” when the question is which plan includes Phone System.
• CSP is not Microsoft support. The partner can open Microsoft support and can provide managed services; the commercial vendor is still the partner.
• Direct is not only credit cards. Direct means Microsoft is the seller. Payment methods are the next skill.
• 500 users is positioning, not a math problem. Microsoft publishes EA for 500 or more users or devices. The exam still cares more about “large, volume, multi-year, specialist” than about counting 499 versus 501.
• Do not invent list prices or discount percentages as exam facts. Microsoft’s marketing pages mention savings ranges that change by program and year. MS-900 does not grade a 15 percent figure.
• A tenant can have more than one channel. “We bought some seats from a partner and some in Marketplace” is legal commerce, not a broken tenant.

Official sources

• Enterprise Agreement — 500 or more users or devices; cloud and software under one agreement; minimum three-year period; payments can be spread; work with a Microsoft Certified Partner or Microsoft representative
• Subscriptions, licenses, accounts, and tenants — organization, subscription, license, tenant; Marketplace purchases attach to the existing tenant
• Understand your Microsoft business billing account — MCA, MOSA, and MPA (CSP partner) billing account types
• New commerce license-based overview (Partner Center) — CSP partners purchase license-based Microsoft 365 services after the customer accepts the Microsoft Customer Agreement
• Study guide for Exam MS-900 — enterprise agreements, cloud solution providers, and direct billing