Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about CSP Control Center. Can't find what you're looking for? Email psm-c3@spektrasystems.com.
Getting Started
Is there a free trial for CSP Control Center (C3)?
Yes, CSP Control Center offers a 30-day free trial so you can have a complete experience of the product before committing.
How do I sign up for CSP Control Center?
You can sign up from the link provided on cspcontrolcenter.com, or email psm-c3@spektrasystems.com for a demo and sign-up assistance.
How long does it take to fully go live after sign-up?
After sign-up, your CSP Control Center instance is available within 4 hours to begin initial customer onboarding and plan creation.
What happens right after I sign up?
The CSP Control Center support team helps with your customer onboarding and initial plan creation with individual pricing, so you can start transacting. The process is quick and hassle-free.
Do I have to migrate customers from Microsoft Partner Center manually?
No. The CSP Control Center support team migrates your customers from Partner Center for you, with no onboarding fee and full assistance across all your onboarding requests.
Is onboarding support included, or does it cost extra?
Customer onboarding is free of cost. The support team helps you with all your onboarding requests.
Which types of Microsoft CSP partners can use CSP Control Center?
CSP Control Center is a multi-model platform built for Microsoft CSP Distributors, Indirect Resellers, Direct CSP Partners and Managed Service Providers.
Can my customers sign themselves up through my marketplace?
Yes. CSP Control Center supports public sign-up, and end customers get marketplace access to purchase, provision and manage their cloud resources directly.
Can I preview the customer experience before onboarding them?
Yes. Using the "Impersonate to Customer Portal" capability, you can view and operate the customer portal as your customer sees it.
Does CSP Control Center connect to my Partner Center, and can I confirm the connection works?
Yes. CSP Control Center connects to your Microsoft Partner Center, and you can validate the C3–Partner Center and Microsoft Pricing API connectivity from the Validate Settings section.
Pricing & Billing
How much does CSP Control Center cost?
CSP Control Center starts at $349/month for Direct Bill Partners and $499/month for Indirect Providers.
Is there a discount for paying annually?
Yes. Switching to an annual plan gets you up to 10% off. Annual pricing starts at $3,770/year for Direct Bill Partners and $5,390/year for Indirect Providers.
How is my subscription price determined?
CSP Control Center pricing depends on your Microsoft (MSFT) invoices. For an exact figure, reach out to psm-c3@spektrasystems.com.
When is my first CSP Control Center invoice generated?
Your first invoice is generated 30 days after your free trial period ends.
On what date is the monthly invoice issued?
The CSP Control Center monthly invoice for your subscription is generated on the 10th of every month.
Does my subscription auto-renew?
Yes, your CSP Control Center subscription auto-renews on the 1st of every month unless cancelled.
Can I set up automatic payment for my invoices?
Yes. You can provide Credit Card/ACH details, which are used to collect payment on the system-defined date.
Can I pay by bank transfer instead?
Yes. CSP Control Center offers an invoicing mode of payment. Contact the team to set up payment by bank transfer.
Is there a minimum contract or lock-in period?
No, currently there is no lock-in period for a CSP Control Center subscription.
How do I cancel my subscription?
You can email the support team psm-c3@spektrasystems.com to cancel, and the request will be processed. The team is also happy to first address any product concerns you may have.
Integrations
Which PSA tools does CSP Control Center integrate with?
CSP Control Center currently integrates with ConnectWise Manage and Datto Autotask.
How does the ConnectWise Manage integration work?
Subscription information (new or existing) is maintained locally in CSP Control Center, and ConnectWise Manage uses that data to generate customer invoices for the target customer Agreement.
How does the Datto Autotask integration work?
The integration lets partners migrate subscription history from CSP Control Center to Autotask with little to no manual intervention. Data is pushed to the correct customer contract in Autotask, which then generates billing items ready to post to the customer invoice.
Which accounting software does CSP Control Center integrate with?
CSP Control Center supports accounting software like QuickBooks and Xero.
Can I push my invoices into QuickBooks or Xero automatically?
Yes. With QuickBooks, invoice data flows automatically into your books; with Xero, you can transfer all your invoices from CSP Control Center in a few clicks.
Which payment gateways are supported?
CSP Control Center integrates with payment gateways including Authorize.Net, Stripe, Bill&Pay, EziDebit, with credit card and ACH accepted as payment modes.
Do I need developer resources to set up an integration, or does the team handle it?
You don't need developer resources for the standard connectors. CSP Control Center's integrations are configured within the platform, and the support team helps you set up and validate each connection as part of onboarding.
Does CSP Control Center offer APIs for external integration?
Yes, CSP Control Center can expose APIs based on your request, and provides billing APIs to import billing/invoice data into external systems.
Can CSP Control Center build a custom integration my business needs?
Yes, custom integrations are available on demand. Requests are evaluated based on a feasibility study and the development costs involved.
Can I export my billing and invoice data into my own systems?
Yes. CSP Control Center's extensive billing APIs let you import billing and invoice data into external systems.
Features & Marketplace
Does CSP Control Center offer a white-label marketplace?
Yes, CSP Control Center supports a white-labelled marketplace configured on your own domain, where you can customize the URL, logos, invoice footers and more.
Can I set different sale prices for each customer?
Yes. Using the "Plans" feature, you can define custom pricing for each customer based on your contract or deal, and invoices are generated at the defined sale price.
Can I define my own markups on Microsoft offers?
Yes. You can define custom pricing and markups on preloaded Microsoft CSP offers, and create plans as a combination of usage-based services and licenses.
Can I bundle products or sell non-Microsoft products and services?
Yes. You can bundle multiple products and services into a composite offer, and sell non-Microsoft products and your own value-added services to increase sales.
Can I offer discounts or coupons to customers?
Yes, CSP Control Center lets you create and set discount coupons that can be applied at the customer or subscription level.
How does CSP Control Center handle Microsoft's monthly price changes?
CSP Control Center pulls pricing information from your Partner Center every month and updates the same pricing in your plans, with your defined mark-ups updated accordingly.
Can my customers and resellers manage their own subscriptions?
Yes. Resellers and customers can manage the complete lifecycle, including buying products, updating license counts, accessing invoices, and setting up auto-payments.
Can I control and approve customer purchases?
Yes. You can set customer-level credit and license-count limits, and approve or reject orders through the approval workflow mechanism.
Can I sell and manage Azure usage-based subscriptions and budgets?
Yes. CSP Control Center supports Azure usage-based subscriptions with cost control, daily/monthly consumption reports with custom margins, and Azure Plan or entitlement-level budgets with multi-level thresholds and notifications.
Can I manage Microsoft NCE subscriptions in CSP Control Center?
Yes. CSP Control Center supports NCE license management, SKU upgrades, subscription scheduling (changing license counts, billing term/frequency, or SKU on renewal), subscription coterminosity, and NCE promotions.
Deployment & Global Operations
Where is my CSP Control Center deployment hosted?
By default, your deployment is hosted on Spektra's Azure SaaS and deployed in the nearest Azure region to your location.
Can I host CSP Control Center in my own Azure subscription?
Yes. You have the option to host the deployment in your own subscription, where you bear the hosting cost.
Can I manage multiple CSP accounts from one instance?
Yes. CSP Control Center is a multi-tenant solution, so you can manage multiple CSP account tenants under a single instance with a single sign-in.
How does CSP Control Center handle access control across teams and tenants?
Role-based access controls (RBACs) let users manage single or multiple Partner Center accounts with a drop-down selection from the portal.
Is there a limit to how many customers, resellers or tenants I can manage?
No fixed limit. Because CSP Control Center is multi-tenant, it scales to support growing partner operations, from a handful of customers to large distributor and reseller networks under a single instance.
Does CSP Control Center support multiple currencies?
Yes. CSP Control Center includes currency conversion so you can bill customers in different currencies. It supports multi-currency billing across global markets, helping you deliver accurate invoices while simplifying international operations.
Can CSP Control Center handle taxes for different regions?
Yes. CSP Control Center includes tax settings so you can define and apply tax rules to your invoicing. You can configure region-specific tax rates to support local tax requirements and ensure accurate, compliant billing across different markets.
Can I run multi-country distributor and reseller operations?
Yes. The Indirect Providers plan supports multi-country operations, resellers and distributors, so you can manage regional entities from one instance.
Can I organize customers into sites and departments?
Yes. CSP Control Center supports Sites and Departments so you can structure larger customers and their billing accordingly.
Is CSP Control Center secure and compliant?
CSP Control Center is GDPR and SOC 2 compliant and ISO 27001 certified, and includes audit logs to track activity within the platform.
Support & Roadmap
Does CSP Control Center charge for support?
No, CSP Control Center comes with unlimited complimentary support, with no support fees.
What are CSP Control Center's support hours?
CSP Control Center provides complimentary 24×7 product support throughout the year. Whatever time zone you operate in, help is available around the clock at no extra charge.
Which cloud providers does CSP Control Center support today?
Currently, Microsoft CSPs are supported. AWS and GCP are in the pipeline and should be available soon.
How do I request a new feature or integration?
CSP Control Center is open to independent feature and integration requests, which are evaluated based on a feasibility study and the development costs.
Are the product features fixed, or can they be configured?
Most product features are soft-coded and can be modified either by you from your CSP Control Center platform or with support assistance.
How often does CSP Control Center add new features?
New premium features are added every month, with monthly release notes published in the documentation portal.
Where can I track what's new and what's coming next?
You can follow the Release Notes and the Product Roadmap in the CSP Control Center documentation portal.
Is there documentation to help my team get started?
Yes. CSP Control Center provides a comprehensive documentation portal with setup guides, feature walkthroughs, integration guides and API references.
Does CSP Control Center keep up with Microsoft CSP and NCE program changes?
Yes. CSP Control Center imports Microsoft pricing monthly and provides extensive NCE capabilities, so your billing stays aligned with Microsoft's program.
How do I reach the CSP Control Center support or sales team?
Email psm-c3@spektrasystems.com for sales, demos or support, or use the contact options at cspcontrolcenter.com. The same team can help with evaluations, onboarding and ongoing product questions.
