Azure Cost Management Exports for CSP Accounts

For Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) setups, use this decision rule:

1. Use billing-scope CME first (always preferred)
2. If billing-scope CME is unavailable, choose one of these options:
   • Billing-account-scope CDR (preferred for MCA/EA billing accounts — single API call, no storage account)
   • Subscription-scope CME (one export per subscription), or
   • Subscription-scope CDR (one API call per subscription, no storage account)

Preferred Method: Billing-scope CME

When billing-scope CME is available, use the standard CME flow.

Follow:

• Standard Export Setup

If billing-scope CME is unavailable: remaining options

You have three supported options:

1. Billing-account-scope CDR (preferred for MCA/EA billing accounts)
2. Subscription-scope CME (one export per subscription)
3. Subscription-scope CDR (fallback)

Option A: Subscription-scope CME

Use one export per subscription.

Follow:

• Standard Export Setup

Option B: Cost Details Report (CDR)

CDR (Cost Details Report) requests cost details directly from the Azure Cost Management API — no storage account or export schedule is required.

CDR has two scopes:

Known limitations (both CDR scopes)

• CDR does not include reservation actual transaction line items.
• Management groups are not supported for CDR scope: Microsoft reference
• No storage account permissions are required for CDR.

Supported subscription notes

CDR is available for subscriptions billed under EA or MCA billing structures, including standard CSP subscriptions and modern MCA-based PAYG subscriptions. It is not available for legacy/classic PAYG, MSDN, or Visual Studio subscriptions.

What Cloud View - Data#3 does with CDR

For connected subscriptions, Cloud View - Data#3 requests and downloads cost details reports and retries report generation on transient failures.

Option B1: Billing-account-scope CDR (preferred for MCA/EA)

Use this when you have billing account access. Cloud View - Data#3 issues a single generateCostDetailsReport call scoped to the entire billing account, covering all subscriptions under it — no need for per-subscription calls.

Find your billing account ID

1. Sign in to the Azure Portal
2. Go to Cost Management + Billing
3. Select your billing account
4. Copy the billing account ID from the overview page

ℹ️ MCA billing account IDs use a colon-separated format, e.g. 3c9d3f87-9dbe-518b-b2a8-644a0b367539:294812fb-ed11-450a-9b63-f63963c12ce2_2019-05-31. EA billing account IDs are numeric (e.g. 1234567).

Required Azure permissions for billing-account-scope CDR

Assign both of the following to the App Registration:

⚠️ The Billing account reader role is assigned on the billing account blade, not on a subscription. It is a billing-scoped role, separate from Azure RBAC roles like Reader.

If the generateCostDetailsReport call is rejected with 403 even after assigning Billing account reader, escalate to Billing account contributor — the POST action may require elevated billing permissions depending on the account configuration.

No storage account permissions are required for CDR.

Add billing-account-scope CDR in Cloud View - Data#3

1. Go to Settings → Cloud Connections → Microsoft Azure
2. Add or select an Azure Entra App credential
3. Add a cloud account using Cost Details Report (CDR) account type
4. Enter the Billing Account ID you copied from the Azure Portal
5. Submit and validate

Option B2: Subscription-scope CDR (fallback)

Use this when you only have subscription-level access (no billing account access), or for legacy/classic PAYG subscriptions. Cloud View - Data#3 issues a separate generateCostDetailsReport call for each subscription.

Required Azure permissions for subscription-scope CDR

Assign Reader (or Cost Management Reader) to the App Registration on each subscription to import.

No storage account permissions are required for CDR.

Add subscription-scope CDR in Cloud View - Data#3

1. Go to Settings → Cloud Connections → Microsoft Azure
2. Add or select an Azure Entra App credential
3. Add a cloud account using Cost Details Report (CDR) account type
4. Leave the Billing Account ID field blank
5. Submit and validate

Related Pages

• Application Registration & Permissions
• Standard Export Setup
• Troubleshooting Azure Connections