Summary
Greenhood IT, a dynamic Australian MSP specialising in Microsoft licensing and cloud services, found itself abruptly removed from the Microsoft Partner program. With 30 days’ notice and no opportunity for appeal, Greenhood’s technicians lost access to the Partner Portal. After exploring cumbersome self-hosted alternatives, Greenhood engaged Manage Protect to implement CIPP, a multi-tenant management interface within Manage Protect’s Microsoft Partner instance. In under two weeks, Greenhood regained streamlined access to client tenancies and reduced administrative overhead in a single-login environment.
The Challenge
When Microsoft announced Greenhood’s removal from the Partner program, founder Patrick Cummings faced an operational crisis. His engineers had long relied on logging into each client’s tenancy individually—a time-consuming process that created the potential for inconsistencies in provisioning and policy enforcement. Greenhood’s first instinct was to self-host the CIPP platform, but setting up and maintaining the necessary infrastructure proved complex and resource-intensive. Microsoft Lighthouse, by contrast, offered a rudimentary interface that did not meet Greenhood’s workflow requirements. With the 30-day deadline looming and no recourse to reverse Microsoft’s decision, Patrick needed a partner capable of rapid deployment.
“Microsoft did not want to deal with us,” recalls Patrick. “We needed a partner who could act fast—and who understood our business.”
The Solution
Manage Protect proposed integrating CIPP directly into its own Microsoft Partner tenant rather than spinning up a standalone environment. This approach leveraged Manage Protect’s existing partnership status and security controls, eliminating the need for Greenhood to invest in new infrastructure. Within days, Manage Protect provisioned a CIPP instance under its umbrella, immediately granting Greenhood’s engineers a centralised portal. Technicians now sign in once via Entra identity protection and multi-factor authentication, then seamlessly switch between client tenancies for provisioning, permissions management and troubleshooting. This single-login approach not only streamlined workflows but also ensured every action is audited and secured by enterprise-grade policies.
Results & Business Impact
- Reduction in Administrative Hours: Routine tenant management now takes significantly less time, freeing engineers to focus on high-value projects. “The team love it,” says Patrick.
- Consistent Best-Practice Enforcement: Centralised provisioning and policy application ensure that every client tenancy adheres to Greenhood’s security and configuration standards.
- Zero Additional Monthly Cost: Manage Protect covers the CIPP subscription, delivering turnkey value without inflating Greenhood’s operational budget.
- Scalable Foundation: Although group policy application across multiple tenancies isn’t yet enabled, Manage Protect is actively working with CIPP to unlock this capability—promising greater efficiency gains.
“Manage Protect got us out of jail,” Patrick notes.
With the core platform stable, Manage Protect and Greenhood will collaborate to activate CIPP’s group-policy feature, enabling policies and tenant assignments to be applied en masse. Our ongoing partnership will ensure the solution evolves alongside Greenhood’s growth ambitions.