Services
Affected Platforms
Summary
Microsoft 365 Backup now supports department billing, allowing admins to create up to 50 billing policies by department, geography, or unit, with delegated control via RBAC. Available to new customers from mid-May 2026; existing customers will get it later this year with no immediate changes.
Details
Introduction
Department billing for Microsoft 365 Backup allows administrators to configure backups by granular scopes such as departments, geographic locations, or member firms. With this feature, admins can break down backup consumption to multiple Azure subscriptions and delegate administrative control within departments for Microsoft 365 Backup.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 506744.
When this will happen:
General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout completed in mid-May 2026.
How this affects your organization:
Who is affected:
- Organizations newly onboarding to Microsoft 365 Backup
- Microsoft 365 administrators managing Microsoft 365 Backup and Azure subscriptions
What will happen:
For new Microsoft 365 Backup customers:
- Department billing is available during onboarding.
- Admins can create multiple billing policies.
- Admins can create up to 50 billing policies and associate different Azure subscriptions to backup.
- Backup scopes can be defined based on customer needs such as by department, geography, or organizational unit.
- Department-specific backup administrators can restrict control of their backups using Role-Based Access Control (RBAC).
For existing Microsoft 365 Backup customers:
- Departmental billing is not currently available to existing customers but will be made available later this year.
- There is no change to the current billing or backup experience until the feature is enabled in the tenant.
- Once departmental billing is enabled, admins can configure departmental billing using the same model available to new customers.
- No admin action is required to receive the feature.
What you can do to prepare:
- No action is required for existing Microsoft 365 Backup customers.
- New customers onboarding to Microsoft 365 Backup can review billing policies, plan Azure subscription mapping, and assign RBAC roles for departmental administration.
Learn more: Manage consumption and invoices for Microsoft 365 Backup | Microsoft LearnÂ
Compliance considerations:
No compliance considerations identified, review as appropriate for your organization.