Licensing Enablement
1. Enterprise Subscription Agreement (ESA) Setup
Before proceeding with the Microsoft Fabric configuration, organisations must ensure the following prerequisites:
Agreement Signed: An active Enterprise Subscription Agreement (ESA) must be in place between Microsoft and the NHS organisation.
Enterprise Administrator: The designated will sign in to the Azure portal using their local tenant account associated with the ESA. Important Note: The first time you sign in as the Enterprise Administrator, you may be prompted to select a billing scope for your account.
To find out more information on billing administration, visit EA Billing administration on the Azure portal – Microsoft Cost Management | Microsoft Learn
1.1 Activate your enrolment
To activate your enrolment:
Enterprise Administrator Sign-In: The initial enterprise administrator signs in to the Azure portal.
- If you are the enterprise administrator, you can directly activate the enrolment without needing an invitation email.
1.2 To activate an enrolment
1. Sign in to the Azure portal.
2. Search for Cost Management + Billing and select it.
3. Select the enrolment that you want to activate.
4. Once the enrolment is selected, status of enrolment is changed to active.
5. You can view the status of enrolment under Essentials on Summary view.
Billing Scope Selection: Upon sign-in, select the appropriate billing scope for your enrolment.
1.3 Switch billing scope in the Azure portal (optional)
1. Sign in to the Azure portal.
2. Search for Cost Management + Billing.
3. In the overview page, select Switch scope.
Note: You will not see Switch scope if you only have access to one scope.
4. To view details, select a scope.
Warning
Be advised that you can benchmark your usage before setting up a reservation (Annual Billing). Initial subscription configuration will be set up as Pay as You Go (PAYG), as a of the local tenant you will have the flexibility up front to change the capacity need while using a PAYG service. Thereafter, to avoid being charged on PAYG and secure discounted pricing on an annual committed basis, set up a reservation on the capacity size you have chosen.
Navigate to Azure Billing to create a reservation for a year. You will now be charged under the agreement from the reserved instance.
You can go to the Azure portal reservations to purchase a reservation for Fabric.
Please speak to your LSP to understand more about Fabric capacity licensing and billing on your own ESA.
2. Creating and Managing Subscriptions Roles Required:
Enterprise Administrator or Account Owner can create new subscriptions in the local tenant.
Steps to Add a Subscription:
1. Sign In to the Azure Portal: Use an account with required permissions above to access the Azure portal.
2. Navigate to Cost Management + Billing: In the Azure portal, go to Cost Management + Billing.
3. Select Billing Scopes: In the left-hand menu, select Billing Scopes, and choose the billing account scope associated with your enrolment.
4. Select Accounts: In the left menu, click Accounts and select the enrolment account where you want to create a new subscription.
5. Create a New Subscription: On the enrolment account page, click+ New Subscription.
6. Enter Subscription Details: Enter a Subscription Name and click Create.
Note: The new subscription may take up to 24 hours to appear in the subscription list.
3. Adding Fabric Premium Capacity
For organisations to start using Microsoft Fabric, the following steps must be followed:
1. Create Subscription Using @nhs.net Account: Ensure that the Azure subscription is created using an @nhs.net account with an assigned fabric licence. Synchronised using cross tenant sync or guested user can be used.
2. Deploy Fabric SKU: Organisations must deploy the appropriate Fabric SKU based on their requirements. It is recommended to choose the F64 SKU for optimal capacity support.
3. Add Additional Capacity Owners: After the Fabric SKU is deployed, the (the user who created the subscription gets this role by default) can add additional capacity owners via the Azure portal.
4. Managing Fabric Admin and Capacity
1. Access Fabric Admin Portal: Go to Fabric Admin portal and log in with your administrator account.
2. Fabric Admin Portal Settings:
a. You need a Fabric License to access the “Admin portal”
b. Admin roles required:
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- Global Administrator
- Power Platform Administrator
- Fabric Administrator
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3. View Provisioned Capacity: In the Fabric Admin portal, you can view the provisioned capacity.
4. Add Capacity Administrators: From the Fabric portal, you can add new capacity administrators by selecting + New Capacity Administrator.
5. Linking Workspaces to Premium Fabric Capacity
To link workspaces to the premium fabric capacity:
1. Log In to Fabric Admin Portal. : Use an account with Fabric Admin access.
2. Select Fabric Capacity for Workspaces: In the Fabric Admin portal, navigate to the workspace settings.
The workspace is now linked to Premium fabric capacity.
3. Confirm Workspace Linkage: Once the workspace is linked, it can utilise the available Premium Fabric resources for processing and storage.
6. Enable Microsoft Fabric for Your Organisation
Follow the steps below to enable Microsoft Fabric for your tenant:
1. Navigate to Tenant Settings: In the Fabric Admin Portal, go to Tenant Settings.
2. Enable Fabric Item Creation: In the settings, locate Users can create Fabric items and toggle the switch to Enable.
3. Optional Security Group Settings: You can select specific security groups if you want to restrict access to certain users.
4. Apply the Changes: Click Apply to finalise the configuration. To learn more, please visit Enable Microsoft Fabric for Your Organization – Microsoft Learn.
| Last Reviewed Date | 09/06/2025 |
