01 — Navigation & Features
Table of contents
- Portal Layout Overview
- Left Navigation Sections
- Home Dashboard
- Support Section
- Major Incident Response Plan
- Incident Readiness
- External Resources
- Shared Files
- Proactive Services
- Learning Section
- Account Team Contacts
- Support Insights
- Search
- Notifications & Alerts
- Account Settings
- Productivity Tips for CSAs
- Known Limitations (as of 2025)
Portal Layout Overview
Engage Center follows a left-nav + main content layout, consistent with other Microsoft portals (Azure Portal, M365 Admin Center).
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flowchart TD
subgraph Shell["Browser Window"]
TOP["🔝 Top Bar — Search | Notifications | Profile | Help"]
subgraph Content["Main Area"]
LEFT["◀ Left Navigation\nCollapsible sidebar\nSection links"]
MAIN["Main Content Pane\nDashboard / Section view"]
end
end
TOP --> Content
LEFT --> MAIN
Top Bar
| Element | Function |
|---|---|
| Search bar | Global full-text search across cases, services, learning, and contacts |
| Notifications bell | Alerts for case updates, scheduled services, and system messages |
| Profile/account | Switch tenant, view profile, sign out |
| Help (?) | Contextual documentation, support for the portal itself |
| Microsoft logo | Returns to Home dashboard |
Left Navigation Sections
The primary left-nav sections (current GA rollout):
| Section | Icon | What You Do Here |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 🏠 | Dashboard — activity feed, quick links, recent activity |
| Support | 🎫 | Create and manage support requests (cases) |
| Support Insights | 📊 | Analytics and reporting on support consumption and case trends |
| Shared Files | 📁 | Securely access and download files shared by your account team |
| Customer Activity | 📄 | Contract details, entitlement consumption, purchased services |
| Major Incident Response Plan | 🛡️ | MIRP — workload inventory, contacts, response guidelines, Azure Health |
| Learning | 🎓 | On-demand learning, instructor-led sessions, and learning management |
| On-Demand Assessments | 🔍 | Run automated health assessments across your Microsoft environments |
| User Management | 👤 | User roles and Microsoft Entra group assignments |
| Settings | ⚙️ | Notification preferences, portal features, personalisation |
| External Resources | 🔗 | Manage links and access to external tenants and resources |
⚠️ Navigation availability varies by rollout phase and customer workspace type. Features transition progressively from Services Hub — not all sections may be visible until your workspace is fully migrated. See 05 — Services Hub vs Engage Center for the rollout phase order.
💡 The left nav can be collapsed to icon-only mode — useful on smaller screens or when you want maximum content width.
Home Dashboard
The Home dashboard is your entry point after login. It is personalised based on your role and recent activity.
Dashboard Widgets
| Widget | Content |
|---|---|
| Active Support Requests | Open cases with status indicators |
| Upcoming Services | Upcoming scheduled learning sessions and services |
| Recent Activity | Latest updates across cases and services |
| Quick Actions | One-click shortcuts: New Case, Request Service, etc. |
| Service Health | Azure / M365 health status summary (linked to Azure Status) |
| Learning Highlights | Recommended content based on your workloads |
Support Section
The Support section is where you manage reactive break-fix cases. See 02 — Support Requests for full detail.
Key views:
- All Requests — filterable list of all open and closed cases
- My Requests — cases you personally created or are watching
- Help + Support — case creation entry point (two experiences available: Enhanced self-help form, or Support AI Assistant)
- Escalations — cases flagged for management attention
💡 Only users with the Support User role can create support cases. Administrators alone cannot open cases without also having the Support User role assigned.
Major Incident Response Plan
The Major Incident Response Plan (MIRP) is a self-service portal tool with its own dedicated section in the left nav. It is not a consulting engagement — it is a digital tool for maintaining shared readiness between your organisation and Microsoft. See 04 — Digital MIRP for full detail.
| Sub-section | What It Contains |
|---|---|
| Cloud Solutions | Inventory of business-critical Azure, M365, D365, and Power Platform workloads + key contacts; attestation |
| Your Account Team | Microsoft contact info and support portal links — maintained by Microsoft |
| Response Guidelines | Before / During / After incident guidance; searchable by topic |
| Azure Health | Services Dashboard (subscription health alerts) and Resiliency Recommendations (links to Azure Advisor) |
💡 MIRP must be enabled in Settings → Features before it appears in the left nav. For organisations with multiple workspaces, it can be toggled per workspace or enabled across all via the rollup workspace. Note: customers with a single workspace cannot toggle MIRP off once enabled.
💡 Managing contacts within MIRP requires the Mirp Manager role. The Mirp Viewer role can create and edit solutions and toggle tenants, but cannot add contacts or attest the plan.
Incident Readiness
The Incident Readiness section (under the Health area) provides guidance on preparing for and responding to the three types of cloud incidents Microsoft categorises:
| Incident Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Service incidents | Unplanned downtime, outages, performance degradation affecting Microsoft services |
| Privacy incidents | Potential unauthorised use or disclosure of customer data |
| Security incidents | Confirmed breaches resulting in data destruction, loss, or unauthorised access |
The section covers product-specific readiness guidance:
- Azure Incident Readiness — preparation steps and response actions for Azure workloads
- Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 & Power Platform Incident Readiness — equivalent guidance for those product families
💡 Incident Readiness complements MIRP: MIRP maintains your workload inventory and contacts; Incident Readiness provides the product-specific guidance on what to do when an incident occurs.
External Resources
The External Resources section allows you to manage links and access to external tenants and resources within your Engage Center workspace. This is also where tenant visibility for MIRP (Cloud Solutions) is controlled — tenants can be toggled on or off for each workspace.
💡 If a tenant is missing from the MIRP Cloud Solutions dropdown, check External Resources first. See aka.ms/ec-externalresources for the management guide.
Shared Files
The Shared Files section provides a centralised location to securely access support-related files shared by your CSAM or Incident Manager. From here you can download files to your local device or delete them (if permitted by your role).
| Action | Who Can Do It |
|---|---|
| View & download files | Users with the Shared Files role |
| Delete files | Users with the Shared Files role (with delete permission) |
| Upload files | CSAMs and Incident Managers only — not available to customers |
💡 If you cannot see Shared Files in the nav, confirm you have been assigned the Shared Files role by your Customer Support Manager or Administrator.
Proactive Services
💡 Two distinct types of “services” exist in Engage Center — they are separate:
- Learning → Scheduled Services: instructor-led learning sessions and workshops that you can browse and register for directly within the Learning section (see below)
- Consulting / advisory proactive services: advisory sessions, custom engagements, and similar contract-based services are coordinated through your CSAM, not via a self-service catalogue
On-Demand Assessments have their own dedicated section in the left nav (see above). They use the Engage Center Connector and Azure Log Analytics — initial setup requires an Azure subscription and Log Analytics workspace (~2 hours to configure). Requires the Assessment User role.
Advisory sessions, workshops, and custom consulting engagements are drawn from your contract’s annual hours pool and scheduled in coordination with your CSAM. Availability and scope depend on your agreement.
💡 To understand what consulting services are available under your agreement, check entitlement hours in Customer Activity and confirm scope with your CSAM.
Learning Section
The Learning section brings together discovery, participation, and progress tracking in a single location. It is organised into four main sub-sections:
| Sub-section | What It Provides |
|---|---|
| All Titles | Browse all available learning and service offerings — on-demand and scheduled; filter by product or keyword |
| On-Demand Learning | Self-paced Microsoft Learn modules, learning paths, and interactive hands-on labs; progress is automatically tracked |
| Scheduled Services | Instructor-led sessions and guided workshops; browse descriptions, timing, and formats; navigate to registration for upcoming sessions |
| My Learning | Personalised view of your learning journey — Not Started / In Progress / Completed; shows assigned learning and lets you resume where you left off |
💡 Learning Management (assigning learning to team members, setting due dates, tracking completion) requires the Learning Manager role. General access to learn requires the Learning User role.
⚠️ Scheduled Services (under Learning) = instructor-led learning sessions. This is distinct from consulting/advisory proactive services, which are coordinated through your CSAM. See the Proactive Services section above.
Account Team Contacts
Microsoft account team contact details are accessible within Major Incident Response Plan → Your Account Team. This section is maintained by Microsoft and always contains current support contact information and portal links.
| Contact Type | Role | Where to Find |
|---|---|---|
| CSAM | Primary relationship manager, success planning | MIRP → Your Account Team; also via email / Teams |
| DSE | Deep technical resource for complex issues | Availability defined per agreement |
| CSA | Cloud architecture advisory | Engaged through proactive services via CSAM |
| Premier Field Engineer (PFE) | Legacy title (some still active) | As per existing Premier contract |
| Account Executive / AE | Commercial relationship | Not directly in Engage Center |
User and role management is handled through User Management, not through a People & Contacts section.
💡 If your account team has changed and contact details appear stale, ask your CSAM to update the Your Account Team section in MIRP.
Support Insights
The Support Insights section provides data-driven analytics on the health and performance of Microsoft support for your organisation. It displays up to 18 months of data across all cloud products.
| Metric / Report | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Total case count | Total number of support requests |
| Open case count | Number of currently active support requests |
| Average aging (days) | Average age of open support requests |
| IR Met % | Percentage of cases where the initial response SLA was met |
| Total CritSits | Number of cases with a maximum severity of Severity A |
| Crit Elapsed Minutes | Minutes reactive support requests spent in Severity A status while open |
| Avg CPT (hours) | Average CPT (hours) trend for the past 18 months |
| Case Volume Trend | Support case volume trend by month (Open, Incoming, Resolved) |
| Open cases by severity & age | Age of open cases broken down by severity |
| Open case by status | All open support requests by current status |
| Case count by Azure product | Total number of cases by Azure product area |
| Overall case distribution | Technical vs. billing case split |
💡 Export to CSV or PDF is available for most reports — useful for internal reporting or QBR preparation. Access requires the Reporting User role (or Problem Manager role, which also includes case detail access).
Search
The global search bar supports:
- Case numbers — direct lookup (
SR123456789) - Keywords — searches across case titles, service names, and learning content
- Contact names — find team members or Microsoft contacts
- Knowledge Base — Microsoft support KB articles relevant to your search
Search Tips
| Tip | Example |
|---|---|
| Use case reference numbers for direct lookup | SR123456789 or 119123456789 |
| Quote phrases for exact match | "Azure Kubernetes" |
| Filter by section | Use the filter pill after searching |
Notifications & Alerts
Configure notifications in Settings → Notifications:
| Notification Type | Channel | Configurable? |
|---|---|---|
| Case status update | Email + in-portal | Yes |
| New case comment | Email + in-portal | Yes |
| Scheduled service reminder | Email + in-portal | Yes |
| Contract expiry warning | Yes | |
| Service health alert | In-portal | Yes (linked to Azure subscription) |
Account Settings
Navigate to Settings (gear icon) or your profile avatar → Settings:
| Setting | Detail |
|---|---|
| Notification preferences | Control per-event email/in-portal alerts |
| Preferred language | Portal UI language |
| Time zone | Affects case and service timestamps |
| MFA / security | Managed via Entra ID — redirects to AAD portal |
| Organisation profile | Managed by IT Admin — read-only for standard users |
Productivity Tips for CSAs
| Tip | How |
|---|---|
| Bookmark frequently used sections | Browser bookmarks for Support, Support Insights, Customer Activity, and MIRP |
| Use search for fast case lookup | Faster than navigating to Support → All Requests |
| Pin the home dashboard widgets | Customise order and which widgets are visible |
| Export Support Insights before QBRs | Pull 90-day case reports from Support Insights |
| Check MIRP → Your Account Team after account team changes | Always reflects current CSAM and Microsoft contact details |
| Customer Activity as a conversation starter | Use it with customers to show entitlement consumption, hours remaining, and purchased services |
Known Limitations (as of 2025)
| Limitation | Notes |
|---|---|
| Not all Services Hub features migrated | Some proactive service types still require Services Hub |
| Bulk case management limited | Mass-update / bulk close not yet available |
| API access | No public API yet for programmatic case creation (unlike Azure support API) |
| Mobile app | No dedicated mobile app; responsive web only |
| Legacy case history | Cases from before migration may have limited data in Engage Center |
These limitations are expected to be resolved as the platform matures. Check the Microsoft roadmap for updates.