Subaccount management
Subaccounts are CertCentral accounts linked to and managed by a top-level "parent" CertCentral account. Subaccounts let resellers or other organizations give users individual control over a CertCentral account and their certificate management process, while still allowing you, the "parent" account, to control the product pricing and billing.
Subaccounts are specifically designed for customer-business relationships or other relationships where you need to control the product pricing or billing of orders made by the subaccounts.
Subaccounts
Subaccounts are a tool for managing users and organizations that need to have their own "separate" CertCentral account. Subaccounts should be used when you need to control the billing and pricing for an account.
Your account becomes the "parent" of any subaccount you create with limited management options over the subaccount. Subaccounts manage their own users, user permissions, domains, organizations, certificate orders, etc.
The "parent" can set certain options, such as:
Control the primary set of CertCentral features available to the subaccount by setting its type (retail, enterprise, reseller).
Set the subaccount's product pricing and availability.
Choose how the subaccount is billed. A subaccount can pay for their own orders or bill them to the parent.
Provide the organization and contact information to which the subaccount is registered.
Can view the orders placed by subaccounts, and see revenue generated by the subaccount (but can't directly change or access orders or download certificates).
All other features and account activity, such as the subaccount's users, orders, divisions, domains, and organizations can't be viewed, edited, or controlled by the parent. For example, a 'parent' cannot view or modify the subaccount's users.
There are four types of subaccounts: retail, enterprise, partner, and managed (API-only access). Each account type comes with a different set of CertCentral features available to them.
Note
Managed subaccounts are API-only accounts intended for integration into an existing user portal. They provide the parent with additional controls such as the ability to download certificates.
Divisions
Divisions are another tool for managing users and organizations. If you want to give customers or users at your organization their own CertCentral login and limit their account access through user permissions, then divisions are the right tool.
You can give divisions as much freedom as you want, controlling their ability to create and manage users, permissions, domains, and organizations. Unlike subaccounts, you have total visibility and control over the users, orders, settings, and activity of divisions in your account.
Each division can have its own funds and pay for only its own certificates.
When should I use subaccounts?
The main differences between subaccounts and divisions are pricing and billing controls.
Subaccounts can have customized product pricing and product availability. Orders can be billed to the subaccount or to the parent. If you don't need pricing and billing control, you should use divisions.
Use subaccounts if you can answer yes to any of these questions:
Are you a reseller or service provider who wants to sell the CertCentral platform as a product to your customers? If yes, use enterprise type subaccounts.
Are you a reseller or service provider with your own customers or reseller network (sometimes called subresellers) that you want to give a CertCentral account to manage their customers and orders? If yes, use reseller type subaccounts.
Are you a reseller or service provider with your own customer portal who wants your customers to be able to manage their own orders, but not directly through the CertCentral UI? Do some or all your customers have customized product pricing or product availability? If yes, use managed type subaccounts.
Use divisions if you can answer yes to any of these questions:
Are you an organization with multiple departments or units (such as separate offices or subsidiaries)? Do you want each of them to have the freedom to order and manage their own certificates? And, do you want to offer each division a choice to bill your account or pay for their own certificates?
Do you manage an account with certificates belonging to different, unrelated customers? Do you want to give them the ability to manage their own certificates and keep their order details and validation data separate?