Simplify Governance with Azure Management Groups

Managing resources across a large Azure environment can get messy fast—especially for enterprises with multiple subscriptions. That’s where Azure Management Groups step in to save the day. 

What is an Azure Management Group? 

An Azure Management Group is a top-level container in Azure that helps you organize your subscriptions into a hierarchy. It allows you to apply governance, policies, and access controls across multiple subscriptions at once—without the hassle of doing it individually. 

Think of it like folders for your subscriptions. Just as you organize files on your computer, you can nest management groups to mirror your organization's structure (like by department, region, or environment). 

Why Use Management Groups? 

• Centralized Policy Management: Apply Azure Policy or Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) at the management group level, and it automatically inherits down to all underlying subscriptions and resources. 

• Scalability: Manage hundreds of subscriptions efficiently, especially in large enterprises. 

• Security and Compliance: Enforce organization-wide rules for security, cost control, or resource tagging. 

Key Features 

• Each directory has a single root management group. 

• You can create up to 10,000 management groups in a directory. 

• Groups can be nested up to six levels deep. 

• All subscriptions in a directory are part of the root group by default. 

Example Use Case 

Imagine you're managing IT for a global company. You can create a structure like this: 

Image Credit: Microsoft 

Now you can assign policies like cost control for Marketing Team or IT Teams for Contoso without touching each subscription. 

Azure Management Groups are a powerful governance tool that brings structure and consistency to your cloud environment. Whether you're a cloud architect or an IT admin, leveraging management groups is essential for scaling securely and efficiently.