Overview

Control Tower is a feature that allows account administrators to link multiple Scalr accounts under a unified billing structure. This feature enables organizations to manage billing across multiple accounts from a single parent account. This is particularly useful for organizations with multiple business units that need separate Scalr accounts but want to consolidate their bills.

Account Types

The Control Tower system operates with two distinct account types:

• Parent Account: The primary controlling account that manages billing and sends invitations to child accounts
• Child Account: Secondary accounts that are linked to a parent account and inherit its billing settings

Setting Up Child Accounts

Child Account Requirements

Before an account can become a child account, it must meet the following prerequisites:

• Must be on the free billing plan: If the account is currently on a paid subscription tier, the subscription must be downgraded to free first.
• Cannot have existing child accounts: All existing child account relationships must be removed before the account can become a child of the parent account.
• Must not already be linked: Accounts that are already linked to another Control Tower cannot be invited to join a different parent account.

Invitation Process

The process to link child accounts follows these steps:

1. Send Invitation: The parent account administrator enters the target child account name and sends an invitation. The invite must specify the Scalr account name without scalr.io in the name.

2. Receive Notification: The child account administrator receives notification via both email and the in-app user interface.
3. Review and Approve: The child account administrator reviews the invitation details and approves the request.
4. System Validation: Scalr validates that the child account meets all requirements.
5. Complete Setup: Upon successful validation, the child account's billing is consolidated with the parent account.

Billing and Usage Reporting

Understanding how billing and usage data is displayed:

• Child Account View: Child accounts can only view their own run usage data and reports.
• Parent Account View: Parent accounts have visibility into usage data across all linked child accounts within their Control Tower group. (coming soon)
• Consolidated Reporting: All billing charges from child accounts are consolidated into the parent account's billing statement.

Current Limitations

Please be aware of the following limitations:

• Account Limit: Maximum of 10 child accounts per parent account.
• Billing Provider: Only Stripe-based billing is supported in the current implementation. These are subscriptions that are purchased directly in scalr.io.
• AWS Marketplace: AWS Marketplace billing support is coming soon. If you need this feature immediately, please open a support ticket at support.scalr.com.
• Billing Management: Child accounts cannot access or modify any billing settings within their account once linked.