---
title: 'Azure Management Groups in Prowler'
---

Azure Management Groups provide a hierarchy above subscriptions. They allow Azure role assignments and governance policies to apply to multiple subscriptions through a shared scope.

For the cross-provider concepts and lifecycle, see [Organizations Across Cloud Providers](/user-guide/organizations).

## Azure Hierarchy

Azure resources are organized in the following order:

1. Tenant
2. Management groups
3. Subscriptions
4. Resource groups
5. Resources

Prowler scans Azure subscriptions. Management groups help organize those subscriptions and provide a scope where permissions can be assigned, but a management group is not itself a scan target.

## Create a Management Group

To create a management group, follow the [official Azure guide](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/governance/management-groups/create-management-group-portal).

![Create management group](/images/create-management-group.gif)

After creating the management group, add the subscriptions that Prowler should access and scan.

![Add Subscription to Management Group](/images/add-sub-to-management-group.gif)

## Assign Roles

Assign the roles required by Prowler at the management-group scope instead of assigning them separately to every subscription. Role assignments at a management group can inherit to its child subscriptions, subject to Azure role-assignment and inheritance rules.

Use the [subscription scope permissions](/user-guide/providers/azure/authentication#subscription-scope-permissions) guide to identify the permissions required for scans. The identity used by Prowler must be able to read the management-group hierarchy and access each subscription selected for scanning.

## Subscription Scope

Management groups organize subscriptions, but Azure scan results remain scoped to individual subscriptions:

- Prowler Cloud scans one subscription per scan.
- Prowler CLI can scan multiple subscriptions by using the `--subscription-ids` option.
- A subscription must be accessible to the configured identity before Prowler can scan it.
- Moving a subscription between management groups can change the permissions it inherits and may require a connection test or rediscovery.

See [Azure Subscription Scope](/user-guide/providers/azure/subscriptions) for subscription selection and CLI options.

## Limitations

- Management groups do not replace subscription providers in Prowler.
- Azure role inheritance depends on the management-group hierarchy and the scope of each assignment; verify access on every subscription selected for scanning.
- The Prowler Cloud workflow is designed around Azure management-group discovery and subscription onboarding. The Prowler CLI workflow still requires explicit subscription selection when restricting scans.
- Changes to management-group membership or role assignments may not be reflected until the hierarchy is refreshed and access is tested again.