# B2B SaaS Subscriber and Organization Tenancy

## Source Type

Product documentation and industry practice synthesis. Auth0 Organizations and
B2B SaaS multi-tenancy guidance; Stytch B2B Auth School org-tenancy model.

## Domain

B2B SaaS identity, organization tenancy, subscriber administration, and
vendor/customer delineation in IAM products.

## Why This Source Matters

IAM vendors explicitly separate the subscribing party (customer/subscriber) from
login accounts and from billing records. This source clarifies why "customer
account" overloads identity, commercial, and access semantics.

## Key Concepts

- **Subscriber**: Auth0-preferred term for the immediate B2B customer — the
  party that holds a provisioned tenant and subscription.
- **Vendor**: provider of the B2B SaaS application (platform operator).
- **Organization tenancy**: architecture where organizations are first-class
  entities; members are scoped to their organization.
- **Member**: end user with membership in an organization (Stytch); distinct
  from platform-wide user identity.
- **Tenant / tenancy holder**: operational partition occupied by a subscriber.
- **Org discovery**: determining which organization a user authenticates into.
- **Membership control**: granting/revoking which users may access a subscriber's
  tenant.
- **Identity isolation**: per-subscriber credential and IdP configuration vs.
  platform-wide user population.
- **B2B2C / B2B2B variants**: additional "customer" and "consumer" layers below
  the subscribing organization.

## Relevant Terminology

| Term | Source meaning |
| --- | --- |
| Subscriber | B2B customer occupying a tenant; Auth0 avoids "customer" label. |
| Vendor | SaaS platform provider. |
| Organization | First-class customer entity; "the organization is the customer" (Stytch). |
| Member | Employee or invited user within an organization. |
| Tenant | Isolation boundary for subscriber data, branding, and config. |
| Customer (informal) | Often used interchangeably with subscriber or organization. |
| User | Login identity; may belong to multiple organizations. |
| Consumer | End user in B2B2C scenarios below the subscriber org. |

## Modeling Assumptions

- **The subscribing company is modeled as an organization**, not as a user
  account or billing record.
- **One human can be a member of multiple subscriber organizations** (contractors,
  agencies).
- **Platform stores users globally**; membership scopes them to subscriber orgs.
- **Billing is subscription-based** but handled outside core IAM in most products.
- **Vendor administration** may cross tenant boundaries with subscriber consent;
  subscriber administration does not.
- **No IAM product defines "Customer Account"** as a separate entity type.

## Identity-Canon Implications

- **Subscriber** maps to **Organization** actor in **Customer Relationship**
  with vendor + **Tenant** Scope — not a canonical noun.
- **Member** maps to **Account** + **Membership Relationship** to Organization.
- **Vendor** maps to **Vendor Relationship** role on vendor Organization actor.
- Supports S04, S05 without Customer Account concept.
- Individual (B2C-style) subscriber maps to **Natural Person** + **Tenant**
  Scope, still without Customer Account.

## Terminology Conflicts

- **Customer vs. Subscriber vs. Organization**: three labels for overlapping B2B
  party; IAM prefers organization or subscriber.
- **Customer vs. Consumer**: B2B2C uses both; subscriber org vs. end consumer.
- **Tenant vs. Organization**: Stytch equates customer to organization; tenant
  is the isolation fabric they occupy.
- **Account**: must not be used for subscriber org or billing party.

## Candidate Canonical Mappings

| B2B SaaS IAM concept | Candidate canonical concept |
| --- | --- |
| Subscriber | Organization + Customer Relationship role |
| Organization (tenant holder) | Organization + Tenant Scope |
| Member | Account + Membership Relationship |
| Vendor (platform) | Organization + Vendor Relationship role |
| Tenant | Tenant (Scope) |
| User (login) | Account |
| Consumer (B2B2C) | Natural Person or Account (context-dependent) |

## Open Questions

- None blocking Customer Account resolution. Commercial billing layer documented
  separately in `stripe-customer-billing.md`.

## References

- Auth0: Demystifying Multi-Tenancy in B2B SaaS — https://auth0.com/blog/demystifying-multi-tenancy-in-b2b-saas/
- Auth0 Organizations — https://auth0.com/docs/manage-users/organizations
- Stytch: Organization tenancy — https://stytch.com/blog/organization-tenancy/