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Having historic data and information of a subscription's usage records, for monitoring, comparison, or audit purposes, is essential. For this reason, we have introduced a reporting tool that helps the BSS user to view and export a legacy Azure subscription’s usage records along with the costs of the previous six billing cycles.


Accessing the Tool


To access the tool, please navigate to BSS Setup > Tools > Microsoft Cloud Services > Subscription's Usage Records.

The tool runs ad-hoc and returns the usage records for a specific legacy Azure subscription at a specific billing period.

Retrieving Usage Records from a Subscription


After selecting the tool, the BSS user lands on the following page, where the tool has three parameters for the user to submit in order for the retrieval process to be initiated.

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The tool's parameters are the following Subscription ID, the Previous Billing Cycles, and the Available Pricelists

However, as it can be seen, the only available field to be completed at first, is the Subscription ID. The other fields are locked until an ID is defined. Once the ID of the subscription is defined, the “Get Subscription Data” button needs to be clicked. This button retrieves all the available information for the provided legacy Azure subscription ID regarding its Previous Billing Cycles and Available Price-lists:

  • Subscription ID: The BSS  The ID of the legacy Azure subscription for which we need to get the historic records.

  • Billing Period. This will be Previous Billing Cycles: This is a drop-down where it will display the past 6 periodsdisplays the past six billing cycles. The dates represent the BSS cycles as retrieved from the subscription. However, if a subscription is relatively new, only the previous available billing cycles will be available. Its default option is the exact previous billing cycle. If for example the legacy Azure subscription are is renewed every 28th twenty eighth of the month and we run the tool on the 11/03 eleventh then the available periods will be: 28/01/2020 - 27/02/2020. 28/12/2020 - 27/01/2020, etc.. 

  • Pricelist. The system will display by default the pricelist that it is related with selected renewal record but the customer will have the Available Pricelists: The BSS user has the option to change and select a different pricelist. There will be a check that a pricelist can be selected only if it includes the Azure product.

By running the tool, the system will display the list of the usage records with the following columns:

  • Charge Start Date: It will be the start date of the selected period. it will be the same for all records

  • Charge End Date: It will be the end date of the selected period. It will be the same for all records

  • Resource Group

  • Resource ID

  • Resource Name

  • Resource Category

  • Resource Sub Category

  • Region

  • Consumption / Unit 

  • Usage Charges

The BSS user will able to export this list in an excel file.

  •  The data we will be collected from what we keep already in our database, no API calls to MS

  • The values will be with not tax

Tool Notes: Tα usages είναι estimated και οχι τα actual που θα δει ο πελάτης στο τιμολόγιο.

  • The displayed usage costs are estimated and not the actual ones that the customer would have gotten on the final invoice.
  • If a resource was deprecated, then the cost which will be displayed will be zero (0).

  • The usages have been rounded based on the number of decimals of the subscription.

  • The dates and timezones are formatted based on the BSS user's date format.

    The tool runs ad-hoc and returns the usage records for a specific legacy Azure subscription at a specific billing period.

    Once clicked, this is the view displayed at the BSS User:

    Image Removed

    As it can be seen, the only available field to be completed is Subscription ID. The other fields are locked until an ID is defined.

    Once the ID of the subscription is defined, the “Get subscription Data” button needs to be clicked. This button retrieves all the available information for this azure subscription regarding its billing cycles and available pricing methods.
    • price-list, since the Available Pricelists field is populated with the following options:

      • No Pricelist (default option): The No Pricelist option displays the Usage Charges with no PL assigned to them. If selected, this option displays the Usage Charges with no price-list assigned to them.

      • Subscription Pricelist: The subscription's assigned price-list. If selected, this option displays the Usage Charges with the price-list that this subscription had assigned to it during the selected billing cycle.

      • Any other Pricelist found in this Organization that includes the legacy Azure product and is contained in the subscription added above.


    Extra two buttons appearance after the "Get Subscription Data" action:

    Image Added 

    • If an ID that corresponds to

    an azure
    • a legacy Azure subscription is used,

    the 2 dropdowns
    • then the two drop-down menus are populated and also

    2
    • two more buttons are displayed:

      • The Usages from BSS button: Upon clicking on it, it retrieves all the usage records found in our database.

    Usages from MS
      • The Usages from MS button: Upon clicking on it, it retrieves all the usages returned by Microsoft.

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    Submission of Wrong Subscription ID
    If an ID that does not correspond to

    an azure

    a legacy Azure subscription is

    used

    submitted, no

    error is

    errors are being displayed but also the two

    dropdowns

    drop-down menus are not populated.

    Buttons

    The extra two buttons are displayed but they

    don’t work.

    The previous Billing Cycles field is populated with all 6 previous billing cycles if found. The dates represent the BSS cycles as retrieved form the subscription. If a subscription is relatively new, only the previous available billing cycles will be available. Its default option is the exact previous billing cycle.

    The Available Pricelists field is populated with the following options:

    • No Pricelist (default option)

    • Subscription Pricelist

    • Any PL found in this Organization that includes the azure legacy product that is contained in the subscription added above.

    The No Pricelist option displays the Usage Charges with no PL assigned to them.

    The Subscription Pricelist option displays the Usage Charges with the pricelist that this subscription had assigned to it during the selected billing cycle. Here, the following apply:

    If no PL

    do not work. As a result, you need to provide a Subscription ID that matches a legacy Azure subscription.


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    Informative Messages Based on Price-lists

    • If no pricelist was assigned to the subscription for this specific billing cycle or it was assigned at one point but got de-assigned in the meantime, an informative message is displayed to the BSS User:

    Image Removed
    •  Calculations do not include pricelist. No Pricelist is assigned to Subscription "Microsoft Azure (Enterprise)

    "
    • .

    Image Added


    • If a

    PL
    • price-list was assigned, then the name of the

    PL
    • price-list used for the calculations is displayed as an informative message

    again
    • to the

    User:
    Image Removed
    • BSS user: Pricelist "PLReseller01" used for calculations.

    Under Subscription Pricelist, all the available PLs found in this Organization that include the azure legacy product that is contained in the subscription added above.

    Image Removed
    Note here that or
    • .

    Image Added


    Calculations Based on Each Price-List

    Please note that for the calculations we use the current amount and pricing method found in each

    PL as

    price-list as we do not keep

    history

    historical data of what was used during the actual billing cycle.

    So if for example PLReseller01

    For example, the price-list named "X" used to contain 10% Markup during the period 01/10/20 - 31/10/20, but on the 01/11/20 the percentage was changed to 12%.

    when

    When this Tool will be used to view the usages of the previous billing cycle (01/10-31/10) using

    PL: PLReseller01

    the price-list "X", the 12% Markup will be used in the calculations.

    Functionality

    As explained already, once the



    Displaying Usage Records of a Subscription


    Once the BSS user has finished populating the Subscription ID and running the Get SubscriptionData runs and populates the dropdowns, 2 new buttons are displayed.

    The “Usages from BSS” button retrieves all the usages found in our db.

    The “Usages from MS” button retrieves all the usages returned by Microsoft.

  • The columns of the Tool are:

    • Resource ID

    • Resource Name

    • Resource Group

    • Resource Category

    • Resource Sub Category

    • Consumption/ Unit

    • Usage charges

    • Charge start Date

    • Charge End Date

  • Filters are available for Group, Category and Subcategory.

  • Start and date dates are populated with the BSS start and end dates of the subscription with the date format (and timezone) of the BSS User.

  • All values inside

    action as well as populating the Previous Billing Cycles and Available Pricelists drop-down menus, he can then choose to initialize the ad-hoc retrieval of usage records by clicking on either one of the two buttons (Usages from BSS, Usages from MS), according to the results he wishes to view; either from our BSS system or from Microsoft's system.

    Image AddedImage Added

    Then the tool, according to the BSS user's button-choice, displays a list of the usage records with the following columns:

    • Resource ID: The ID of the resource.

    • Resource Name: The name of the resource.

    • Resource Group: The group to which the resource belongs. Filtering is available.

    • Resource Category: The category to which the resource belongs. Filtering is available.

    • Resource Sub Category: The subcategory to which the resource belongs. Filtering is available.

    • Consumption/Unit: The consumption of the resource. 

    • Usage Charges: The usage charges of the resource.

    • Charge Start Date: It is the start date of the selected period. It will be the same for all records.

    • Charge End Date: It is the end date of the selected period. It will be the same for all records.
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    Notes on the List of Usage Records

    • All values inside the list of usage records, are estimated amounts and not the actual usage charged.
    • The prices (

    in no PL
    • of the no price-list option) are calculated based on the current

    ratecard
    • rate card (as we don't have

    history
    • historic records regarding

    ratecards
    • rate cards and neither does Microsoft).

      • If a resource is deprecated and not included in the current

    ratecard
      • rate card, the price that

    we
      • the list of usage records will show is zero (0).

    • No taxes are included

    .Image Removed
    • .

    • The usages have been rounded based on the number of decimals of the subscription.
    • Start and End dates are populated with the BSS start and end dates of the subscription with the date format (and timezone) of the BSS User.

    Different Calculations of Usage Records for a Subscription

    In order to perform different calculations - based on a different PLprice- OR list or for a different billing cycle, the BSS User can make different selections in the dropdowns drop-down menus and click again either one of the following buttons, "Usages from BSS" or "Usages from MS".

    Clearing Results of Usage Records for a Subscription

    If the BSS user wishes to clear the results and initiate a new search for a new Subscription ID, a clear button has been added. 
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    By clicking on it, all results regarding the previous Subscription ID are lost and the process starts again by having only the Subscription ID field and the “Get Subscription Data” button available.


    Exporting Usage Records of a Subscription


    an “Export to Excel” button is available which will export the current view of the BSS User to a spreadsheet. 

    After the appearance of the list of usage records, anImage Added button is available which will export the current view of the tool to a spreadsheet. This means that this action does not perform any extra retrieving of data but rather exports what is currently on the UI of the BSS User. The format of the name of the excel file is the following: 

    For example, if the BSS User filters the resources and only the “Virtual Machines” Category is displayed and then the export is performed, only the “Virtual Machines” Category will be exported to that spreadsheet.







    If the User wants to clear the results and initiate a new search for a new subscription ID, a clear button has been added.

    By clicking on it, all results regarding the previous subscription ID are lost and the process starts again by having only the Subscription ID and “Get Subscription Data” available.


    Finally an “Export to Excel” button is available which will export the current view of the BSS User to a spreadsheet. This means that this action does not perform any extra retrieving of data but rather exports what is currently on the UI of the BSS User.

    So for example, if the BSS User filters the resources and only “Virtual Machines” Category is displayed and then the export is performed, only the “Virtual Machines” Category will be exported.

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