| ui Q: How will I import in my BSS the Reserved Instances?
A: We have decided not to create a single product for each RI plan but rather use a single "container" product that will represent the RIs in your BSS. We followed this approach because managing separately the thousands of RIs plans would be a maintenance hell for your product managers.
The “Get Services Definition” action you are already using for getting the Office 365 plans will create also a new product called "Microsoft Azure Reserved Instances". This is a special product that comes with an ordering wizard for your resellers and customers to purchase RIs plans. This product will hold all the necessary information for billing and provisioning of RIs.
Q: How can I update Reserved Instances prices?
A: With the same way you now update the prices for the Office 365 plans. There will be a prices importer where you will upload Microsoft RIs pricing excel and our platform will automatically update the cost prices since this excel does not include any suggested retail prices.
Q: How will I know which RIs are available every month?
A: The list of the available RIs is updated every time you upload the Microsoft RIs excel in the prices importer we will implement for the RIs plans.
Q: How can I set the RIs purchase prices for my customers?
A: You will follow a similar approach you are now using for the Azure subscriptions. You will just need to define the margin you want for your RIs by adding in your price lists the "Microsoft Azure Reserved Instances" product. The system will automatically apply the margin you defined in customer’s pricelist every time he purchases a RI.
Q: How can I publish the RIs in my Storefront?
A: There will be no publishing of the RIs plans in your Storefront with the way you do it for the rest Microsoft products. The RIs will be available for ordering for any customer that has at least one active Azure subscription and the purchase process will be initiated from the available action in Azure subscription details page.  Image Added
Q: How a customer will be able to purchase a RI in my Storefront?
A: An ordering wizard will be displayed when the customer selects to buy an RI from the details page of an Azure subscription. This wizard will have options for the customer to define what he is looking for. The prices in the wizard will have been calculated using the margin you have defined for the RIs.  Image Added
Q: Can a customer purchase Reserved Instances only as prepaid asset?
A: No, reserved instances are also available for purchase, as monthly billed. This option is available for 1-year reserved instances as well as 3-year reserved instances.
Q: How is the payment calculated for Reserved Instances monthly billed for each month?
A: The payment is calculated by dividing the total price of the reservation asset, by the total months of the reservation. For example: if a Reserved instance costs $12,000 for 1-year, this reservation will be billed for $1,000 per month, for 12 months.
Q: Can a customer see what RIs has he purchased in my Storefront?
A: In the Billing section there will be a new section called “Assets” where the customer will be able to view the RIs he has purchased. Later, when we complete the support for the Microsoft software licenses, he will be able to view his software licenses too.  Image Added  Image Added
Q: How an account manager will be able to place an order for an RI from inside BSS?
A: The account manager will be able to place an RI order from the "Buy a Reservation" action that will be available in the details page of an Azure subscription. This action will open the ordering wizard with options for the account manager to define what he is looking for. This wizard will create a new BSS order with an order item for the selected RI.  Image Added
Q: How the purchased Reserved Instances are kept in my BSS?
A: For the recurring products our system creates a subscription for keeping all the necessary info. For the RIs, our system will create an asset record. This is a new object that we will introduce in our system and we’ll use it for both RIs and Microsoft software licenses. In a RI asset our system will keep the purchase date, the purchase price, the expiration date, the user that placed the order etc.  Image Added
Q: How are the RIs billed?
A: It depends based on the billing type of the reservation. If the reservation is one-off, the system will generate an invoice for charging in advance for 1 or 3 years. The reseller / direct customer will know exactly what he pays for his RIs as there will be separate invoices for his RIs and his pay-as-you-go Azure subscriptions. If the reservation is billed monthly, there will be a new invoice each month, with the appropriate price calculation (which is the division of the total price of the reservation, by the total months of the reserved instance)
Q: How can I cancel an RI?
A: The cancellation of an RI is a manual procedure for both Microsoft as well as us. You need to first submit a cancellation request to Microsoft and wait for them to cancel the reservation and provide the refunded amount. When you'll get Microsoft response, you will then be able to request from us the cancellation of the RI by raising a support ticket. This action will eventually cancel the RI asset in our BSS platform and it will also create a credit invoice for the refund amount.
Q: How can I exchange an RI?
A: For Microsoft, the exchange of an RI is a manual process. You need to submit a ticket and wait for Microsoft to process it and to inform you if the exchange can be completed and which will be the refund amount. In our system the process will start when you will get Microsoft response: - You will ask your customer or reseller to purchase the new RI by placing a new order in your Storefront.
- You will cancel the existing RI and in the cancellation pop-up you will set the refund amount you should give to your customer.
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Keep the RIs catalogue catalog updated
The product manager of the CSP wishes to have always updated his RIs catalogue catalog in his Marketplace - He runs once per month the RIs prices importer by uploading the Microsoft RIs pricing excel. The list of available RIs will be updated by keeping only those that exist in Microsoft excel price. These RIs will be available for ordering via the RI ordering wizard.
- He can define a generic cost margin or markup that will be applied to all RIs products.
Order Fulfillment for a Reseller
A Reseller wishes to purchase a RI for his end customer - He visits CSP Storefront
- He locates end customer's Azure subscription and selects the action "Buy a Reservation" for the RI ordering wizard to be displayed.
- He is using the available filters such Reservation type, data center, RAM and CPU for narrowing down his search. The prices he is seeing include the margin you have defined for your reseller.
- Adds the selected RI in his basket by defining the term he wishes (1 or 3 years) and the quantity he wishes
- Checkouts his basket.
- The RIs have been activated and any existing VMs deployed meeting the same criteria as the Azure RIs will automatically get applied to offset the VM usage charges.
The RI ordering wizard will help your resellers to quickly identify which RIs are available for their end customer based on the criteria they will select. Order Fulfillment for a Direct Customer
A Direct Customer wishes to purchase a RI - He visits CSP Storefront
- He locates the Azure subscription for which he wants the RI and selects the action "Buy a Reservation" for the RI ordering wizard to be displayed.
- He is using the available filters such Reservation type, data center, RAM and CPU for narrowing down his search.
- Adds the selected RI in his basket by defining the term he wishes (1 or 3 years) and the quantity he wishes
- Checkouts his basket
- The RIs have been activated and any existing VMs deployed meeting the same criteria as the Azure RIs will automatically get applied to offset the VM usage charges.
The RI purchase wizard will help your direct customers to quickly identify which RIs are available for them based on the criteria they will select. Reserved Instances Billing
A CSP wishes to bill in advance the RIs - The CSP receives a new order for RI
- The system will generate an invoice for charging in advance for 1 or 3 years
- The reseller / direct customer will know exactly what he pays for his RIs as there will be separate invoices for his RIs and his pay-as-you-go Azure subscriptions
- The Azure invoice for the pay-as-you-go consumptions will not include any compute consumptions (the base VM consumptions) for the VMs that are part of the RI inventory.
The Azure Reserved VM Instances is a billing event meaning that the discount for paying for VM space in advance is automatically applied to the virtual machines that match the attributes and quantity of the customer’s reservation. Our platform will generate an invoice for charging in advance the RIs and the invoice for the pay-as-you-go Azure subscription will not include any compute consumptions for the VMs that are part of the RIs inventory. |