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For a BSS user to place an order for an Azure Reservation, the customer must have at least one active Azure subscription. The purchase process is  initiated from the available action in Azure subscription details page.

"Buy a Reservation" Action

The ordering process can be initiated from the "Buy a Reservation" action that is available from the "Shortcuts" menu of an Azure subscription.

This action is available only for active or "pending for cancellation" azure subscriptions that have been successfully provisioned in Microsoft partner center (i.e. their provisioning synchronization status is "synchronized"). 

Azure Reservations Ordering Wizard

The ordering wizard will help you to select the Azure reservation you want to purchase and the scope of the Reservation.

Selecting the Reservation Type and the Scope

The user must first select the type of the Azure Reservation he wants to buy. There are 3 available types: Virtual Machine, SQL Database and Cosmos DB.

He must also select the scope which can be:

  • Single. If the user selects this option, the Azure reservation will be linked with the Azure subscription that the user selected for initiating the ordering process.
  • Shared. If the user selects this option, the Azure reservation will be provisioned with shared scope in Microsoft systems.


Search Filters

Upon selecting the reservation type, a list of search fields will be displayed for helping the user to identify the Azure Reservation he is looking for. The list of filters vary depending on the reservation type:

  • Virtual Machine Reservation Type. The available filters are Data Center, Terms, Category, Cores and RAM.
    • Data Center: A list of Microsoft data centers. It is a compulsory field and upon defining it, the system will load a list with all the available Azure Reservations for the selected data center.
    • Terms: 1 or 3 years term.
    • Category: The Azure Reservation categories like "compute optimized", "general purpose" etc. 
    • Cores and RAM. Filters for defining the Cores and RAM of the Azure Reservation.


  • SQL Database Reservation Type. The available filters are Data Center and Terms. 



  • Cosmos DB Reservation Type. There is only the Terms filter. Upon selecting this reservation type, the system will load also all available Azure Reservations.

List of Available Azure Reservations

The list of available Azure Reservations is loaded based on the filters the users selected and the country of the customer. Since Microsoft has rules where some Azure Reservation SKUs can be sold only to specific countries, we filter the list of the available reservations based on the country of the customer. Our system is aware of the customer country from the Azure subscription the Storefront user selected for initiating the ordering process.

For each Azure reservation we display the product description which is Microsoft SKU title and description. We don't display yet any pricing information in this step. The price information will be available when you add the selected Azure reservation to your order. 


Searching for a Specific Azure Reservation

The ordering wizard includes a search box where the user will be able to search for a specific Azure reservation. This search works in combination with the selected filters meaning that the search will be executed against the displayed set of products.


Selecting the Azure Reservation

You can purchase only one Azure Reservation by selecting the radio next to the item and defining the quantity you want. 



Selecting Billing Frequency (when applicable)

The Billing Frequency option is a compulsory drop-down field (when applicable) that is displayed on BSS Reserved Instances ordering wizard, once the user selects a specific product that supports monthly payments. Since the "Billing Frequency" is an option on every specific Azure product (SKU), we display it only if it is supported by the specific Microsoft Azure SKU. So, after the SKU selection, a new section "Please, select the preferred billing frequency" is displayed having the Billing Frequency drop-down. By default, the "Billing Frequency" drop-down is set to "One-Time".

As the names suggest, the One-Time Billing Frequency option is used for paying the whole order cost of a chosen Azure Reserved Instance product (SKU) in advance, whereas the Monthly Billing Frequency option is used for dividing the whole order cost of a chosen Azure Reserved Instance product in equal monthly parts.

When you have finished with all the choices provided within the BSS Reserved Instance ordering wizard, please proceed with your order by clicking on the "Add to Order" button.


Calculating RI Monthly Charge

In order for a Reservation to be paid monthly, some extra calculations are necessary. Azure Pricing Details do not change, remain as-is. However, the following cases illustrate the logic behind the extra calculations.

If no pricelist is applied:

  • Cost price: Is the price retrieved via excel/Number of SKU terms 
  • Sell price: Is the actual product's sell price defined in edit pricing info/Number of SKU Terms.

Pricelist applied with: (product assigned itself or via a price group)

  • Markup: The markup applies to the product cost price, which is retrieved by the excel file.
    • Cost price:Is the price retrieved via excel/Number of SKU terms.
    • Sell price:Is calculated as follows: cost price/Number of SKU Terms > PL Markup applies 
  • Margin (the margin applies to the product cost price).
    • Cost price:Is the price retrieved via excel/Number of SKU Terms.
    • Sell price:Is calculated as follows: cost price/Number of SKU Terms > PL Margin applies.



Azure Reservation Order

By pressing "Add to Order", an order will be created with one order item for the selected Azure Reservation. The order item will include the generic product "Microsoft Azure Reserved Instances", but in the item characteristics you can see the Azure Reservation you have purchased. Please examine both cases of orders (One-Time & Monthly Billing Frequency) as depicted in the two following distinct tabs. 



Order Execution

For executing the order you created, you need to select the "Execute Order" from the Shortcuts menu.  You must select the 3rd option and as "Start Date" set always today.

The execution process will:

  • Provision the Azure Reservation in Microsoft System
  • Create an asset record that is the representation of the Azure Reservation in BSS.
  • Invoice the Azure Reservation.

Provisioning an Azure Reservation

Before completing the order execution, we will do again a check if the selected Azure subscription has been registered for purchasing an Azure Reservation. If it is successfully registered, we will proceed with the provisioning of the Azure reservation in Microsoft systems. 

Invoicing an Azure Reservation>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>LINK TO PAGE HERE!


View "Monthly Fixed Charges Plan" Section

The "Monthly Fixed Charges Plan" section is displayed on the Reservation View on BSS under the Invoices section and presents all completed charges and all upcoming charges which are generated with the Reservation creation. The main difference here is that all completed charges are related to a corresponding generated invoice. (This invoice may contain charges not only for the Reservation but also for other products, too.) An analysis of the two tabs (Completed Charges and Upcoming Charges) follows in the below sub-sections.

In this section, 4 records are displayed for example, so there is also a link "All Charges (##)"  that redirects you to a page with more extensive analysis of all the charges to be displayed. In that page, there is a list with both completed and upcoming charges which are sorted by date.

 

Completed Charges Tab

The content of this tab contains 5 columns:


  1. The completed charge icon. 
  2. The Billing Period field which reflects the billing period of charge which is monthly and starts counting from the purchase date.
  3. The Date field which reflects the charge's due date which is the due date of the Pending Invoice and the date of the Generated Invoice.
  4. The Invoice field which is the invoice's number link and is displayed only for completed charges. A charge is marked as completed the moment a pending invoice gets generated for this specific charge.
  5. The Reservation Monthly Charge field which is the monthly charge after all discounts apply (Pricelist's margin/markup, Volume Discount and Promotion) in Account's base currency.

Upcoming Charges Tab

The content of this tab contains 4 columns:



  1. The upcoming charge icon.
  2. The Billing Period field which reflects the billing period of charge which is monthly and starts counting from the purchase date. 
  3. The Date. 
  4. The Reservation Monthly Charge.

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