Our platform collects the Azure Plan subscription consumption on a daily basis using the "Partner Center" API, whereas the usage records of the Azure Plan subscription are updated ad-hoc. All these data are accessible from the customer inside the subscription details page in Storefront.

Subscription Consumption Overview

In Storefront while examining your Azure Plan subscription, the basic details that are displayed on the subscription consumption overview are two:

• Total Amount: The amount that has been collected by the API call, once per day, presents the consumption of the services for a particular point in time. 
• Estimated Consumption Amount: Is an estimated projection about the total subscription costs until the end of the period. This amount derives from examining the current consumption amount and we then calculate the estimated proportion for the whole month.

Subscription's Usage Records

In order for customers/resellers to view the consumption of their Azure Plan subscription(s), they must login in the CSP's Storefront and open the subscription details page from the Billing > Subscriptions menu.

In the details page, there is the section Usage Records where the customer can see the usage records for the Azure Plan subscription.
 

Different Views of Usage Records

The Usage Records can be displayed differently by utilizing two types of views. On the top right corner of the Usage Records list there is a drop-down menu that contains those two types of views, namely the View by resource and the View by meter. The data that are being displayed for both views are collected ad-hoc and are the exact same data that you view in the MS Partner Center and the cost amounts already contain the margin that you have set for your customer(s)/reseller(s).

Resource Based View

Upon choosing this view-option, the customer can examine his resources per subscription and per resource group. On the initial view, the Azure Plan subscription is only visible and upon expanding it(via the highlighted arrows), the customer will be able to examine all the resource groups. Each resource group can also be expanded separately so that the customer can review the resources as well as their estimated costs.

For each expanded resource group, we display the following resources information under the respective columns: 
- Resource Name
- Resource Type
- Estimated Cost

Meter Based View

Upon choosing this view-option, the user can examine the usages based on the meter of each resource.

For each meter, we display the following information under the respective columns:
- Meter Name
- Quantity
- Unit
- Estimated Cost

Exporting Usage Records to Excel

The usage records can be exported in an excel file from the  icon. By clicking this icon, the usage records will be downloaded in an excel file, for either of the two views the customer/reseller desires, and will have as name <SubscriptionDescription_UsageRecords_Timestamp> (timestamp will be in GMT).

For the "View by resource" records, the excel file will include the following info:

• Azure Subscription Name
• Resource Group
• Resource Name
• Resource Type
• Estimated Cost: This cost is calculated based on the cost from Microsoft which is in USD currency and it is then converted to your reseller's currency plus your margin. 

For the "View by meter" records, the excel file will include the following info:

• Meter Name
• Quantity
• Unit
• Estimated Cost: This cost is calculated based on the cost from Microsoft which is in USD currency and it is then converted to your reseller's currency plus your margin. 

The prices in the excel file are the same that you see in the interface.

BSS "Usage Records" Tab

In the BSS platform, we have introduced a new tab for the usage records of Azure Plan Subscriptions named "Usage Records".  This tab resides beside the subscription's "Basic Information" tab. On the Usage Records tab, we display the corresponding resources with usages and costs that the customer has under the chosen Azure Plan subscription. Its functionality is exactly the same as in Storefront and as a result, the two different views, by resource and by meter, are supported here as well. 

Error Handling During Communication with Microsoft

All values will be calculated and displayed based on Microsoft's Foreign Exchange Rates' values. In case of any error occurred while trying to get the exchange rate from Microsoft's API we will use the previous month rate.

Since we do not keep historical data and we get the consumption data live via an API call to Microsoft, there is a possibility of an error occurring during Microsoft's response. On that case no usages will be displayed to the customer/reseller but an error message instead, indicating that there was a communication error with Microsoft.