Introduction

A new billing operations module called BillOps is introduced in the platform that offers flexible configurations, multi-cloud support (AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI), and advanced cost visibility. Key enhancements include Billing Plans for dynamic pricing rules, Contracted Cost integration across dashboards, and Margin Analysis for profit insights.

The BillOps Module is a powerful billing operations solution in the platform, designed to support flexible billing hierarchies, deep cost and margin visibility, and advanced data analysis for multi-cloud environments.

Key Capabilities

1. Flexible Billing Configurations:
   • Supports complex multi-segment billing hierarchies (e.g., Distributor → Partner → Customer → Business Units).
   • Compatible with AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI, across multiple account types.
   • Enables custom pricing rules with 20+ filters, supports retroactive and future adjustments, and allows markup, discount, and margin-based pricing.
   • Flexible charge allocation methods for direct, unassigned, and indirect charges.
2. Billing Data Publishing & Control:
   • Allows real-time publishing of cost data to partners.
   • Control which metrics are shared across entities (e.g., Distributors to Partners).
   • Enables scaling to multiple partners using Billing Plans, supporting shared and VIP-specific rules with rule inheritance and override capabilities.
3. Margin Analysis:
   • New margin metrics (Margin Value, Profit Margin) supported across dashboards and widgets.
   • Role-based access control (RBAC) ensures only authorized users see margin-related data.
   • Enables detailed analysis of margin trends across partners, customers, cloud providers, services, SKUs, and regions.
   • Supports top/bottom performer insights and trend tracking (MoM, YoY, DoD).
4. Advanced Visibility & Data Analysis:
   • Provides granular insights into True/Contracted Costs at each level (Distributor, Partner, Customer).
   • Integrated into key FinOps features: Cost Posture, Billing Inventory, Margin Dashboards, Reports, Power BI, Cost Anomaly Detection, and Optimization.
   • Supports global currency and business-contextual visibility for all personas—distributors, partners, and customers.

Budget Management - Cost Metrics

Users can view the Cost Metrics field on the Budget management page of the platform. Users will be able to see the Cost Metric based on RBAC and they can select it while creating budget. The available options for Cost Metric are Billed Cost, Effective Cost, and Contracted Cost. Based on the selected Cost Metric, all budget calculations and rules are applied.

True Cost/Customer Contracted Cost

True Cost, also referred to as Contracted Cost, represents the actual cost incurred by an organization after applying all relevant pricing rules, contracts, or agreements. It provides accurate cost visibility by reflecting the rates that partners or customers are contractually obligated to pay, rather than standard list or billed prices. In the platform, true cost can be selected from the Metrics filter.

Metrics Filter

Users can see the Metrics filter in FinOps Dashboard, Margin Analysis Dashboard, Billing Inventory, Cost Anomaly, and Reports pages. The Metrics filter is grouped as per Cost Metrics and Margin. Users can select the relevant option as per which they can view the dashboard details.

Users can select any of the following options for the Metrics filter that will be applied:

• Cost Metrics
  • Billed Cost or Actual Cost: This cost represents a charge serving as the basis for invoicing, inclusive of the impacts of all reduced rates and discounts while excluding the amortization of relevant purchases paid to cover future eligible charges.
  • Contracted Cost: This cost is denominated in the billing currency and is commonly used for calculating savings based on negotiation activities and billing plans applied in the platform. This is the true cost that the user gets after all mark-up, discount rules, and charge allocations are applied through Markup & Discounts/BillOps module.
  • Effective Cost or Amortized Cost: This cost represents a cost inclusive of the impacts of all reduced rates and discounts, augmented with the amortization of relevant purchases paid to cover future eligible charges. The amortized portion included should be proportional to the pricing quantity and the time granularity of the data.
  • List Cost or Retail Cost: This cost represents the cost calculated by multiplying the list unit price and the corresponding pricing quantity. The list cost is denominated in the billing currency and is commonly used for calculating savings based on various rate optimization activities, by comparing it with billed cost and effective cost.
• Margin
  • Profit Margin: It is the percentage of profit a partner makes on its revenue, essentially showing how much profit is generated for every dollar of revenue.
  • Margin Value: It is the currency value of profit a partner makes on its revenue, essentially showing how much profit value is generated for every dollar of revenue.

Cost Optimization with True Cost

Users can view potential savings from Cost Optimization Recommendations based on their relevant cost metric (e.g., Contracted Cost). This applies to both Idle and Orphaned resource recommendations.

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Note:

The default contracted cost metric varies by cloud and account type. For AWS it is Unblended Cost, for Azure CSP it is List Cost, and for all other account types it is Billed Cost. If pricing rules are configured, the contracted cost will reflect those rules.

Cost Dimensions

Dimensions – a powerful capability that enables granular organization of cloud cost data using logical groupings such as Teams, Projects, Applications, Business Units, and more.

Dimensions empower both MSP partners and enterprises to apply meaningful business context to their cloud usage and billing data, supporting advanced showback, chargeback, and analytics.

Key features of dimensions are summarized in the points below:

Dimension Creation & Management

• YAML-Based Creation: Define dimensions using Hybrid UI + YAML for automation and version control.
• Time-Bound Versions: Support for defining start and end dates for each version of a dimension.
• Attribute-Driven Grouping: Assign custom attributes (e.g. Owner, AppID, Location) to dimension groups for enriched querying.

Flexible Grouping Rules

• Granular Filters: Grouping rules support over 30+ filter types, enabling precise cost allocation.
• Parent-Child Hierarchies: Define dependencies across dimensions for nested cost mapping (e.g. Application → Team → Department).
• Dynamic Evaluations: No reprocessing of data is needed when groups or versions are updated.

RBAC & Access Control

• Dimension-Level RBAC: Grant or restrict access to entire dimensions.
• Group-Level RBAC: Fine-grained access control at the individual group level using roles or user groups.
• Multi-Tenant Support: Tailored access across tenants for MSP partners and enterprises.

FinOps Dashboard Integration

• Filter & Group By: Leverage dimensions as filters or group-by fields in reports and dashboards.
• Attribute Filtering: Enable filtering by meta attributes like "Owner" or "Environment".
• Drill-Down Support: Navigate from top-level dimensions to individual resources and cost items.

Billing Inventory and Charge Allocation

• Resource-Level Cost Attribution: Assign costs down to the resource level based on dimension logic.
• Split Charging: Allocate shared charges across multiple groups using fixed, equal, or proportional splits. Only available via APIs in this release.
• Cost Center Enablement: Cost centers will be created for dimensions groups so that charges can be allocated to these logical entities.

Other BillOps Pages

Check out these other user guides on our site to learn more about the specific features and benefits BillOps offers:

• Billing Plans
• Margin Analysis Dashboard