Markups and Discounts

Overview

CoreStack customers such as Managed Service Providers (MSPs) can use the Markup & Discounts feature in CoreStack to add discounts, markups, or both to their customers’ cloud invoices.

Adding markups (e.g. management fees) to cloud cost is a common practice for MSPs as they manage their customers’ cloud accounts using the CoreStack platform. For example, in a $1,000 billing statement, an MSP can add a markup of plus x% depending upon their business needs, and the markup is added to the report.

Similarly, it’s also common practice for MSPs to apply discounts to their customer’s cloud costs as part of promotions or rate negotiations (esp. for government customers).

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Note:

In cases where users want to add both a markup and a discount rule to the same tenant/cloud account, priority is given to the discount first and then the markup is applied to the discounted amount.

Create Markup and Discount Rules

1. On left, click Cost > Markups & Discounts.

The markup configuration rules appear.

2. To sort rules with respect to tenant or cloud accounts, under Group by, select Tenant or Cloud Account.

3. To create a new markup, click Create Rule.

4. Under Rule Type, Select Rule Type you want to apply.

• Markup: The MSP can apply this management fee. The markup will be applied for all the resources except the reserved instances of the account/tenant.
• Discount: Generally, the sales team can apply a discount on the management fee. This discount is applied on the overall invoice of the account/tenant.
• RI Markup: The MSP can apply this management fee only for the Reserve Instance of the tenant.

5. Enter Rule Name. It is recommended to enter the account name.
   Note: Special characters are not allowed.
6. Under Rule Scope. You can choose scope at the tenant level or cloud account level.
7. Select Tenant to apply the rule to multiple subscriptions under tenant level.
8. Under Applicable Tenant, select a tenant.
9. Under Markup Type, select Percentage or Fixed Amount and enter Markup Fixed Percentage or Markup Fixed Amount respectively.

• Markup Fixed Percentage: The MSP can apply this markup management fee. If applied with percentage, this will be applied either for Reserved Instance or for other charges. If there is a requirement to apply markup for both, then two different rules need to be created.
• Markup Fixed Amount: The MSP can apply this management fee to the overall invoice.

10. Under Rule Start Month, select the month from which you want to apply the markup rule.
11. Under Rule End Month, select the month on you want to end the markup rule.
12. Click Save and Complete. The new rule is added and appears on the dashboard.
13. Select Cloud Account to apply the rule under subscriptions at the cloud account level.

14. Under Cloud Service, select the cloud service provider.
15. Select Applicable Cloud Account.
16. Under Markup Type, select Percentage or Fixed Amount and enter Markup Fixed Percentage or Markup Fixed Amount respectively.

• Markup Fixed Percentage: The MSP can apply this markup management fee. If applied with percentage, this will be applied either for Reserved Instance or for other charges. If there is a requirement to apply markup for both, then two different rules to be created.
• Markup Fixed Amount: The MSP can apply this management fee to the overall invoice.

17. Under Rule Start Month, select the month from which you want to apply the markup rule.
18. Under Rule End Month, select the month from which you want to end the markup rule.
19. Click Save and Complete. The new cloud account rule is added and appears on the dashboard.

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Note:

Markup or Discount configured for an account will not reflect in the current month's report. Instead, the changes will reflect in the next month's report. For instance, if there is a configuration change done in the month of January the changes would be reflected in the report for February.

Roles and Permissions to create/modify/delete and to view the Markup & Discounts

You can assign various roles to a user.

1. Click settings icon > Users.

The user list appears.

You can see list of users that are active, suspended and pending for activation.

2. Click Roles.

The cost pillar has two roles.

• Finance: The user has Administrator rights and can create markup and discount, budget and cost anomaly.
• Finance member: The user has read-only rights and can view the details.

Reports

You can view charges based on various parameters in the reports section.

1. On the left, click Report.
2. Click Cost.
3. Click Azure.

4. Under Cost Reports, click Azure Consolidated Charges with Markup.

5. Under Tenant, select tenant account.
6. Select Charge Type.

7. Click Part of Total Charges in Show Markup.
8. Click Export icon to export the file.

9. Click VIEW REPORT. A report appears where markup charges are hidden. The report includes cloud service provider name, Tenant, Cloud Account, Subscription, Billing Start and End Date, Currency, Charges Summary and Charges Detail.

10. In Show Markup, click Separate Line Item.
11. Click VIEW REPORT. A report appears with markup charges.

11. Click Subscribe to schedule the report.

12. Choose report format PDF or Excel.
13. In Run Type, you may chose report to be sent once or repeat it for a defined duration.
14. In Date and Time, select date and time.
15. Enter Notification Email, the report is sent via email.
16. Click Apply.

17. Click My Schedules, the schedule report appears.

18. Click Pin. You can pin the report, it appears on the home page.

19. Click Reports > Pinned, the pinned reports appear.