Billing Periods and Approvals - Azure Automated Billing

Azure Automated Billing - Billing Periods and Approvals

Overview

Billing Periods represent monthly Azure consumption data with your markup applied. You can review, preview invoices, and recalculate before syncing to your PSA.

Understanding Billing Periods

A Billing Period contains: Billing Month, Total Cost, Markup Amount, Sell Price, Line Items count, and Status (Pending Approval or Sent to PSA).


Viewing Billing Periods

From Company Details: Navigate to Company > Azure > Companies, click a company, then Billing Periods tab.

From Billing Approvals: Navigate to Company > Azure > Billing Approvals for consolidated view across all companies.

Action Buttons

Preview Invoice Description

Shows exactly what invoice description will look like in PSA. Use before approving to verify formatting.

View All Line Items

Opens detailed modal showing every Azure service charge. Use to audit consumption or investigate unexpected amounts.

Recalculate Markup

Recalculates markup based on current billing profile. Use after changing billing profile or configuring Reserved Instance pricing.

Send to PSA

Approves the billing period and queues for PSA sync. Status changes to "Sent to PSA" and addition is created in PSA.

Approval Workflow

  1. Navigate to Billing Approvals tab
  2. Review periods with Pending Approval status
  3. Preview invoice description
  4. View line items if needed for detailed verification
  5. Recalculate if recent changes were made
  6. Click Approve Selected to send them to the PSA

Common Scenarios

First Billing Period: Verify RIs configured, review line items carefully, check invoice format. May include partial month charges.

Unusually High Consumption: View line items to identify which services increased. Contact customer if needed before approving.

Missing RI Charges: Check RIs are configured with cost/sell price and Include toggle is ON. Recalculate markup.

Wrong Billing Profile: Change billing profile in company details, return to Billing Periods, recalculate markup.

Best Practices

  • Check for pending periods weekly
  • Review before approving (use checklist)
  • Approve by billing cutoff date
  • Document unusual situations
  • Sample audit line items periodically

Pre-Approval Checklist

  • Preview invoice format correct
  • Sell price within expected range
  • RIs included if applicable
  • Cost changes understood
  • Billing profile correct

Troubleshooting

Won't Approve: Check RIs have cost/sell price, verify PSA connection, try recalculating markup first.

Not in PSA: Check integration logs, verify company mapping, wait 15-30 minutes for sync.

Next Steps

After approval, verify additions in PSA and monitor for customer questions.


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