Azure Automated Billing Indirect CSP Setup

Azure Automated Billing - Initial Setup (Indirect CSP)

Overview

As an Indirect CSP partner, you work through a distributor to access Microsoft services. This guide covers initial setup including vendor markup configuration to start using our Azure Automated Billing.

Prerequisites

Step 1: Configure Azure Cost Pricing

For Indirect CSP providers, Sync 365 needs to estimate your Azure cost price using your distributor's pricing. (If no Vendor Discount Profile is configured, Sync 365 will assume your cost price is the same as Microsoft's retail pricing (RRP).)

To estimate your Azure costs accurately, create a Vendor Discount Profile.

Create a Vendor Discount Profile

The Vendor Discount Profile represents the discount you receive from your distributor below Microsoft's retail pricing (RRP).

You can determine this discount by:
  1. Asking your distributor for the discount percentage they receive below Microsoft's RRP.
  2. Reviewing a recent Azure billing CSV from your distributor that shows both your cost and Microsoft's RRP.
  3. Sending a copy of your Azure billing CSV to support@sync365license.com and we can help calculate it for you.

Formula

Discount % = ((RRP - Cost) ÷ RRP) × 100

Example

ItemAmount
Microsoft RRP£110
Distributor Cost£100
Distributor Discount9.09%

In this example, you would create a Vendor Discount Profile with a 9.09% discount.

The Discount is typically around the 10, and should just about never be of 15+%. You are better to be on the lower side than the higher side so you charge your customer correctly.

Sync 365 will then use this discount to estimate your Azure cost pricing when processing Azure consumption charges.

  1. Navigate to Company > Azure > Settings.
  2. Click Add Vendor Discount Profile.
  3. Enter the discount your distributor receives from Microsoft's retail pricing (RRP).
  4. Save the profile and optionally mark it as the default profile.

💡 This discount is not your customer markup. It represents the difference between Microsoft's retail pricing and the cost charged by your distributor.




Step 2: Configure Settings

Choose when to add approved consumption to your PSA:

  • Current Month: Adds the charge into the client agreement in the current month: Default - Billing this month for previous months consumption
  • Previous Month: Adds the charge into the client agreement for the previous month. Note: This will not work for Connectwise if the agreement has been billed and prorate is disabled.
Click Save Setting.

Step 3: Add Companies

  1. Click Add Company To Azure
  2. Set to Automatic 
  3. Select the Company from your PSA
  4. Select the Microsoft Tenant - We will attempt to get their subscriptions (as long as you have permissions it will show up)
    1. Select the subscription to bill
  5. Select Vendor Markup
  6. Select your billing profile
  7. Select your Agreement/Contract to sync the Azure Consumption to
  8. Set your Invoice Description options (Combine Service Name with Amount ticked is the recommended option)
    Tip: If you want the invoice description to stay minimal, set Add To Invoice Description to Detailed Invoice Descriptions and leave the detail options unticked. This keeps fields such as Service Name, Resource Name, Quantity, Amount, and Service Type out of the invoice description.

We will attempt to get the current Azure Consumption data and any new consumption data on the 3rd of the month for Indirect CSP tenants.
Consumption data will appear in the "Billing Periods" tab of the added company.
Pending approvals will show up in the Billing Approvals section of the Azure company list

Best Practices

  • Create azure billing profiles for different markup amounts you may use
  • Verify you have granted permissions to Azure Subscriptions before trying to add the companies.



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