Allocation Rules

Important:To create sub-billing centers and to modify their allocation rules, you must have the Manage billing centers role. For more information, see Managing Billing Center Access. For complete descriptions of each role available in Flexera One, see Flexera One Roles.

Allocation Rules are a prioritized list that costs are matched against, and then properly allocated to a corresponding Billing Center. Each Allocation Rule specifies a tag (key=value) or Cloud Account number(s), and a target Billing Center. Allocation Rules exist at the Organization level and can optionally be created within any billing center to define the sub-billing centers. For details, see Create Sub-Billing Center and Allocation Rules. Multiple Allocation Rules can target the same Billing Center.

This section describes the following allocation rule features:

Rule Priority
Create Allocation Rules
Edit Allocation Rules
Delete Allocation Rules
Create a New Billing Center While Creating an Allocation Rule

Rule Priority

Allocation Rules are applied in ascending numerical order. It is possible that a single cost could match multiple rules (that is, a Server that matches a Cloud Account Rule and a Cloud Tag Rule); in these cases, the first processed rule (lower numbered) takes priority.

Create Allocation Rules

Complete the steps below to create an allocation rule.

To create an Allocation Rule:

1. Go to the Billing Centers page (Cloud > Cost Optimization > Billing Centers) and click Allocation Rules.
2. Click Create New Rule.

Note:When creating allocation rules to define sub-billing centers, note the method with which rules are applied top-down. For details, see How Billing Center Hierarchies Work.

After clicking Create New Rule, complete the following features, as needed, for the new allocation rule:

Cloud Tag Rules
Cloud Account Rules
Multiple Cloud Tags
Azure Resource Group(s)

Cloud Tag Rules

Complete the steps below to create a new cloud tag rule.

To create a new Cloud Tag Rule:

1. Under Rule Type, select Cloud tag.
2. In the Rule Definition string text box, enter a tag key-value pair. Any number of asterisks (*) can be used as a wildcard value in either of the tag fields. For example: *code=1234 or env=Prod*.
3. Select a Billing Center from the drop-down list to which costs should be allocated.

Note:Tag keys and values are case-sensitive.

Cloud Account Rules

Complete the steps below to create a new cloud account rule.

To create a new Cloud Account Rule:

1. Under Rule Type, select Cloud account(s).
2. Under Rule Definition click Choose Cloud Accounts to select the vendor accounts you would like associated with this rule.
3. Select a Billing Center from the drop-down list to which costs should be allocated.

Multiple Cloud Tags

In charge-back scenarios where one tag key is used with multiple values, the Multiple Cloud Tags option can be used to quickly create allocation rules and billing centers for all values of the chargeback tag. Complete the steps below to create multiple cloud tags.

To create Multiple Cloud Tags:

1. Under Rule Type, select Multiple cloud tags.
2. In the first Rule Definition text box, enter the tag key to be used for all the created allocation rules. In the second Rule Definition text box, enter all of the possible tag values for that key.

Example: assume that you have resources tagged with the following tags that you wish to use for billing center allocation:

project = secretProjectA
project = Maintenance
project = Special

For tag key you would enter project.

For multiple tag values enter each tag value, one per line, as listed below.

SecretProjectA

Maintenance

Special

3. When each allocation rule is created, determine whether a Billing Center already exists with a name matching the given tag vale.

If a billing center has a name that matches the given tag value, the rule is set to that billing center.

If no billing center has a name that matches the tag value, choose one of the following options:

Create a new billing center with the same name as the tag value. 

This option will create a new billing center with the name set to the value of the tag. This is the most common approach.

Do not create a new allocation rule. 

This option will skip the creation of the allocation rule altogether.

After completing the above steps, three new allocation rules are created along with new billing centers (assuming that no billing center exists named secretProjectA, Maintenance, or Special) in the Allocation Rules tab.

Azure Resource Group(s)

Complete the steps below to create a new Azure Resource Group(s) rule.

To create a new Azure Resource Group(s) rule:

1. Under Rule Type, select Azure Resource Group(s).
2. In the Rule Definition text box, enter resource group value(s) for the allocation rule. Each resource group must be prefixed by its subscription ID, followed by a forward slash. For multiple resource group values, enter each resource group value on a separate line, as shown below:

11234-ashydgfh-lsdkfhjoi/my-resourcegroupname

13434-kjlhsdgj-rotuyrykl/my-resourcegroupname

13434-kjlhsdgj-rotuyrykl/abc-resourceGroupName

Note:Resource Group Names are matched case-insensitively.

3. Select a Billing Center from the drop-down list to which costs should be allocated.

Edit Allocation Rules

Complete the steps below to edit an allocation rule.

To edit an Allocation Rule:

1. Click the pencil icon next to the target rule. A pop-up window will present the same fields that were set when the rule was created.
2. Edit the Rule Definition (Cloud Tag or Cloud Accounts) and/or the associated Billing Center.
3. Click Update Rule.

Note:When Allocation Rules are updated, ALL historical costs are re-allocated based on the new Allocation Rules. This process may take several minutes to finish and display correctly on the dashboard.Delete Allocation Rules

Delete Allocation Rules

Complete the steps below to delete an allocation rule.

To delete an Allocation Rule:

1. Click the trash can icon next to the target rule.
2. When the Delete Rule pop-up window appears, click Delete.

Create a New Billing Center While Creating an Allocation Rule

Complete the steps below to create a new billing center while creating an allocation rule.

To create a new billing center while creating an Allocation Rule:

1. Click Create New Rule.
2. Click + Create a new Billing Center.
3. Under Rule Definition, enter a key and value (Example: env=QA*).
4. Enter the Billing Center Name (Example: QA).
5. CIick Save.
6. In the Allocation Rules tab, view the new Billing Center with the new allocation rule.