The Microsoft Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) is a license agreement for organizations that want to offer their customers hosted software services, including web services, database services, and applications. Microsoft issues a monthly invoice to the service provider that corresponds to the use of the software. Accordingly, the provider must provide adequate reporting so that monthly usage can be reliably recorded.
PyraCloud has a custom Service Provider Reporting Module that offers advanced management and the possibility to report one or more monthly reports for your Microsoft SPLA contract.
To run the Service Provider Reporting, navigate to Buy > Service Provider Reporting, as shown below:
Service Provider Reporting
The following sections explain the individual elements of the overview, the filter and search options, imports and exports, and finally, the creation of reports.
Service Provider Reporting Overview
Contract and invoice
The desired contract can be selected in the upper area of the Service Provider Reporting view. The button next to it with the magnifying glass shows the associated contract details in the License Agreements area. If there are different invoices within the selected enrollment, you can switch between them in the ‘Reports’ area. The large arrow on the far left opens the filter options, which will be explained in more detail in a later chapter.
Table overview
The table displays the current reported products with their prices, item numbers, and pool. If you click on a single product, you will be redirected to the product details page.
The column ‘April 2020’ in the green background shows the currently active month. At the same time, the status ‘Open’ in summary at the bottom signals means that this report has not been transmitted yet.
The submission date is the delivery date by which the report should be sent at the latest. The Reporting Window opens on the 28th of a Reporting month and closes on the 10th of the following month. Orders should be placed during that time, and for the given period. If this date is exceeded, it will be highlighted in red as shown below:
As a result, entries in future months can only be saved as a draft and cannot be transferred.
All changes to quantities after importing a SPLA template are marked with a green star.
The ‘Details’ button in summary below the table shows more details of past reports that have already been submitted, for example, the date of the last order, the day of the last invoice, or PO reference.
Adjust quantities
To adjust the quantities, click in the corresponding cell. Now a window opens with the details of the data set.
Simply enter a number in the cell to change its value. A comment can also be stored in the pop-up window itself.
The red marking in the cell means that a comment has been entered in this field. If you hover the mouse over it, the comment will be displayed. When you are finished, click on another line, and the quantity will be accepted. The cell that has now been edited is highlighted in yellow as a sign that changes have been made but have not been saved yet.
To save these changes, click the ‘Save’ button at the bottom. Then the yellow-colored fields will turn back to their original color, and all values are saved. This creates or updates a draft for the revised month, which can be edited until it is finally transferred via ‘Create Order.’
Add new products
New products from the SPLA catalog can be added at any time using the ‘Add product’ field below the table. Simply enter a product name or article number and the list will be filtered automatically.
Of course, it is also possible to remove these products from the list if an incorrect one has been selected. To do this, remove the product with the displayed ‘X‘ next to the product name before saving.
To save these changes, click the ‘Save’ button at the bottom. The feature creates or updates a draft for the revised month, which can be edited until it is finally transferred via ‘Create Order’.
Copy or clear quantities
The ‘Copy quantities’ button copies the values from the previous month. Click in a cell of the month to be filled out to select it. After clicking the button, the values from the previous month are transferred.
‘Clear Quantities’ deletes the values entered in the selected month.
To save these changes, click the ‘Save’ button at the bottom. Then the yellow colored fields will turn back to their original color and all values are saved. This creates or updates a draft for the revised month, which can be edited until it is finally transferred via ‘Create Order’.
Save changes and create order
The ‘Save’ button is available as soon as changes have been made in the table, such as adjustments to the values, comments or the addition of new products.
The action creates a draft that can still be edited. Draft Numbers are always stored and can be changed until the final submission. The orders which are not submitted or completed are marked as ‘Draft’ on the bottom line of the table as well.
Create Order
The entered values are moved to the shopping cart by clicking the ‘Create Order’ button. Make sure to review the address details and contact persons. Personal references or order numbers can also be stored, and related documents can be attached.
The field ‘PO Number 1’ is blocked from editing because the reference ‘SPLA month year’ is automatically displayed. The payment method and special instructions can be transmitted.
After checking the specified details and products in the shopping cart, the order can be submitted.
After placing the order, the column background of the submitted month in the overview changes from green to gray, and the status changes to ‘Submitted.’ Now the request is checked by the local hosting team. If there are inconsistencies, or if there is a better cost model that you could use, they will contact you. You will finally receive an order confirmation by email.
Submit Zero
The ‘Submit Zero’ button signals that no usage statement should be sent this month.
For security reasons, the page will open a new dialog window asking the user to confirm it before the transmission of the data. Then the column background of the submitted month in the overview changes from green to gray, and the status changes to Reported Zero.
Search and Filter Functionality
The appearance of the table content can be adjusted. The following settings are possible:
- Compact Mode: Removes the extended information text on the product and item number
- Show only open and last submitted slices
- Hide non-reported products
- Hide Item Number and pool
- Deactivate detail window
In addition, the displayed products can be sorted in ascending or descending order. This is possible with the product name, the item number, and the pool.
Export Reports
The reports can also be exported. Simply click on ‘Exports’ in the top-right menu and select the desired export.
Edit contracts quantities
It is also possible to edit the contract quantities for the months. To do this, you will first need to export an Excel file and then edited before it can be imported again. The menu entry Edit all contracts quantities’ can be found in the area at the top left.
If the menu item is selected, the “Edit All Contract Quantities” dialog window is displayed.
- Step 1 – In the first step, the Excel template is downloaded. It may take a few seconds for it to be available. Please note that if some of your contracts are not updated, this template contains the oldest month that is still open. To perform this action for the current month, first update and send all old months.
- Step 2 – Then the downloaded Excel template can be edited. It is important that only the ‘Open quantities’ and ‘Comment’ columns can be adjusted. Entries in other fields mean that the edited template cannot be imported.
Now the edited template can be uploaded again. The report view is reloaded automatically to show the updated data. All changes in quantity after importing the SPLA template are marked with a green star in the grid and can also be checked in the ‘Latest Import Changes Applied’ area.
Watch our quick video below to learn more.
Service Provider Dashboard
To run the Service Provider Reporting, go to Buy > Service Provider Dashboard.
This dashboard graphically shows:
- The cost of monthly usage by the pool
- The distribution of costs by-product
- The monthly costs by country
- The distribution of costs by the pool
It is possible to filter by a certain period, certain agreements, contracts, or reports. You can also determine which products to display – all or just a few.
Filtering by product, country, or pool can be done using the advanced filter options or by clicking on the legend of the desired diagram.
The diagrams can also be exported as PDF.