DIT maintains an Microsoft Enterprise Agreement with Bell Techlogix through the MEEC Microsoft Contract, whereby UMD receives a discount on all Azure eligible services. Campus departments may set up their own Azure subscriptions with an associated Driver Worktag number and be charged through the DIT One Bill service.
One Bill is a service offered by the Division of IT at the University of Maryland so that customers' Fiscal Officers can view detailed invoices for all of their services and obtain backup documentation for expenses on their accounts. Access is controlled by roles in Driver Worktag, but information can easily be downloaded and shared with pertinent contacts within your department. For more information, see these OneBill Service Offering.
An Azure subscription is a container for your resources. Using multiple subscriptions gives you built-in security boundaries and separation of charges. Each Azure subscription is associated with a single Driver Worktag number, and all charges incurred by that subscription will be posted (via DIT One Bill) to that Driver Worktag number. You can make changes to the Driver Worktag number on the DIT Hosting page.
UMD receives (and passes on to departments) an 5% discount on all eligible Azure services. Marketplace and Reserved Instances are not an eligible service.
Azure charges are finalized at the beginning of the following month, and processed by DIT One BIll and posted to Driver Worktag on the 15th of the following month. For example, charges incurred during the month of December 2023 will be posted to Driver Worktag on January 15, 2023.
DIT One Bill invoices and Driver Worktag do not provide a detailed view of Azure charges. Administrators for departmental Azure subscription should use all of the native Azure tools for examining cost and usage data, such as Cost Explorer and Budgets to obtain details on the services and resources that are being charged. Documentation for both are listed below.
DIT will create a monthly budget alert when your Azure subscription is provisioned. You specify a dollar amount, and will receive e-mail notifications both when your monthly spend actually goes over that amount, and if it is predicted to go over that amount. Azure charges will not stop at this budget limit, this is simply a notification mechanism. It is your responsibility to take whatever actions are necessary to reduce spending if required.