UMD AWS Billing Process


Table of contents

Overview

DIT maintains an Enterprise Discount Program (EDP) with AWS, whereby in exchange for a commitment to maintain a spend amount, UMD receives a discount on all AWS eligible services. Campus departments may set up their own AWS accounts with an associated KFS number and be charged through the DIT One Bill service. 

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Key terms

DIT One Bill

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 KFS, but information can easily be downloaded and shared with pertinent contacts within your department. For more information, see these articles relating to OneBill.

AWS account

An AWS account is a container for your resources. Using multiple accounts gives you built-in security boundaries and separation of charges. Each AWS account is associated with a single KFS number, and all charges incurred by that account will be posted (via DIT One Bill) to that KFS number.

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Service discount

UMD receives (and passes on to departments) an 5% discount on all eligible AWS services. A list of ineligible services (pdf) is maintained by AWS.

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Billing cycle

AWS charges are finalized at the beginning of the following month, and processed by DIT One BIll and posted to KFS on the 15th of the following month. For example, charges incurred during the month of December 2021 will be posted to KFS on January 15, 2022. 

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Cost and usage details

DIT One Bill invoices and KFS do not provide a detailed view of AWS charges. Administrators for departmental AWS accounts should use all of the native AWS 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.

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Budget alerts

DIT will create a monthly budget alert when your AWS account 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. AWS 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. 

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