Resources mapping makes sense for service templates imported from Operations. This is connected with the fact that resources management scheme in Operations differs from the one implemented in Billing:
- In Billing resources are added first and then included in service templates. This allows using the same resource in different service templates and setting both prices and usage limits for the same resource per service plan.
- In Operations resources are added on service template creation. Such an approach sometimes results in creation of similar resources with different IDs and used in different service templates.
Service templates are imported from Operations into Billing with their original resources configuration, i.e. with possible resources doubling in different service templates. This does not affect services provisioning until no upgrades between service plans is performed. However, when it is needed to upgrade a subscription from one service plan to another, the doubling resources may appear to be added to an upgraded subscription. This may lead to accounting ambiguity.
To avoid any problems with resources configuration during upgrade from one Operations service plan to another, the ability to map resources between service templates is implemented in Billing. Resource mapping is the way to unambiguously define what resource in a particular service template doubles another resource in another service template. This mapping affects all service plans based on a service template.
As a result of resources mapping, when a subscription is upgraded from one service plan to another, the doubling resource existing in a new service plan is not added to an upgraded subscription, and an original resource is moved to it.
To add a resource mapping to a service template:
- Go to Products > Service Plans > Service Templates. The list of service templates available appears on the screen.
- Select a service template by clicking on the respective link in the ID or in the Name column. Selected service template properties appear on the screen.
- Switch to the Resource Mapping tab. The list of resources mappings (if any) appears on the screen.
- Click Add New Mapping Line. Fill the form that appears on the screen:
- Click
next to the From Resource field. From the window that opens, select a resource included in the service template you are dealing with to be mapped to a resource included in another service template. - Click next to the To Service Template field. From the window that opens, select a service template you want to map a resource to.
- Click next to the To Resource field. From the window that opens, select a target resource included in the selected service template.
- Click
- Click Add to finish adding the resource mapping line and save the new mapping sample.
The difference between Resource Mapping and Resource Upgrades
Resource mapping should not be confused with resource upgrade. Resource mapping defines what resource in one service plan duplicates the resource in another service plan, whereas resource upgrade is used to upgrade (or downgrade) from one resource to another within one service plan. See the details below:
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Resource Mapping |
Resource Upgrades |
|---|---|
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