Resource Ownership¶

Overview¶

Resources are linked to accounts, departments and applications. These three entities are used to aggregate statistics and spend based on all of the linked resources.

Each perform a slightly different function, these are outlined below.

Feature: Departments¶

In order to track costs all resources are assigned to exactly one department at all times. This means that any costs for that resource can be allocated back to the linked department.
For each customer the system creates one department by default, you cannot delete the “last” department as there must always be one for a customer. Customers are free to add/remove departments.
If a department is deleted and resources belong to that department, a department where resources should be re-allocated has to be selected.

The following information is aggregated against a department based on the resources linked to it, and can be seen within the system.

Number of each resource type (Servers, Storage, Network)
Number of CPU cores (roadmap)
Total RAM (roadmap)
Total Storage (roadmap)
Spend (roadmap)

Even if resources are provided by different cloud providers these numbers can be correlated. For example the system looks up how many CPUs are in AWS instance types to try and present all resources in a common way where possible.
Customers can assign a resource to a department from the resource details page or the bulk management page.
The following information can also be stored against a department:

Field	Examples	Details
budget_code	OSS400	A code that means something to a finance department when data is exported or alerts generated.
budget	400 USD	A threshold for creating alerts based on spend.

It is possible to view all resources associated to a department. All changes to a department are tracked over time.

Feature: Applications¶

Applications are groups of resources that together perform a common function. An application could be used it to track all servers in a “web store” or “email system”.  Resources can be assigned to multiple applications, e.g. in the case of a shared storage or networking device.
You can add and delete applications easily, resources can then be assigned to them from resource pages or the bulk management page.
The following information is aggregated against an application based on the resources linked to it, and can be seen within the system.

Number of each resource type (Servers, Storage, Network)
Number of CPU cores (roadmap)
Total RAM (roadmap)
Total Storage (roadmap)
Spend (roadmap)

So the theoretical “cost” of the application in terms of IaaS can be tracked. It is possible to view all resources associated to a application. All changes to a application are tracked over time.

Feature: Accounts¶

Accounts are a fundamental part of the system, each resource is linked to the account that is authoritative for it (in most cases a cloud provider account). Similarly to applications and departments totals are stored against resources over time for trending analysis.

The following information is aggregated against an account based on the resources linked to it, and can be seen within the system.

Number of each resource type (Servers, Storage, Network)
Number of CPU cores (roadmap)
Total RAM (roadmap)
Total Storage (roadmap)
Spend (roadmap)

Accounts can be added and removed by customers.

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