Microsoft Unbilled Usage - Version 15.1

Overview

The Microsoft Unbilled Usage collector retrieves unbilled Azure consumption data from the Microsoft Partner Center API, providing detailed visibility into resource-level usage and costs across managed customer tenants for a given billing period.

This collector produces a single record type representing aggregated Azure resource consumption per usage line item, grouped by customer, product (meter), resource, and usage date. Each record includes consumption quantity, pre-tax cost totals, and an optional cost percentage markup.

The collector retrieves rated consumption data, meaning monetary values (cost and total) are supplied by the source system and included in each record submitted to Varibill.

This collector retrieves usage data for a configurable billing period, meaning each execution collects the unbilled consumption data accumulated during the specified period. The data reflects Azure resource usage as reported by the Microsoft Partner Center reconciliation API.

For general instructions on creating and running Source Collectors, see: Configuring a New Cloud Source Collector

Collector Summary

About Microsoft Partner Center

Microsoft Partner Center is the platform through which Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners manage their customers’ Microsoft cloud subscriptions and services. Partner Center provides APIs for programmatic access to billing, usage, and reconciliation data across the partner’s managed customer base.

The Unbilled Usage Reconciliation API returns detailed line-item consumption data for Azure resources that have not yet been invoiced. Each line item includes the customer, subscription, Azure resource, meter details, quantity consumed, and pre-tax cost totals.

Access to the Partner Center API requires an Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) application registration with the appropriate Partner Center API permissions.

Data Collected

The Microsoft Unbilled Usage - Version 15.1 collector retrieves rated Azure consumption data from the Microsoft Partner Center Unbilled Usage Reconciliation API. The collector downloads usage data for the configured billing period, extracts individual consumption line items, and aggregates them before submission.

Azure Resource Consumption (Per Line Item)

For each unbilled usage line item returned by the API: - A record representing consumption of an Azure resource, with a quantity reflecting usage volume and cost values reflecting the pre-tax billing totals

The Cost value includes an optional markup: if a Cost Percentage is configured, the cost is calculated as the pre-tax total plus the configured percentage of that total. If the Cost Percentage is set to 0, the cost equals the pre-tax total.

Records are aggregated by Client Identifier, Product Identifier, Record Identifier, Unique Identifier, and usage date. When multiple line items share these values, their Cost, Quantity, and Total values are summed.

The identifiers submitted to Varibill for each record are constructed as follows:

• Client Identifier — a composite of the customer name and a configurable secondary component, separated by #. The secondary component is determined by the collector’s configuration:
  • If Include Resource Group in Client Identifier is enabled: the Azure resource group name
  • If Include Microsoft Tag in Client Identifier is enabled: the Microsoft resource tag value
  • If neither is enabled: the entitlement description (Azure plan name)
• Product Identifier — a composite of the meter sub-category and meter name from the Azure usage data, separated by # (for example, Bandwidth Inter-Region#Inter Continent Data Transfer Out)
• Record Identifier — a description in the format Consumption for {resource name} in resource group {group name} on {usage date}
• Unique Identifier — a CRC32 hash derived from key usage fields (reseller MPN ID, customer name, subscription ID, entitlement ID, entitlement description, usage date, resource URI, resource group, meter sub-category, and meter name)
• Tag — empty (not populated by this collector)
• Last Seen Date — the usage date from the consumption record
• Cost — the pre-tax total with the configured cost percentage markup applied
• Total — the pre-tax total from the source data

Prerequisites

Before configuring this collector, ensure that:

• You are a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partner with access to Partner Center
• You have an Entra ID (Azure AD) application registration with Partner Center API permissions
• You have obtained the Tenant ID, Client ID, and Client Secret for the application
• You know the currency code for your billing region
• You have access to the Varibill Source Collector configuration screen

Configuration Parameters

The parameters below are entered when configuring the collector in Varibill. They are grouped by function.

Connection Parameters

These parameters authenticate against the Microsoft Partner Center API using an Entra ID application registration.

Billing Parameters

These parameters control what usage data the collector retrieves from the Partner Center API.

Client Identifier Parameters

These parameters control how the Client Identifier is constructed for each record. Only one of the two boolean parameters should be enabled at a time.

Cost Parameters

API Parameters

These parameters control the API request behavior and retry logic.

Operational Parameters

These parameters control file management behavior.

Configuration Steps

Step 1: Register an Application in Microsoft Entra ID

1. Sign in to the Entra ID portal.
2. Navigate to App registrations and register a new application (or use an existing one with Partner Center API permissions).
3. Note the Tenant ID and Client ID (Application ID).
4. Under Certificates & secrets, create a new client secret and note the Secret Value immediately — it is only shown once.

Step 2: Ensure Partner Center API Permissions

1. Ensure the application has the necessary permissions to access the Partner Center API for unbilled usage reconciliation data.
2. Refer to the Microsoft Partner Center API documentation for the required permissions and setup steps.

Step 3: Configure the Collector in Varibill

1. In the Varibill User Interface, open the Source Collector configuration screen.

2. Enter the required field values under the Details tab:

   • Hosting Provider: Select Varibill Cloud
   • Source Collector Name: Select Microsoft Unbilled Usage - Version 15.1

3. Enter the connection parameters:

   • Microsoft Tenant ID: The Entra ID tenant GUID
   • Microsoft Client ID: The application (client) ID GUID
   • Microsoft Secret Key: The client secret value

4. Configure the billing parameters:

   • Currency Code: The ISO currency code (for example, USD)
   • Billing Period: The billing period to collect (for example, last)
   • Attribute Set: The level of detail (for example, full)

5. Configure the client identifier parameters as needed:

   • Include Resource Group in Client Identifier: Enable if you want to segment billing by Azure resource group
   • Include Microsoft Tag in Client Identifier: Enable if you want to segment billing by Microsoft resource tag

6. Configure the cost percentage if a markup is required:

   • Cost Percentage: The markup percentage (set to 0 for no markup)

7. Save the collector configuration.

Step 4: Run the Collector

Run or schedule the collector according to your standard Source Collector execution process.

For detailed instructions, see: Configuring a New Cloud Source Collector

Troubleshooting

If the collector fails to connect to Microsoft Partner Center, verify that:

• The Microsoft Tenant ID is correct and matches your Entra ID tenant.
• The Microsoft Client ID is correct and matches your registered application.
• The Microsoft Secret Key is valid and has not expired. Client secrets have configurable expiration dates in Entra ID.
• The application has the required Partner Center API permissions.

If the collector connects successfully but returns no data, verify that:

• The Billing Period is set correctly (for example, last for the current unbilled period).
• The Currency Code matches the currency used in your Partner Center billing configuration.
• There is active Azure consumption under your managed customer subscriptions.
• The Number of Unbilled File Retrieval Retries and Retry Interval in Seconds values are sufficient — large environments may need more retries or longer intervals.

If the collector returns data but Client Identifiers are not grouped as expected, verify that:

• The Include Resource Group in Client Identifier and Include Microsoft Tag in Client Identifier settings match your billing segmentation needs.
• Only one of the two boolean parameters is enabled at a time.

Microsoft References

The following resources may assist with locating values or configuring your Microsoft Partner Center API access.

Microsoft Documentation (External)

• Microsoft Partner Center
• Get Billed/Unbilled Usage Reconciliation API
• Microsoft Entra ID App Registrations