Understanding Usage Products

An overview of Pax8 usage products, resource groups, and public partner-facing usage endpoints.

Product Types: Seat-Based vs. Usage-Based

Pax8 categorizes products into two distinct billing units of measure:

Seat or Device-Based Products:
- Billing: Billed per computer or device the software is installed on. Generally billed in advance.
- Estimation: Costs are predictable (Price per seat x Cost per seat).
- Example: Microsoft Office.
Usage-Based Products:
- Billing: Billed based on the consumption of a resource. Generally billed in arrears (after usage occurs).
- Estimation: Costs vary based on actual consumption.
- Example: Microsoft Azure.

How to Identify Usage Based Products?

Identifying usage-based products programmatically currently requires a combination of logic rather than a single flag. We are working on a streamlined method for the future, but for now, partners should use the following heuristic when calling the pricing endpoint.

The Logic:
To identify a usage-based product (or a usage container like an Azure Plan), look for the following combination in the response:

Rates are $0.00: Usage products are billed in arrears, so the upfront partnerBuyRate and suggestedRetailPrice will typically be 0.
Unit of Measurement: Inspect the unitOfMeasurement field. While many usage products have specific units (e.g., "GB", "Instance"), the parent container for the usage (e.g., Microsoft Azure Plan) often has a generic UOM of "Each".

Important Note on False Positives:
Be aware that a $0 rate alone is not a guarantee of a usage product. Some standard license-based products (such as trials, NCE promos, or specific add-ons) may also have a rate of $0. You must evaluate the product context alongside the price.

Example Response (Microsoft Azure Plan):
In this example, the product is the container for Azure consumption. It is Type "Flat" and UOM "Each," but the rates are 0, indicating usage will be calculated later.

{
  "content": [
    {
      "billingTerm": "Monthly",
      "type": "Flat",
      "unitOfMeasurement": "Each",
      "rates": [
        {
          "partnerBuyRate": 0,
          "suggestedRetailPrice": 0,
          "startQuantityRange": 0,
          "chargeType": "Per Unit"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Understanding Resource Groups

When viewing Usage Summaries in the Pax8 portal or via API, you will encounter Resource Groups.

What is a Resource Group?
Resource groups are identifiers included in usage summaries for specific vendors (e.g., Azure, Sophos). They represent logical groupings of resources tied to a specific customer environment or site.

Key Characteristics:

Vendor Specific: They are constructed programmatically via meta data sent by the vendor to Pax8. They are constructed slightly differently for each vendor.
Format: The format varies by vendor but often includes the company/site name in the vendor system and other information (e.g., LEGGAH PRODUCTS - CSP - 9AD72...).
Read-Only: These values cannot be edited within the Pax8 front end.
Purpose: They are what partners use to identify which company this usage belongs to. They should be using resource group names to map to the respective Pax8 company via portal UX as described below.

Usage Allocation & Mapping Logic

The "Shadow Company" Concept

A common challenge with usage-based billing is that vendors (like SentinelOne or DropSuite) typically send usage data tied to their own internal identifiers, not Pax8 Company IDs.

When Pax8 receives this usage data:

The system attempts to match the vendor identifier to a Pax8 Company (via resource group mappings).
If no link exists, the usage defaults to the Partner's own tenant record (often referred to as a Shadow Company).
Consequently, usage summaries may initially appear unassigned or allocated to the parent partner account rather than the end customer.

How to Map Usage (Partner Action Required)

To ensure accurate billing, partners must perform a one-time linking process to associate Resource Groups with the correct Pax8 Company, so they dont end up incorrectly associated to the Shadow Company.

Identify Subscription: Navigate to Subscriptions and select the applicable subscription.
Navigate to Usage Summaries: From the Usage tab, note that if there is no company associated with a specific subscription, it will be noted underneath the Subscription title: "No company assigned"

Link the Entity: Click the three dots (actions menu) at the end of the usage summary row for the specific Resource Group.
Select Company: Choose the correct Pax8 Company to link to that vendor entity.

Note: This is generally a one-time process. However, partners will need to repeat this step if a new vendor entity is created or if new usage vendors are purchased via the Pax8 marketplace.

The Azure Exception

Microsoft Azure is the primary exception to this manual linking requirement. Azure usage usually maps automatically to the correct Pax8 Company due to the existing Tenant ID mappings established during provisioning.

Public Usage Endpoints for Partners

Partners can utilize the following endpoints to monitor usage, keeping in mind the distinction between current and historical data.

1. High-Level Usage Summaries

Endpoint: <https://devx.pax8.com/reference/findsubscriptionusagesummaries>

Purpose: Pulls high-level usage details for Pax8 products.
Data Limitation: This endpoint returns data for the current calendar month only. Unlike the Pax8 Portal, which displays historical usage summaries, the API focuses on current consumption.

2. Granular Usage Details

Endpoint: <https://devx.pax8.com/reference/findusagelines>

Purpose: Allows you to pull more granular usage details or specific line items associated with a given usage summary found in the endpoint above.

3. Invoice Line Items (End of Month)

Endpoint: <https://devx.pax8.com/reference/findpartnerinvoiceitems>

Purpose: Once the billing period closes, use this endpoint to monitor finalized end-of-month usage charges as they appear on the invoice.