Billing Modes
Choose the right billing mode for your workspace structure. Understand Single, Assigned, and Pooled modes to determine how resources and subscriptions are allocated across organizations.
The billing mode is a fundamental setting for your workspace that dictates how resources from subscriptions are allocated to your organizations. This choice, made at the time of workspace creation, is permanent and shapes the operational and financial structure of your entire environment.
Understanding the Three Billing Modes
Each workspace must operate in one of three distinct billing modes. The mode you select should align with your business structure and how you intend to manage resources and billing relationships across different teams, departments, or customers.
Single Billing Mode
In Single mode, one billing account provides all the resources for the entire workspace. All organizations within this workspace draw from a single, unified pool of subscribed resources.
When to Use Single Mode
This mode is ideal for businesses with centralized operations and a single budget.
- Traditional Businesses: All departments share a common resource pool funded by one corporate account.
- Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs): A straightforward structure for managing a single brand or product.
- Startups: The simplest way to get started with unified resource management.
Key Characteristics
- Limit: One billing account per workspace.
- Resource Pool: All organizations share a single, workspace-wide resource pool.
- Simplicity: The easiest billing structure to manage.
Example: A software company with 100 employees across Sales, Engineering, and Marketing. All teams draw from the same pool of user licenses and product features, with all charges consolidated under one corporate billing account.
Assigned Billing Mode
In Assigned mode, each top-level organization must be linked to a specific billing account. This creates distinct, isolated silos of billing and resources. Child organizations automatically inherit the billing account of their parent, ensuring a clear and strict hierarchy.
When to Use Assigned Mode
This mode is designed for scenarios requiring strict separation between business units.
- Multinational Corporations: Each country operates as an independent entity with its own budget, currency, and resource pool.
- Multi-tenancy: Each customer (tenant) is modeled as a top-level organization with its own billing account, ensuring complete data and resource isolation.
- Enterprises with Divisional Budgets: Each division (e.g., Consumer, Enterprise) has its own billing account for clear financial accountability.
Key Characteristics
- Isolation: No resource sharing between top-level organization hierarchies.
- Inheritance: Child organizations inherit their parent’s billing account.
- Accountability: Provides the highest level of billing separation and accountability.
- Multi-currency: Supports different currencies for each billing account.
Example: A global corporation with operations in the USA, Germany, and Japan. Each country is billed in its local currency and manages its resources independently. The US branch cannot use software licenses allocated to the German branch.
Pooled Billing Mode
In Pooled mode, multiple billing accounts contribute their subscribed resources to a single, workspace-wide resource pool. All organizations within the workspace, regardless of their structure, can consume resources from this combined pool.
When to Use Pooled Mode
This mode is perfect for collaborative environments where multiple entities need to be billed separately but share a common set of resources.
- Franchise Operations: Individual franchisees are billed for their subscriptions, but all locations operate as a single brand, sharing the total pool of resources.
- Consortiums or Joint Ventures: Multiple partner companies contribute financially to a shared project, each with their own billing account.
Key Characteristics
- Shared Resources: All subscriptions from all billing accounts are aggregated into one pool.
- Independent Billing: Each contributor is invoiced independently for their subscriptions.
- Flexibility: Allows for dynamic sharing of resources across many independent but related entities.
Example: A franchise with 20 locations. Each franchisee has their own billing account and purchases subscriptions. All of these subscriptions combine into a large pool that any location can use, enabling resource sharing while maintaining the financial independence of each franchisee.
How to Choose the Right Mode
Selecting the correct billing mode is critical. Base your decision on your company’s long-term operational and financial structure.
| If your primary need is… | Then choose… | Because… |
|---|---|---|
| Simplicity and unified operations | Single Mode | It centralizes all billing and resources under one account. |
| Strict separation and accountability | Assigned Mode | It creates isolated resource and billing silos for each business unit. |
| Collaboration with separate billing | Pooled Mode | It allows independent entities to contribute to and share a common resource pool. |
Important: Remember, the billing mode for a workspace is permanent and cannot be changed after creation.
What’s Next?
- See Modeling Your Business for detailed implementation examples of these modes.
- Learn about Organization Hierarchies to structure your workspace effectively.
- Understand Subscriptions and Invoicing for details on managing billing.