How CONNECT data services charges Flex credits

This document outlines the key concepts and processes behind what usage CONNECT data services reports and how that creates Flex credit charges.

Usage reporting

There are many forms of usage in CONNECT data services: visualizing values of data streams, viewing the definition of an asset, determining who has access to a data view, and so on. CONNECT data services only reports three types of usage to CONNECT:

• Data storage in your CONNECT data services tenant’s namespaces (streams stored)

  CONNECT data services reports the number of data streams stored in a day, labelled streams stored, to CONNECT. This number is the count of CONNECT data services streams that exist for each namespace at the end of the day, 12:00 AM UTC.

• Access of data from your CONNECT data services tenant's namespaces (streams accessed)

  CONNECT data services reports daily usage to CONNECT for the number of unique data streams accessed within a day for each namespace, ending 12:00 AM UTC. The number of unique data streams accessed in a day, labelled streams accessed, increases by one when an authorized user or client accesses a data stream's data for the first time. Subsequent accesses to this same data stream within the same day by any authorized user or client do not further contribute to an increase in streams accessed. For example, if two separate users access the same data stream in the same day, only a single data stream counts toward streams accessed usage.

• Access of data from a community your CONNECT data services tenant is a member of (shared streams accessed)

  CONNECT data services reports daily usage to CONNECT for the number of unique shared data streams accessed in each community of which a tenant is a member. The number of unique shared data streams accessed in a day, labelled shared streams accessed, increases by one when an authorized user or client accesses a shared data stream's data for the first time. Subsequent accesses to this same shared data stream within the same day by any authorized user or client do not further contribute to an increase in shared streams accessed. Shared streams can include a data stream that you shared into a community from a namespace in your CONNECT data services tenant, or a data stream shared by another CONNECT data services tenant into a community to which your CONNECT data services tenant has access.

  Authorized users and clients from other CONNECT data services tenants who you have granted access to your data streams, via a community, can access your data streams without contributing towards your shared streams accessed count. In other words, each CONNECT data services tenant that consumes data from one or more communities will only contribute to their own shared streams accessed count.

CONNECT data services reports usage to CONNECT daily per namespace for streams accessed and streams stored, and daily per community for shared streams accessed. The usage values for streams accessed and shared streams accessed are also reported daily under a fourth usage metric called total streams accessed. Therefore, each usage value reported to CONNECT, either for streams accessed or shared streams accessed, has an equivalent usage value reported for total streams accessed. CONNECT data services rate plans that are purely consumption based (based only on the data you access) utilize this total streams accessed usage metric to determine Flex credit transaction charges.

Flex credit transactions

Flex credits are units of virtual currency used to pay for consumption within CONNECT data services (or other CONNECT applications). You can commit to an amount of Flex credits for cloud offerings and spend them how you like across a portfolio of cloud offerings, allowing you the flexibility to adjust mid-contract how you spend those Flex credits based on how your usage evolves.

Depending on the CONNECT data services rate plan to which your tenant is subscribed, Flex credits are debited from your account in one of two ways:

• The daily usage in your tenant for streams stored, streams accessed, and shared streams accessed.

  This type of rate plan creates a Flex credit transaction for each streams stored and streams accessed metric reported per namespace as well for each shared streams accessed metric reported per community. Whether each daily transaction debits Flex credits depends on how the summation of each metric compares to a threshold defined in your rate plan. Generally, this rate plan charges a monthly fixed fee, which allows you to have daily usage up to a certain threshold for each of the three aforementioned metrics. When daily usage goes beyond this threshold, additional variable charges apply.

  This threshold applies for each usage metric across all namespaces (for streams stored and streams accessed, separately) and communities (for shared streams accessed). For example, just considering the streams stored, all streams stored usage will be summed across namespaces for a day and checked against the streams stored threshold; if the summed usage for streams stored is greater than its threshold, the difference between the streams stored usage and its threshold will be multiplied by its per-stream daily rate. This additional variable charge is only applied to the day it occurs. Once the day concludes, usage starts again from zero for the new day and at the end of this new day usage is checked against thresholds to determine if variable charges apply for the day. The method explained for streams stored is also used, separately, for streams accessed (summing across namespaces) and shared streams accessed (summing across communities).

• The daily usage in your tenant for total streams accessed.

  This type of rate plan creates a Flex credit transaction for each total streams accessed metric reported per namespace and per community. Similarly, to the first rate plan, a summation is tracked within a day for total streams accessed; unlike the first rate plan, this summation is done across namespaces and communities for the single total streams accessed metric. For each Flex credit transaction, the usage contributes to a summation that is checked against the multiple tiers in your rate plan. Each tier has a range of total streams accessed to which a particular per-stream daily rate applies. Therefore, the number of total streams accessed that fall in the first tier’s range will get charged the first tier’s per-stream daily rate; then the number of total streams accessed that fall in the second tier’s range will get charged at the second tier’s per-stream daily rate; and so on. This usage check against the rate plan’s various tiers is done once a day at the end of the day. Once the day is completed, usage starts again from zero for the new day and its usage is checked against the various tiers’ thresholds once this new day is completed.

Flex credit transactions are executed daily. CONNECT data services records stream usage throughout the day, presenting a final summary to CONNECT after the day's conclusion.

Evolution of rate plans

While the structure of rate plans is generally a function of usage, the pricing and features they include may evolve over time. The rate plans aim to accommodate varying customer needs and usage patterns.

Flex credit customer support

In cases of confusion or inquiries about Flex credits, customers can seek clarification from the AVEVA support team.

Additional Flex credit documentation

• For more information about Flex credits, such as information about credit agreements or rate plans, see the CONNECT documentation.

• For a description of each AVEVA cloud service available, see AVEVA Service Descriptions for Cloud Services.