This glossary contains key words that appear frequently when using Buttonwood.
A
AAD
Azure Active Directory is an identity and access management service provided by Microsoft Azure
AD Connect
A tool provided by Microsoft to synchronise objects from an on-premise instance of Active Directory to Azure Active Directory
Actual Charges
Actual Charges are charges that have a charge date that is today or earlier
These represent charges that have already been incurred (charged by the application or infrastructure vendor)
Actual Spend
Actual Spend includes a sum of all charges that have a charge date of today or earlier
These represent total charges that have already been incurred (charged by the application vendor) for use of the application or infrastructure
Alert
System-generated notifications when thresholds are triggered
API Key
A unique identifier used to authorise communications between applications
Artifact
A script or file which can be used as part of a Broker blueprint
Automate
To make a task run without intervention
Average Daily Spend
The sum of charges divided by the number of days within the Budget Period
This calculation includes Saturdays and Sundays
AWS
Amazon Web Services is a cloud service provider from Amazon - the same company that sells books
Azure
Azure is a cloud service provider from Microsoft
B
Blueprint
The design of an application or service which can be deployed to service providers
Blueprint Canvas
A simple and intuitive drag-and-drop interface which system designers and architects uses to compose blueprints
Broker Services URL
The endpoint which the Broker communicates with Buttonwood Cloud Exchange.
The default URL is https://brokerservices.bcx.buttonwood.net unless otherwise advised by Buttonwood Support
Broker Admin UI
The administration user interface of the Button Cloud virtual appliance
Broker UI
The primary user interface of the Button Cloud Broker application
Budget
A Budget is a plan for spending for a particular period of time against a single Cost Centre. Budget periods are often set to cover a financial year
Budget Consumer
A Budget Consumer is someone who has been authorised to spend money from a particular Budget
Budget Manager
A Budget Manager owns and controls their assigned budgets, and can:
- Manage their own budgets
- Add consumers to their budget
Budget Utilisation
The percentage of the Budget that has been spent or is projected to be spent
C
Catalog
A list of applications (SaaS) or services (IaaS/PaaS) which have been published for user consumption
Charges
Expenditure incurred against a Cost Centre
Converted Amount
The cost in the organisation's selected currency converted from a service provider's billing currency
Corporate Applications
Applications created and managed within Buttonwood Cloud Exchange by the organisation and can include the intranet, HR System and other commonly used or important websites
Cost Centre
A financial bucket against which costs are recorded
Cost Centre Owner
A Cost Centre Manager owns and controls their assigned cost centres, and can:
- Manage their own cost centre(s)
- Create budgets within their cost centre
- Delegate budget owners to budgets within their cost centre
Cost Schedule
A plan for how charges will be applied for a SaaS application
SaaS cost schedules can be set up based on Fixed Cost, Fixed Number of Users, or Per User
Custom Rate Card
Custom Rate Cards are configured when adding service provider accounts within Buttonwood Cloud Broker. They are used to synthetically generate billing data of workloads deployed by the Broker where a service provider doesn't natively generate externally accessible billing data.
Buttonwood Cloud Analytics uses this billing data to enable a holistic view of cloud consumption costs across all service providers used by an organisation.
D
Dashboard
A visualisation of an organisation's resources and financial information
Delegations
Allows administrators to set budget limits for Cost Centre and Budget owners
Deployment
The conversion of a blueprint into running services within a cloud service provider.
E
Environment
A logical object with which governance policies can be assigned
F
Fixed Cost
A cost schedule option based on a specific amount paid at a nominated frequency
Fixed Number of Users
A cost schedule option based on a specific amount paid for a block of Users at a nominated frequency
Forecast Charges
Charges that have a charge date in the future and expected to be incurred through continued use of the application or service
Forecast charges are based on current rates of usage
Forecast Spend
Is the sum of all charges that have a charge date in the future (Forecast Charges)
G
H
Hybrid Cloud
An operating model where by services are consumed from both public and private service providers
I
IaaS
Infrastructure-as-a-Service is a form of cloud computing that provides automated and orchestrated virtualised computing resources
Invoiced Amount
The cost of services as reflected in charges by the service provider in their selected currency
J
K
L
LCCB
Lowest Cost Conforming Bid is the process by which the Buttonwood Cloud Broker calculates the lowest cost of a deployment based on adherence to configured policies
Lease
A period which deployments should be reserved for
Lease End Date
The date that a deployment should be reserved to
M
N
O
On-Premise
Services which are run and managed within a customer owned or self-managed data centre.
Orchestrate
To co-ordinate and sequence one or more sets of automated tasks
P
Per User
A cost schedule option based on a specific amount paid for each User at a nominated frequency
Personal Application
Applications created and managed within Buttonwood Cloud Exchange by the user and can include banking sites, social media or other regularly visited websites
Plugin
A standalone software module which extends features and functionality of an application
Policy
A rule which determines where resources can be deployed and controls how resources can operate
Projected Spend
Actual and forecast spends are added together to determine a Projected Spend for the period
Private Cloud
A service provider model where by all physical infrastructure is operated by an organisation's IT department and is consumed via a private network
Public Cloud
A service provider model where by all physical infrastructure is owned and operated by the service provider who offers their services to consumers via a public network - such as the Internet
Q
R
Repository
An external source which manages code snippets, scripts, and files.
S
SaaS
Software-as-a-Service is an application provided via the cloud under a service contract
SCIM
System for Cross-Domain Identity Management is a standard used to automate the exchange of identity provider information across different identity domains
Buttonwood Cloud Exchange utilises SCIM to synchronise users from identity providers such as Azure Active Directory
SSO
Single Sign On provides access to multiple applications with a single logon identity
T
Threshold
A trigger point that has been specified for reporting purposes
Budget Thresholds are set as traffic lights and are used in dashboard displays and in email summaries
Alert Thresholds determine a point after which email alerts will be sent
U
V
VCD
VMware vCloud Director is a deployment and management platform for virtual infrastructure resources in a multi-tenant environment
vSphere
VMware vSphere is a server virtualisation platform usually run as an on-premise or hosted cloud service provider