IBM Z Business Partner's Guide to Customer Initiated Upgrade on IBM Resource Link

Overview

Locating disabled machine profiles

Once a machine profile has been disabled, it will no longer appear in the Active profiles list. A disabled profile is one that is no longer eligible to place CoD orders. Typical reasons for disabling a profile include:

• The customer has returned or upgraded the machine
• The machine type has been withdrawn from marketing
• The Business Partner has requested that IBM disable the machine

Locating disabled machine profiles

Once a machine profile has been disabled, it will no longer appear in the Active profiles list. A disabled profile is one that is no longer eligible to place CoD orders. Typical reasons for disabling a profile include:

• The customer has returned or upgraded the machine
• The machine type has been withdrawn from marketing
• The Business Partner has requested that IBM disable the machine

To view disabled machines, you may search based on the machine type and serial number.

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Machine profile details

The machine profile is your take off point for all activities you will need to perform for a given customer machine. From the machine profile, you can check the status of your customer's activity, approve pending order requests, or complete the order billing process.  (Note the layout of the machine profile has changed on the "new" Resource Link site, however, the same information is displayed.

On the left is a list of the "Ordering" options that the are enabled on this profile.   In this case, the client is enabled to order Permanent upgrades and On/Off CoD, but not CBU or SRB Upgrades.   

In the middle is a list of the Capacity on Demand records installed on the system (none in this case), and any orders that are "Pending".  Orders are listed as pending until they have been installed on the client's machine.

On the right is the "About ordering" section of the prorfile.  Within this section are the IDs that are authorized to create or approve orders for this machine,   The users in bold are "managing" users for their roles.  Note: we now support more than one managing user.

CoD hardware prices are not applicable for BP machines.   When maintenance pricing is assigned, the maintenance pricing will show "Assigned".

The bottom half of the profile identifies additional information about the machine and customer.

On the left is the "Machine summary", which show the current machine configuration in terms of Active and Total (purchased) capacity.  Included in the summary is the System name set by the client, the Bill-to customer number, the BP that sold the machine, and the country where located.

The "Customer summary" is a information that Resource Link knows about this customer.

On the right are the 'Other actions and information".  This is where the client can see ordering options, view their On/Off CoD billing history, and , if needed, upload VPD.

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Approving orders

All Capacity on Demand orders made by your customer require your approval before the requested upgrade can be staged on the IBM server support system. The approval process starts with you receiving an email with a subject similar to the following:

The body of the email contains the type of upgrade requested by the customer, the details of the upgrade configuration, and the ID of the user that placed the order.

You will notice that there are no prices on the order. As the customer is purchasing the upgrade from you, the Business Partner (BP), IBM does not supply a price for the upgrade. You should review the upgrade configuration with your customer and notify them of any charges, one time or daily, associated with the upgrade. You may then approve the order.

It is important to act immediately upon receiving this email. Resource Link cannot continue processing the order and cannot make the upgrade available for the customer to download until you approve the order. Your responsiveness will help customers get their ordered upgrades as quickly as possible.

To approve the order, use the link at the bottom of the email to open the machine profile on Resource Link. Alternatively, you can sign in to Resource Link, navigate to the machine profile as described on the Machine profiles and orders page.

The orders are displayed at the top of the profile.  Look for the order that indicates that it "Needs Business Partner approval".   Selecting the order will bring up the order.  Review the order, and then at the bottom of the order, select "Approve order" or "Cancel order".  

Selecting "Approve order" causes the "Order state" to change to staging and starts the process of staging the order for later download.   If you cancel the order,  then the order is no longer valid.  Canceling should only be done if the client ordered the wrong configuration, or did not agree to the price when you had your discussion.  

Once you have finished, you can select the "Profile" link to return to the CIU profile for this machine.

If you selected "Approve order" you will see that the order status has change to 'Staging"

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Billing notifications

Resource Link sends you billing notifications via email to report customer machines with Capacity on Demand (CoD) events that result in charges. There are two general types of CoD events that result in charges:

• Downloading CIU permanent upgrade records, CBU records, CPE records, or prepaid On/Off CoD records. These events are referred to as one time billing events.
• Using post-paid On/Off CoD records to activate On/Off CoD upgrades above a machine's purchased configuration. Charges for these events are reported as monthly usage charges.

In either event, your customer has purchased the upgrade(s), and the billing notification you receive from Resource Link provides you with the information you need to:

• Calculate the upgrade prices
• Create an MES order for the upgrade(s).

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Calculating an MES price

On/Off CoD upgrades

On/Off CoD upgrades are not available for purchase through the normal sales channel; they can be ordered only through the CIU application on Resource Link. Refer to the instructions in this section if you are not familiar with pricing methods for On/Off CoD upgrades.

There are two ways your customer can purchase On/Off CoD upgrades:

• If your customer uses post-paid On/Off CoD records to activate On/Off CoD upgrades above their machine's purchased configuration, then monthly usage charges are applicable after the monthly billing period ends, and Resource Link sends you a billing notification with information about the On/Off CoD upgrades your customer activated during that billing period.
• If your customer downloads a prepaid On/Off CoD record, it is a one time billing event for which Resource Link sends you a billing notification with information about the On/Off CoD upgrades your customer ordered.

Billing notifications for post-paid On/Off CoD record usage differ from billing notifications for prepaid On/Off CoD record orders, so they are addressed separately in the subsections that follow.

Post-paid On/Off CoD upgrade prices

You will create only one MES order for all post-paid On/Off CoD upgrades activated during a monthly billing period. If a monthly billing period includes multiple types of upgrades, then you will need to compute the price of each upgrade, then sum the upgrade prices to compute the total price for the MES order.

The information you need to compute post-paid On/Off CoD upgrade prices is in the "Order Details (IBM use only)" section of the billing notification email you receive from Resource Link for a machine's monthly usage charges. The order details include a table for each type of On/Off CoD upgrade (model capacity, ICFs, IFLs, SAPs, zAAPs, zIIPs) activated during the month.

Within the table for each upgrade type, each row provides details about the activation of one On/Off CoD upgrade. The information you need to calculate the price of each upgrade is in its row's "Delta" column and "Days" column:

• The "Delta" column shows the amount of additional model capacity (in MIPS) or number of additional specialty engines activated by the upgrade. Note the column heading varies by upgrade type: it is "MIPS Delta" in an order details table for model capacity upgrades, for example, while it is "zAAPs Delta" in an order details table for zAAP upgrades.
• The "Days" column shows the number of days the upgrade was active.

Computing post-paid On/Off CoD model capacity upgrade prices

Computing the price of a post-paid On/Off CoD model capacity upgrade requires:

• The price per MIPS that IBM charges your company for model capacity upgrades
• The number of MIPS of additional model capacity activated by the upgrade
• The number of days the upgrade was active.

You can find the number of MIPS and the number of days in the billing notification email you receive from Resource Link:

1. In the "Order Details (IBM use only)" section of the email, find the table titled "O/O CoD Active Capacity CP-Day (FC 9897) above purchased capacity".
2. There is one upgrade per row. See an upgrade's "MIPS Delta" and "Days" columns for the additional MIPS and days active, respectively.

Using the price per MIPS that IBM charges your company for model capacity upgrades, you can compute the On/Off CoD daily price of each model capacity upgrade by multiplying the MIPS delta by the price per MIPS and then dividing by 90 days (the number of days in a standard break-even period). You can then compute the total price of the upgrade by multiplying its daily price by the number of days the upgrade was active. Here is the formula for these calculations:

Use this formula to compute the price of each On/Off CoD model capacity upgrade, then sum those prices to get the subtotal price of all On/Off CoD model capacity upgrades for the billing period.

Reactivation of unassigned model capacity: for machines with unassigned model capacity, the "Order Details (IBM use only)" section of the billing notification email will include a table titled "O/O CoD Active Capacity CP-Day (FC 9897) up to purchased capacity" if any model capacity upgrades activated during the billing period reactivated some or all of the machine's unassigned model capacity. This table is for your information only; you do not need to use it to calculate upgrade prices. IBM charges a fixed daily price of 0 (zero) for reactivating unassigned model capacity, so this usage adds no additional hardware charges to the total price of model capacity upgrades (if any) above a machine's purchased capacity.

Computing post-paid On/Off CoD upgrade prices for specialty engines

Specialty engines include ICFs, IFLs, SAPs, and zIIPs. Computing the price of a post-paid On/Off CoD specialty engine upgrade requires:

• The price per engine that IBM charges your company for upgrades of the engine type (ICF, IFL, SAP, or zIIP)
• The number of additional engines activated by the upgrade
• The number of days the upgrade was active.

For each engine type, you can find the number of additional engines and the number of days in the billing notification email you receive from Resource Link:

1. In the "Order Details (IBM use only)" section of the email, find the engine type's table by title:
   • On/Off CoD Active ICF-Day (FC 9889)
   • On/Off CoD Active IFL-Day (FC 9888) above purchased capacity
   • On/Off CoD Active SAP-Day (FC 9909)
   • On/Off CoD Active zIIP-Day (FC 9908)
2. In each table, there is one upgrade per row. See an upgrade's "Delta" and "Days" columns for the additional engines and days active, respectively.

Using the price per engine that IBM charges your company for upgrades of the engine type (ICF, IFL, SAP, zAAP, or zIIP), you can compute the On/Off CoD daily price of each specialty engine upgrade by multiplying the engine delta by the price per engine and then dividing by 90 days (the number of days in a standard break-even period). You can then compute the total price of the upgrade by multiplying its daily price by the number of days the upgrade was active. Here is the formula for these calculations:

Formula for computing the total price of an On/Off CoD specialty engine upgrade

Upgrade price =

(Price per engine)multiplied by * (Engine delta) ———————————————— 90 days

* (Days active)

Use this formula to compute the price of each On/Off CoD specialty engine upgrade, then sum those prices to get the subtotal price of all On/Off CoD specialty engine upgrades for the billing period.

Reactivation of unassigned IFLs: for machines with unassigned IFL engines, the "Order Details (IBM use only)" section of the billing notification email will include a table titled "On/Off CoD Active IFL-Day (FC 9888) up to purchased capacity" if any IFL upgrades activated during the billing period reactivated some or all of the machine's unassigned IFL engines. This table is for your information only; you do not need to use it to calculate upgrade prices. IBM charges a fixed daily price of 0 (zero) for reactivating unassigned IFL engines, so this usage adds no additional hardware charges to the total price of IFL upgrades (if any) above a machine's purchased IFLs.

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Prepaid On/Off CoD upgrade prices

You will create only one MES order for all the upgrades in a single order for a prepaid On/Off CoD record. If a single order includes multiple types of upgrades, then you will need to compute the price of each upgrade, then sum the upgrade prices to compute the total price for the MES order.

You will need to open the prepaid On/Off CoD record order on Resource Link to see a list of the prepaid upgrades your customer ordered. Refer to the record order's billing notification email for a link for opening the customer's CIU machine profile on Resource Link. After you open the machine profile, you can open the prepaid On/Off CoD record order from the profile's list of Capacity on Demand records.

The information you need to compute prepaid On/Off CoD upgrade prices is in the "Machine summary" table and "Prepaid upgrades" table of the prepaid On/Off CoD record order on Resource Link.

The "Machine summary" table shows the machine's current configuration of model capacity and specialty engines. The current configuration is the starting point from which activation of a prepaid On/Off CoD upgrade increases model capacity or adds specialty engines.  This table is available on the main CIU profile:

The "Prepaid upgrades" table, by contrast, shows the upgrade configurations of prepaid On/Off CoD upgrades ordered with the record. Each upgrade configuration is the ending point to which activation of a prepaid On/Off CoD upgrade increases model capacity or adds specialty engines.

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Computing prepaid On/Off CoD model capacity upgrade prices

You will need to use the token calculation spreadsheet.   You can request the latest copy of the spreadsheet by sending a feedback request to the Resource Link support team.

After receiving a copy of the spreadsheet, open it and go to the first page tab (named "Prepaid On Off CoD"). Then follow the step-by-step instructions in the spreadsheet for entering the information it requires:

• The price per MIPS that IBM charges your company for model capacity upgrades
• The machine type and the machine's purchased model capacity
• The upgraded model capacity activated by each upgrade
• The number of days each upgrade can be active.

You can find the machine type, purchased model capacity, and upgrade information on the prepaid On/Off CoD record order page on Resource Link:

1. In the "Machine summary", see "Type" for the machine type. For the purchased model capacity, see the "Downgraded from model" field (if shown) for machines with unassigned model capacity; otherwise, see the "Model" field.
2. In the "Prepaid upgrades" table, for each row that shows a model capacity upgrade, see the "Upgrade configuration" column for the model capacity activated by the upgrade. See the "Days of use" column for the number of days the upgrade can be active.

Enter into the spreadsheet the machine and model capacity upgrade information, along with the price per MIPS that IBM charges your company for model capacity upgrades:

1. Enter (or select) the machine type in the spreadsheet's cell for "Step 1".
2. Enter the price per MIPS that IBM charges your company for model capacity upgrades in the spreadsheet's cell for "Step 2b".
3. Enter the upgrade information in the spreadsheet's cells for "Step 4" for each prepaid On/Off CoD model capacity upgrade (one upgrade per row):
   1. Enter the purchased model capacity in the Starting Model column.
   2. Enter the upgraded model capacity in the Ending Model column.
   3. Enter the number of days the upgrade can be active in the Number Days column.
4. After you've entered the upgrade information in the spreadsheet's cells for "Step 4", the price of each prepaid On/Off CoD model capacity upgrade is shown in the BP Total Upgrade Cost column.

   If the price of an upgrade is a negative number, then either the starting model or ending model you entered is not correct. Review the purchased model capacity you entered in the Starting Model column and the upgraded model capacity you entered in the Ending Model column and make corrections as needed.

The subtotal price of all prepaid On/Off CoD model capacity upgrade is shown at the bottom of the BP Total Upgrade Cost column. The sum of the subtotal price of all prepaid model capacity upgrade and the subtotal prices of all prepaid specialty engine upgrades (if any) is the price of the MES order you will create for the prepaid On/Off CoD record order.

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Computing prepaid On/Off CoD upgrade prices for specialty engines

Specialty engines include ICFs, IFLs, SAPs, zAAPs, and zIIPs. Computing the price of a prepaid On/Off CoD specialty engine upgrade requires:

• The price per engine that IBM charges your company for upgrades of the engine type (ICF, IFL, SAP, zAAP, or zIIP)
• The number of purchased engines
• The number of engines activated by each upgrade
• The number of days the upgrade can be active.

You can find the number of purchased engines and upgrade information on the prepaid On/Off CoD record order page on Resource Link:

1. In the "Machine summary", under "Current configuration" see the number of engines shown for the engine type. For example, see "SAP" for the number of SAP engines.
2. In the "Prepaid upgrades" table, for each row that shows a specialty engine upgrade, see the "Upgrade configuration" column for the number of engines activated by the upgrade. See the "Days of use" column for the number of days the upgrade can be active.

Begin by calculating the number of additional engines activated by the upgrade (referred to as the "engine delta" in the formulas that follow):

Formula for computing number of additional engines

Engine delta = (Engines activated by upgrade) - (Purchased engines)

Then using the price per engine that IBM charges your company for upgrades of the engine type (ICF, IFL, SAP, zAAP, or zIIP), you can compute the On/Off CoD daily price of each specialty engine upgrade by multiplying the engine delta by the price per engine and then dividing by 90 days (the number of days in a standard break-even period). You can then compute the total price of the upgrade by multiplying its daily price by the number of days of use ordered for the upgrade. Here is the formula for these calculations:

Formula for computing the total price of an On/Off CoD specialty engine upgrade

Upgrade price =

(Price per engine)multiplied by * (Engine delta)———————————————— 90 days

* (Days of use)

Use this formula to compute the price of each prepaid On/Off CoD specialty engine upgrade, then sum those prices to get the subtotal price of all On/Off CoD specialty engine upgrades for the prepaid On/Off CoD record order.

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Creating an MES order

Billing for usage of Capacity on Demand (CoD) records ordered through Customer Initiated Upgrade (CIU) on Resource Link is done via the standard MES process. Resource Link will send you a billing notification email whenever you are required to create an MES order for billing your customer's CoD record usage:

• For prepaid upgrade records (CIU permanent upgrade, CBU, CPE, or prepaid On/Off CoD), Resource Link sends you a billing notification shortly after your customer downloads the record.
• For post-paid On/Off CoD records, billing is done on a monthly basis. Resource Link typically computes the monthly usage charges and sends you the billing notification between the 7th and 16th of the month following the usage.

  It is important to understand that you may receive billing notifications for On/Off CoD record usage as often as every month for machines with frequent On/Off CoD usage. Consequently, you may be creating a new MES as often as every month for machines with frequent On/Off CoD usage.

You will create one, and only one, MES order for each billing notification you receive from Resource Link. Even if a billing notification includes multiple upgrades or engine types, you will still create a single MES.

When you receive a billing notification email from Resource Link you will need to work with the IBM Business Partner Support Organization (BPSO) to generate an MES order. To complete the MES, you will need to provide BPSO with the feature codes and quantities to order, and the total price of the MES.

Feature codes and quantities

You can get the feature codes (FCs) and quantities for the MES from the billing notification email you receive from Resource Link:

• In billing notifications for prepaid records (CIU permanent upgrade, CBU, CPE, or prepaid On/Off CoD), the "Upgrade FCs" list in the "Pricing Info" section shows the feature codes and quantities you need to order (quantities are in parentheses after each FC).
• In billing notifications for post-paid post-paid On/Off CoD record usage, the "Charge Summary for this Billing Period" lists the feature codes and quantities. The MES must include all non-zero FCs shown in the charge summary:
  
  
  Note for CP engines, the quantity of FC 9897 is the number of days that model capacity was active during the billing period. For all other engine types, the quantity of the FC is the number of engine days capacity was active, where engine days are computed by summing the number of engines of that type active on each day capacity was active.

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Total MES price

The total MES price is the sum of its upgrade prices. See calculating an MES price for information and instructions for calculating upgrade prices.

Closing out billing

After BPSO creates an MES with the FCs, quantities, and total MES price you provide, BPSO will notify Resource Link that the MES order was created to bill for the upgrade(s) ordered. Upon receiving this notification, Resource Link closes out billing if the FCs in the MES match the FCs shown in the billing notification email.

Important: if the FCs in the MES and billing notification do not match, Resource Link will not be able to close out billing, which will delay subsequent billing for the machine. To help prevent possible delays in billing:

• If Resource Link has not received confirmation that BPSO created an MES within 14 days of sending you a billing notification, Resource Link will send a delinquent billing notification to both you and BPSO. If you receive one of these notifications, please work with BPSO to complete the billing as soon as possible.
• You should also consider periodically reviewing the On/Off CoD billing history on Resource Link to check whether there are any billing notifications that may need your action to complete the MES process:

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On/Off CoD billing history

The billing information for monthly On/Off CoD usage sent in billing notification emails is available also on Resource Link. If you receive the billing notification emails from Resource Link, then you can also view the On/Off CoD billing information on Resource Link:

• View current and past On/Off CoD billing information for the machines you have access to.
• View On/Off CoD billing information either separately for each individual machine or collectively for all machines.

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Review On/Off CoD billing history for orders requiring action

Viewing On/Off CoD billing information for all machines is recommended as a quick way to check whether there are any bills that may need your action to complete the MES process:

1. Click the Customer Initiated Upgrade left navigation link to open the Customer Initiated Upgrade page.
2. Then click the On/Off CoD billing history link in the Actions menu to open the On/Off CoD billing history page. (not yet implemented)

The On/Off CoD billing history page lists billing information by MES number for both current and past On/Off CoD usage. Check whether the MES number for any billing information is "Not received"; they are the bills that may need your action:

When the MES number shown for billing information is "Not received", it indicates Resource Link has not received an MES number from BPSO for the On/Off CoD usage documented in the billing information. Click the "Not received" link to review the billing information, then work with BPSO as needed to close out billing and complete the MES process:

1. You or someone at your company must provide BPSO with the feature codes and price for the MES.
2. BPSO must create an MES order with the feature codes and price you provided, and then send the MES order number to Resource Link.

It is important to understand that until the MES process is completed for a machine's On/Off CoD usage for a prior billing period, billing cannot begin for its On/Off CoD usage during subsequent billing periods. So when you see the MES number for a machine's billing information is "Not received", check the end date of its billing period to get an idea of how many months of On/Off CoD billing are possibly being delayed.

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Other On/Off CoD billing history information

The On/Off CoD billing history page also includes the following billing information:

• Billing information for current On/Off CoD usage is listed first. The list includes billing information for each machine that reported On/Off CoD usage during the current month. The MES number shown for each machine's billing information is "Current month" (because an MES number is not applicable yet).
• Billing information for closed On/Off CoD orders is listed by MES number. The list includes billing information for each machine that reported On/Off CoD usage during a prior month, and the MES process for billing for the usage has been completed. Each machine's billing information is labelled by the MES number(s) assigned to the MES order(s) created by BPSO.

  Note: the MES number "9NOMES" is assigned to orders for which no hardware billing was necessary be