Billing Concepts

Billing concepts - for Microsoft 365 integrations

The number of licenses for which a customer is billed each month is called the billed licenses number.

  • There is a Billed Licenses number that is associated with each assigned bundle in the organization.

  • You can see the Billed Licenses number for each bundle in the Settings > Licenses page. For details about the Licenses page, see Licensing.

How is the billed licenses number determined

The number of billed licenses is determined by the license source. There are 4 options for the license source:

License source

For more information, see below in this topic...

  • Integration

  • Reported seats

  • Purchased licenses

  • Dispute

You can see the Billed Licenses number and the License Source that are associated with each assigned bundle - in the Settings > Licenses page. For details about the Licenses page, see Licensing.

Note: A Billed Licenses number and a License Source are associated with each assigned bundle in the organization.

Integration - License source [Microsoft 365 / Microsoft Collaboration]

How it works

FortiMail Workspace Security analyzes the organization's Microsoft account. FortiMail Workspace Security tries to identify the users in the account. The number of users that are found is known as the "integration" number.

What's excluded from the integration number

The following are excluded from the integration number - based on the Microsoft license:

  • Non-email-type Microsoft licenses

  • Removed [unassigned, not-enabled, disabled, deactivated] Microsoft licenses [often used when an employee leaves an organization]

  • Not-enabled Microsoft email addresses

    Note: If FortiMail Workspace Security is used to specify domains, groups, or users that are protected, then users that are not included in these specified entities are not included in the integration number.

  • Shared mailboxes

  • Groups [which typically don't have Microsoft licenses]

  • When aliases are used, only one email address for each user is included in the integration number

More info

  • The integration number is determined every day, but the number on the last day of the month is passed on as the value for Billed licenses.

  • This option is available for Microsoft 365 Inline and API integrations and Google Workspace integrations only.

  • This option is not available for Microsoft Exchange and "Other" integrations.

Endpoint

FortiMail Workspace Security uses the following Office 365 endpoint to extract the required user lists:

https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users

FortiMail Workspace Security applies the filters that are required to extract only active and relevant users.

Reported seats - License source

You specify how many users [seats] are protected by FortiMail Workspace Security. This option is for companies that report their number of seats, and don't have a direct contract with Fortinet. This option is mainly for Acronis organizations and MSSP children.

  • You can [must] adjust the number of reported seats as the number of protected users changes. Make sure that the number is correct on the last day of the month.

    To adjust the number:

    1. Go to Account > Bundles and Channels.

    2. Under Assigned Bundles, locate the required bundle, and click Bundle Settings.

    3. In the Bundle Settings pane, click Edit.

    4. Enter the number of Seats.

More Info

  • This option is available for all integration types.

About billing

When an organization uses the Reported Seats method to specify the number of users that are protected by FortiMail Workspace Security, the billing procedure is as follows:

  1. You specify the Reported Seats number.

  2. FortiMail Workspace Security compares the Reported Seats number with the Usage number. [See Usage]

    1. If there is a difference of LESS THAN 10% between the Reported Seats number and the Usage number, then the Reported Seats number is used as the Billed Licenses number.

    2. If there is a difference of MORE THAN 10% between the Reported Seats number and the Usage number, then the Usage number is used as the Billed Licenses number.

      For example:

      • If the Reported Seats number is 250 and the Usage number is 270, then the Billed Licenses number will be 270.

      • If the Reported Seats number is 250 and the Usage number is 280, then the Billed Licenses number will be 280.

Purchased licenses - License source

This option is for organizations that have a direct contract (PO) with Fortinet, and is mainly for direct customers. The number is set in Salesforce.

Typically used by Fortinet [Perception Point] Customer Success.

  • This option is available for all integration types.

Dispute - License source

Use this method when the integration method appears to be inaccurate. Enter the agreed number, and an explanation of why the integration number is not accurate. The Dispute option can be selected by Fortinet [Perception Point] Customer Success only - not by admin users. The configured number of seats can be seen by customers as well.

  • This option is available for all integration types

License source applicability

The table below shows which license sources can be selected for which integrations:

License source

Applicable integrations

Integration

  • Microsoft 365 Inline - full protection only

  • Microsoft 365 API

  • Google Workspace

Reported seats

  • All integrations - excluding Microsoft 365 API

Purchased licenses

  • All integrations

Dispute

  • All integrations

Configuring [editing] or switching the license source

The license source is set initially during the integration onboarding procedure. After the license source has been set, it can be changed. The following changes are possible:

  • Specifying and configuring a new license source: For example, switching from Reported Seats to Integration, or from Integration to Reported Seats. These changes can be performed by FortiMail Workspace Security Support or Customer Success only.

    - or -

  • Changing the details of the current license source: For example, changing the value of Reported Seats from 50 to 100 seats. These changes can be performed by FortiMail Workspace Security Support or Customer Success only - except for the following scenario:

    If the current license source is "Reported seats", then an admin-user is able to modify the number of seats.

The possible changes to the license source are shown in the table below.

Current license source

Changes can be made to the license source by...

Integration

FortiMail Workspace Security Support or Customer Success only.

Reported seats

An admin-user is able to modify the number of seats.

All other changes can be made by FortiMail Workspace Security Support or Customer Success only.

Purchased licenses

FortiMail Workspace Security Support or Customer Success only.

Dispute

FortiMail Workspace Security Support or Customer Success only.

To view the license source for a bundle:

  1. Go to Settings > Bundles and Channels.

  2. Under Assigned Bundles, locate the required bundle, and click Bundle Settings.

  3. Under License, the current License source details are shown.

To edit the license source for a bundle:

Note: The only change that you can make to the license source is to change the number of seats when the license source is Reported Seats. All other changes to the license source can be made by FortiMail Workspace Security Support or Customer Success only.

  1. Go to Settings > Bundles and Channels.

  2. Under Assigned Bundles, locate the required bundle, and click Bundle Settings.

  3. In the Bundle Settings pane, under License, make sure that the License source is Reported Seats.

  4. Click Edit.

  5. Under License, change the value of Seats to the required value.

See also: