SPACEWatch Storage Suite

SPACEWatchtm ChargeBack 5.


Interactively analyze the cost of storage
Set a budget - then allocate it based on real storage use
Weight your charging to penalise unused files and excessive use
Set servers and storage in different tiers reflecting their capital cost


SPACEWatch ChargeBack is a recent addition to Sharpeware’s SPACEWatch Storage Suite. It lets you calculate storage metrics including chargeback for storage re-charge.

But rather than waiting for reports, reviewing them, then repeating the exercise, SPACEWatch ChargeBack is a fully interactive tool that lets you analyze storage chargeback whatever the size of your infrastructure.

Got a budget and want to distribute it equitably - allocating charges based on use of storage, including unused files or particular server or storage tier being used? With one click you can get SPACEWatch to profile your budget - then save it to the SPACEWatch space database for others to review. Or export chargeback results to Microsoft Excel for further analysis.


The screenshot below shows the main multi-dimensional interactive ChargeBack cube: use it to interactively analyze and investigate your storage metrics. You can drag and drop groups of data such as Users or Servers to re-arrange the cube any way you want - expand into detail or pull out for the big picture. Apply filters to focus on the particular objects of interest to you.



Flexibly allocate your budget - see the impact immediately

Set a target budget, then profile it by allowing SPACEWatch ChargeBack to automatically adjust the charges you choose, until the budget is met. Charges continue to be equitably spread across your cost centres.



The screenshot above shows the profiling options - set the budget; choose constraints to modify; then click Profile - its as simple as that. And if you like the changes proposed, simply click Apply to make them available to all users of ChargeBack.

Print, Export - continue your analysis in Excel

Preview charging results before you print or export them to share with others. Export to Microsoft Excel or web page.



The screenshot above shows a ChargeBack data cube that has been exported to Microsoft Excel: note how the rich formatting of the original has been maintained for clarity.

Match storage investment to your charging approach

Weight different tiers of storage differently for charging purposes, reflecting their relative capital and support costs.



You may be using high performance "tier 1" storage, as well as cheaper "tier 2" disk storage for near-line archiving - or simply want to encourage users to exploit a new SAN rather than continuing to use discrete file server storage. Whatever the reason, you can use tier weightings to bias charging the way you want.

Use flexible charging mechanisms

Use different charging mechanisms to drive the right behaviour in your users. For example, increase the inactivity charge to encourage users to archive or cleanup their files. Or why not penalise large space use with different charges at different thresholds of use.





Whatever your storage chargeback policy, you can model and analyze it with SPACEWatch ChargeBack - why not try a free evaluation now?

Note: SPACEWatch ChargeBack is an add-on module to SPACEWatch Enterprise, Domino or Exchange. For more information about the modules that are right for you please contact us.

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