Strengthening Transparency & Fiscal Stewardship in Cloud Services

Howard University continues to strengthen its approach to security, financial transparency, accountability, and responsible technology management. As part of this effort, the Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) team has implemented a structured Azure Resource Provisioning and Charge-Back Model to ensure researchers only pay for the cloud resources they use while maintaining clear visibility into costs and usage.

This framework supports security, smarter budgeting, proactive monitoring, accessibility to data, and shared accountability across the campus community.

What This Means for Departments:

How to Request New Azure Resources

To ensure clarity and efficiency before any Azure resources are created, departments are asked to submit the following through the Howard University ServiceNow portal:

• Department Cost Center – The internal billing code for your area.
• ServiceNow Ticket – A formal request submitted via ServiceNow.
• Billing Owner Approval – Written approval from the individual authorized to approve departmental spending.

 

Provisioning & Financial Commitment

Once a request is reviewed and approved, the following is required:

• DocuSign Acknowledgment – Departments receive a DocuSign outlining the requested resources and estimated monthly costs.
• Formal Acceptance – Signing confirms awareness of costs and acceptance of ongoing financial responsibility.

This step ensures full transparency before resources are provisioned.

 

Budgeting & Monitoring Guardrails

To support responsible financial management, several cost-control measures are built in:

• Budget Allocation – Departments define a total project budget aligned with available funds.
• Automatic Alerts, including:
  • Anomaly Alerts for unusual spending spikes.
  • Threshold Alerts when spending reaches 90% of the approved budget (customizable as needed).

These guardrails help departments stay informed and avoid unexpected charges.

 

Quarterly Billing Cycle
Azure costs are finalized and processed on a quarterly basis:

• Cost Reports are shared one week before the end of each quarter.
• Dispute Window allows time to review and flag discrepancies.
• Internal Chargeback is completed once costs are confirmed.

 

Why This Matters

This model reflects Howard University’s commitment to:

• Fiscal responsibility.
• Transparent cost management.
• Strong partnership between ETS and campus departments.
• Sustainable, well-governed cloud usage.

Thank you to the teams and stakeholders who collaborated to make this process clear, fair, and effective for the entire campus community.

For questions or support, please visit the Enterprise Service Center.