Several data center services in the service catalog charge the customer on the actual usage of those services. What chargeback model is applied?

The Measured Resource Usage (MRU) model directly aligns with charging a customer based on their actual consumption of services. This model involves metering the use of specific resources such as CPU cycles, storage space, or network bandwidth, and then billing the customer based on this measured data. It is the most precise method for pay-for-what-you-use scenarios, ensuring that costs are directly proportional to the services consumed. This contrasts with flat-rate models, which charge a fixed price regardless of usage levels.

A. Service Based Pricing is a broad category; MRU is a specific, more accurate type of it.
B. Negotiated Flat Rate is a fixed charge agreed upon in advance, not based on actual usage.
C. Tiered Flat Rate offers fixed pricing for different usage bands, not direct measurement of consumption.

1. Luftman, J. N., & Kempaiah, R. (2007). An Update on IT-Business Alignment: A Line has been Drawn. MIS Quarterly Executive, 6(3). (Discusses IT chargeback models, including usage-based costing as a mature practice for aligning IT costs with business consumption, which is the principle behind MRU).

2. IBM. (2012). IBM SmartCloud Enterprise: Usage and Accounting. Official Documentation. Section: "Usage and Accounting Overview". (This documentation for a data center service explicitly details how resource usage is measured for chargeback, illustrating the MRU model in practice).