[Work_Item] Add SKU and SKU Price properties (e.g. term, tier, SKU region)

[ijurica]

1. Problem Statement *

Describe the problem, issue, use case, or opportunity that this work item addresses.
Include practitioner quotes illustrating real examples a) of questions being asked by practitioners and b) value unlocked by answering these questions, if available.

• What is the problem?: Explain the context and why it needs resolution.
• Impact: Describe how the problem affects users, systems, or the project.

Although the SKU Price Details column provides relevant SKU and SKU Price properties, and the SKU Meter helps practitioners understand the functionalities being metered by different SKUs, the existing FOCUS specification still lacks a user-friendly approach to presenting other prominent SKU properties (such as SKU terms, tiered pricing details, SKU regions/locations, size, etc.), which are essential for understanding and comparing SKUs both within and across providers.

While SKU Price Details offers these properties in a key-value format, the keys are provider-specific and vary between providers, requiring extensive parsing and mapping, which is often challenging and reduces usability.

Over the past months, both focus members and user group members have expressed interest in various SKU and SKU Price properties. Some of these have been added to the backlog as individual issues and compiled in the Closed [SKU, SKU Price] Properties-Related Issues Consolidation List. The issues in this list are now closed and superseded by this work item, which seeks to address SKU details in a comprehensive manner, identifying the most prominent properties while incorporating requirements from that consolidated list.

2. Objective *

State the objective of this work item. What outcome is expected?

• Success Criteria: Define how success will be measured (e.g. metrics and KPIs).

The objective is to provide a standardized and user-friendly way to access the most prominent SKU and SKU Price properties, enabling practitioners to understand, distinguish, and compare SKUs and SKU Prices more effectively, both within and across providers. This work item aims to simplify the presentation of SKU details so that essential properties are readily accessible, without requiring extensive parsing or the need to map provider-specific keys.

Success Criteria:

• Prominent SKU and SKU Price properties are presented in a standardized manner (e.g., FOCUS columns), minimizing the need to parse the SKU Price Details column and map provider-specific keys.
• Practitioner feedback shows improved ease of use and faster SKU comprehension, distinction, and comparison.

3. Supporting Documentation *

Include links to supporting documents such as:

• Data Examples: [Link to data or relevant files; DO NOT share proprietary information]
• Related Use Cases or Discussion Documents: [Link to discussion]
• PRs or Other References: [Link to relevant references]

Closed [SKU, SKU Price] Properties-Related Issues Consolidation List

List of issues superseded by this work item:

• SKU Properties & Providers alignment #495
• SkuCapacity / SkuCapacityUnit #320
• Provider SKU size  #313
• [Proposal] SKU tier #312
• [Proposal] Create Source, Destination, and LocationType Dimensions for all Data Transfer Costs #73
• [Proposal] Handle when SKU region is different from resource region #303
• SKU term #153
• SKU description #316
• TODO: Check the backlog once again to ensure all [SKU, SKU Price] Properties-Related Issues are encapsulated.

Other [SKU, SKU Price] Related Issues

List of related topics/issues outside the scope of this work item:

• [Work_Item] Clarify definition of SKU ID #314
• [Work_Item] Add SKU categorization hierarchy #608

Previous FOCUS Discussions on the Topic

• 24.08.07 CSP SKU and SKU Price Findings
• SKU Details Delivery Options
• Brainstorming space (FOCUS)
• TODO: Review previous discussions to ensure all valuable references are included.

Other References

• TODO: Add relevant external references, such as links to providers' documentation.

4. Proposed Solution / Approach

Outline any proposed solutions, approaches, or potential paths forward. Do not submit detailed solutions; please keep suggestions high-level.

• Initial Ideas: Describe potential solution paths, tools, or technologies.
• Considerations: Include any constraints, dependencies, or risks.
• Feasibility: Include any information that helps quantify feasibility, such as perceived level of effort to augment the spec, or existing fields in current data generator exports.
• Benchmarks: Are there established best practices for solving this problem available to practitioners today (e.g. mappings from existing CSP exports that are widely used)?

Initial Ideas:

• Identify the most prominent SKU and SKU Price properties that are widely relevant across SKUs, both within and across providers, and assign priorities.
• Specify how the previously identified prominent properties should be included in the FOCUS dataset in a standardized and user-friendly manner (e.g., by specifying corresponding FOCUS columns), taking assigned priorities into account, as it might not be feasible to address all of them in a single release.

Considerations:

• Incorporate requirements from the Closed [SKU, SKU Price] Properties-Related Issues Consolidation List (list of issues superseded by this work item)
• Ensure alignment with related work issues outside the scope of this work item:
  • SKU ID clarification (Issue [Work_Item] Clarify definition of SKU ID #314)
  • SKU categorization hierarchy (Issue [Work_Item] Add SKU categorization hierarchy #608)
• Existing FOCUS columns:
  • The SKU Price Details column provides all relevant SKU and SKU Price properties in a key-value format, whereby the keys are provider-specific and vary between providers, requiring parsing and mapping.
  • The SKU Meter describes the functionality being metered or measured by a particular SKU.

Feasibility:

• Dividing the effort into multiple PRs will support effective workload management and allow for focused, incremental improvements.

5. Epic or Theme Association

This section will be completed by the Maintainers.

• Epic: [Epic Name]
• Theme: [Theme Name, if applicable]

TBD

6. Stakeholders *

List the main stakeholders for this issue.

• Primary Stakeholder: [Name/Role]
• Other Involved Parties: [Names/Roles]

TBD

[jpradocueva]

Action Items from Members' call on Oct 31:

• [#619] Irena, @ijurica : Draft an initial taxonomy for SKU properties based on TF3 discussions.
• [#619] All TF3 members: Review the taxonomy draft and suggest any additional properties that may enhance SKU tracking across providers.

[jpradocueva]

Notes from Maintainers' call on November 4:

Context: Expanding SKU properties within the spec would provide additional metadata about SKUs, aiding in resource identification and categorization. This is particularly useful for practitioners managing complex resource pools.
Level of Effort Required: Very High — Adding SKU properties across providers is complex due to the variety of SKU structures and associated metadata requirements.

[jpradocueva]

Comments from the Members's call on November 7:

#619: This issue pertains to SKU price properties. The group discussed breaking down the requirements into smaller components to avoid overwhelming the v1.2 scope.

[jpradocueva]

Action Items from TF-3, call Nov 8:

• [#619] Irena @ijurica : Identify key properties and prepare a proposal for prioritization.
• [#619] Riley @rileyjenk : Propose alternative names for "SKU Meter" and circulate for feedback.

[jpradocueva]

Summary from the Maintainers' call on Nov 25

Context:
This work item involves adding detailed properties for SKUs to enable more granular tracking of pricing attributes such as term, tier, and region.
Maintainers Assigned:
Michael, Irena, Karl
Task Force Assigned:
Task Force 2 (TF2).

Next Steps from TF-2 call on November 27:

• [#619] Michael @flanakin : Finalize the draft survey, adding questions about CSP usage and respondent roles.
• [#619] Joaquin @jpradocueva : Convert the finalized survey into a Google Form for easy distribution.
• [#619] Joaquin @jpradocueva : Add this topic to the Maintainer's agenda.
• [#619] Rob @rob: Discuss the survey in the next maintainers meeting and confirm approval to distribute it.
• [#619] David: Provide input on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) SKU and SKU Price properties, including details on tiering and pricing structures.
• [#619] Irena @ijurica : Collect existing provider definitions and descriptions for key SKU and SKU Price properties to validate mappings and identify gaps.
• [#619] All Members: Review the draft survey and provide comments to ensure clarity and completeness.
• [#619] Task Force: Schedule a follow-up discussion to review survey results and determine the next steps for implementation.

[jpradocueva]

Action Items from TF-2 call on December 4:

• [#619] Karl @kk09v , Dave, Tim Wright @timwright2000 : Review the list of SKU-related information in the survey and add 'GCP sku.description*' next to the properties that can be parsed from the GCP sku.description column (the asterisk indicates the ability to extract the relevant information). If you identify any other custom GCP columns or data sources that could be used to obtain particular information, add those as well.
• [#619] Arun @arrarama , Irena @ijurica : Review the list of SKU-related information in the survey and add 'OCI product/description*' next to the properties that can be parsed from the OCI product/description column (the asterisk indicates the ability to extract the relevant information). If you identify any other custom OCI columns or data sources that could be used to obtain particular information, add those as well.
• [#619] Michael @flanakin : Finalize the draft survey and reach out to Joaquin regarding converting it into a Google Form.
  [#619] Joaquin: Add this topic to the Maintainer's agenda.
• [#619] Michael @flanakin : Moderate the discussion about the survey at the next Maintainer's meeting, with the goal of finalizing and agreeing to distribute it so that we can collect feedback as soon as possible.
• [#619] All Members: Review the draft survey and provide comments to ensure clarity and completeness.

Action Items from the Members' call on December 5:

• [#619] Michael @flanakin : Refine and finalize the survey for practitioner feedback.
• [#619] Joaquin @jpradocueva : Convert the survey to SurveyMonkey format and coordinate its distribution.
• [#619] Karl @kk09v and OCI representative: Provide analysis of existing SKU metadata and share findings with the group.
• [#619] All members: Review the finalized survey and provide input before distribution.
• [#619] Michael @flanakin : Prepare a summary of survey results for discussion in the next TF meeting.

[jpradocueva]

Action Items from the Maintainers' call on December 9:

• [#619] Michael @flanakin to share the latest draft of the survey for final review by TF2.
• [#619] Joaquin @jpradocueva to collaborate with Steve to implement the survey in SurveyMonkey once the draft is finalized.
• [#619] Karl @karl to lead the ad-hoc meeting on SKU definitions and share outcomes with the group.
• [#619] Chris @cnharris10 and Riley @rileyjenk to provide specific feedback on AWS and Datadog-related SKU properties for inclusion in the survey.

[jpradocueva]

Action Items from the TF-2 call on December 11:

• [#619] Joaquin @jpradocueva : Create a SurveyMonkey with the SKU Property Survey content

[jpradocueva]

Action Items from the Maintainers' call on December 16:

• [#619] Steve Trask (FinOps): Create the survey and ensure it is ready for review by December 17th. Publish the Survey this week.
• [#619] Michael @flanakin : to message #maintainers to have CSP reps post in respective #cloud channels
• [#619] CSP Representatives (AWS, GCP, Microsoft): Share the survey in respective forums to increase visibility and engagement.
• [#619] Group: to post on social media, and remind again after the holidays

[jpradocueva]

Action Items from the Maintainers' call on Jan 6:

• [[Work_Item] Add SKU and SKU Price properties (e.g. term, tier, SKU region) #619] Shawn - Provide an update when SurveyMonkey is completed and distributed