Introduction
Workspot can track usage by user and Cost Center. This Cost Center can use any field in your Active Directory (AD) user record: a custom field or perhaps a standard but unused field. The contents of the field are copied into the Cost Center report along with the per-user usage in terms of number of sessions and time spent connected.
Reports including the Cost Center data are available through the Workspot Control API.
Because Workspot Control has no understanding of what the selected AD user record field means, and simply copies it into the usage report, it can be used for a variety of purposes. Cost-sharing is the most typical use.
Enabling the Cost Center
The Cost Center is a standard feature. By default, its field specifier is blank, which in effect means that it is disabled.
Cost Centers are specified on a per-datacenter basis. You can enable Cost Center for some datacenters and not others. You can use different AD fields for different datacenters (this is usually a bad idea).
Note: Once enabled, Cost Center cannot be disabled in Control, nor can it be changed to a different AD field. You must open a ticket with Workspot Support to make such changes.
To enable the Cost Center:
Select an AD user record field to use as a cost center if you don’t have one already. In the screen captures below, the AD user record name is "example." (AD management is beyond the scope of this document; see your AD administrator.)
Log into Workspot Control as an Administrator.
Navigate to “Setup > Datacenter > Current Datacenters > [Datacenter Name] > Configs > Edit.” The “Edit Datacenter Configuration” page will appear.
In the "Track Usage by Cost Center" field, click the "Yes" radio button. The"Edit AD Cost Center Attribute" popup appears.
Enter the selected Active Directory field in the “AD Cost Center Attribute” field.
Enter the username ([email protected]) in "Fetch Attribute Value for User. This must be an account that is allowed to read the AD user attributes.
Press the "Test" button. If the test succeeds, press "Confirm." You are returned to the Edit Datacenter Configuration page.
Note: Do not press “Confirm” without first testing your settings, since you can’t change them afterward.
8. Press "Save."
9. Once the Cost Center is active, the Users list in Control will (eventually) display an “AD Cost Center” column. The rate of polling is described below.
Cost Center Polling and Update Intervals
Control polls to discover the user’s current Cost Center as follows:
When a new user is added manually in Control.
When a new user self-registers via the Workspot Client.
After signing into the Workspot Client, provided that at least 24 hours have elapsed since the last check. This takes place as part of the heartbeat mechanism and is not synchronized to the moment of sign-in but will happen within a few minutes of the 24-hour interval expiring. If it has already expired, it happens within a few minutes of the user signing into the Client.
Creating Cost Center Usage Reports
Usage reports can be generated by the Workspot Control API only. See the Workspot Control API documentation for more information on the API, including a PowerShell example for fetching the usage report.
The report is delivered in a standard JSON or CSV format (JSON is the default) and should be usable by any spreadsheet. There is one line per user. The user's cost center is included (in the example below, it is column H):
