Asset Library / FinOps Use Cases / Analyze the different metered costs for a particular SKU
Understanding the individual metered costs of a particular SKU can help assist FinOps practitioners understand the cost breakdown of usage of a select cloud resource. Especially in cases where a SKU has a few component charges like (Usage hours, Throughput, API requests, etc)
SELECT ProviderName, ChargePeriodStart, ChargePeriodEnd, SkuId, SkuPriceId, PricingUnit, ListUnitPrice, SUM(PricingQuantity) AS TotalPricingQuantity, SUM(ListCost) AS TotalListCost, SUM(EffectiveCost) AS TotalEffectiveCost FROM focus_data_table WHERE ChargePeriodStart >= ? and ChargePeriodEnd < ? GROUP BY ProviderName, ChargePeriodStart, ChargePeriodEnd, SkuId, SkuPriceId, PricingUnit, ListUnitPrice ORDER BY ChargePeriodStart ASC LIMIT 100
Calculate percentage of normalized and queryable data in data warehouse, repository, or similar, vs Accounts Payable Invoice.
The main output of this capability is a data repository of normalized, queryable data from which reporting, analysis, and visualization of cloud cost and usage will occur. This KPI is about organizing the foundation for insights and making it accessible for cost-insight products.
Spend included in queryable data warehouse (or similar) / Total Cloud Spend
Data Sources:
Related Capabilities
Measure of cloud compute resource utilization, e.g. Compute (EC2), Block Storage (EBS), or Object Storage (S3).
For each resource type, calculate the amount of resources utilized as a percentage of the the total capacity allocated. Resource utilization rates should be considered over time, and as compared to the expected utilization based on the workloads running. Practitioners should also consider average vs. peak utilization rates.
Compute: CPU Utilization Rate (total consumed quantity in core-hrs or cpu-hrs / Total CPUs Allocated), Memory Utilization Rate (Total Usage in GB / Total Memory Allocated)
Volumes: Throughput Utilized / Throughput Provisioned, IOPS Utilized / IOPS provisioned, Storage Utilized / Storage Provisioned (per volume)
Data Sources:
Related Capabilities
Related Assets
Workload Optimization Library
A collection of resources to help identify types of cloud cost waste by service provider, including links to additional tools.
How to Optimize Cloud Usage
Use this paper to better understand what usage optimization is and what to consider if your organization wants to maximize the value of the cloud.
Measure of the percentage of resources running on ‘modern’ types (e.g. instance types, volume type).
In general, cloud service providers come out with modern resource types that often come with improved price/performance.
NOTE: Always compare the actual cost impact of a migration vs. level of effort required. Not all modernizations will result in cost savings. Always consider your active reservations before migrating workloads.
Number of instances on ‘legacy’ resource types / total number of instances (can be done by app, account, total)
Data Sources:
Measures effectiveness of an auto-scaling system.
The goal of auto-scaling efficiency is to ensure that the right amount of resources are provisioned and de-provisioned in response to changes in demand, in order to achieve a balance between performance, cost, and resource utilization.
Auto-scaling efficiency rate = Maximum capacity cost of running workload to meet workload demand / Cost of running workload with auto-scaling to meet same workload demand. The higher the efficiency rate the more effective the auto-scaling is. Effective Cost can be used in this formula, or the List Cost metric can be used to eliminate the effect of discounts and focus entirely on the scaling effect.
Data Sources: CSP Billing Data
Related Capabilities
Related Assets
Cost Optimization for AWS EC2 Autoscaling
Use this Playbook to learn how to find ways to reduce waste with AWS EC2 Autoscaling.
Architecting VM-based Applications for Cost Efficiency
Use this guidance to inform how your engineering teams architect VM-based applications with a focus cloud cost efficiency.
Why Architecting Databases for Cost Efficiency Matters
Learn key FinOps and cost-conscious considerations and decision-making when architecting cloud database services at scale.
This metric compares forecasted vs. actual cloud spend over a specific period (e.g., day, month, quarter).
While percentage variance is the primary metric, dollar differences can also be informative. Each organization defines its acceptable variance.
((Forecasted Public Cloud Spend – Actual Public Cloud Spend) / Forecasted Public Cloud Spend)
Data Sources:
Related Capabilities
Reporting & Analytics 
Workload Optimization 
Cloud Sustainability 
Forecasting 
Finance 
Procurement 
Product 
FinOps Practitioner