Best practices and new tools for cost reporting and estimation (COP218)

Here is a detailed summary of the video transcription in markdown format with sections and single-level bullet points:

Key Takeaways

• Your Cloud bill is a function of how many engineers your company has hired, not just what you use
• Effective cloud financial management can help you achieve cost efficiency, improve profitability, and reduce business risk

Understanding Your Cloud Costs

Normalizing Cost Data Across Providers

• Use the finops open cost and usage specification (FOCUS) to standardize your cost and usage data
• FOCUS 1.0 with AWS columns provides a consistent data format for analysis

Maintaining a Holistic Overview

• Use the AWS Billing & Cost Management console to access key metrics and alerts
• Leverage AWS Cost Anomaly Detection to identify and analyze anomalous spending

Empowering Users with Cost Visibility

• Utilize IAM permissions to provide users with the right level of cost visibility and access
• Use Cost Explorer to analyze costs at a granular level and identify optimization opportunities

Identifying Idle Resources

• AWS Cost Optimization Hub provides idle resource detection and cleanup recommendations

Building Effective Cost Reporting

Enabling Custom Dashboards

• Use the one-click deployment for the Cost and Usage dashboard in Data Exports
• Leverage the Cloud Intelligence Dashboard framework for advanced insights and recommendations

Aggregating Costs Across Organizations

• Use Data Exports to automate the creation of cost and usage reports in a centralized account

Implementing Showback and Chargeback

• Use AWS Billing Conductor to group accounts, configure pricing rules, and delegate cost management
• Leverage AWS Invoice Configuration to receive separate invoices for business entities

Optimizing Cost Allocation

• Use Cost Categories to group and aggregate costs based on rules, rather than just tags
• Leverage Split Cost Allocation Data (SCAD) for container services like ECS and EKS

Improving Cost Estimation and Planning

Engaging Early in the Design Process

• Incorporate cost considerations throughout the software design and business planning cycles

Leveraging the Enhanced AWS Pricing Calculator

• Import existing usage data and model potential changes to workloads and purchase options
• Analyze the cost impact of modifications and new commitments

Optimizing Savings Plans Purchases

• Use the Savings Plans Purchase Analyzer to model different hourly commitment amounts and their impact
• Leverage the 7-day return policy to adjust Savings Plans purchases as needed

Resources

• AWS Cloud Financial Management digital training courses
• Engage with AWS CFM experts at the AWS Village Expo