Expenses and Costs:Cost Analysis

1. Log on to the Expenses and Costs console. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Cost > Cost Analysis to go to the Cost Analysis page.

2. If you are using Cost Analysis for the first time, activate it for free. After activation, if you have existing spending data, you can start using the feature normally following a 48-hour delay.

You can set filter conditions to view cost analysis data that meets your criteria. You can view historical analysis records by the report dimension or view cost data for periods that are associated with configured budgets by the budget dimension.

View Expense Distribution

In the Conditions section, set the Analysis Dimension and Filters.

1. Set the Category:. You can analyze by Product, Product Detail, Cost Center, Account, Owner Account, Consumption Type, Bill Type, Resource Group, Region, Zone, Instance Type, Billing Item, Instance ID, or Instance Tag.

   Note

   The Instance ID dimension supports the analysis of up to 10 instances.

2. Cost Type: Select one of the following spending data types: Payable Amount, List Price, Discounted Amount, and Amortized Payable Amount – Current Period.

   Note

   Amortized Payable Amount – Current Period does not support hourly granularity or the Instance ID dimension.

3. Time Unit:: Select Month, Day, or Hour.

   1. When analyzing by month, you can view data for up to the last 12 months.

   2. When viewing data by day, the selected time range cannot exceed 92 days.

4. Set Filters By default, all items are included. You can select either "Include" or "Exclude". Charts will display only data that meets the specified criteria.

5. The chart on the left displays data based on your analysis dimension and filters. It supports stacked column charts, line charts, and bar charts. For each time granularity, only the top 10 items are displayed. The rest are grouped into an "Other" category. You can view more details about the products that you used on the Bill Details page.

6. In the Cost Details list, you can preview or export data for the selected scope. The “Total Cost” shows the sum of the selected costs.

   

View Budget Execution Progress

If you have created a budget, choose Analyze by Budget and select your budget to view cost data for the corresponding time granularity. Choose Estimate-to-Actual Analysis to go to the estimate-to-actual comparison page for that budget and view a detailed comparison between actual spending and your budget.

If you have not created a budget, choose Set Budget to go to the Budget Management page and create or manage budgets. For more information, see Budget Management.

Export Analysis Reports

You can save analysis data with your chosen dimensions and filters to reuse and share.

1. On the Cost Analysis page, click Save, enter a name, and save the report.

2. Go to the Reports page, where you can view and open the cost analysis chart for a saved report or delete reports.

3. Return to the Cost Analysis page and choose Analyze by Report to select a report to analyze.

Predict Future Expenses

You can select a future date range in the time granularity control to view predictions of your total expenses. The predicted expenses are for reference only.

1. Enable prediction: If the selected time granularity includes future dates, click Enable Prediction in the pop-up window to enable expense predictions.

   Note

   Prediction is not supported if you select a classification dimension. If prediction is enabled, you cannot use a classification dimension.

2. View prediction trends: After you enable prediction, you can view predicted trends for up to 12 months in the future.