FinOps Cost Management service description
1. Service overview
The Alibaba Cloud Cost Management Service is based on FinOps principles. It combines the Alibaba Cloud cost management model, cost operations platform, and consulting-based training. The service provides enterprise customers with comprehensive cloud cost analysis, optimization, and operational capabilities. This improves the transparency, efficiency, and predictability of cloud spending and helps you maximize the value of cloud computing.
2. Scope of service
The Alibaba Cloud Cost Management Service includes the following:
Cost analysis service: Includes tag system design, resource tagging and grouping, cost allocation for cost centers, cost analysis reports, cost trend forecasting, and budget and quota management.
Cost optimization service: Includes resource usage analysis, resource usage optimization, elasticity improvement, and resource governance plans.
Cost operations service: Includes allocating and splitting costs for the current month's consumption and identifying abnormal bills. This service helps you improve fine-grained digital operations management, enhance your cloud financial management system, and continuously optimize your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
Note: We provide technical consultation and guidance for the solution. This service does not include the implementation of modifications.
3. Prerequisites
You must request this service at least 15 calendar days in advance. This allows Alibaba Cloud engineers to assess your business goals, determine scheduling feasibility, and confirm whether to accept the service request.
You must promptly provide all necessary and reasonable documents, information, data, and charts. You must also grant the required system permissions, account permissions, and access channels to help Alibaba Cloud provide the service. All this information is subject to the confidentiality clauses of this agreement. You agree that all information you have disclosed or will disclose to Alibaba Cloud is true, accurate, and not misleading.
During the service period, Alibaba Cloud engineers can work from any location. Both parties can communicate through phone calls, DingTalk, email, or on-site meetings.
During the service period, project managers from both parties are responsible for exchanging the written information required for this service using mutually agreed-upon communication methods, such as DingTalk, the Internet, or email.
All service deliverables are in Simplified Chinese, and the working language is Chinese. All deliverables are provided as electronic copies in Microsoft Office formats, such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel, and Visio.
You are responsible for implementation. Alibaba Cloud provides solution design and technical support during the implementation process, but you must perform the actual implementation and changes.
Neither party is liable for any special, incidental, or indirect damages or consequential economic losses (including lost profits or savings) under this service, even if the party has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
4. Service details
Cost analysis service | |||
No. | Service item | Description | Deliverable |
1 | Tag system design | Design a multi-dimensional resource tag system based on your organizational structure. This supports fine-grained resource grouping. The tag system should include common dimensions such as department, line-of-business, application, project, deployment environment, product type, service type, account, location, role, and purpose. | Resource Tag System |
2 | Resource tagging and grouping | Tag and group your resources based on the resource tag system. Because resources change dynamically, tag resources automatically upon creation and group them dynamically when they are inventoried. This reduces manual maintenance costs. | Resource Grouping System |
3 | Cost allocation for cost centers | Establish cost centers based on dimensions such as resource groups. This enables automatic reconciliation and cost allocation for each cost center. You can see the cost allocation and spending for each department, line-of-business, project, application, and account. | Cost Center Report |
4 | Cost analysis reports | Help you create a cost visualization dashboard. This includes a cost overview, cost trends, year-over-year and month-over-month comparisons, cost spending rankings, and product spending reports. | Cost Analysis Report |
5 | Cost trend forecasting | Predict future spending based on cost models and historical consumption. This helps you plan budgets in advance, reduce budget drift, and control costs. | Cost Trend Report |
6 | Budget and quota management | Allocate budgets to departments, lines-of-business, projects, and applications. Track, analyze, alert on, and control budget consumption. | Budget Consumption Alert |
Cost optimization service | |||
7 | Resource usage analysis | Use the cost management platform to perform a comprehensive analysis of your resource usage. Identify issues such as idle resources, underutilized or overutilized resources, and suboptimal architecture. | Resource Analysis Report |
8 | Resource usage optimization | Provide expert recommendations for targeted cost optimization based on optimization plans and resource usage analysis. These recommendations cover optimization solutions such as instance type upgrades or downgrades, instance type suitability, billing methods, elastic policies, network bandwidth/traffic, storage classes, hot and cold data separation, containerization, and serverless architecture. | Resource Optimization Plan |
9 | Elasticity improvement | Improve overall resource utilization while supporting dynamic business workloads. This is achieved through precise capacity planning, configuring appropriate Auto Scaling policies, and increasing elasticity speed. | Elastic Workload Plan |
10 | Resource usage | Customize a resource lifecycle governance plan. This includes end-to-end control over the resource request, creation, O&M, and release processes. This improves the standardization and efficiency of resources. | Resource Governance Plan |
Cost operations service | |||
11 | Cost amortization | Provide systematic training on cost management. This includes FinOps methodology, cost management, asset management, monitoring management models, and best practices. This helps you establish a complete cost operations system. | Cost Operations Amortization |
12 | Resource usage assessment | Customize a resource lifecycle governance plan. This includes end-to-end control over the resource request, creation, O&M, and release processes. This improves the standardization and efficiency of resources. | Resource Governance Plan |
13 | Purchase plan assessment | Periodically analyze the purchase methods, discount rates, and resource plans for products in each technical domain based on your business scenarios. Provide a plan for optimizing billing methods. | Resource Monitoring Platform |
Service notes:
To ensure cost optimization goals are met, you must purchase the cost optimization service and cost operations service together with the cost analysis service. The cost analysis service provides the necessary data foundation for the other services.
You must assign a designated representative to assist Alibaba Cloud with the cost management service. This representative is responsible for coordinating between both parties and for reviewing and accepting the service deliverables.
5. Service SLA
Provide cost analysis, optimization, and operations services on Alibaba Cloud.
Provide technical consultation, training, and guidance on cost analysis, optimization, and operations during the service period.
Provide the corresponding deliverables for each service package. For more information, see section 7.2 Acceptance checklist.
6. Service flow
Application time limit: You must submit the service purchase request at least 15 days before the service start date.
Service flow
7. Acceptance criteria
7.1. Acceptance criteria
1. Party B provides Party A with technical consulting and guidance for cost management, helps improve Party A's cloud cost operation capabilities, and records the analysis and optimization plan in a document. Therefore, Party A will confirm acceptance by reviewing the submitted document to ensure its content meets all requirements.
2. If Party A's business processes require internal reviews before the deliverables are submitted, Party A must complete these reviews and any associated reporting in a timely manner before the agreed-upon acceptance point.
3. If a document requires modification after a review, Alibaba Cloud will make the changes and resubmit it for your acceptance. If you have no further objections, your designated representative must provide confirmation online or in writing (such as by email) within 5 business days. For the list of deliverables, see section 7.2 Acceptance checklist.
7.2. Acceptance checklist
ID | Service phase | Deliverable | Deliverable type |
Cost Management Service | Service kickoff | Cost Management Service Statement of Work | Document |
Cost analysis | Resource Tag System Resource Grouping System Cost Center Report Cost Analysis Report Cost Trend Report Budget Consumption Alert | Document | |
Cost optimization | Cost Optimization Training Resource Analysis Report Resource Optimization Plan Resource Governance Plan | Document | |
Cost operations | Cost operations system Resource Management Platform Monitoring Management Platform Cost Operations Platform | SaaS Training | |
Acceptance phase | Cost Management Service Acceptance Report | Document |
8. Completion criteria
The service is complete after Party B submits the deliverables and Party A's designated representative signs for acceptance.