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Cost Optimization Review

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Use Case Overview

• Monthly cost reviews
• Budget planning
• Cost reduction initiatives
• Resource optimization
• Right-sizing exercises

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Workflow

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Step 1: Analyze Current Costs

1. Upload Infrastructure as Code to Cloudeval
2. Generate cost estimate - See current infrastructure costs
3. Review cost breakdown - By resource type, region, environment
4. Identify cost drivers - What’s driving costs

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Step 2: Identify Optimization Opportunities

1. Open Cost Optimization panel
2. Review recommendations - Prioritized by savings potential
3. Categorize opportunities - Right-sizing, reservations, storage, etc.
4. Assess risks - Understand impact of changes

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Step 3: Evaluate Recommendations

1. Review each recommendation - Understand the change
2. Check savings potential - How much can be saved
3. Assess risk - Impact on performance/availability
4. Prioritize - Focus on high-impact, low-risk changes

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Step 4: Plan Implementation

1. Create implementation plan - Step-by-step changes
2. Test changes - Verify in non-production first
3. Schedule changes - Plan rollout
4. Monitor impact - Track cost savings

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Step 5: Implement and Verify

1. Apply changes - Edit templates with recommendations
2. Re-analyze costs - Verify savings
3. Deploy changes - Roll out to production
4. Track results - Monitor actual savings

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Key Optimization Areas

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Right-Sizing Resources

• Over-provisioned VMs
• Under-utilized databases
• Oversized storage
• Unnecessary premium features

Recommendation: Right-size VM 'vm-web-server'
Current: Standard_D4s_v3 (4 vCPU, 16GB) - $292/month
Recommended: Standard_D2s_v3 (2 vCPU, 8GB) - $146/month
Savings: $146/month (50% reduction)
Risk: Low - Monitor usage to confirm

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Reserved Instances

• Long-running VMs
• Predictable workloads
• Databases with steady usage
• Storage with consistent access

Recommendation: Use Reserved Instances for 'vm-database'
Current: Pay-as-you-go - $350/month
With 1-year RI: $245/month (30% savings)
With 3-year RI: $175/month (50% savings)
Annual Savings: $1,260 - $2,100

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Storage Optimization

• Premium storage where standard works
• Inefficient storage tiers
• Unused storage accounts
• Missing lifecycle management

Recommendation: Optimize storage tier for 'stg-archive'
Current: Premium LRS - $0.15/GB/month
Recommended: Cool Blob Storage - $0.01/GB/month
Savings: 93% reduction for infrequently accessed data

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Database Optimization

• Over-provisioned database tiers
• Unused databases
• Missing auto-pause for dev/test
• Inefficient service tiers

Recommendation: Optimize dev database 'db-dev'
Current: S2 tier always-on - $75/month
Recommended: Basic tier with auto-pause - $5/month
Savings: $70/month (93% reduction)

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Network Cost Optimization

• Unused public IPs
• Inefficient traffic routing
• Missing CDN for static content
• Over-provisioned bandwidth

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Cost Review Scenarios

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Scenario 1: Monthly Cost Review

1. Upload current templates - All environments
2. Generate cost report - Current spending
3. Review recommendations - Optimization opportunities
4. Prioritize changes - High-impact, low-risk first
5. Plan implementation - Schedule changes
6. Track savings - Monitor results

• Cost estimation
• Optimization recommendations
• Cost reports
• Implementation tracking

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Scenario 2: Budget Planning

1. Upload planned templates - Future infrastructure
2. Estimate costs - Projected spending
3. Compare to budget - Check alignment
4. Identify optimizations - Reduce if needed
5. Create budget proposal - Document costs
6. Get approval - Stakeholder sign-off

• Cost estimation
• Cost comparison
• Optimization analysis
• Budget reports

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Scenario 3: Cost Reduction Initiative

1. Baseline current costs - Document starting point
2. Identify all opportunities - Comprehensive analysis
3. Prioritize by impact - Focus on biggest savings
4. Plan implementation - Phased approach
5. Implement changes - Roll out optimizations
6. Verify savings - Track actual reductions
7. Report results - Document achievements

• Cost analysis
• Optimization recommendations
• Implementation planning
• Savings tracking

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Best Practices

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Regular Reviews

• Monthly - Quick optimization reviews
• Quarterly - Comprehensive analysis
• After Changes - Review cost impact
• Budget Cycles - Align with planning

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Prioritize by Impact

1. High Savings, Low Risk - Easy wins
2. High Savings, Medium Risk - Plan carefully
3. Medium Savings, Low Risk - Quick improvements
4. Low Savings - Evaluate effort vs. benefit

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Test Before Production

• Test in dev/test - Verify changes work
• Monitor impact - Check performance
• Validate savings - Confirm cost reduction
• Roll out gradually - Phased deployment

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Track Results

• Estimated savings - Projected reductions
• Actual savings - Realized reductions
• Implementation rate - Changes applied
• ROI - Return on optimization effort

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Integration with FinOps

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Cost Allocation

• By team - Team-level costs
• By project - Project costs
• By environment - Dev/test/prod
• By resource type - Resource category costs

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Budget Management

• Budget vs. actual - Spending comparison
• Forecasting - Projected costs
• Alerts - Budget threshold warnings
• Reporting - Cost reports for stakeholders

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Chargeback/Showback

• Team costs - Charge teams for usage
• Project costs - Track project spending
• Cost transparency - Show actual costs
• Incentivize optimization - Reward cost savings

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Next Steps

• Cost Optimization Feature - Learn about cost features
• Export & Share - Share cost reports
• Getting Started - Learn the basics
• Architecture Planning - Related use case