FinOps Dashboards
FinOps Dashboards Overview
Finout offers the flexibility to build tailor-made dashboards specifically designed for cloud cost management purposes. Whether you need to track cost trends, analyze cost breakdowns, or monitor cost allocation across different projects or departments, our dashboard customization options have got you covered.
You can create personalized dashboards that cater to the unique requirements of various stakeholders, such as finance teams, IT managers, or executives. Our platform allows you to select from a variety of cost visualization widgets, charts, and forecasts to present cost data in a way that is most meaningful and actionable for you and your stakeholders.
Finout supports the following dashboard widgets:
Cost & Usage: Provides a consolidated view of your cloud services' spending and resource usage. It tracks cost data to analyze spending trends and visualizes usage patterns over time for efficient monitoring and analysis.
Unit Economics: The Unit Economics widget enables users to perform computations between cost and telemetry data, offering a comprehensive view of financial and operational metrics. It provides the ability to define and track business KPIs within the platform, helping businesses monitor performance and make informed decisions.
Text: Provides a space for adding custom text, notes, hyperlinks, or descriptions to your dashboard. This widget is useful for adding context, instructions, URLs, or annotations to your dashboard for better clarity and communication.
CostGuard: Integrates with the CostGuard feature to display insights and alerts on cost-saving opportunities. It highlights areas of potential waste, underutilized resources, and optimization recommendations to reduce cloud costs.
Governance: Designed to provide visibility into your cloud non-compliant costs and resources. This widget allows you to monitor tagging governance, ensuring all resources adhere to your organization's tagging policies and analyze non-compliant costs by Virtual Tags, teams, environments, or cost centers.
Financial Plans: Enables you to plan your company's annual financial plan and expected budgets so that you can allocate accordingly by planning, managing, and monitoring cloud spending. This ensures alignment with business goals and prevents budget overruns. Financial plans enable you to create a budget per unit cost to address the fluctuation of unit-based pricing and cloud spend.
Multi-Dimensional Widget: Build powerful table visualizations in your dashboards using layering multiple dimensions. It’s ideal for exploring complex cost and usage data and can be easily shared in reports for deeper analysis across teams.
Anomalies: Detects and displays unusual patterns or spikes in your cloud spending or resource usage. This widget is coming soon.
By building tailor-made dashboards for cloud cost management, you can gain better visibility into cost drivers, identify cost-saving opportunities, and make informed decisions to optimize your cloud expenditure. Whether you want to track cost by service, region, or specific resource groups, our customizable dashboards empower you to focus on the metrics and insights that matter most to your organization.
How to Create FinOps Dashboards
In Finout, navigate to Dashboards.
The Dashboard page appears. ​
Click on Create Dashboard.
The Create Dashboard page appears.
Click on Add Widget.
The Add Widget sidebar appears.
Choose a widget for your dashboard from a list of available templates or recently saved widgets. Choose from the following widgets:
Multi-dimensional ​ Go to the specific widget procedure to complete the dashboard setup.
Manage Dashboards
Customizing Your Dashboard
Customize your dashboard to fit your unique needs and preferences. With customizable options, such as widgets, time parameters, and notifications, you can prioritize the most relevant information, creating a more focused and efficient dashboard. Whether you want to highlight key metrics, adjust layouts, or personalize the look and feel, customizing your dashboard empowers you to streamline data visualization and make better-informed decisions.
Give your dashboard a name
Simply enter a name that accurately reflects the purpose or content of your dashboard.
Add more widgets to your dashboard
Click Add Widget at the top right of the screen.
Choose a widget for your dashboard from a list of available templates or recently saved widgets. Choose from the following widgets:
Multi-dimensional Go to the specific widget procedure to complete the dashboard setup.
Time parameters for your dashboard
Define the timeframe and interval settings globally for the entire dashboard.
Important: Implementing a dashboard-wide timeframe or interval will override the settings of individual widgets. When these changes are made, you'll receive an alert. A detailed filter overview will also be available to show which widget settings have been affected.
Removing time parameters from a dashboard
Select the "X" next to the specified timeframe or interval. Once removed, the dashboard widgets will revert to their default settings.
After removing a setting, at any time, you can return to your prior configurations by selecting Back to dashboard settings.
To edit a widget:
Click on the three dots icon and click Edit Widget.
You are brought to the widget builder.
Make the necessary changes.
Duplicating a widget
Click on the three dots icon to reveal a dropdown menu of options and select the Duplicate Widget.
The widget is duplicated.
Removing a widget from a dashboard
Click on the three dots icon to reveal a dropdown menu of options and select Remove from the dashboard. The widget is removed.
Export a widget to CSV
Click on the three dots icon and select Remove from dashboard. ​
The widget is removed.
Dashboard Settings
In Finout, navigate to Dashboards. A list of your dashboards appears. ​
Select the relevant dashboard. The Dashboard overview appears.​
Click
and then click Dashboard Settings. The Dashboard Settings side-window appears.
Edit the following fields:
Dashboard Name: Edit the name of your dashboard.
Default Timeframe and Interval:
Time Frame (optional): Select a default timeframe for your dashboard.
Time Interval (optional): Select a default time interval for all widgets on your dashboard. Once saved, the chosen parameters will appear at the top of your dashboard. ​
Important: Implementing a dashboard-wide timeframe or interval will override the settings of individual widgets.
Enable ACL Permissions: ​
Note: This feature is coming soon​
ACL permissions are disabled by default, meaning all users can view or edit based on their specific role or access. See Role-Based Access Control for more information.
Optionally enable ACL permissions to define read and write permissions on a dashboard for specific users and groups. ​Note: Enabling ACL on a dashboard overrides user role permissions, except for admins. Admins maintain read and write permissions to the dashboard. There are three modes with ACL permissions:
Public: Everyone in your organization has this permission to the object.
Private: Only admins have this permission to the object.
Shared: You must define users and/or groups.
5.Click Save. Your settings are saved.
Open widget in MegaBill
Creating automatic report notifications for your dashboards
With Finout, you can set up daily, weekly, or monthly reports based on your dashboards. These reports can be conveniently delivered to your email or shared as Slack messages.
To create a report for a specific dashboard, simply navigate to the dashboard view and click on the Subscribe button. This will initiate the process of setting up a report specifically tailored to that dashboard.
Enter a Report Name.
Enter a Report Description.
Select a dashboard.
In the Choose an endpoint, either select a Slack endpoint or enter an email address.
Select a Report time frame (Daily, Weekly, or Monthly) and the required number of days, weeks, or months.
Select the Interval (daily, weekly, or monthly). This defines how often the report will be sent.
For weekly, select the Day of the Week.
For monthly, select the Day of the Month.
Select the time to Send at and the Time Zone.
Click Save Report.
Clone and Delete your Dashboard
Under the Dashboard feature, you can access a list of your custom dashboards. You can clone or delete any custom dashboard. To do so, navigate to the dashboard list and click on the three dots for the dashboard you want to clone or delete.
Additional Dashboard Options
Under the Dashboard feature, you can access a list of your custom dashboards. For any custom dashboard, you have the flexibility to clone or delete it. Simply click on the three dots icon to reveal the respective options.
Cost and Usage Widgets
Finout's cost and usage widgets are designed to assist in effectively monitoring cloud spending and service utilization. The cost widget offers insights into the financial aspects of your cloud services, enabling systematic tracking and analysis of expenditure over time. The usage widget facilitates the visualization of service consumption, aiding in the easy monitoring and analysis of usage patterns and trends.
To create a new cost and usage widget:
In Finout, navigate to Dashboards. A list of your dashboards appears.
Select the relevant dashboard. The Dashboard overview appears.​
Select Add widget. The Add Widget popup appears. ​
Choose Cost or Usage. The Cost or Usage widget builder appears.
​
Name your widget: Click
and add a name. ​
​
Data type selection: Choose which metric to display: Cost or Usage. ​
You can enable one of the following layers: Trend Projection or Computational.
Trend Projection Layer
Enables users to generate future-oriented estimations based on past and current data trends. This layer utilizes selected time frames to provide projected trends, helping in strategic planning and decision-making.
How is it calculated? The trend projection uses a linear forecast based on cost and usage data from the lookback period. It calculates the difference between the total cost on the last day with available data and the cost on the first day, then divides this by the number of days in the period. This result is then either accumulated over the projected period or displayed as an incremental daily change. ​ ​Functionality:
Trend Identification: Based on the analysis of historical data, the trend line identifies the general direction of the data trend, using linear forecast method.
Forecasting: Using linear forecast algorithm, the trend line extrapolates future data points beyond the available dataset. It generates forecast of future values based on the observed trend, enabling users to anticipate future trends and plan accordingly.
Visualization: See the trend line alongside the actual data points in a visual form, making it easier to identify deviations from the trend and data-driven decisions. ​
​Use cases:
Budget Projections: Users can leverage the trend projection layer to understand future cloud costs based on historical spending trends. By selecting relevant time frames, such as the past month, users can generate estimates of future cost trends and plan resource allocation more effectively.
Capacity Planning: Users can predict future resource utilization and capacity requirements. By analyzing past usage patterns and projecting trends forward, users can anticipate changes in demand, optimize resource allocation, avoid over-provisioning or under-provisioning, and ensure smooth operation of cloud environments.
Cost Optimization Strategies: Users can identify potential cost-saving opportunities by forecasting future cost trends. By analyzing historical cost data and projecting future spending patterns, users can proactively identify areas where cost optimization measures can be implemented. This includes optimizing resource utilization, rightsizing instances, leveraging reserved instances or savings plans, and adopting cost-effective pricing models. ​ ​​To enable a trend projection layer:
a)Click Trend Projection. The Trend Projection Settings appears.
​​
b)Choose Projection Technique - Choose the method for the projected trend. Currently, only linear forecast is supported.
c)Set Lookback period - Set the historical period for calculating projections.
d)Set Projection Period - Set the timeframe for displaying projections.
e)Set Trend Display Settings: Incremental or Cumulative Incremental - Represents the cost or usage for each individual period only (e.g., that day, week, or month), adding values from previous periods. Cumulative - Represents the total value accumulated up to that point.
The Trend Projection layer is set.​​ Computational Layer
The Computational layer allows you to add computation capabilities to define and track business KPIs by setting operators between metrics, enabling comparisons and calculations between costs and usages, or a combination of both. The results of these operations can be visualized directly within your widgets, providing a powerful means for custom analysis and deeper insights. ​ ​Computations layer combinations: ​ ​Cost and Cost:
Cost / Cost: Cost Ratio
Cost - Cost: Cost Difference
Cost + Cost: Cost Aggregation
Cost % Cost: Cost Percentage Difference
​Usage and Usage:
Usage / Usage: Usage Ratio
Usage - Usage: Usage Difference
Usage + Usage: Usage Aggregation
Usage % Usage: Usage Percentage Difference
​​​Cost and Usage:
Cost / Usage: Price per unit (e.g., dollars per CPU hour).
​Usage and Cost:
Usage / Cost: Efficiency measure (e.g., CPU hours per dollar).
​​​To enable a computational layer:
a)Click Computational. The computational layer popup appears.
b) Enter a name for the computational layer.
c) Choose the Cost /Usage computational data points: ​For Cost:
Choose the filters that you want to use.
Choose cost type. See Cost and Usage Types for an explanation of all the cost types.
For Usage:
Choose the filters that you want to use.
Choose usage and unit type. See Cost and Usage Types for an explanation of all the usage and unit types.
d)Click Save. You are brought back to the configuration page.
8. Widget Main Settings -
Customize the time frame and interval: Modify the time frame and time interval displayed in the widget to a different range.
Load from view : Select a created and saved view from the MegaBill to use its configuration.
Choose Filters : Select which cost data to view. When loading from view, the filters will be populated automatically.
Group By: Select value to group the cost/usage data by.
X-Axis grouping: For bar, or table visualization, decide whether the X-axis will show dates or values.
Daily Average: Toggle-on to view the daily average over time for Cost or Usage widgets in the bar and table visualizations. When looking at monthly and weekly reports, understanding the daily average cost over time is crucial as it uncovers spending trends that total cost can hide.
Define X-Axis grouping - Define the X-Axis of the visual by selecting a key.
Display - Choose Cost/Usage or Cost Delta/Usage Delta. The Delta visualization layer highlights differences between two points in time, helping to identify trends. How is it calculated? Each bar in the graph represents the change from the previous bar based on the selected interval. For example, if the costs are:
January: $20,000
February: $25,000
March: $35,000
The graph will display:
February delta: $25,000 - $20,000 = $5,000
March delta: $35,000 - $25,000 = $10,000
For each selected interval, the bars represent the difference in cost compared to the previous period—daily compares to the previous day, weekly to the previous week, and so on.
9. Widget Advanced Settings -
Choose a cost type for the widget. See Cost Types and Usage for all of the cost types.
Enable event annotations to display them on specific dates, making it easier for teams to collaborate and highlight key insights directly in Finout.
Add a Description.
10. Select a visualization type (bar, line, pie, table, or numeric) that best suits your cost/usage data.
Your widget is configured.
Unit Economics Widget
The Unit Economics widget in Finout is designed to help modern enterprises generate accurate unit economics by linking cloud costs directly to business outcomes. By performing computations between cost and telemetry data, users gain a comprehensive view of both financial and operational metrics. This powerful tool enables businesses to define and track key performance indicators (KPIs) within the platform, providing the insights needed to optimize cloud investments, forecast costs, and make informed decisions at scale.
In the era of advanced FinOps, where precise cost allocation is essential, the Unit Economics widget empowers users to align their cloud spending with business value. Whether tracking metrics like cost per transaction, cost per detection, or cost per document indexed, this widget enables businesses to evaluate profitability, optimize resource allocation, and ensure that cloud investments drive measurable outcomes.
By simplifying the complex task of breaking down costs by usage and aligning shared costs across departments, the Unit Economics widget offers enterprises a streamlined, automated approach to managing cloud spend effectively. ​ ​To create a new unit economics widget:
In Finout, navigate to Dashboards. A list of your dashboards appears. ​
Select the relevant dashboard. The Dashboard overview appears.​
Select Add widget. The Add Widget popup appears. ​
Choose Unit Economics. The Unit Economic widget builder appears.
Name your widget: Click
and add a name. ​
You can choose between a stand-alone Telemetry widget, or you can enable a specialized layer by clicking Unit Economics. The Unit Economics pop-up appears.
Unit Economics configuration:
Enter the widget name.
Cost:
Load View - Select a created and saved view from the MegaBill to use its configuration.
Filters
Group by
Choose a cost type: See Cost and Usage Types for an explanation of all cost types.
Telemetry: Telemetry refers to any data measurements that users intend to incorporate into Finout. This includes any metrics or data points that can be leveraged to enhance insights, enable monitoring, or assist in managing costs within the platform. See the Telemetry documentation for more information.
Telemetry name
Filters
Telemetry Group by: The Group By selection must match the Cost Group By. If the selections do not align, no data will be displayed.
Click Save. You are brought back to the configurations page.
Widget Main Settings -
Customize the time frame and interval: Modify the time frame and time interval displayed in the widget to a different range.
Telemetry selection: Telemetry refers to any data measurements that users intend to incorporate into Finout. This includes any metrics or data points that can be leveraged to enhance insights, enable monitoring, or assist in managing costs within the platform. See the Telemetry documentation for more information.
Load from view: Select a created and saved view from the MegaBill to use its configuration.
Choose Filters: Select which cost data to view. When loading from view, the filters will be populated automatically.
Group By: Select a value to group the cost/usage data by.
X-Axis grouping: For bar or table visualization, decide whether the X-axis will show dates or values.
Widget Advanced Settings -
Choose a cost type for the widget. See Cost Types and Usage for all of the cost types.
Scale Factor
Enable event annotations to display them on specific dates, making it easier for teams to collaborate and highlight key insights directly in Finout.
Add a Description.
Select a visualization type (bar, line, pie, table, or numeric) that best suits your cost/usage data.
Click Save.
Your widget is configured.
Text Widget
Provides a space for adding custom text, notes, or descriptions to your dashboard. This widget is useful for adding context, instructions, or annotations to your dashboard for better clarity and communication.
To create a new text widget:
In Finout, navigate to Dashboards. A list of your dashboards appears. ​
Select the relevant dashboard. The Dashboard overview appears.​
Select Add Widget. The Add Widget popup appears.
The budget widget builder appears.
Type in the free text, choose a color and select an alignment and font size.
Click Save. The widget is created.
CostGuard Widget
The CostGuard widget in Finout is a powerful tool designed to help you identify cost optimization opportunities within your infrastructure. Now part of your dashboards, it is positioned as a key focus within your top interest points, making it easier than ever to streamline cost savings. This feature integrates seamlessly with MegaBill, enabling you to pinpoint areas ripe for cost savings across Virtual Tags, teams, environments, and cost centers in one centralized location. By using the CostGuard widget, you can streamline your cost optimization efforts, making it easy to identify and act on potential savings, ultimately maximizing your cloud investment. For more information about CostGuard, refer to the main documentation.
To create a new CostGuard widget:
In Finout, navigate to Dashboards. A list of your dashboards appears.
Select the relevant dashboard.
The Dashboard overview appears.​
Select Add Widget and then choose CostGuard from the presented options.
The CostGuard widget builder is presented.
Name your widget: Click
and add a name.
Choose a metric:
Waste - historical waste based on internal and external data, wasted cost according to the scan.
Scanned cost - total cost of resources eligible to be scanned for waste (will always have a higher value than the waste value of the same resource).
Both - You can select both metrics.
Widget main settings:
Select Scans - Select the scans that you would like to drill down:
All (Default)
Idle
Rightsizing
Specific scans from the dropdown
Load View - Select a created and saved view from the MegaBill to use its configuration.
Choose Filters - Choose filters from the filter component window.
Group By - Choose from the following:
None
MegaBill key
Scans - Group by the scan name.
Resources - Group by the resource ID.
Set time resolution - Daily or Yearly.
Operator - Sum or Average.
Transpose Table - Change the order of the columns and rows. The rows will become the column keys.
Widget advanced settings:
Add a description to the widget.
Select a visualization type (pie, table, or numeric) that best suits your widget.
Click Save.
Your widget is configured.
Note: - This widget will not be impacted by the dashboard's time filter, as each CostGuard has its own unique calculation interval. - The configure widget will have a CostGuard button that shows the widgets data filtered in CostGuard.
Governance Widget
The Governance widget is designed to provide visibility into your cloud non-compliant costs and resources. This widget allows you to monitor tagging governance, ensuring all resources adhere to your organization's tagging policies and analyze non-compliant costs by Virtual Tags, teams, environments, or cost centers. For more information about Governance, refer to the main documentation.
To create a new Governance widget:
In Finout, navigate to Dashboards. A list of your dashboards appears. ​
Select the relevant dashboard. The Dashboard overview appears.​
Select Add Widget. The Add Widget popup appears. ​
The governance widget builder appears.
Name your widget: Click
and add a name. ​
Choose a metric: Non-compliant cost - the cost of the non-compliant resources
Widget main settings:
Select Policies - Select the policies that you would like to drill down:
All (Default)
Untagged Resources
Unapproved Values
Specific policies from the dropdown
Load from View - Select a created and saved view from the MegaBill to use its configuration.
Choose Filters - Choose filters from the filter component window.
Group By - Choose from the following:
None
MegaBill key
Policies - Group by the policy name.
Resources - Group by the resource ID.
Transpose Table - Change the order of the columns and rows. The rows will become the column keys.
Widget advanced settings:
Add a description to the widget.
Select a visualization type (pie, table, or numeric) that best suits your widget.
Table visualization shows:
The chosen metric data
% Non-compliant cost - The percentage of non-compliant costs for the last day of data.
Non-compliant resources - The number of non-compliant resources for the last day of data.
% Non-compliant resources - The percentage of non-compliant resources for the last day of data.
Click Save. Your widget is configured.
Financial Plan Widget
The Financial Plan widget in Finout is a powerful tool to help you set and track financial goals for your cloud spending. It allows you to compare actual expenses with planned budgets and run rates, offering a clear view of your financial progress. With the Financial Plan widget, you can monitor how your spending aligns with your targets, pinpoint areas needing adjustments, and make data-driven decisions to optimize your cloud costs.
For more information about the financial plans, refer to the main documentation.
To create a new financial plan widget:
In Finout, navigate to Dashboards. A list of your dashboards appears.
Select the relevant dashboard. The Dashboard overview appears.​
Select Add Widget. The Add Widget popup appears.
Click Financial Plan. The Financial Plan Widget Creation popup appears.
Select a financial plan and click Continue. The financial plan widget builder appears.
Name your widget: Click
and add a name.
Metric selection: Determine which metrics to display. You can select more than one metric. Available metrics:
Budget (selected by default) - displays the financial plan budget values
Cost (Selected by default) - displays the actual cost
Forecast - displays the forecast that was generated during the financial plan creation.
Run Rate ​- displays the end of month estimated cost based on the past 30 days of spending.
Enable a specialization layer (optional).
Computational layer
The Computational Layer allows for the creation of custom ratio metrics. This is achieved by performing mathematical operations, such as division, subtraction, or percentage calculations between any two data points you select. The results of these operations can be visualized directly within your widgets, providing a powerful means for custom analysis and deeper insights.
With the computational layer you can combine different data sources to create meaningful ratios, such as cost-to-revenue, to monitor efficiency or other key performance indicators
How to use the computational layer:
Choose the two data points you want to use; cost, budget, run rate or forecast.
Select the mathematical operation (division, subtraction, percentage) to apply to your chosen data points.
Once your custom metric is created, it will appear as an additional visualization in your widget.
Example: You can create a metric to represent cloud spending as a percentage of the total budget. This visualization provides valuable insights by highlighting the proportion of your budget allocated to cloud expenses, helping you evaluate spending efficiency and guide strategic budgeting decisions.
Widget main settings:
Date customization (optional): adjust the financial plan date and interval displayed in the widget.
Filter on financial plan values: Select specific financial plan values to display. You have the option to group by these values.
Group-By financial Plan keys - Allows to group by any of the keys of the financial plan. Once enabled, you must select the key for the group by
X-Axis configuration: For bar, line, or table widgets, decide whether the X-axis will show dates by default.
For Numeric widgets, select either sum or average as the calculation method.
Widget advanced settings:
Choose a cost type to show the actual cost.
Enable event annotations to display them on specific dates, making it easier for teams to collaborate and highlight key insights directly in Finout.
Add a Description.
Select a visualization type (bar, line, table, or numeric) that best suits your cost/usage data.
Click Save. Your widget is configured.
Multi-Dimensional Widget
The Multi-Dimensional Widget lets you build powerful table visualizations in your dashboards using layering multiple dimensions. It’s ideal for exploring complex cost and usage data and can be easily shared in reports for deeper analysis across teams.
To create a new multi-dimensional widget:
In Finout, navigate to Dashboards. A list of your dashboards appears.
Select the relevant dashboard. The Dashboard overview appears.​
Select Add Widget. The Add Widget popup appears.
Click Multi-dimensional. The Multi-dimensional Widget Creation popup appears.
Name your widget: Click
Widget Main Settings:
Time Frame and Interval: Customize the time frame and time interval displayed in the widget to a different range.
Filters - Choose virtual tags, cost centers, and their keys.
Dimensions: Choose dimensions to appear in your widget.
Measurement: Select one of the following measurements. (Required for Bar and Line views)
Cost/Usage data: Choose the cost type and specify aggregation.
Cost type:
Net Amortized Cost
Amortized Cost
Unblended Cost
Net Unblended Cost
Blended Cost
Effective Cost
Net Effective Cost
List Cost
FairShare Cost
Net FairShare Cost
Usage Amount
Normalized Usage Amount
Specify aggregation activities for the report: Sum, Average, Minimum, or Maximum.
Dimensional Analysis: Count the number of unique values within a specific dimension or count the total number of entries or occurrences within a dimension, including duplicates. For a full explanation, see Dimension Analysis.
Select operator: Count Distinct or Count
Select a Dimension. Click
to add another dimension.
Finout predefined queries: (Required for Bar and Line views) The Resource Normalized Runtime metric provides a measure of how long resources were operational within a specified timeframe and normalized according to the total hours in that timeframe. For a full explanation, see Predefined Queries.
Column Management: Reorder and rename the columns that will appear in the table. (Available for the Table view only)
Order by: Set the order of the data table. (Available for the Table view only)
Result: The table will reflect a preview of the widget with the main settings inputs.
Advanced Settings:
Number of top values: Set how many top values to display in the graph. All remaining values will be grouped under ‘Others’. (Available for Bar and Line views only)
Description: Add a description and decide if you want to show that description or not . (Available for Bar, Line, and Table views)
Click Save. Result: The widget is created and appears in the dashboard.
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