Cost Assignment

The Cost Assignment module in CloudPi enables users to allocate cloud expenses accurately by applying rules and grouping resources into projects. This ensures each cloud cost is traceable to a specific department, team, or function.

Overview

Cost Assignment helps organizations:

Allocate Costs Accurately – Assign cloud spending to the right teams, departments, or projects
Enable Chargeback/Showback – Provide transparent cost visibility for internal billing
Track Cost by Dimensions – Monitor spending by tags, accounts, regions, or services
Identify Unassigned Costs – Find and address cost leaks in your cloud environment
Enforce Accountability – Make teams responsible for their cloud consumption

Understanding the Rules

Create and manage cloud cost allocation rules using provider-specific metadata like tags and accounts. Monitor costs at both organization and rules levels.

Navigating to Cost Assignment

From the main navigation menu, click on Cost Assignment
You'll see two main tabs:
Rules - Define cost allocation rules
Projects - Manage projects and view allocated costs

Rules Section Overview

This is the rules section where users define the allocation rule by selecting different filters.

Creating a Cost Assignment Rule

Step 1: Select Billed Month

First, the user selects the Billed Month to specify the billing cycle for which the cost assignment rule should apply (for example, June 2025).

Step 2: Choose Cloud Service Provider

Then, they choose a Cloud Service Provider such as AWS, Azure, or GCP depending on the source of the cloud bill.

Step 3: Select Organization

Next, the Organization Name is selected to identify which organization the rule applies to.

Step 4: Choose Organizational Unit (Optional)

If the organization has different teams or departments, the user can further refine the scope by choosing an Organizational Unit like DEV, QA, or FINANCE.

Step 5: Select Rule Type

After that, the user selects the Rule Type, which defines how the cost should be allocated—whether it's based on: - Account IDs only (A-type) - Account IDs + Region (AR-type) - Account IDs + Tags (AT-type) - Account IDs + Region + Tags (ART-type) - Tags only (T-type)

Step 6: Choose Subaccount (if applicable)

If the rule type includes accounts, the user will need to choose a Subaccount to target the specific cloud account.

Step 7: Select Region (Optional)

Optionally, the user can narrow the scope even further by selecting a Region (such as us-east-1 or ap-south-1) to apply the rule only to resources running in a specific location.

Step 8: Define Tags (Optional)

To assign cost based on resource metadata, the user can define Tags. This involves: - Entering a Tag Key (like env, project, or owner) - Entering one or more Tag Values (like production, cloudpi, or teamA) - Clicking Add Tag to include the tag filter in the rule

Step 9: Apply and Review

Once all required filters are selected, the user clicks Apply to view the cost distribution.

Step 10: Create Rule

If the setup is valid and doesn't conflict with existing rules, the user can proceed to click Create Rule.

Cost Overview

This section displays key cost metrics to help you understand the cost distribution:

Total Cost – All cloud spends for selected filters, displayed in a summary card at the top
Assigned Cost – Portion already assigned by other rules, shows what percentage of total cost is allocated
Unassigned Cost – Portion not assigned by any rule, highlights cost leaks that need attention
Visual Representation – A pie chart displays the percentage of assigned vs unassigned cost with color-coded segments
Unassigned Cost Breakdown – Shows which subaccounts have unallocated spending with dollar amounts and percentages

Rule Types

When creating a cost allocation rule, the type of rule generated depends on the filters you select. In CloudPi, the type of rule created depends on the selected filters.

Rule Type Matrix

Account only (A) – Account-based allocation. Use case: Simple project with single account
Account + Region (AR) – Account and region-based allocation. Use case: Multi-region deployments
Account + Tags (AT) – Account and tag-based allocation. Use case: Tagged resources within account
Account + Region + Tags (ART) – Full dimensional allocation. Use case: Complex multi-region, tagged environments
Tags only (T) – Tag-based allocation. Use case: Cross-account tag-based allocation

Examples:

A-type rule - Selecting only an account creates an A-type rule
AR-type rule - Adding a region changes it to AR
AT-type rule - Adding tags changes it to AT
ART-type rule - Adding both region and tags creates ART
T-type rule - If only tags are selected without an account, a T-type rule is generated—ideal for cross-account tag-based allocation

Rules Table Overview

Once you create rules, they are listed in a table at the bottom of the Rules page. This table gives you a full overview of all defined rules and their properties.

For each rule, you'll see:

Rule ID – A unique identifier for the rule
Rule Type – The type (A, AR, AT, ART, or T) based on the filter combination
Organization – The organization the rule is assigned to
Filters – The specific filters used in the rule (like subaccount, region, or tag key-values)
Allocated Cost – Total cost assigned by this rule
Status – Active, Inactive, or Conflict
Actions – Edit, Delete, or View buttons

Managing Rules

Edit a Rule:

Click the Edit button in the Actions column
Modify filters as needed
Review the updated cost allocation
Click Update Rule

Delete a Rule:

Click the Delete button in the Actions column
Confirm deletion in the popup
Note: Deleting a rule will un-assign costs previously allocated by that rule

View Rule Details:

Click the View button to see comprehensive rule information
Review cost allocation breakdown
See affected resources and accounts

Rule Conflicts and Overlaps

This table helps you easily track, review, and manage all the cost assignment rules in one place.

Important Considerations:

Check for any rule conflicts or overlapping conditions
If you see a warning message about cost overlap, review and resolve the conflict
CloudPi highlights rules with conflicts in yellow/red
Overlapping rules can lead to double-counting or incorrect allocations

Resolving Conflicts:

Identify the conflicting rules (marked with warning icons)
Review the filters of each conflicting rule
Adjust filters to remove overlap
Consider rule priority or specificity
Re-validate cost allocation after changes

Projects

The Projects Page under the Cost Assignment module allows users to manage and track cloud costs at a project level. This is where users can view all existing projects, create new ones, and update or delete them as needed.

Viewing Projects

When you navigate to the Projects page, you'll see a list of all existing project groups displayed with:

Number of projects in each group
Cost of the group for the current month
Trend indicator (increasing/decreasing)

Click on a project group to expand and view the projects it contains.

The following details will be shown for each project:

Project ID – Unique project identifier
Project Name – Name of the project
Description – Brief project description
Project Owner – Team or person responsible
Cost – Total allocated cost for current month
Status – Active, Inactive, or Archived
Actions – View, Edit, Delete options

This table provides an overview of all active projects and their configurations.

Creating a Project

To create a new project, click the "Create Project" button located at the top of the page.

Upon clicking, a form modal will open where the user needs to fill in the required project information.

The form includes the following fields:

Project Name (Required) – A unique name to identify the project
Project Group (Required) – Used to group related projects together
Description (Required) – A summary explaining the purpose of the project
Cloud Service Provider (CSP) (Required) – Choose between AWS, Azure, or GCP
Organization Name (Required) – The organizational unit the project belongs to
Rules (Required) – Select one or more existing cost assignment rules to link to this project
Project Icon (Optional) – Optionally, choose an icon to visually represent the project
Enable Self Tag (Optional) – If enabled, all resources with a tag matching the project ID will be automatically associated with this project

Steps to Create:

Click Create Project
Fill in all required fields
Select one or more cost assignment rules
Optionally, enable Self Tag for automatic resource association
Choose a project icon (optional)
Click Create Project to finalize

Once created:

The newly created project will appear in the project list
The project status will reflect its configuration
Costs will be allocated based on the selected rules

Managing Existing Projects

Users can manage projects using the action buttons available in the Actions column:

View/Edit:

Click the Edit icon to update project details such as:
Rules
Name
Description
Project group assignment
Cloud service provider
Self-tag settings

Delete:

Click the Delete icon to decommission or remove a project permanently
Warning: Deleting a project will remove cost allocations associated with it
A confirmation prompt will appear before deletion

Permissions

Access to Cost Assignment is role-based:

Workspace Admin - Full access to create, edit, delete rules and projects

Project Admin - Can create projects and rules for their organization

Finance Team - View-only access to cost allocations and reports

Project User - View assigned project costs only

Cost Assignment in CloudPi ensures accurate, transparent, and actionable cost allocation across your entire cloud environment, enabling effective financial management and accountability.