Business Metrics in Cloudability

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Overview

Business Metrics allow you to organize your cloud infrastructure to match your business needs. These custom metrics enable you to create meaningful reports that align with your organization's specific financial and operational requirements.

What are Business Metrics?

Business Metrics are customizable financial calculations that you can define in Cloudability to track specific aspects of your cloud spending. Unlike standard metrics, Business Metrics allow you to:

  • Create custom formulas using existing cost data

  • Apply conditional logic based on dimensions like vendor, service, or account

  • Transform raw cloud cost data into business-relevant financial metrics

  • Set specific conditions for when metrics should be applied

Creating a Business Metric

To create a business metric, follow the steps below:

  1. Navigate to the Business Mapping section.
  2. Select the Metrics tab.
  3. Click the New Business Metric button.
  4. Enter a meaningful name for your metric.
  5. Choose the value format (Currency or Number).
  6. Set up the metric definition using either:

    • Default Value: A simple value or metric reference

    • Prematch Expression: Conditions that determine when the metric applies

Defining Your Metric Logic

Business Metrics use statements to define their behavior. Each statement consists of:

  1. Match Expression: Conditions that determine when the statement applies
    • Example: DIMENSION['vendor'] == 'GCP'
    • Example: DIMENSION['date'] >= '2021-12-01' && DIMENSION['date'] < '2026-12-01'
  2. Value Expression: The calculation to perform when conditions match
    • Example: METRIC['bytes_transferred']
    • Example: METRIC['unblended_cost']
    • Example: {Cost (Adjusted Amortized)} * 0.83

Multiple statements can be created for a single metric, and they will be evaluated in the order they appear in the list.

Using Business Metrics in Reports

Once created, your Business Metrics can be used in reports just like any standard metric:

  1. Create or edit a report.
  2. Add your custom Business Metric to the report.
  3. Combine with dimensions like ATUM mappings, vendor, or service name.
  4. Combine with dimensions like ATUM mappings, vendor, or service name.

Common Use Cases

  • Cost Normalization: Create metrics that normalize costs across different cloud vendors
  • Internal Pricing: Implement custom pricing models for internal chargeback
  • Budget Tracking: Track spending against predefined budgets
  • Savings Calculations: Calculate realized or potential savings from optimization efforts
  • Custom Amortization: Define your own amortization rules for reserved instances or savings plans
  • Unit Economics: Calculate cost per user, transaction or user to understand your economics better

Advanced Features

  • Use mathematical operators (+, -, *, /) to create complex formulas
  • Reference existing metrics using the {} syntax
  • Apply conditional logic using && (AND) and || (OR) operators
  • Filter based on specific dimension values like vendor, service name, or region

For additional guidance on using Business Metrics effectively, please contact your account representative or submit a support ticket.