Alibaba Cloud supports exporting cost and usage billing data according to the international standard FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification (FOCUS™). This standardized format for cloud billing data helps enterprises conduct cost analysis and resource optimization in an efficient manner.
This feature is currently in invitational preview. If you can see the Bills > Bill Subscription menu in the Expenses and Costs console, you are included in the preview. If you are not included in the preview, submit a ticket to contact us.
The exported billing data files are for analytical purposes only and can not be used as a basis for reconciliation. For final reconciliation, settlement, and payment with Alibaba Cloud, use the bill overview or bill details officially provided by Alibaba Cloud.
This feature is free of charge. However, exporting billing data files require subscribing to Object Storage Service (OSS). Therefore, you are charged based on the file type, size, and duration of the billing data that is stored in OSS. For more information, see Storage fees.
Introduction to FOCUS
FOCUS™ is a technical specification aimed at standardizing cost and usage billing data across cloud providers. It establishes clear requirements for billing data generation systems in the cloud computing industry to ensure consistent cost and usage datasets. You can visit the official website of FOCUS for detailed information.
Export FOCUS 1.0 with Alibaba Cloud columns (Preview) data
The final billing data file for the current month is exported after 12:00 on the 4th day of the following month.
In the Expenses and Costs console, select Bills > Bill Subscription and click Create Bill Subscription.
- Note
If you have completed the authorization, this prompt does not appear.
If the authorization is canceled, the system no longer pushes files, and you need to complete the authorization again.
On the OSS Subscription tab, select FOCUS Billing Data to export billing data files.
Specify Start Billing Month. You can select the current month or a previous month. The earliest billing data file that can be exported is one issued after the gray release period of the upgraded version.
Configure the subscription directory. Set OSS Bucket to the name of the bucket to which you want to save billing data files. If you want to store files in a specific directory within the bucket, specify OSS Directory. Then, click Create.
After the configurations are complete, view the subscribed billing data.
Return to the Expenses and Costs console, and go to Bills>Bill Subscription page to view the subscribed billing data.
Click View to access the directory of the pushed billing data file.
Description of the file push directory: Subscribed billing data files are pushed to a file directory. The name of a file that is pushed to the file directory is in the following format: specified OSS directory/the year and month when the file is pushed/the year, month, and time point when the file is pushed/.
For example, in the userbill directory, a file is pushed at 14:04 on December 25, 2024 is named userbill/202412/202412251404/.
FOCUS 1.0 column descriptions
FOCUS 1.0 with Alibaba Cloud columns (Preview) is an invitational Preview version with continuous iterations. Some provided columns may exhibit potential inconsistencies with the requirements of FOCUS 1.0. For more information about the detailed differences, see FOCUS 1.0 with Alibaba Cloud columns (Preview) conformance gaps.
If you have strong demands for the missing columns, submit a ticket. Feedback with higher priority will be accelerated for inclusion in the development roadmap.
Column | Description | Data type | Nullable |
AvailabilityZone | A provider-assigned identifier for a physically separated and isolated area within a Region that provides high availability and fault tolerance. | String | Yes |
BilledCost | A charge serving as the basis for invoicing, inclusive of all reduced rates and discounts while excluding the amortization of upfront charges (one-time or recurring). | Decimal | No |
BillingAccountId | The identifier assigned to a billing account by the provider. | String | No |
BillingAccountName | The display name assigned to a billing account. | String | Yes |
BillingCurrency | Represents the currency that a charge was billed in. | String | No |
BillingPeriodEnd | The exclusive end date and time of a billing period. | Date/Time | No |
BillingPeriodStart | The inclusive start date and time of a billing period. | Date/Time | No |
ChargeCategory | The highest level classification based on the billing nature of the cost. | String | No |
ChargeClass | Indicates whether the row represents a correction to a previously invoiced billing period. | String | Yes |
ChargeDescription | Self-contained summary of the charge's purpose and price. | String | Yes |
ChargeFrequency | Indicates how often a charge will occur. | String | No |
ChargePeriodEnd | The exclusive end date and time of a charge period. | Date/Time | No |
ChargePeriodStart | The inclusive start date and time within a charge period. | Date/Time | No |
CommitmentDiscountCategory | Indicates whether the commitment discount identified in the CommitmentDiscountId column is based on usage quantity or cost (aka "spend"). | String | Yes |
CommitmentDiscountId | The identifier assigned to a commitment discount by the provider. | String | Yes |
CommitmentDiscountName | The display name assigned to a commitment discount. | String | Yes |
CommitmentDiscountStatus | Indicates whether the charge corresponds with the consumption of a commitment discount or the unused portion of the committed amount. | String | Yes |
CommitmentDiscountType | A provider-assigned identifier for the type of commitment discount applied to the row. | String | Yes |
ConsumedQuantity | The volume of a metered SKU associated with a resource or service used, based on the Consumed Unit. | Decimal | Yes |
ConsumedUnit | Provider-specified measurement unit indicating how a provider measures usage of a metered SKU associated with a resource or service. | String | Yes |
ContractedCost | Cost calculated by multiplying contracted unit price and the corresponding Pricing Quantity. | Decimal | No |
ContractedUnitPrice | The agreed-upon unit price for a single Pricing Unit of the associated SKU, inclusive of negotiated discounts, if present, while excluding negotiated commitment discounts or any other discounts. | Decimal | Yes |
EffectiveCost | The amortized cost of the charge after applying all reduced rates, discounts, and the applicable portion of relevant, prepaid purchases (one-time or recurring) that covered this charge. | Decimal | No |
InvoiceIssuerName | The name of the entity responsible for invoicing for the resources or services consumed. | String | No |
ListCost | Cost calculated by multiplying List Unit Price and the corresponding Pricing Quantity. | Decimal | No |
ListUnitPrice | The suggested provider-published unit price for a single Pricing Unit of the associated SKU, exclusive of any discounts. | Decimal | Yes |
PricingCategory | Describes the pricing model used for a charge at the time of use or purchase. | String | Yes |
PricingQuantity | The volume of a given SKU associated with a resource or service used or purchased, based on the Pricing Unit. | Decimal | Yes |
PricingUnit | Provider-specified pricing measurement unit used for usage measurement after applying rules such as tiered pricing. | String | Yes |
ProviderName | The name of the entity that made the resources or services available for purchase. | String | No |
PublisherName | The name of the entity that produced the resources or services that were purchased. | String | No |
RegionId | Provider-assigned identifier for an isolated geographic area where a resource is provisioned or a service is provided. | String | Yes |
RegionName | The name of an isolated geographic area where a resource is provisioned or a service is provided. | String | Yes |
ResourceId | Identifier assigned to a resource by the provider. | String | Yes |
ResourceName | Display name assigned to a resource. | String | Yes |
ResourceType | The kind of resource the charge applies to. | String | Yes |
ServiceCategory | Highest-level classification of a service based on the core function of the service. | String | No |
ServiceName | An offering that can be purchased from a provider (e.g., cloud virtual machine, SaaS database, professional services from a systems integrator). | String | No |
SkuId | A unique identifier that defines a provider-supported construct for organizing properties that are common across one or more SKU Prices. | String | Yes |
SkuPriceId | A unique identifier that defines the unit price used to calculate the charge. | String | Yes |
SubAccountId | An ID assigned to a grouping of resources or services, often used to manage access and/or cost. | String | Yes |
SubAccountName | A name assigned to a grouping of resources or services, often used to manage access and/or cost. | String | Yes |
Tags | The set of tags assigned to tag sources that account for potential provider-defined or user-defined tag evaluations. | JSON | Yes |
X_CommodityCode | Alibaba Cloud's unique code for identifying specific commodities under cloud products. | string | No |
X_CommodityName | Name of the specific commodity under the cloud product. | string | No |
X_BillingItemCode | The billing item code to which the cloud resource fee belongs. | string | No |
X_BillingItemName | The billing item name to which the cloud resource fee belongs. | string | No |
X_InstanceID | This refers to the dimension used by various Alibaba Cloud products/services for cost output statistics and summarization when generating bills. Different cloud products and services may have different billing granularities, which affect the level of detail in bills and how costs are calculated. For cloud products where the billing granularity is not equal to the resource management granularity, additional splitting processing is required to meet enterprise internal management needs. | string | No |