Azure’s Cost Management service has recently introduced an “Improved Exports” experience that aims to simplify and enhance the process of exporting cost and usage data for FinOps professionals. This new feature offers a range of improvements designed to help organizations better manage their cloud spending and optimize their cloud investments.

The Improved Exports experience provides several key benefits:

Expanded Dataset Support The enhanced exports feature now supports a wider range of datasets, including price sheets, reservation recommendations, reservation details, and reservation transactions. This expanded dataset coverage allows FinOps teams to gain a more comprehensive view of their cloud spending and make more informed decisions.

Open Cost and Usage Specification (FOCUS) Format One of the standout features of the Improved Exports is the ability to download cost and usage details in the FOCUS format. FOCUS is an open-source specification developed by the FinOps Foundation to standardize cloud billing data across vendors. By using the FOCUS format, organizations can streamline their data normalization and processing, reducing the time and resources required for these tasks.

Improved File Manageability Dealing with large cost and usage datasets can be a challenge for FinOps teams. The Improved Exports experience addresses this by introducing file partitioning, which breaks larger files into more manageable smaller chunks. Additionally, the “overwrite data” feature automatically replaces the previous day’s file with an updated version, further simplifying file management.

Enhanced User Experience The Improved Exports feature also boasts an updated user interface that makes it easier to create and manage multiple exports for various cost management datasets. Users can now choose the latest or any earlier dataset schema version when creating a new export, ensuring that their existing data processing layers can be reused as they adopt the latest API functionality.

Selective Historical Data Export Instead of creating a new one-time export for a specific date range, users can now selectively export historical data by rerunning an existing export job for a historical period. This feature can be particularly useful for FinOps teams that need to access and analyze cost data over extended timeframes.

Improved Security and Compliance The Improved Exports experience also enhances security and compliance by allowing users to configure exports to storage accounts behind a firewall. The Azure Storage firewall provides access control for the public endpoint of the storage account, helping organizations meet their security and compliance requirements.

Overall, the Improved Exports experience in Azure Cost Management represents a significant step forward in streamlining the FinOps practice. By addressing the challenges of managing large datasets, supporting open standards, and providing a more user-friendly interface, this new feature empowers FinOps teams to drive data-driven decision-making and maximize the business value of their cloud investments.

To learn more about the Improved Exports feature and how to get started, check out the tutorial on the official Microsoft Azure documentation.