| name | finops_intelligence |
| description | Comprehensive FinOps analysis combining cost optimization, waste identification, and chargeback reporting. Use when asked about reducing Azure spend, finding unused resources, cost per team, chargeback, showback, or cost anomalies. |
FinOps Intelligence
Purpose
Unified cost intelligence skill that identifies savings opportunities, tracks cost trends, and generates chargeback/showback reports by team or project.
Procedure
Step 1: Cost trend overview
az costmanagement query --type ActualCost --timeframe MonthToDate \
--scope "subscriptions/<sub-id>" \
--dataset-aggregation '{"totalCost":{"name":"Cost","function":"Sum"}}' \
--dataset-grouping name="ServiceName" type="Dimension" -o table
Summarize: total spend this month vs. last month (% change), top 5 services by spend, spending anomalies (day-over-day spikes > 20%).
Step 2: Orphaned resources (waste)
| Check | Command |
|---|
| Unattached disks | az disk list --query "[?managedBy==null]" |
| Unused public IPs | az network public-ip list --query "[?ipConfiguration==null]" |
| Stopped-but-allocated VMs | az vm list -d --query "[?powerState=='VM deallocated']" |
| Unused App Service plans | az appservice plan list --query "[?numberOfSites==0]" |
Step 3: Rightsizing
Identify VMs with < 5% avg CPU (14 days), App Service plans with < 20% utilization, databases with < 20% DTU/vCore. Calculate current vs. recommended SKU cost.
Step 4: Reservation opportunities
List VMs and databases running 24/7 for 30+ days as candidates for Reserved Instances (up to 72% savings).
Step 5: Storage optimization
az storage account list --query "[].{name:name, accessTier:accessTier, kind:kind}" -o table
Identify blobs not accessed in 90+ days (candidates for Cool/Archive). Check lifecycle policies.
Step 6: Cost allocation (chargeback)
Group costs by the user's chosen tag (cost-center, owner, team, application). Track untagged resources as "Unallocated." For each team: this period vs. previous, top cost driver, flag anomalies > 30% increase.
Sample output
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Subscription | contoso-prod-001 |
| Total Spend (MTD) | $12,340 |
| MoM Change | +$1,700 (+11.5%) |
| Waste Identified | ~$1,179/month |
| Category | Savings/mo | Priority |
|---|
| Orphaned resources | $52 | High |
| Rightsizing | $315 | High |
| Reservations | $864 | Medium |
| Total recoverable | ~$1,179 | |
References
