finops-intelligence

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

• Cost Management: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/overview-cost-management
• Azure Advisor Cost: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/advisor/advisor-cost-recommendations
• Reserved Instances: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cost-management-billing/reservations/save-compute-costs-reservations