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Allocation Short Form Rules

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The Dimensions AllocateByStreams and AllocateByRules can be defined only by using the short form.

AllocateByStreams short form rule

The AllocateByStreams Dimension allows splitting costs using telemetry. This Dimension can be defined only by using the short form. The syntax is as follows:

  <DimensionId>:
    <Base Dimension Properties>
    Type: Allocation
    AllocateByStreams:
      Streams:
        - <Stream>

AllocateByRules short form rule

The AllocateByRulesDimension allows splitting costs among the elements of another Dimension, either evenly or proportionally. The AllocateByRulesDimension can be defined only by using the short form.

AllocateByRules supports four keys:

  • AllocationMethod: How to split the costs, by the Even or Proportional allocation method
  • SpendToAllocate: What costs to split
  • AcrossElements: What elements the cost will be split across, and the proportions for each element's cost, if you are using proportional allocation
  • Optional: ForEachElementOf: How to refine a proportional allocation by splitting the costs proportionally across another dimension

The AllocateByRules syntax is as follows:

  <DimensionId>:
    <Base Dimension Properties>
    Type: Allocation
    AllocateByRules:
      AllocationMethod: <...>
      SpendToAllocate: <...>
      AcrossElements: <...>
      ForEachElementOf: <...> # Optional; can only be used with proportional allocation

SpendToAllocate

The SpendToAllocate attribute defines what spend you want to split.

Supported SpendToAllocate keys:

  • Source
  • Sources
  • CoalesceSources
  • Conditions

For example, the following code defines an Allocation Dimension with the ID RDSSplitCosts that splits the cost of AWS RDS spend in the account 123456789012:

  RDSSplitCosts:
    Name: RDS Split Costs
    Hide: True
    Type: Allocation
    AllocateByRules:
      AllocationMethod: <...>

      SpendToAllocate:
        Conditions:
          - And:
            - Source: Account
              Equals: 123456789012
            - Source: Service
              Equals: AWS RDS

AcrossElements

AcrossElements defines the elements in the Custom Allocation Dimension. If you use the Proportional method, AcrossElements also defines the proportions for how the cost will be split.

Supported AcrossElements keys:

  • Source
  • Sources
  • Transforms

For example, the following code defines an allocation dimension where the RDS spend is split across 3 elements in the SingleTenantProduct dimension, which are Product A, Product B, and Product C:

  RDSSplitCosts:
    Name: RDS Split Costs
    Hide: True
    Type: Allocation
    AllocateByRules:
      AllocationMethod: <...>
      SpendToAllocate:
        Conditions:
          - And:
            - Source: Account
              Equals: 123456789012
            - Source: Service
              Equals: AWS RDS

      AcrossElements:
        Rules:
          - Type: GroupBy
            Source: SingleTenantProduct
            Conditions:
              - Equals:
                - Product A
                - Product B
                - Product C

AllocationMethod: Even

If AllocationMethod is Even, the cost of each element in the Rules Allocation Dimension is the same. You can calculate it as:

  • the cost defined in SpendToAllocate,
  • divided by the number of distinct elements in AcrossElements.

Note that the Even allocation method uses the Real Cost of the targets.

For example, the following code defines an Allocation Simension where the RDS spend is split evenly across three elements in the SingleTenantProduct dimension, which are Product A, Product B, and Product C:

  RDSSplitCosts:
    Name: RDS Split Costs
    Hide: True
    Type: Allocation
    AllocateByRules:
      AllocationMethod: Even
      SpendToAllocate:
        Conditions:
          - And:
            - Source: Account
              Equals: 123456789012
            - Source: Service
              Equals: AWS RDS

      AcrossElements:
        Rules:
          - Type: GroupBy
            Source: SingleTenantProduct
            Conditions:
              - Equals:
                - Product A
                - Product B
                - Product C

AllocationMethod: Proportional

If AllocationMethod is Proportional, the cost of each element in the Rules Allocation Dimension is defined relative to cost of the other elements in the Dimension. You can calculate each element's cost as:

  • the cost defined in SpendToAllocate,
  • multiplied by the ratio of that element's cost versus. the sum of all elements in the inline dimension.

For example, if the Dimension SingleTenantProduct has three elements, Product A, Product B, and Product C, suppose that the total cost of all the elements in the SingleTenantProduct Dimension is $1200, split using the following ratios:

  • Product A: 25% of $1200 = $300
  • Product B: 25% of $1200 = $300
  • Product C: 50% of $1200 = $600

As a result, if the SpendToAllocate is $100, each element would be allocated as follows:

  • Product A: 25% of $100 = $25
  • Product B: 25% of $100 = $25
  • Product C: 50% of $100 = $50

The following code defines an Allocation Dimension where the RDS spend is split proportionally across the three elements in the SingleTenantProduct Dimension:

  RDSSplitCosts:
    Name: RDS Split Costs
    Hide: True
    Type: Allocation
    AllocateByRules:
      AllocationMethod: Proportional
      SpendToAllocate:
        Conditions:
          - And:
            - Source: Account
              Equals: 123456789012
            - Source: Service
              Equals: AWS RDS

      AcrossElements:
        Rules:
          - Type: GroupBy
            Source: SingleTenantProduct
            Conditions:
              - Equals:
                - Product A
                - Product B
                - Product C

Proportional allocation cost type and granularity

When you use the Proportional method of allocation, you can specify the cost type and level of granularity.

The default cost type is RealCost and the default level of granularity is UsageDaily, but you can choose to use other supported values.

The supported cost types are:

The supported granularity values are:

  • UsageDaily (default)
  • UsageMonthly
  • BillingPeriod

To specify a non-default cost type or level of granularity, format the CostFormation as follows:

  RDSSplitCosts:
    Name: RDS Split Costs
    Hide: True
    Type: Allocation
    AllocateByRules:
      AllocationMethod:
        Method: Proportional
        Granularity: <Level of granularity>
        CostType: <Cost type>

Note that this syntax adds a new key, Method.

For example, the following code defines an Allocation Dimension where the RDS spend is split proportionally across Dimension elements, using ratios calculated based on monthly usage and Discounted Cost:

  RDSSplitCosts:
    Name: RDS Split Costs
    Hide: True
    Type: Allocation
    AllocateByRules:
      AllocationMethod:
        Method: Proportional
        Granularity: UsageMonthly
        CostType: DiscountedCost

Using ForEachElementOf in proportional allocation

ForEachElementOf is an optional attribute that further categorizes SpendToAllocate based on another Dimension. This is useful when you need to make a proportional allocation more nuanced, without having to create redundant filters or dimensions.

The supported ForEachElementOf keys are:

  • Source
  • Sources
  • Transforms

For example, the following code defines an Allocation Dimension where the RDS spend is split proportionally across three elements in the SingleTenantProduct dimension, each of which is further divided proportionally across the types of Environment (either dev or prod):

  RDSSplitCosts:
    Name: RDS Split Costs
    Hide: True
    Type: Allocation
    AllocateByRules:
      AllocationMethod: Proportional
      SpendToAllocate:
        Conditions:
          - And:
            - Source: Account
              Equals: 061190967865
            - Source: Service
              Equals: AWS RDS
      AcrossElements:
        GroupBy:
          Source: SingleTenantProduct
          Conditions:
            - Equals:
                - Product A
                - Product B
                - Product C

      ForEachElementOf:
        Source: Environment
        Values:
          - dev
          - prod

As a result of the preceding code, your RDS spend is allocated by product, and then by environment.

Updated about 2 hours ago