Cost Allocation Tags

Cost Allocation Tags

Cost Allocation Tags allow you to organize and track AWS costs using custom metadata applied to your resources. This enables granular cost analysis by team, project, environment, or any custom dimension.

What are Cost Allocation Tags?

Cost Allocation Tags are AWS resource tags that have been activated for cost tracking. Once activated, costs associated with tagged resources appear in your billing data and can be analyzed in SkySaver Cost Explorer.

Tag Types

TypeDescriptionExample
AWS-GeneratedAutomatically created by AWSaws:createdBy
User-DefinedCreated by youEnvironment, Team, Project

Enabling Cost Allocation Tags

Tags must be activated in AWS before they appear in cost data:

  1. Go to AWS Billing Console
  2. Navigate to Cost Allocation Tags
  3. Select the User-Defined Cost Allocation Tags tab
  4. Find your tags in the list
  5. Select tags to activate
  6. Click Activate

Activation Time

  • Tags appear in billing data after 24-48 hours
  • Historical data is not retroactively tagged
  • Future costs will include tag data

Common Cost Allocation Tags

Tag KeyPurposeExample Values
EnvironmentTrack by environmentproduction, staging, development
TeamTrack by teamengineering, marketing, data
ProjectTrack by projectwebapp, mobile-app, analytics
CostCenterFinancial tracking10001, 10002
OwnerResource ownershipalice@example.com
ApplicationApplication namebilling-service, user-service

Using Tags in Cost Explorer

Once tags are activated, use them in SkySaver:

Filter by Tag

  1. Open Cost Explorer > Query Builder
  2. Add a filter: Tag:Environment = production
  3. Run query to see only production costs

Group by Tag

  1. Open Cost Explorer > Query Builder
  2. Set Group By: Tag:Team
  3. Run query to see costs per team

Tagging Strategy

Best Practices

  1. Be consistent - Use the same tag keys across all resources
  2. Define standards - Document required tags and valid values
  3. Automate tagging - Use AWS Config rules or Infrastructure as Code
  4. Keep it simple - Start with 3-5 essential tags
  5. Review regularly - Audit for untagged resources

Required Tags Example

Tag KeyRequiredValid Values
EnvironmentYesproduction, staging, dev
TeamYesAny team name
CostCenterYesValid cost center codes
ProjectRecommendedProject names

Untagged Resources

Untagged resources appear as:

  • Blank values in tag-based reports
  • “No tag” category in groupings

Finding Untagged Resources

  1. Query costs grouped by tag
  2. Look for resources with blank/missing tag values
  3. Add tags to those resources

Tag Inheritance

Some AWS resources support tag inheritance:

Parent ResourceChild ResourcesInheritance
Auto Scaling GroupEC2 InstancesConfigurable
CloudFormation StackAll resourcesConfigurable
ECS ClusterTasksPartial

Cost Allocation Reports

Generate tag-based reports:

  1. Cost Explorer - Interactive analysis
  2. Query Builder - Custom queries
  3. Export - Download CSV for further analysis

Sample Tag-Based Report

TeamServiceMonthly Cost% of Total
EngineeringEC2$5,234.5645%
EngineeringRDS$2,123.4518%
DataS3$1,567.8913%
MarketingCloudFront$890.128%

Troubleshooting

IssueCauseSolution
Tag not appearingNot activatedActivate in AWS Billing Console
Missing dataActivation delayWait 24-48 hours
Blank valuesResources untaggedAdd tags to resources
Inconsistent dataTag key variationsStandardize tag keys
Old data untaggedNo retroactive taggingOnly future data tagged

Integration with SkySaver Tags

The SkySaverSchedule tag used for resource scheduling can also be:

  • Activated as a cost allocation tag
  • Used to track costs of scheduled resources
  • Analyzed alongside other tags