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Harnessing Power BI to Maximize Cloud Cost Savings

Writer's picture: Justin AndreJustin Andre

As organizations shift their operations to the cloud, cost management inevitably becomes a primary concern. To understand and optimize cloud expenditures, advanced tools like Microsoft's Power BI can be leveraged to give us a leg up over native, cloud-provider tooling. If you need to build extensive dashboards, have complex reporting needs, or want to combine cloud costs (Azure, AWS, GCP, or OCI) with each other or with other internal company data, Power BI is a great option. Power BI is a powerful interactive data visualization tool that can provide a deeper understanding of your cloud expenditures, identify cost optimization opportunities, recognize anomalies, and improve budgeting and forecasting processes.


"Without big data analytics, companies are blind and deaf, wandering out onto the web like deer on a freeway." - Geoffrey Moore, Author and Consultant

Power BI Reports being looked at by businessmen

Table of Contents



Using Power BI with Azure


When it comes to utilizing Power BI with Azure, users have two options. The choice largely depends on your specific needs, skill level, and the amount of customization you require in your reports and visualizations.


The first option, specifically designed for Enterprise Agreement customers, is the Cost Management Power BI App. This is an out-of-the-box solution provided by Microsoft that already comes loaded with a series of pre-built reports. These reports are designed to leverage your Azure cost & usage data and turn it into comprehensive and insightful visualizations and reports.


What makes this option attractive is that it takes away the technicality involved in creating reports from scratch. The pre-built reports are specifically designed to cater to Azure Cost Management, providing you with in-depth insights into your cloud expenditures. This approach allows you to analyze your cloud usage and costs, assess trends over time, and identify areas where you might optimize your resources for cost-effectiveness.


However, the pre-built nature of these reports means that they may not cater to more specific or unique reporting requirements. While they offer a broad range of insights, they may not provide the flexibility needed for complex or highly customized analyses.


That's where the second option comes into play. This option, applicable to those with an Enterprise Agreement or a Microsoft Customer Agreement, lets you custom-build reporting and visualizations in your own Power BI dashboard. Customers with these agreements can leverage a Power BI-native Azure connector that pulls data easily from our billing enrollments. This approach is perfect for those who need more than what the pre-configured reports provide. If you don't have one of these agreements, we can still create custom reporting & dashboards, it'll just take a little more work to export the cost data and configure Power BI to ingest it.


With this option, the platform's full capabilities are at your disposal, offering you complete freedom to create and customize your reports and visualizations as you see fit. Whether you need to drill down into specific data dimensions, compare data across different periods, or visualize your data in a unique way, this option allows you to do all of that and more.


However, it's worth noting that while this option provides greater flexibility and customization, it requires a deeper understanding of how to use Power BI, including its various features and functionalities like the Power BI Report Builder. Yet, Power BI is designed with non-technical folks in mind, so even if you're a beginner, don't be too intimidated. With a bit of practice and exploration, you can create powerful, customized reports that perfectly fit your needs.


"The goal is to turn data into information, and information into insight." - Carly Fiorina, Former CEO of Hewlett-Packard


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Understanding and Using the Cost Management Power BI App


The Cost Management Power BI App is a comprehensive solution provided by Microsoft, tailored for Enterprise Agreement customers. It serves as a quick and effective way to not only monitor costs but also assess usage trends and identify optimization opportunities in your Azure environment. It allows you quick access to insights, generating detailed reports and visualizations that can facilitate better decision-making and enable strategic cost management.

Microsoft Power BI visualization
Microsoft Power BI


Installation and Getting Started with Default Reports


Installing the Cost Management Power BI App into the Power BI Service is a simple process. Once you've downloaded the app, you simply enter your enrollment information and configure authentication. In just a few steps, you're ready to dive into an array of reports and dashboards aimed at helping you understand and manage your Azure costs.


The app comes loaded with several default reports that provide a comprehensive view of your Azure expenditures. These include the 'Account Overview', 'Usage by Subscription', 'Usage by Resource Groups', and 'Usage by Services', among others. These reports serve as starting points, offering a broad overview of your cloud spend.


Each report provides key insights into different aspects of your Azure usage. For instance, 'Price Sheets' and reports about 'Reserved Instance purchases and coverage' give you a better understanding of your cost structures and commitments. This variety of pre-built reports caters to a multitude of reporting needs, making it easier to track and control your cloud costs.


Diving Deeper with Example Reports


To give you a better understanding of the depth of insights these reports can provide, let's take a closer look at a couple of examples.


The 'Usage by Subscription' report is a useful tool for assessing how costs are divided among your various Azure subscriptions. This report presents a clear, easy-to-understand donut chart that breaks down costs by each subscription. The size of each segment corresponds to its relative cost, offering a quick visual comparison of costs across subscriptions.


Similarly, the 'Cost by Date and Meter Category' report provides a daily breakdown of your total Azure service costs within a specified date range. This report uses a stacked bar chart to display each day's costs, grouped by meter category or service. This detailed view allows you to identify cost trends over time, understand what services are driving costs on specific dates, and ultimately, to uncover areas for potential cost optimization.


Overall, the Cost Management Power BI App serves as a comprehensive tool for EA customers to effectively monitor, analyze, and manage their Azure costs.


Microsoft Power BI Report



The Azure Cost Management Connector for Power BI


For those wanting unrestricted control of Power BI to manage Azure costs and leverage the platform’s full reporting & analytics capabilities, the Azure Cost Management connector is our onboarding method.


Customers with direct Microsoft Customer Agreements or Enterprise Agreements can leverage this connector to bring their Azure cost data into Power BI, creating powerful, customized visualizations, dashboards, and reports. And even without these agreements, you can leverage the full capability of Power BI through exporting Azure Cost data to a share then connecting to it in Power BI.


The connector streamlines your experience, leveraging OAuth for authentication, and providing a wizard-like setup interface to get the timeframe of data you want from the billing or enrollment scopes you need. Several different tables of data are available to you after authenticating through your account. Depending on your needs, usage details and reserved instance tables will likely be the most popular.


Some examples of how Power BI, with the help of this Connector, can help you include:


  • Access to granular cost data: Filter data by subscription, resource group, or individual resources, analyzing spending patterns at a granular level.

  • Customizable dashboards and reports: Visualize your Azure cost data using various charts, tables, and other visuals to identify areas for cost optimization.

  • Monitor and track budgets: Create budget tracking reports comparing actual spending against predefined budgets.

  • Forecast and predict future costs: Use historical cost data to predict future spending trends, making proactive decisions to avoid unexpected costs.

  • Share insights with your team: Promote transparency and collaboration by sharing your dashboards and reports with stakeholders.


Power BI is a robust suite of business analytics tools that empowers you to monitor your cloud costs, identify trends, and detect anomalies in your spending, enabling you to gain insight into your spending patterns and work toward a cost-optimized cloud.


The Power BI vs Tableau Debate


Both Power BI and Tableau have cemented their places in the field of data analytics, offering robust, interactive tools that take raw data and transform it into visually stunning and insightful reports and dashboards. However, when we juxtapose Power BI and Tableau, it's essential to consider the distinctive strengths of each platform and how they might align with your organization's specific requirements and existing ecosystem.


Power BI, a product of Microsoft, offers several distinct advantages. Perhaps the most significant is its seamless integration with other Microsoft products such as Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics 365. This built-in synergy allows organizations that are already heavily invested in the Microsoft ecosystem to add Power BI into their workflow with relative ease, encouraging a smooth data flow between platforms and services.


Power BI also tends to be more affordable than Tableau, making it an attractive choice for organizations with tight budgets or those looking to implement BI solutions without significant upfront investment. In the realm of cloud cost management, Power BI's integration with Azure and its cost-effectiveness makes it an appealing option, particularly for businesses that want to visualize and manage Azure expenditure efficiently.


On the other hand, Tableau, an industry veteran, is renowned for its intuitive user interface and robust data visualization capabilities. It's widely recognized for its ability to handle vast data sets and create complex, detailed visualizations. For organizations primarily focused on advanced, intricate data visualizations and whose data sources extend beyond the Microsoft ecosystem, Tableau could be a fitting choice.


However, it's worth noting that while Tableau is a powerful tool, its full range of features and capabilities can come at a higher cost. Moreover, while it does offer cloud data connectivity, Tableau may not offer the same level of in-depth integration with Azure cost management data as Power BI.


The Power BI vs Tableau debate isn't about choosing a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, it's about identifying which tool aligns better with your organization's needs, budget, and existing software ecosystem. Power BI undoubtedly offers considerable "value power," particularly for organizations seeking a comprehensive, cost-effective solution that integrates effortlessly with Azure and other Microsoft services.


Power BI Best Practices


Microsoft Power BI is a highly potent tool for data visualization and reporting. However, its true value can only be fully realized when leveraged correctly. Here, we've compiled a list of best practices to help you maximize the utility of Power BI. These tips will guide you to not only create insightful reports and dashboards but also manage them efficiently for a seamless analytical experience.


Power BI Best Practice

  1. Use descriptive naming conventions: This will make it easier for others to understand your reports and dashboards.

  2. Regularly review and update your dashboards: This ensures they provide the most accurate and up-to-date insights.

  3. Incorporate predictive analytics: This allows for forecasting future trends based on historical data.

  4. Set up automated alerts: Alerts can be set up to trigger when certain conditions are met, ensuring immediate attention to potential issues.

  5. Optimize for performance: Regularly evaluate your queries and reports to ensure they're running as efficiently as possible.


The evolution of organizational operations towards cloud-based platforms with their variable cost models necessitates deliberate cost management. Microsoft's Power BI serves as an excellent resource, enabling the creation of detailed dashboards, complex reports, and integration of Azure costs with other cloud provider costs & internal company data. The tool's sophisticated data visualization capacities enable technologists, financial professionals, and product teams to understand, control, and optimize their cloud expenditures.


By recognizing cost anomalies, identifying areas for optimization, enabling budgeting and forecasting processes, Power BI can help drive a more cost-effective and efficient cloud strategy. Thus, as companies continue to embrace the cloud, harnessing the potential of tools like Power BI will become increasingly critical to ensure sustainable and financially sound operations.


 

Interested in the future of cloud spending and yearning to master your Azure cloud expenditure? Join us for our new course! "Azure FinOps Masterclass: Ultimate Cloud Cost Savings Blueprint." This all-encompassing guide empowers you with practical strategies and insights to smartly manage your Azure costs while maintaining robust performance. Get it now at a special launch discount, and kickstart your journey towards a cost-efficient cloud future. We look forward to seeing you there!





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