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Your first 30 minutes

AvailableReviewed 21 August 2026

Use this sequence the first time a billing connector is healthy. The goal is not to finish every finding. The goal is to leave with one explained change and one owned next action.

Before you begin​

1. Orient on the Dashboard (5 minutes)​

  1. Open Dashboard.
  2. Leave the provider filter on All, then switch to each connected cloud.
  3. Note monthly spend, savings found, open anomalies and the top recommendation.
Dashboard used to orient a first FinOps review
Sample organisation. Use these four metrics to decide where to look next.

2. Confirm the cost model (10 minutes)​

  1. Open Cost Explorer.
  2. Set the date range to 30d.
  3. Confirm the largest services match what you expect from the provider bill.
  4. If a total disagrees, stop and follow Data freshness and reconciliation before you act on a recommendation.
Cost Explorer with daily cost chart and service table
Group by service on the last 30 days for the first pass.

3. Check whether anything spiked (5 minutes)​

  1. Open Anomalies.
  2. Sort by deviation.
  3. Open the largest item and write down service, region, owner and the date of the movement.
Anomalies table sorted by deviation
A spike is a signal. Confirm the contributing dimensions before you assign work.

4. Pick one recommendation (10 minutes)​

  1. Open Recommendations.
  2. Filter to items marked Ready if they exist.
  3. Open Details on one item.
  4. Confirm the owner can actually change the resource.
  5. Accept it only if the risk is understood. Otherwise leave it in Review.
Recommendation detail with impact and affected resources
Accept writes the action into Savings Tracker as pending until it is verified.

Expected result​

You can explain current monthly spend, name the largest unexpected movement, and point to one owned optimisation (accepted or explicitly deferred).