Question #1013
A company operates multiple applications across several AWS accounts within an AWS Organizations setup. Each cloud resource in the organization is tagged with a 'Department' tag, which holds the respective department name. The company wants to allocate its AWS costs to individual departments and generate visualizations of these costs. Which solution meets these requirements?
In the organization's management account, activate the 'Department' cost allocation tag. Create an AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR) in the management account, configuring an Amazon S3 bucket as the destination. Use Amazon Athena to query the CUR data and Amazon QuickSight for visualization.
In each member account, activate the 'Department' cost allocation tag. In the management account, create an AWS CUR and an S3 bucket as its destination. Build an Amazon CloudWatch dashboard in the management account for cost visualization.
Activate the 'Department' cost allocation tag in the management account. In each member account, create an AWS CUR and configure a local S3 bucket as the destination. Aggregate the data in the management account using a CloudWatch dashboard for visualization.
Activate the 'Department' cost allocation tag in each member account. Create an AWS CUR in each member account, storing the data in separate S3 buckets. From the management account, use Athena to query the CUR data and QuickSight for visualization.
Explanation
Answer A is correct because:
1. Cost Allocation Tags: Activating the 'Department' tag in the management account ensures it applies to all member accounts, enabling cost tracking across the organization.
2. Centralized CUR: The AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR) created in the management account aggregates cost data from all member accounts into a single S3 bucket, simplifying data management.
3. Visualization Tools: Amazon Athena allows SQL-based querying of CUR data stored in S3, while QuickSight provides interactive dashboards for cost visualization.
Why other options are incorrect:
- B: Activating tags per member account is redundant and error-prone. CloudWatch is not designed for cost visualization.
- C: Creating CURs in each member account complicates aggregation, and CloudWatch lacks native cost visualization capabilities.
- D: Separate CURs in member accounts require manual consolidation, and activating tags per account is inefficient.
Key Points:
- Use the management account to activate cost allocation tags and create CURs for organization-wide data.
- Athena and QuickSight are optimal for querying and visualizing AWS cost data.
Answer
The correct answer is: A