Question #617
A company aims to modify its internal cloud billing approach for each department. The cloud governance team currently provides overall cloud expenditure reports to each department head. The company utilizes AWS Organizations to manage separate AWS accounts for each department. Existing tagging standards include department, environment, and project. The team seeks a centralized solution to deliver monthly department-specific spending reports and notifications when expenditures surpass predefined thresholds.
Which solution is the MOST cost-effective way to fulfill these requirements?
Configure AWS Budgets in each account with alerts grouped by department, environment, and project. Subscribe each department to an Amazon SNS topic per alert. Use Cost Explorer in each account to generate monthly department reports.
Configure AWS Budgets in the organization's management account with alerts grouped by department, environment, and project. Subscribe each department to an Amazon SNS topic per alert. Use Cost Explorer in the management account to generate monthly department reports.
Configure AWS Budgets in each account with alerts grouped by department, environment, and project. Subscribe each department to an Amazon SNS topic per alert. Use the AWS Billing and Cost Management dashboard in each account to generate monthly department reports.
Enable AWS Cost and Usage Reports in the management account, grouped by department, environment, and project. Develop an AWS Lambda function to process reports, send alerts, and distribute monthly reports to departments via email.
Explanation
Option B is correct because:
1. Centralized Management: AWS Budgets in the management account aggregates cost data across all linked AWS accounts via AWS Organizations, avoiding per-account setup.
2. Tag-Based Grouping: Grouping by department, environment, and project leverages existing tagging standards to track department-specific spending.
3. Alerts via SNS: Notifications for threshold breaches are sent through Amazon SNS, ensuring departments receive timely alerts.
4. Cost Explorer Integration: The management account's Cost Explorer generates consolidated monthly reports using tags, eliminating manual cross-account data compilation.
Other options are incorrect because:
- A & C: Require per-account AWS Budgets and Cost Explorer/Billing dashboards, leading to redundant configurations and fragmented reporting.
- D: Using Lambda and CUR introduces unnecessary complexity and operational overhead compared to native AWS Budgets and Cost Explorer.
Key Points: Use AWS Organizations' management account for centralized cost tracking, AWS Budgets for alerts, and Cost Explorer for tag-based reporting to meet billing governance requirements cost-effectively.
Answer
The correct answer is: B