This article is intended to familiarize you with the Budgeting & Forecasting console. You’ll be able to find definitions for commonly used terms when navigating Budgeting & Forecasting and see the technical documentation for what each console element does.

Terms To Know

• Last Cost from AWS - This is your most updated AWS cost for the selected period based on billing data from AWS. AWS billing data usually takes 48 hours to be published, so this will not be reflective of your actual cost-to-date. “Today’s Expected Cost” will show you your expected cost-to-date.
• Today's Expected Cost - This is the expected amount you have spent on AWS as of today. Since AWS billing data is not current, you're stuck analyzing data that is up to 36 hours delayed. You can see the most recent cost as of the last AWS update under "Last Cost from AWS".

Console Navigation

There are 3 primary tabs that you can navigate through in Tag Manager. You can access each of these in the menu at the top of the page.

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1. This is the tab you will use to access Budgeting & Forecasting. The other menu options will navigate you to other parts of the Analytics product.
2. Upon clicking the drop-down, you will be presented with options for which time frame you want to view budgets and forecasts. The details in this drop-down will change depending on your View By selection in (3).
3. You can select which time frame you'd like to see forecasts and budgets for. Do you want to see budgets and forecasts at a monthly, quarterly, or annual granularity?
4. Upon clicking this button, you will download a CSV that contains the information currently loaded into Budgeting & Forecasting. 
5. Upon clicking this icon, a drop-down will appear that allows you to select an option.                                   
   1. Display Cash or Accrual  
   2. Share: Copy a link to the current view in Budgeting & Forecasting to share with others. The link will apply all selected filters as well.
   3. Edit Context: This option will allow you to edit details about the current context.

Summary

1. This bar indicates your actual cost-to-date. A green bar indicates that you are still within your budget, while a red bar indicates that you have gone over budget.
2. This is not your actual cost-to-date. “Last Cost from AWS” reflects your actual cost-to-date as of the most recent AWS billing data update. This field indicates the cost you are expected to have incurred to-date based on your typical AWS spend. This bar will always be orange with stripes.
3. This bar indicates your forecasted costs for the period. A red bar with stripes indicates that you are forecasted to go over budget for the selected time period. A blue bar indicates that you are forecasted to remain within budget for the selected time period.
4. The budget you have set for this view for the selected time period. If you have not yet set a budget, this bar will not be displayed. Instead, the option to “Set Budget” will be made available on the right-hand side of the screen. This bar, if present, will always be dark blue.
5. A helpful indicator that shows you at a glance how you’re tracking according to your budget. If it is green, you are on track to meet your budget for the time period. Yellow indicates that you’re forecasted to be over budget. Red means that you are currently over budget for the time period.

What can the Summary look like?

While the numbers will be different, the Summary section can look one of three ways depending on whether you're expected to be under-budget, trending to be over-budget, or already over-budget.

Budgeting & Forecasting Graph

The graph displays your AWS cost over time as an area graph, meaning that displayed data is cumulative rather than a point in time. The x-axis is time (based on your selected time period) and the y-axis is AWS cost. These will be referred to as the time axis and the cost axis, respectively. Reading the graph is best explained by example.

Example: If you want to see how much you have spent as of May 15, 2019, first find the May 15, 2019 point on the time axis. Hover over that point and you’ll see that the graph displays a vertical line through May 15, 2019 which indicates that through that date, you had spent $X on AWS. This hover-over display also shows how your cost for the selected point in time compares to your set budget for the period.

The Last Cost from AWS marker: This is your most updated AWS cost for the selected period based on billing data from AWS. AWS billing data usually takes 36 hours to be published, so this will not be reflective of your actual cost-to-date. The Today (Expected) marker will show you your expected cost-to-date.

The Today (Expected) marker: This is the expected amount you have spent on AWS as of today. Since AWS billing data is behind, you're stuck analyzing data that is up to 36 hours behind. This marker is close to 100% accurate so that you can use the information in your analysis right away.

The Budget line: This is a flat blue line on the graph that will always be completely horizontal. If you have set a budget for the selected time period, this line will appear on the graph. Once you have set a budget, this line is a visual indicator for where your budget ceiling is, which you can use to quickly compare to your costs through a specified date in the selected time period.

The Cost line: This solid line on the graph displays your accumulated cost at a given point in time in the selected time period. By hovering over any point on the Cost line, you can see the date for which the cost is shown, the accumulated cost as of that date, and the budget for the selected time period. While your costs are below your Budget line, this line and the area beneath it are green. Once your costs have crossed the Budget line, this line and the area beneath it become red.

The Expected Cost line: This solid line on the graph will always appear directly after the Last Cost from AWS marker and continue until the Today (Expected) marker. This line displays what your expected costs are for each date between the last update from AWS and today. The line is typically yellow, but will turn red if any of the expected costs will send you over budget.

The Forecasted Cost line: The Forecasted Cost line is the dotted line on the graph and indicates your predicted cost for each day from today until the end of the selected time period. A black dotted line indicates that your predicted cost is within budget. A red dotted line indicates that you are predicted to be over budget. By hovering over any point on the Forecasted Cost line, you can see the date for which the cost is predicted, a comparison of your budget and the predicted cost, and the range within which your costs are predicted to fall.

The Hover-Over box: The hover-over box will appear on any point of the graph that is hovered over. For the point you hover over, you will be shown the cost, today's expected cost, or forecasted cost as compared to the budget (if it is set). Which data is shown in the box is dependent on which of the 

The Confidence Interval: This is the light blue filled area on the graph that always surrounds the Forecasted Cost line. By hovering over any point in the Confidence Interval, you can see the date for which the Confidence Interval is relevant, a comparison of your budget and the predicted cost, and the range within which your costs are expected to fall.

About Prediction Confidence Level: Budgeting & Forecasting always displays the 95% confidence interval range for any predicted cost. It indicates that there is a 95% probability that costs for the selected time period will fall within the provided range.

Budgeting & Forecasting Settings

There are several options you have to enable different uses of Budgeting & Forecasting based on your needs. You can set budgets, edit existing budgets, and set a variety of alerts and notifications to help you stay on top of your budgets.

Set Budget Screen

1. This is the tab that will allow you to make any changes to your budget or set it for the first time.
2. This row is where you can add or adjust your budgets on a per-month basis. You can select any box and enter a budget. Editing budgets for past time periods is not allowed.
3. Each number in this row corresponds to a sum budget total for the quarter. This is dynamically updated every time you add or edit a budget for a month in that quarter.
4. This number shows your total budget for the fiscal year. It is dynamically updated as the sum of all quarterly budgets.
5. Your fiscal year start date. Yotascale supports arbitrary fiscal year start dates that can be customized based on your organization.
6. Upon clicking this button, all changes made will be saved to the view.

Alerts & Notifications Screen

1. Whether to use global alerting and reporting preferences or use preferences specifically for this page.
2. Whether you want to receive alerts when you've gone over budget.
3. Whether you want to receive alerts when you're forecasted to go over budget.
4. Whether you want to receive these alerts via email.
5. Whether you want to receive these alerts via Slack.
6. The email addresses to which you want cost reports and notifications sent.
7. The Slack channel to which you want cost reports and notifications sent.