Creating a Budget

Important Notes

Alerts are not supported for the current month for certain monthly-settled cloud services, such as CDN billed by 95th percentile bandwidth, because their usages for the current month will not be billed until the following month.

You can create up to 1,000 budgets.

Each recipient can receive a maximum of 100 alerts a day.

The budget is monitored every hour, so your actual costs or usage may have already exceeded the budget when you receive an alert.

If you are using a master account but have not enabled unified accounting management, you are not allowed to set budgets for your member accounts.

Prerequisites

Before you enable budget alerts, configure notification methods for Cost Management in Message Center. For details, see Configuring Message Receiving Methods.

Viewing Budget Summary

You can view your budget summary on the Budgets page in Cost Center, including the following information:

• Budgets: total number of budgets that have been created
• Actual Budget Overruns: total number of budgets that have exceeded the budgets in the current period
• Forecasted Budget Overruns: total number of budgets that are predicted to exceed the budgets in the current period

Creating a Cost Budget

You can use the following procedure to create a cost budget and specify an alert threshold:

1. Log in to Cost Center.
2. Choose Budgets.
3. Click Create Budget.
4. Select Cost budget, and click Next.
5. Configure the budget details and define the budget scope, and click Next.

   Table 1 Parameters for creating a cost budget (1)

   Parameters	Description
   Budget Name	A unique budget name.
   Budget Scope (optional)	You can define a budget scope as required. Specifically, you can set filters such as Service Type, Enterprise Project, and Region on the left, and the cost data from the last 12 months will be displayed on the right. NOTE: If you are using a master account and want to create a budget for your member accounts, select these member accounts from Linked Account.
   Split Item	This parameter is only valid when Cost Type is set to Amortized costs. If you have enabled cost splitting, you can view the cost data of the specified cloud service by split item. For details, Enabling Cost Splitting.
   Cost Type	Original costs: costs of cloud services purchased at the list price with available discounts applied. Before the billing date, this is the estimated amount. Once the bill is issued, it is the amount due. Amortized costs: prepaid amounts amortized on a daily basis. Before the billing date, this is the estimated amount. If you set Cost Type to Original costs, you can choose to select Include discount. Both discount and truncated amount will be included if you select this option. List price = Original cost + Discount + Truncated amount
   Reset Period	The reset period for a budget, which can be: Daily: Budget evaluation begins at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the start date and will be reset to zero at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on each day moving forward. Monthly: Budget evaluation begins at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the 1st day of the start month and will be reset to zero at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the 1st day of each month moving forward. Quarterly: Budget evaluation begins at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the 1st day of the start quarter and will be reset to zero at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the 1st day of each quarter moving forward. Yearly: Budget evaluation begins at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the start date and will be reset to zero at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on January 1 each year moving forward.
   Budget Duration	Recurring: You set a start date on which the recurring budgets will begin renewing. Expiring: You set a time range, outside which expiring budgets will not renew.
   Budgeted Amount Plan	Fixed: The budgeted amount is fixed for each reset period. Monthly/Quarterly: The amount is budgeted on a monthly or quarterly basis. Dynamic: The amount is automatically budgeted based on the configured baseline time range.
   Baseline Time Range	There are four options. See Baseline Time Range for details. Last quarter/month actual Current quarter/month forecast Last several quarters/months average Last several quarters/months compound growth rate
   Budgeted Amount	If Budgeted Amount Plan is Fixed, you just set a fixed value. If Reset Period is Daily or Yearly, you just set a fixed value. If Budgeted Amount Plan is Monthly or Quarterly, set budgeted amounts one by one. If the budgeted amount is not set for a period, the amount most recently configured will be applied. For example, if the budgeted amount is not set for May 2021, the budgeted amount of April 2021 will be used for May 2021. If Budgeted Amount Plan is Dynamic, you do not need to manually set budgeted amount. Because your dynamic budget depends on your cost data, your upcoming budget amounts can fluctuate as your costs change. We will notify all alert recipients when we adjust your budget amount on the 5th day of each month or quarter.

6. Configure alert thresholds, including Thresholds and Recipients, and click Next.

   Table 2 Parameters for creating a cost budget (2)

   Parameters	Description
   Thresholds	A maximum of five thresholds can be set for each budget. The following alerting conditions are supported: Actual cost >: If the actual cost reaches a certain amount or a certain percentage of a budgeted amount, an alert will be reported. Forecasted >: If the forecasted cost reaches a certain amount or a certain percentage of a budgeted amount, an alert will be reported. For details about how to create a forecast-based budget, see Creating a Forecasting-based Budget. The threshold value can be a certain amount or a certain percentage of a budgeted amount. Amount (USD): If the actual cost reaches a certain amount, an alert will be reported. (%) of budgeted amount: If the actual cost reaches a certain percentage of a budgeted amount, an alert will be reported.
   Recipients	Information of contacts who will receive alerts. If you want to add or modify recipient information, go to the Recipient Management page in the Message Center. Up to 10 recipients can be added for each budget.

7. Confirm your budget settings and click Save.

Creating a Usage Budget

You can use the following procedure to create a usage budget:

1. Log in to Cost Center.
2. Choose Budgets.
3. Click Create Budget.
4. Select Usage budget and click Next.
5. Configure the budget details and define the budget scope, and click Next.

   Table 3 Parameters for creating a usage budget (1)

   Parameters	Description
   Budget Name	A unique budget name.
   Usage Scope (optional)	You can define a budget scope as required. Specifically, you can set filters such as Linked Account, Region, and Specifications on the left, and the usage data from the last 12 months will be displayed on the right. NOTE: If you are using a master account and want to create a budget for your member accounts, select these member accounts from Linked Account.
   Usage	Pay-per-use Packages RIs By default, Pay-per-use is selected.
   Usage Type	The way a pay-per-use cloud service is billed. Select the usage type you want to budget against.
   Reset Period	The reset period for a budget, which can be: Daily: Budget evaluation begins at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the start date and will be reset to zero at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on each day moving forward. Monthly: Budget evaluation begins at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the 1st day of the start month and will be reset to zero at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the 1st day of each month moving forward. Quarterly: Budget evaluation begins at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the 1st day of the start quarter and will be reset to zero at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the 1st day of each quarter moving forward. Yearly: Budget evaluation begins at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the start date and will be reset to zero at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on January 1 each year moving forward.
   Budget Duration	Recurring: You set a start date on which the recurring budgets will begin renewing. Expiring: You set a time range, outside which expiring budgets will not renew.
   Budgeted Amount Plan	Fixed: The budgeted amount is fixed for each reset period. Monthly/Quarterly: The amount is budgeted on a monthly or quarterly basis. Dynamic: The amount is automatically budgeted based on the configured baseline time range.
   Baseline Time Range	There are four options. See Baseline Time Range for details. Last quarter/month actual Current quarter/month forecast Last several quarters/months average Last several quarters/months compound growth rate
   Budgeted Usage	If Budgeted Amount Plan is Fixed, you just set a fixed value. If Reset Period is Daily or Yearly, you just set a fixed value. If Budgeted Amount Plan is Monthly or Quarterly, set budgeted amounts one by one. If the budgeted amount is not set for a period, the amount most recently entered will be applied. For example, if the budgeted amount is not set for May 2021, the budgeted amount of April 2021 will be used for May 2021. If Budgeted Amount Plan is Dynamic, you do not need to manually set budgeted amount. Because your dynamic budget depends on your cost data, your upcoming budget amounts can fluctuate as your costs change. We will notify all alert recipients when we adjust your budget amount on the 5th day of each month or quarter.

6. Configure alert thresholds, including Thresholds and Recipients, and click Next.

   Table 4 Parameters for creating a usage budget (2)

   Parameters	Description
   Thresholds	A maximum of five thresholds can be set for each budget. The following alerting conditions are supported: Actual cost >: If the actual cost reaches a certain amount or a certain percentage of a budgeted amount, an alert will be reported. Forecasted >: If the forecasted cost reaches a certain amount or a certain percentage of a budgeted amount, an alert will be reported. For details about how to create a forecast-based budget, see Creating a Forecasting-based Budget. The threshold value can be a certain amount or a certain percentage of a budgeted amount. Amount (USD): If the actual cost reaches a certain amount, an alert will be reported. (%) of budgeted amount: If the actual cost reaches a certain percentage of a budgeted amount, an alert will be reported.
   Recipients	Information of contacts who will receive alerts. If you want to add or modify recipient information, go to the Recipient Management page in the Message Center. Up to 10 recipients can be added for each budget.

7. Confirm your budget settings and click Save.

Creating an RI Utilization/Coverage Budget

You can create an RI budget to track the utilization or coverage of specified RIs and receive an alert if the utilization or coverage is lower than the budget threshold you define.

1. Log in to Cost Center.
2. Choose Budgets.
3. Click Create Budget.
4. Select RI utilization budget or RI coverage budget. Then, click Next.
5. Configure the budget details and define the budget scope, and click Next.

   Table 5 Parameters for creating an RI utilization/coverage budget (1)

   Parameter	Description
   Budget Name	A unique budget name.
   Budget Scope (optional)	You can define a budget scope as required. Specifically, you can set filters such as Linked Account, Region, and AZ on the left pane, and the utilization or coverage from the last 12 months will be displayed on the right pane. NOTE: If you are using a master account and want to create a budget for your member accounts, select these member accounts from Linked Account.
   Service Type	The service type for which you want to create a budget.
   Reset Period	The reset period for a budget, which can be: Daily: Budget evaluation begins at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the start date and will be reset to zero at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on each day moving forward. Monthly: Budget evaluation begins at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the 1st day of the start month and will be reset to zero at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the 1st day of each month moving forward. Quarterly: Budget evaluation begins at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the 1st day of the start quarter and will be reset to zero at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the 1st day of each quarter moving forward. Yearly: Budget evaluation begins at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the start date and will be reset to zero at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on January 1 each year moving forward.
   Budget Duration	Recurring: You set a start date on which the recurring budgets will begin renewing. Expiring: You set a time range, outside which expiring budgets will not renew.
   Budgeted Amount Plan	Fixed: You can allocate a fixed value for each budget.
   Budgeted Utilization	The budgeted utilization of RIs in the reset period. Example: If you set the monthly budgeted utilization to 80% for ECSs, you will receive an alert (for example, via SMS or email) when the actual monthly RI utilization (RI hours used/RI hours purchased x 100%) is lower than 80%.
   Budgeted Coverage	The budgeted coverage of RIs in the reset period. Example: If you set the monthly budgeted coverage to 80% for ECSs, you will receive an alert (for example, via SMS or email) when the actual monthly RI coverage (RI covered hours/Total resource running hours x 100%) is lower than 80%.

6. Configure alert thresholds, including Thresholds and Recipients, and click Next.

   Table 6 Parameters for creating an RI utilization/coverage budget (2)

   Parameters	Description
   Thresholds	If the actual usage reaches the value of Budgeted Utilization or Budgeted Coverage, an alert will be sent.
   Recipients	Information of contacts who will receive alerts. If you want to add or modify contact information, go to Recipient Management in the Message Center. Up to 10 recipients can be added for each budget.

7. Confirm your budget settings and click Save.

Creating a Savings Plan Utilization/Coverage Budget

You can create a savings plan budget to track the utilization or coverage of specified savings plans and receive an alert if the utilization or coverage is lower than the budget threshold you define.

1. Log in to Cost Center.
2. Choose Budgets.
3. Click Create Budget.
4. Select Savings plan utilization budget or Savings plan coverage budget. Then, click Next.
5. Configure the budget details and define the budget scope, and click Next.

   Table 7 Parameters for creating a savings plan utilization/coverage budget (1)

   Parameter	Description
   Budget Name	A unique budget name.
   Budget Scope (optional)	You can define a budget scope as required. Specifically, you can set filters such as Linked Account, Region, and AZ on the left pane, and the utilization or coverage from the last 12 months will be displayed on the right pane. NOTE: If you are using a master account and want to create a budget for your member accounts, select these member accounts from Linked Account.
   Reset Period	The reset period for a budget, which can be: Daily: Budget evaluation begins at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the start date and will be reset to zero at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on each day moving forward. Monthly: Budget evaluation begins at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the 1st day of the start month and will be reset to zero at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the 1st day of each month moving forward. Quarterly: Budget evaluation begins at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the 1st day of the start quarter and will be reset to zero at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the 1st day of each quarter moving forward. Yearly: Budget evaluation begins at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on the start date and will be reset to zero at 00:00 GMT+08:00 on January 1 each year moving forward.
   Budget Duration	Recurring: You set a start date on which the recurring budgets will begin renewing. Expiring: You set a time range, outside which expiring budgets will not renew.
   Budgeted Amount Plan	Fixed: You can allocate a fixed value for each budget.
   Budgeted Utilization	The budgeted utilization of savings plans in the reset period. Example: If you set the monthly budgeted utilization to 80% for a savings plan, you will receive an alert (for example, via SMS or email) when the actual monthly savings plan utilization is lower than 80%. Savings plan utilization = Amount deducted from the savings plan/Total amount saved by using the savings plan x 100%
   Budgeted Coverage	The budgeted coverage of savings plans in the reset period. Example: If you set the monthly budgeted coverage to 80% for a savings plan, you will receive an alert (for example, via SMS or email) when the actual monthly savings plan coverage is lower than 80%. Savings plan coverage = Amount deducted from the savings plan/(Amount deducted from the savings plan + Cost of eligible usage not covered by the savings plan) x 100%

6. Configure alert thresholds, including Thresholds and Recipients, and click Next.

   Table 8 Parameters for creating a savings plan utilization/coverage budget (2)

   Parameters	Description
   Thresholds	If the actual usage reaches the value of Budgeted Utilization or Budgeted Coverage, an alert will be sent.
   Recipients	Information of contacts who will receive alerts. If you want to add or modify contact information, go to Recipient Management in the Message Center. Up to 10 recipients can be added for each budget.

7. Confirm your budget settings and click Save.

Alerts

• When the actual cost, usage, utilization, or coverage reaches the alert threshold you set, specified recipients will receive alerts via the notification methods you configured.
• The recipients will receive the alerts within one hour if the actual cost or usage reaches the configured alert threshold. Each recipient can receive a maximum of 100 budget alerts a day. Plan your budget appropriately.
• Within a budget monitoring period, the alert is sent only once even if more than one configured thresholds are reached.

  Assume that you set the budgeted amount to $100 USD, and alert thresholds to 60%, 70%, and 80%. If the actual cost is $85 USD (85% of the budgeted amount), Huawei Cloud will send only an alert, informing recipients that the current cost exceeds 80% of the budgeted amount.

• An alert is sent only once for each threshold in a reset period.

  Assume that you set the reset period to Monthly, budgeted amount to $100 USD, and threshold to 80%. If the actual cost of the current month reaches $80 USD (80% of the budgeted amount), Huawei Cloud will report an alert.

  If the threshold of the current month is changed to 90%, the system will check costs based on the new threshold. If the actual cost of the current month reaches $90 USD (90% of the budgeted amount), the system will send an alert again.