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 up to 100 alerts per day.

As each budget is monitored every hour, 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 will not be able to create 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: the total number of budgets that have been created
• Actual Budget Overruns: the total number of budgets that have exceeded the budgets in the current period
• Forecasted Budget Overruns: the total number of budgets that are predicted to exceed the budgets in the current period

Creating a Cost Budget

You can 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 budget (1)

   Parameter	Description
   Budget Name	Enter a unique budget name.
   Budget Scope (optional)	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. An enterprise master account can select enterprise projects by linked account, except the default enterprise project and those not categorized.
   Split Item	This parameter is only valid when you set Cost Type 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, see Enabling Cost Splitting.
   Cost Type	Original costs: the costs of cloud services purchased at the list price with available discounts applied. Before the billing date, this is an estimated amount. Once the bill is issued, it is the amount due. Amortized costs: the effective costs of the prepaid amounts amortized on a daily basis. It may take about 24 to 48 hours before amortized costs are displayed. Before the billing date, amortized costs are only estimates. When you set Cost Type to Original costs, you can toggle on Include discount to include both discount and truncated amount. In this case, the original cost is equivalent to the list price.
   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 1st of each year moving forward.
   Budget Duration	Recurring: You select a start date on which the recurring budgets will begin renewing. Expiring: You set a time range, outside which expiring budgets will not renew.
   Allocation	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. For details, see Baseline Time Range. Last quarter/month actual Current quarter/month forecast Last several quarters/months average Last several quarters/months compound growth rate
   Budgeted Amount	If Allocation is Fixed, you just set the budget amount to a fixed value. If Reset Period is Daily or Yearly, you just set the budget amount to a fixed value. If Allocation is Monthly or Quarterly, you need to set the 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 was not set for May 2021, the budgeted amount of April 2021 would be used for May 2021. If you set Allocation to Dynamic, you do not need to set budgeted amount manually. Because your dynamic budget depends on your cost data, your upcoming budget amounts can fluctuate as your costs change. Cost Center will notify all alert recipients of the newly adjusted budgeted amount on the 5th day in each month or quarter.

6. Under Alert Thresholds, configure Thresholds and Recipients and click Next.

   Table 2 Parameters for creating a cost budget (2)

   Parameter	Description
   Thresholds	A maximum of five thresholds can be set for each budget. The following alerting conditions are supported: Actual >: 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 can be a certain amount or a certain percentage of the 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	The 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 budget details and click Save.

Creating a Usage Budget

You can create a usage budget and configure alerts to warn you if the threshold you defined is reached:

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 budget (1)

   Parameter	Description
   Budget Name	Enter a unique budget name.
   Usage Scope (optional)	Define a budget scope as required. Specifically, you can set filters such as Linked Account, Region, and Specifications on the left, and you will see the usage data from the last 12 months in the pane 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 1st of each year moving forward.
   Budget Duration	Recurring: You select a start date on which the recurring budgets will begin renewing. Expiring: You set a time range, outside which expiring budgets will not renew.
   Allocation	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. For details, see Baseline Time Range. Last quarter/month actual Current quarter/month forecast Last several quarters/months average Last several quarters/months compound growth rate
   Budgeted Usage	If Allocation is Fixed, you just set the budget amount to a fixed value. If Reset Period is Daily or Yearly, you just set the budget amount to a fixed value. If Allocation is Monthly or Quarterly, you need to set the 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 was not set for May 2021, the budgeted amount of April 2021 would be used for May 2021. If you set Allocation to Dynamic, you do not need to set budgeted amount manually. Because your dynamic budget depends on your cost data, your upcoming budget amounts can fluctuate as your costs change. Cost Center will notify all alert recipients of the newly adjusted budgeted amount on the 5th day in each month or quarter.

6. Under Alert Thresholds, configure Thresholds and Recipients and click Next.

   Table 4 Parameters for creating a usage budget (2)

   Parameter	Description
   Thresholds	A maximum of five thresholds can be set for each budget. The following alerting conditions are supported: Actual >: 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 can be a certain amount or a certain percentage of the 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	The 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 budget details and click Save.

Creating an RI Utilization/Coverage Budget

You can create an RI budget to track the utilization or coverage of specified RIs. You can configure alerts to warn you if the utilization or coverage is lower than the budget threshold you defined.

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 a budget (1)

   Parameter	Description
   Budget Name	Enter a unique budget name.
   Budget Scope (optional)	Define a budget scope as required. Specifically, you can set filters such as Linked Account, Region, and AZ on the left pane, and you will see the utilization or coverage from the last 12 months in the pane 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.
   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 1st of each year moving forward.
   Budget Duration	Recurring: You select a start date on which the recurring budgets will begin renewing. Expiring: You set a time range, outside which expiring budgets will not renew.
   Allocation	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 can configure alerts (for example, via SMS or email) to warn you 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 can configure alerts (for example, via SMS or email) to warn you when the actual monthly RI coverage (RI covered hours/Total resource running hours x 100%) is lower than 80%.

6. Under Alert Thresholds, configure Thresholds and Recipients and click Next.

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

   Parameter	Description
   Thresholds	If the actual usage reaches the value of Budgeted Utilization or Budgeted Coverage, an alert will be sent.
   Recipients	The 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 budget details 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. You can configure alerts to warn you if the utilization or coverage is lower than the budget threshold you defined.

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 budget (1)

   Parameter	Description
   Budget Name	Enter a unique budget name.
   Budget Scope (optional)	Define a budget scope as required. Specifically, you can set filters such as Linked Account, Region, and AZ on the left pane, and you will see the utilization or coverage from the last 12 months in the pane 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.
   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 1st of each year moving forward.
   Budget Duration	Recurring: You select a start date on which the recurring budgets will begin renewing. Expiring: You set a time range, outside which expiring budgets will not renew.
   Allocation	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 can configure alerts (for example, via SMS or email) to warn you 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 can configure alerts (for example, via SMS or email) to warn you 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. Under Alert Thresholds, configure Thresholds and Recipients and click Next.

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

   Parameter	Description
   Thresholds	If the actual usage reaches the value of Budgeted Utilization or Budgeted Coverage, an alert will be sent.
   Recipients	The 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 budget details and click Save.

Alerts

• If the actual cost, usage, utilization, or coverage reaches the configured threshold, specified recipients will receive alerts via the notification methods you configured.
• If the actual cost or usage reaches the configured threshold, the recipients will receive the alerts within one hour. 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.

  Suppose you set the budgeted amount to $100 USD and thresholds to 60%, 70%, and 80%. If the actual cost is $85 USD (85% of the budgeted amount), Huawei Cloud will send only one 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.

  Suppose you set 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), Huawei Cloud will report another alert.