Feedback Wanted: Cost Allocation Data Export Example

[Sophie_Mayerw]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share something that might be helpful for those exploring Cost Allocation via Account Management. Below is an example of what a CSV export of this data looks like.

If you'd like to try exporting the data yourself, you can follow the step-by-step instructions in our documentation:
👉 Export Cost Allocation Data

⚠️ Important: Make sure you've configured Cost Allocation first! If not, you’ll encounter an error message saying there’s no data available.

I’d love to hear your thoughts:

• Does this data meet your expectations?
• Would you prefer it in a different format or accessible in another way?

Let me know what you think! Your feedback is super valuable.

Best regards,
Sophie

[sqnocopsguy]

i'm getting a message that the link is broken - 

 Export Cost Allocation Data

We can't find this page

The page doesn't exist or the link you clicked may be old and no longer available.

[Sophie_Mayerw]

Hi @sqnocopsguy, 

Thanks for letting me know. I've updated the link - can you please try again?

[AntonioSousa]

@Sophie_Mayerw ,

Isn't this available in DQL and Data Explorer. It's as simple as getting this information, and then exporting it to CSV, or visualizing it?

I understand you are dealing with it at the Account Management level, but having several non-compatible/comparable ways to doing it is not the way forward. Or am I missing something?

[Sophie_Mayerw]

Hi @AntonioSousa 
Thanks for your question! I understand where you're coming from. Here's a breakdown of the two main scenarios we see:

1. High-Level Overview:
   This is for someone responsible for the overall DPS budget, like an account owner who needs data for chargeback purposes. They want to see all account-wide data and don’t need an environment-specific view or access.

2. Detailed Cost Analysis:
   This applies to team leads or others linked to specific cost centers (e.g., dt.cost.costcenter or dt.cost.product). Since they already use the environment daily, they benefit from environment-specific data to investigate usage or spot anomalies.

Our Account Management features are designed to support the first scenario, while environment-level features help with the second.

Currently, Cost Allocation in DPS SaaS only fully supports Host Monitoring (we’re working to expand this!). So, for chargebacks beyond Host Monitoring, you’ll need to rely on environment-level data or combine it with Account Management data.

Let me know if this helps clarify things!

[Soren_vdc]

Is it on the roadmap that Dynatrace will deliver the cost related information in FOCUS format (FOCUS™ - FinOps Open Cost & Usage Specification ) ? 

[AntonGoosen]

I am quite confused about the export's unit of the consumption numbers.  I understand that the cost is calculkated as
Cost = Usage / Per Unit * Price
(confirmed in the Blue column).  But that cannot be the real price as this make no sense to pay > EUR 5 milion.  To make it worst, it seems that there is no consistency in the calculation between types and no resemblance to the rate card.  I did not find this documented anywhere.  How will we calculate the costs with the data that was exported?

[Sophie_Mayerw]

Hi @AntonGoosen 

I'm having trouble identifying where that view originated. The file should look like this:

In the export, column G already shows the total usage cost in the currency specified in your contract. For example, in my screenshot, line 2 shows 144 FULLSTACK MONITORING memory GiB hours tracked, resulting in a total cost of €1.15.

Could you let me know where your screenshot came from? The price of €331 per unit seems unusually high—there’s no rate-card item that expensive, even on our public rate card: https://www.dynatrace.com/pricing/rate-card/

What could have happened is that you took a price with another unit base. For example, Fullstack is rated at $0.01 per memory-GiB-hour. However, it could be that you have in your rate card a pricing per 1,000 memory-GiB-hour. Our usage tracking is still per memory-GiB-hour. So you need to adjust the pricing. If you download the Excel via Account Management, this is automatically performed correctly. 

Another possible issue: We’re using the US version of number decimals if it’s wrongly converted into the European number decimals format – this can also have unpleasant effects.

Just to be safe, I recommend downloading the Cost Allocation export again. You’ll find a detailed explanation here: https://docs.dynatrace.com/docs/license/cost-allocation#export-cost-allocation-data

Please let me know if that solved your problem.

Best regards,
Sophie