Building cost reports

Overview

This tutorial walks you through building a cost report in Cost Analyzer from start to finish. By the end, you will have a report configured with a specific scope, filters, and a scheduled delivery to your team.

Business value

Cost reports let you surface exactly the cost data your stakeholders need — by team, environment, service, or tag — without requiring recipients to navigate Cost Analyzer directly. Scheduling delivery ensures decision-makers receive relevant cost intelligence automatically, on a cadence that fits their workflow.

Prerequisites

• Cost Analyzer is connected to at least one Azure subscription with imported cost data.
• At least one cost management group exists. Reports are scoped to a cost management group. See Managing cost groups.
• You have recipient email addresses ready for scheduled delivery.

Required permissions

How it works

Reports in Cost Analyzer are structured cost summaries scoped to a cost management group. You choose a report type (such as Cost summary, Resources summary, or Executive cost summary), configure filters (subscription, resource group, tag, service), set a time period, and optionally schedule automated delivery. Reports are generated from the imported cost data at the time of execution and delivered as PDF or email.

Steps

This tutorial covers selecting a report type, applying filters, previewing the output, and scheduling delivery. Navigate to Cost Analyzer > Reports to get started.

Select a report type

Each report type surfaces a different view of cost data. Selecting the right type ensures the output matches your stakeholder's needs.

1. In the Reports section, click Add report.
2. Enter a Report name — for example, Production monthly cost summary.
3. Select a Report type from the dropdown:
   • Cost summary — total spend by subscription and resource group over a period.
   • Resources summary — per-resource cost breakdown.
   • Executive cost summary — high-level spend overview suitable for leadership.
   • Recommendations — rightsizing and optimization opportunities.
   • Tasks summary — scheduled task execution and cost impact.
4. Click Next.

Apply filters

Filters scope the report to the data your audience cares about, reducing noise from unrelated subscriptions or environments.

1. Select the Subscriptions to include. Leave blank to include all subscriptions in the cost management group.
2. Optionally filter by Resource group, Service, or Tag to narrow the scope further.
3. Set the Time period: Last 30 days, Last 3 months, Current month, or a Custom range.
4. Click Next.

Preview and save

Previewing before saving confirms the report scope and format match your expectations.

1. Click Preview to generate a sample output using current data.
2. Review the preview to confirm the scope, filters, and time period are correct.
3. Click Save to store the report configuration.

Schedule delivery

Scheduling automates report delivery so stakeholders receive cost data without logging in to Cost Analyzer.

1. On the saved report, click Schedule.
2. Set the Frequency: Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.
3. Set the Delivery time and Time zone.
4. Enter one or more Recipient email addresses.
5. Select the Output format: PDF or Email inline.
6. Click Save.

Example scenario

Contoso's FinOps team needs a monthly cost report for their VP of Engineering covering all production subscriptions, broken down by resource group, excluding development environments. They create a report called Production monthly cost summary using the Cost summary type, filter to the Contoso Production cost management group subscriptions, exclude the dev-* resource groups using a tag filter (environment: production), and set the time period to Current month. They preview the output, confirm the scope looks correct, and schedule monthly delivery on the 1st of each month at 8:00 AM to the VP's email. The VP receives the report automatically each month without needing access to Cost Analyzer.

Troubleshooting

1. Scheduled report is not delivered on the expected date
   Cause: The recipient email address was entered incorrectly, or the delivery time zone setting does not match the expected local time.
   Fix: Open the report schedule, verify the recipient addresses and time zone, and trigger a manual delivery to confirm the configuration is working.

2. Report preview shows no data
   Cause: The filters are too restrictive, or cost data has not yet been imported for the selected time period.
   Fix: Broaden the filters (remove tag or resource group filters) and check the import health for the cost management group to confirm data is available for the period.

3. Report output contains subscriptions not in scope
   Cause: The subscription filter was left blank, which includes all subscriptions in the cost management group.
   Fix: Edit the report and explicitly select only the subscriptions you want included.

4. PDF output is blank or missing charts
   Cause: The report was generated before the cost import cycle completed for the selected period.
   Fix: Wait for the next import cycle to complete, then regenerate the report manually from the Reports section.

5. Cannot schedule a report — the Schedule option is greyed out
   Cause: Your role does not have Manage access on the cost management group.
   Fix: Ask your Turbo360 administrator to grant you Manage access on the cost management group, then retry.

Related articles

• Reports in Cost Analyzer
• Cost summary
• Executive cost summary
• Creating your first budget
• Optimization workflows