Understanding optimization workflows

Overview

A Workflow is a background task that runs on a predefined configuration to automate Azure resource management and reduce operational costs. Workflows evaluate target resources against conditions you define, and execute actions — such as purging storage data, shutting down virtual machines, or terminating idle sessions — either on a recurring schedule or on demand.

Workflows are scoped to a Cost group and are configured within the Optimization > Workflows section.

Business value

Workflows eliminate the need for manual, recurring resource management tasks. By automating actions such as storage cleanup, VM shutdown, and session termination, they reduce Azure spend and administrative overhead consistently — without requiring engineers to monitor and act on resource states manually.

How it works

Each workflow is built around three core elements:

• Target resource — the Azure resource or resource group the workflow acts on (for example, a storage account, a resource group containing VMs, or an AVD host pool).
• Condition or filter — the criteria that determine when the workflow takes action (for example, blobs older than a specified number of days, VMs below a CPU utilization threshold, or all idle sessions in a host pool).
• Execution schedule — the timing and recurrence of the workflow. All workflows also support on-demand execution independent of their schedule.

When a workflow runs, it evaluates the target against the configured condition and performs the defined action on any resources that match. Results are available in the View runs section for each workflow.

Workflow types

Cost Analyzer includes three workflow types, each targeting a specific Azure resource category:

Shared behavior

All workflow types share the following behavior:

• Scheduling — workflows run on the recurrence and time zone you configure. You can also trigger any workflow manually at any time.
• Notification channels — each workflow can be configured to send alerts on execution via your organization's notification channels.
• View runs — each workflow maintains a run history showing completed executions and scheduled runs still awaiting processing.
• On-demand execution — any workflow can be triggered immediately via the Actions menu next to the workflow, independent of its schedule.

Prerequisites

Required permissions

The following permissions apply to all workflow types.

The Turbo360 Service principal also requires Azure-level access on the target subscription or resource to execute workflow actions. The specific Azure role required varies by workflow type — refer to the individual workflow articles for details.

Related articles

• Storage account workflow
• Start/stop virtual machines workflow
• Kill idle sessions workflow
• Understanding optimization schedules