AWS Billing Conductor

aws/billing aws/cost-management

💡 Definition

AWS Billing Conductor is a service that enables AWS customers to customize, analyze, and communicate the cost and usage of their AWS resources across multiple accounts within an AWS Organizations setup. It provides a way to establish a "customized billing view" that can be distinct from the actual AWS bill.

🔑 Key Concepts

Customized Billing View: Allows you to create a prorated view of your monthly costs and present it to individual business units or customers, different from the actual AWS bill.
Showback/Chargeback: Facilitates internal showback or chargeback models by providing an aggregated and customized view of costs for departments or end-customers.
Proration: Enables the proration of shared costs (e.g., support plans, Reserved Instances, Savings Plans) across multiple accounts based on predefined rules.
Consolidated Billing Support: Works within AWS Organizations to provide enhanced billing customization on top of Consolidated Billing.
No Impact on AWS Bill: Billing Conductor does not change how you are actually billed by AWS; it only alters the view of the bill.

⚙️ How it Works

You define billing groups, pricing rules, and cost allocation preferences within Billing Conductor. It then generates a customized set of cost and usage reports and detailed billing records that can be accessed by the respective business units or customers, providing them with a clear, allocated view of their AWS spending.

🎯 Use Cases

Internal Cost Allocation: For large enterprises with many internal teams, it helps in accurately allocating shared AWS costs.
Resellers/Managed Service Providers (MSPs): For partners who resell AWS services, it helps in creating custom invoices for their end-customers.
Financial Planning: Providing business units with predictable and transparent billing for their cloud consumption.

💰 Pricing Model

AWS Billing Conductor charges a small fee based on the gross spend under management within the service, above a certain free tier amount.

📝 Exam Tips (CLF-C02)

Keywords: "Customized billing view", "Showback/Chargeback", "Proration of shared costs", "Multi-account billing".
Understand that it's for customizing the view of your bill, especially for internal cost allocation or for resellers.
Works in conjunction with AWS Organizations and Consolidated Billing.