Reports and Dashboards in Octo
In today’s cloud-driven world, having comprehensive visibility into your cloud costs is essential for effective management. Reports and dashboards are critical tools that provide the visibility needed to manage cloud costs and they play important roles in helping your business track, analyze, and optimize cloud usage and expenditures. With these features integrated into your cloud cost management tool, your business can stay on top of cloud expenses, ensuring efficient resource allocation and maximizing ROI.
While in other tools, reports and dashboards are often separate features, with Octo, we've connected them so that whatever you put in your report also shows up on your dashboard. This design eliminates extra steps on your end—every time you sign in, your reports are right in front of you. Your cloud costs are literally visible without needing to open or click on any other tabs!
How convenient!
Reports
As mentioned in our introduction, your report will serve as the foundation for your dashboard. That’s why it is important to carefully consider which metrics you want to see and prioritize.
You might feel unsure about creating a report and think that it would be difficult. But don’t worry, it’s actually quite simple.
There are two types of creating your reports: fixed insights report and customized.
Creating Fixed Insights Report
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Generating your fixed insights report is easy. Just follow these steps:
Locate the Dropdown Menu
On your dashboard, find the dropdown section next to the OCTO logo in the upper-left corner.Click '+NEW REPORT'
This will initiate the process of creating a new insight report.Choose Report Type
You will see two options: 'Fixed' and 'Build it from scratch.' Select 'Fixed', then click 'NEXT'. This will generate an insight report based on a predefined layout for a chosen time period.Select Report Format
Next, you'll choose the format for your report:
For reports based on specific quarter, select 'Quarterly Report'.
For reports based on a full year, select 'Yearly Report'.
Then click 'NEXT'. After that:
Fill in Report Information
Provide the required details for your report, then click 'NEXT'.Select Cost Group
Choose the Cost Group that you want the report to focus on.Specify Year and Quarter
Select the specific year and quarter for your report data. Note that if you’re going to choose a current year or quarter (meaning a year or quarter that is still in progress) you will be notified with a note saying that the current selected period is still in progress.Preview Your Report
Review the report to ensure all necessary information and data are included.Save the Layout
Once you're satisfied with the preview, click '+SAVE LAYOUT'. Your fixed insight report is now ready.
Please note that for these fixed insights reports, you'll only need to prioritize one cost group. Once you click ‘+SAVE LAYOUT,’ the selection will be finalized and no further edits will be made.
Creating Customized Report
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These are the steps that you need to follow to create a Customized Report:
Take note, you can choose multiple cost groups on this one, unlike the fixed insight reports.
Start with the First Two Steps from the Fixed Insights Report
Follow the same initial steps as when creating a fixed report: locate the dropdown menu and click '+NEW REPORT.'Select 'Build it from Scratch'
When prompted to choose a report type, select 'Build it from scratch', then click 'NEXT'.Enter Report Details
Fill in the required report details and click 'NEXT'.Add Widgets
You'll be redirected to the 'Add New Widget' window. On the left, you'll see a list of available widgets, and on the right, a preview section.
Select the widget you want to use and click '+ADD TO DASHBOARD' in the upper right corner.Select Cost Group
A pop-up window will appear for you to choose a specific Cost Group for the widget. Select the desired Cost Group and click 'SELECT.'Arrange Widgets
Drag and position the widget where you'd like it on your dashboard.Edit and Add More Widgets
At the top of the screen, you’ll see a 'Report Edit Mode' banner. Click 'OPEN WIDGET LIST' to return to the widget selection window if you want to add more.
Repeat steps 4-7 until you're satisfied with the layout.Save Your Layout
Once you're happy with your report, click 'SAVE LAYOUT'. Your customized insight report is now ready to view.
One of the great perks of creating this type of report is the ability to view multiple cost groups simultaneously across different widgets. Plus, you can easily edit and customize it to suit your needs whenever necessary.
Viewing Your Reports
This is how you navigate your reports.
For customized reports, your view should look like this:
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Add to Favorite Reports
In the list of your reports, there is a star icon that serves a specific purpose. It is the ‘Add to Favorite Reports’ feature that allows you to mark reports that you find important as favorites. When you use this feature, your favorite reports are listed at the top of the report list, making it easier to access and view them quickly.
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Private and Shared Indicator
Additionally, reports are categorized into two types: Private and Shared. Private reports are those you have created but have not shared with others. On the other hand, Shared reports are either reports you’ve created and shared with others or reports created by other members that have been shared with you. This categorization helps you manage and access reports based on their visibility and sharing status.
Menu/ Options (Kebab)
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Set To Main Report:
This feature allows you to designate a specific report as your main report. This means that every time you log in to Octo, this designated report will be displayed on your dashboard by default. This feature helps streamline your workflow by ensuring that the report most relevant to you is always easily accessible. The crown icon will be displayed on the side of the report after you set it as the main report.
Information:
In this section, you will see the details of your report. It contains the following information:
Report Name
Report ID
Description
Created By
Created At (when)
Updated At (when)
Publish The Report To Members (yes/no)
Allow Other Members To Edit (yes/no)
Edit Report:
This feature allows you to modify the details of your report or change its permissions. You can update the following information about your report:
Avatar
Color Theme
Report Name
Description
Publish The Report To Members
Allow Other Members To Edit
Edit Layout:
This feature allows you to customize the layout of your report. You can modify the arrangement of existing elements or add new widgets to enhance the report’s presentation. This feature is applicable only to reports that are built from scratch, not to fixed reports.
Duplicate Report:
This feature allows you to create an additional copy of an existing report. The new copy will be named as “‘Name of the Report’ - Copy.” This functionality is useful for saving a backup version or creating a variation of the original report without altering the original content.
Delete Report:
This feature allows you to remove a report that you no longer want or need. Using this option will permanently delete the report from the system, so be sure that you no longer need the report before proceeding with deletion.
Fiscal Setting
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Fiscal Setting in Octo helps match cloud cost tracking and reporting with your organization’s financial schedule and accounting periods. By setting this up, you make sure that cloud costs are reported according to your fiscal year and budget cycle. This way, it’s simpler to analyze and track spending against your budget accurately.
To navigate to your Fiscal Settings, follow these steps:
In the top right corner of your screen, click the gear icon.
Under 'ORGANIZATION SETTINGS,' click 'Fiscal Settings.'
It's as simple as that. You can now change the fiscal settings for your organization. Please note that once you make a change, it will apply globally across the organization.
Dashboard
Your dashboard is a key feature of Octo because it's where you can view the reports you've created, and it serves as the landing page every time you log in to your Octo account. It’s also your starting point, as all the primary features are accessible from here.
However, for now, let’s focus on viewing and understanding your reports. Let’s start with fixed reports.
Fixed Reports
Each fixed report includes the cost group name, fiscal year, and the specific quarter it covers, along with the months included in that quarter. This information is displayed in the first section of your fixed insights report, which is divided into five subsections.
Cloud Usage Cost Analysis
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In this first section, you’ll find a summary of cloud cost usage for the selected cost group. It provides the total current cost, the average monthly total cost, a comparison to the previous quarter, and a name of the account with the highest contribution to the overall cost.
We also have a section for cost overview, which graph displays the total cost for the last three months. There is also a percentage graph that provides a breakdown of savings coverage, showing on-demand, spot, savings, and reserved instances. Additionally, there are two more sections: one that breaks down costs by service and another that breaks down costs by account.
Optimization Implementation Analysis
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The second section of your fixed insights report is the Optimization Implementation Analysis. This section provides a summary of the optimization suggestions and shows how many of these have been implemented. It also displays the percentage of cost reduction achieved, highlighting which recommendation resulted in the most effective cost savings. Additionally, you'll also find a breakdown of savings by account and a graph comparing costs to savings for each month in that quarter.
Estimated Usage Optimization Opportunities
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This section focuses on recommendations related to usage optimization which provides a summary of your unrealized savings. This section highlights which account could have had the highest savings (in addition to the savings you’ve already achieved through the executed recommendations) and identifies the recommendation that could have provided the most significant savings.
Please know that unrealized savings refers to the savings that you could have achieved if only the recommendations were implemented.
Estimated Unrealized Rate Optimization Opportunities
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This final section provides a summary of unrealized rate optimization opportunities. However, you will need to generate a ‘+NEW REPORT’ to view it. In this section, you can see the top six accounts where rate optimization opportunities were available but not yet utilized, arranged from the highest to the lowest estimated unrealized savings per month.
Additionally, there is another section that lists the top ten AWS unrealized rate optimization recommendations for the entire quarter, also organized from the highest to the lowest estimated monthly savings.
Customized Reports
Widgets
Cost Group:
Single Chart - allows you to display cloud usage and cost data for a specific cost group on your dashboard. If you want to monitor this particular aspect of your cloud resources at a glance, you can add this chart to your dashboard for quick and easy access.
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Multiple Chart - enables you to view graphs representing data from various cost groups simultaneously. This allows you to compare and analyze cloud usage and cost across different cost groups.
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Treemap - allows you to visualize the percentage share of costs for each service within your selected cost group. This visualization helps you understand the distribution of costs across services and identify which services contribute most significantly to the overall expenditure in that specific cost group.
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Each service is represented by a shape, with different colors and sizes. The color distinguishes between services, while the size of each shape represents the cost—larger shapes indicate a higher percentage of the total cost.
Ranking List - displays the top five services—from highest to lowest—within a cost group based on their cost. This feature helps you quickly identify which services are the most costly and prioritize your cost management efforts accordingly.
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Tag Management:
Overall Tag Health - it allows you to see the health or the overall performance of your tag environment using the Cloud Saver’s Tag Manager.
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Decorate:
Headline - allows you to add titles to your dashboard, especially if your dashboard has many sections.
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Blank Box - allows you to add space between your widgets, making the layout more visually pleasing.
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Note that you can add multiple widgets to your dashboard, as long as there is still available space left. Widgets come in various sizes, allowing you to choose the ones that best fit your layout and display needs. This flexibility lets you customize and arrange your dashboard to showcase the most relevant data and insights for your specific requirements.
Each widget has a three-dot icon which allows you to modify the widget.
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Go to Cost Group: This will take you to the cost group associated with that particular widget so you can see more details about it.
Widget Setting: Here you can edit the display(title, subtitle) sa widget
Example sa subtitle:
Set: {{costGroup}} cost ({{periodDaily}}days)
Output: ProjectA cost (30days)
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You can also change the cost group, granularity(daily/monthly), period, and dimension here.
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Move Widget: This will open the Report Edit Mode, in which you can move or rearrange the widgets to your liking. While you’re already in the Report Edit Mode, you can add widgets by clicking ‘OPEN WIDGET LIST.’
Add New Widget: This will automatically take you to the Widget List where you can choose a new widget that you want to add to your dashboard.
Delete Widget: This will allow you to remove widgets from your dashboard.