Choose billed or effective cost for GPU reporting
On this page
Use EffectiveCost for GPU consumption trends and BilledCost for invoice-aligned reporting. If you skip this split, purchase timing can look like savings; keep workload, currency and period consistent because the difference alone is not savings.
What you need first
- Tool
- Use a spreadsheet, which lets you view rows and calculate totals, with a read-only FOCUS cost-and-usage export. Start with BilledCost, EffectiveCost and the provider and period fields listed below.
- Access
- Ask an authorized billing or data colleague for a read-only FOCUS export with the listed columns for your provider scope and date range.
- If you do not use that tool
- Give the billing or data colleague the providers, start and end dates, reporting purpose and intended GPU workload. Request separate BilledCost and EffectiveCost totals by currency, row-selection mapping, period boundaries and Used/Unused commitment breakdown.
Why this is worth a look
Skipping this distinction can hide usage costs covered by a separate purchase or recognize purchase cost in the wrong period. BilledCost reflects invoiced charges, while EffectiveCost distributes covering-purchase cost to covered charges and is zero on the covering purchase itself. EffectiveCost recognizes costs when resources are consumed, services are used or commitments are recognized, rather than when invoiced.
Run this check
CHECKLISTUse these manual spreadsheet steps on an authorized read-only FOCUS export. Set provider scope and a bounded window first. Totals are monetary amounts, not GPU-hours; verify currency for each measure.
READ-ONLY FOCUS GPU COST REVIEW
[ ] Record the purpose: invoice-aligned totals or costs recognized as resources are used and commitments are recognized.
[ ] Record the export and ServiceProviderName values. Confirm BilledCost, EffectiveCost, BillingCurrency, ServiceName and ServiceCategory are available.
[ ] Choose BillingPeriodStart and BillingPeriodEnd for invoice-cycle alignment, or ChargePeriodStart and ChargePeriodEnd for consumption and commitment-recognition analysis. Record dates and how rows crossing boundaries are treated. EffectiveCost can use either basis.
[ ] Obtain the workload owner's documented mapping to GPU rows. Review ServiceName and ServiceCategory, but do not treat Compute or AI and Machine Learning as GPU-only filters. Stop if mapping is missing.
[ ] Confirm the documented currency for each measure. BilledCost is denominated in BillingCurrency. Keep unlike currencies separate; do not compare measures until currencies are confirmed.
[ ] Sum BilledCost and EffectiveCost separately over the same selected rows and currency. Label measure, period basis and workload scope. Do not add measures together or call the difference savings.
[ ] If investigating commitments, inspect rows with ChargeCategory = 'Usage' and a non-null CommitmentDiscountId. Break EffectiveCost down by CommitmentDiscountId and CommitmentDiscountStatus. Record Used (allocated amortized cost) and Unused (unallocated amortized cost) separately.
[ ] For an issued-invoice reconciliation, use all invoice rows, not just the GPU subset. Group BilledCost by InvoiceId and InvoiceIssuerName and compare with the payable amount, allowing the FOCUS Rounding Variance Tolerance.How to confirm it
- 01
Choose measure and period
Choose BilledCost for invoiced amounts or EffectiveCost for recognized consumption costs. Then choose billing periods for invoice-cycle alignment or charge periods for consumption analysis. EffectiveCost can use either period basis.
- 02
Set workload and currency boundaries
Ask the workload owner to identify GPU rows before totaling them. ServiceCategory is a broad service classification, not a GPU identifier. Confirm each measure's currency from the export and keep unlike currencies separate.
- 03
Keep unused commitments visible
Review Used and Unused commitment costs separately before assigning costs to workloads. Used means amortized cost was allocated to consumed resources or services; Unused means it remained unallocated. Do not treat unallocated cost as GPU consumption.
- 04
Label the result before sharing
Record the measure, provider scope, workload mapping, currency and period basis beside each total. Use the difference between BilledCost and EffectiveCost to investigate purchase and recognition timing, not as a savings claim.
Before making changes
A GPU-only total cannot reconcile a whole invoice. This review assumes a FOCUS-conformant export, documented currencies and an accurate GPU mapping. Preliminary invoice estimates may differ from BilledCost; issued invoices allow the FOCUS rounding tolerance. Compare monetary totals, not GPU-hour unit costs.