Project Cost Tracking

Architecture

Track costs at the project level for accurate budgeting:

  • AWS Budgets for project-specific spending limits
  • Tag-based filtering to isolate project resources
  • Multi-threshold alerts for progressive warnings
  • SNS integration for project manager notifications

When to Use

This pattern is ideal when you need:

  • Project-based cost accounting
  • Client billing and invoicing data
  • Initiative-level ROI tracking
  • Fixed-price project cost management
  • Temporary or time-bound workloads

Common Projects

  • Data migration initiatives
  • Application modernization
  • New product development
  • Proof of concept evaluations
  • Customer-specific deployments

Implementation Strategy

  1. Create project-specific tags (e.g., Project, ProjectCode)
  2. Apply tags to all project resources consistently
  3. Set budget limits based on project estimates
  4. Configure alerts for project managers and finance
  5. Archive or remove budgets when projects complete

Considerations

  • Projects may span multiple services and regions
  • Tag compliance is critical for accurate tracking
  • Consider forecasting alerts in addition to actual spend
  • Document tag requirements in project onboarding