Cost Tracking

Architecture

Implement cost tracking across AWS resources using consistent tags:

• CostCenter tag for chargeback to business units
• Project tag for project-level cost attribution
• Environment tag for dev/staging/prod cost comparison
• AWS Cost Explorer for analysis and reporting

When to Use

This pattern is ideal when you need:

• Departmental chargeback or showback
• Project-level budget tracking
• Environment cost comparison
• Resource optimization based on cost data
• Finance and accounting integration

Implementation

module "cost_tags" {
  source  = "registry.patterneddesigns.ca/standardnat/tagging-policy/aws"
  version = "1.1.0"

  required_tags = [
    "CostCenter",
    "Project",
    "Team",
    "Environment"
  ]

  default_tags = {
    ManagedBy  = "terraform"
    BillingOrg = "engineering"
  }
}

Considerations

• Activate cost allocation tags in AWS Billing Console
• Tags applied retroactively do not affect historical data
• Some resources have tag propagation limitations
• Consider tag key naming conventions early