Configuring Azure Cost Management Exports

Cost managment exports, quick and easy.

1. Open Cost Management in the Azure portal
   Go to the Azure portal and navigate to Cost Management + Billing.
   Choose the correct scope (billing account, subscription, or resource group) where you want to manage costs.
2. Go to Exports
   In the left menu under your chosen scope, select Cost Management → Exports.
   Click + Add or + New export.
3. Configure basic export settings
   • Name: Enter a clear, descriptive name (e.g., company-daily-actualcost).
   • Metric: Choose Actual cost or Amortized cost depending on your FinOps use case.
   • Time frame: Pick how much data you want in each export (e.g., Billing month to date).
4. Choose export schedule
   • Frequency: Select Daily, Weekly, or Monthly (most FinOps teams use Daily). I overwrite my files because it saves space AND my report tooling updates when needed.
   • Run time: Choose a time of day for the export to generate (usually off-peak or early morning).
5. Select the storage account and container
   • Click Storage account and pick (or create) an Azure Storage account in the same region when possible.
   • Select or create a Blob container where the cost files will be stored.
   • Optionally set a folder path to keep exports organized (e.g., cost-exports/focus).
6. Set file format and partitioning (if available)
   • File type: Usually CSV – I haven’t been able to use the GZIP in a way that works well in Power BI.
   • Partitioning: Enable if you expect large datasets and want Azure to create partitioned files by date or other attributes. This breaks up the 10GB data into smaller less than 10GB file sizes.
7. Review and create
   • Review your settings: scope, metric, schedule, and storage location, etc.
   • Click Create to finalize the export configuration.
8. Verify the export is working
   • Wait until after the first scheduled run time or run an ad hoc run – wait for completion.
   • Go to the configured Storage account → Blob containers → your container → folder path.
   • Confirm that cost export files (typically named with date/time stamps) are being generated.
9. Integrate with downstream tools
   • Point Power BI, Excel, data warehouse, or FinOps tooling to the exported files. SAS token or Access Key here. Note: Remember to rotate your keys if you so choose to use them.
   • Use the exports as a single source of truth for reporting, showback/chargeback, and anomaly detection.