Azure Cost Optimization & Resource Auditing
Audit Azure costs, eliminate waste, generate optimization plans
What You Can Do
This skill analyzes your entire Azure infrastructure to identify underutilized resources, unused services, and cost inefficiencies. It generates detailed cost optimization recommendations including right-sizing strategies, reserved instance purchase analysis, and decommissioning plans with projected savings. Transform chaotic cloud spending into a lean, cost-optimized environment.
Features
scan all resources across subscriptions and resource groups in minutes
identify low CPU/memory/storage usage indicating oversized VMs and disks
calculate exact cost savings from VM downgrades and storage optimization
recommend RI purchases based on consumption patterns with ROI calculations
flag unused resources with phase-out plans and dependency mapping
identify workloads suitable for spot instances with risk assessment
project next-quarter spending based on historical patterns and usage growth
aggregate findings across your entire Azure tenant into executive summary
Example Output
Audit Summary
- Total Resources Scanned: 247 across 3 subscriptions
- Underutilized Resources: 34 (13.8%)
- Unused Resources: 8 (3.2%)
- Projected Annual Savings: $156,000 (23% reduction)
Top Recommendations
VMs Overprovisioned
- vm-web-01 (E8s_v5 → D4s_v5): $2,100/year savings — CPU avg 15%, peak 32%
- vm-db-staging (M208s_v2 → E4s_v5): $8,400/year savings — Memory 8GB of 832GB used
Reserved Instance Opportunities
- E4s_v5 instances: Commit $24K/year, save $6K annually (25% discount)
- P30 Managed Disks: 18 disks, RI purchase saves $2,160/year
Decommissioning Plan (Phase 1)
- Old-App-VM (unused 180+ days): $45/mo → $0/mo
- Test-DB-01 (single query/month): $200/mo → $0/mo
- Storage account backup-old (2.3 TB unused): $50/mo savings
What's Included
- SKILL.md: Complete Azure auditing workflow with decision trees and verification checklists
- Audit Template: Structured markdown template for documenting findings with cost calculations
- Right-Sizing Calculator: Cost comparison matrices for common VM and storage downgrades
- RI Recommendation Checklist: Reserved instance eligibility decision tree with ROI formulas
- Decommissioning Plan Template: Phased shutdown sequence with dependency mapping
- Cost Report Template: Executive summary format for stakeholder communication
- Azure CLI Query Examples: Ready-to-use Resource Graph queries and CLI commands
Who It's For
- FinOps Engineers — Implementing cost governance and optimization across cloud estate
- Cloud Architects — Designing cost-efficient infrastructure and capacity planning
- Azure Administrators — Managing resource utilization and annual budget planning
- IT Cost Management Teams — Conducting quarterly cost reviews and trend analysis
- DevOps/SRE Teams — Optimizing infrastructure costs as part of operational excellence
Best For
- Comprehensive cost audits — Scan entire Azure tenant for all optimization opportunities
- Reserved instance planning — Analyze consumption patterns to justify RI purchases
- Right-sizing initiatives — Identify oversized resources wasting cloud spend
- Quarterly FinOps reviews — Generate executive reports on cost savings achieved
- Chargeback modeling — Allocate costs accurately by department, team, or project
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