# Allocation Cost Dashboard > Source: https://parallelworks.com/docs/monitoring/allocation-costs # Allocation Cost Dashboard The allocation cost dashboard charts what each [allocation](/docs/resource-groups/viewing-allocations) has spent over time, broken down by type, subtype, user, or SKU. It's the cost dashboard for organizations on the [flexible allocation system](/docs/organization-admin/billing/flexible-allocation-system), and combines invoiced cloud costs, real-time estimates, and rated usage in one view. :::info Preview The dashboard is shown on the **Reports** page, which is marked **Preview**. The **Explorer** tab described here is complete. Saved reports are still in development and aren't covered on this page. Organizations on the legacy group allocation system use the [Cost dashboard](/docs/monitoring/costs) instead. ::: ## Navigation In the sidebar, under **Monitor**, click **Reports**. The page opens on the **Explorer** tab. ![Screenshot of the allocation cost dashboard, showing monthly usage cost for an allocation stacked by type, a breakdown table by category, and the filters panel.](/content-images/docs/monitoring/allocation-costs/allocation-cost-explorer.jpg?v=b7aad9e2) ## Choosing what to show The filters panel on the right controls the chart and table. Click **Hide filters** to give the chart more room, and **Refresh** to reload the data. #### Allocation The allocation to report on. The list shows the allocations you can access: those shared with you, or every allocation in the organization if you're an organization admin. #### Group by How costs are split in the chart and table: - **Type** — broad categories such as Compute, Storage, Network, and AI. - **Subtype** — finer categories within each type. - **User** — who incurred the cost. - **SKU** — the individual billable item. #### Time range **Day**, **Week**, **Last 30 days**, **Last 90 days**, **Last 365 days**, **Month to date**, **Year to date**, or **Custom** (pick a start and end date). The time range is independent of the [allocation start date](/docs/organization-admin/settings/policies#allocation-start-date), so you can look at spend from before the current allocation period. #### Include realtime estimates On by default. Adds estimated cost for running resources that your cloud provider hasn't invoiced yet, so the chart is close to up to date. Turn it off to see only invoiced costs and rated usage. This option only appears for allocations in U.S. dollars; custom-unit allocations show rated usage only. #### Filters Narrow the data to one **Type**, **Subtype**, **User**, or **SKU**. **Metadata** searches the metadata attached to rated usage events (for example, a job or project ID sent by an integration). Cloud costs carry no metadata, so they're excluded while a metadata search is active. ## Reading the dashboard - **Usage cost** — a stacked bar chart of spend per month, colored by the **Group by** category. Turn on **Show cumulative** to see running totals instead of per-month amounts. - **Breakdown table** — each category's total **Usage cost** for the selected range, plus the overall **Total**. Hover a row to highlight that category in the chart. Your filter choices are kept in the page URL, so you can bookmark a view or share the link with someone who has access to the same allocation. The dashboard also remembers your last filters the next time you open it. ## Cost categories When you group by **Type** or **Subtype**, cloud costs are sorted into the categories below. Each cloud provider SKU is mapped to one type and subtype, so the same kind of cost lands in the same category on AWS, Azure, Google, and Oracle. | Type | Subtypes | Examples | |---|---|---| | **Compute** | Instance, IP Address, Image, OS, Other | Virtual machines and cluster nodes, OS and software licenses, custom images. Kubernetes namespace usage also appears here. | | **Storage** | Disk, Bucket, NFS, Lustre, Snapshot, NetApp, BigQuery, Other | Block disks, object storage buckets, file systems, snapshots | | **Network** | Egress, Ingress, IP Address, NAT Gateway, Load Balancer, DNS, Private Link, Security, Other | Data transfer out, public IP addresses, NAT gateways | | **AI** | Tokens, Storage | Model usage through the AI gateway and cloud AI services | | **Infrastructure** | Database, Kubernetes, BigQuery, Other | Managed databases, managed Kubernetes control planes, other managed cloud services | | **Keys** | KMS, Key Vault | Key management and secret storage | | **Logs** | Other | Logging and event streaming services | Custom-unit allocations use the type and subtype defined on each of their [SKUs](/docs/organization-admin/billing/allocations#units-and-skus) instead. #### Unknown **Unknown** means the charge uses a cloud provider SKU that hasn't been categorized yet, which usually happens when a provider introduces a new product or pricing line. The cost is still counted in full toward the allocation; only its category is missing. New SKUs are categorized in platform updates. Charges already imported keep **Unknown** until their billing period is imported again, which happens automatically while the cloud provider is still updating that month's billing export. ## What's included For the selected allocation, the dashboard adds up: - **Invoiced cloud costs** from your cloud providers' billing exports, attributed to the allocation through resource groups, reservation mappings, the cloud account's default allocation, or legacy (deprecated) project tags. See [Cost Attribution](/docs/organization-admin/billing/cost-attribution). Costs from a shared cloud account that bill this allocation are included too. - **Real-time estimates** for running resources that haven't been invoiced yet, when **Include realtime estimates** is on. Once the invoice arrives, it replaces the estimate, so nothing is counted twice. - **Rated usage** recorded against the allocation, such as AI requests, Kubernetes namespace usage, and usage events from integrations like slurm-tracker. Cloud costs with no username, such as shared account charges, appear under your organization's [default billing username](/docs/organization-admin/settings/policies#default-billing-username) when grouping by **User**. :::note Invoice timing Cloud providers usually publish usage a few hours to a day after it happens, and the platform imports it about every two hours. Recent days may show mostly estimated cost until the invoices arrive. ::: ## Access You can view an allocation's costs if the allocation is shared with you at any level (**Read**, **Use**, or **Admin**), or if you're an organization admin. Platform billing admins can view any organization's allocation costs from **Admin > Cost Reports**.