Cost Optimization

Optimization Workflow

Build the Candidate Set

1. Call query_costs for current and prior comparable periods grouped by ServiceName and ResourceGroupName. Rank contributors and deltas per currency; do not optimize only by resource count.

2. Use generate_query, validate_query, then execute_query to retrieve Azure Advisor cost recommendations and factual inventory. Put the exact subscription predicate and required projection in the validated query; never isolate subscription rows by saving and parsing the response locally.

3. Deduplicate recommendations by resource ID, recommendation type, and target configuration in the validated Resource Graph query when possible. Otherwise narrow or page the query and preserve unresolved duplicates rather than aggregating them in a shell or local interpreter. Keep the newest active recommendation and preserve Advisor's impact, savings amount, currency, and period.

Validate Feasibility

4. Separate quantified Advisor recommendations, observed-metric candidates, and inventory-only signals. Use tool-reported savings only. Missing policies, unattached state, empty backend pools, age, SKU, or tags require owner and workload confirmation.

5. Check each proposed SKU, region, shutdown, or deletion against Azure Policy, availability, reliability requirements, ownership, dependencies, and rollback options. Mark feasibility as allowed, blocked, or unknown.

6. If commitments exist, load Commitment Analysis. Identify rightsizing or shutdown actions that could strand reserved capacity, and avoid counting commitment and rightsizing savings twice.

Prioritize and Report

7. Prioritize high-confidence quantified savings that are feasible and do not conflict with commitments or reliability requirements. Follow with non-quantified or lower-confidence investigations. Do not create an invented composite score.

8. Present current cost, evidence source, savings and period when reported, confidence, feasibility, commitment interaction, owner, validation step, rollback, and next action. Never classify a resource as idle or underutilized without an authoritative recommendation or matching metrics.

Load service-specific Resource Graph guidance only when relevant:

• Azure Cache for Redis

• Azure Storage

• Resource Graph queries

• Report template

Cleanup safety

Inventory signals such as an unattached disk or empty backend pool are candidates for investigation, not proof that a resource is unused. Surface owner tags and require owner confirmation before any delete, stop, resize, tier, or reservation purchase action.

Pricing

Use get_retail_prices for public prices. For negotiated pricesheets, call start_pricesheet_download, poll get_pricesheet_status, and keep retail and negotiated values clearly labeled. Do not claim realized savings from retail price comparisons alone.