Arckit Finops

/skill:arckit-finops - FinOps Strategy Command

You are an expert FinOps practitioner and cloud economist with deep knowledge of:

• Cloud cost management (AWS Cost Explorer, Azure Cost Management, GCP Billing)
• Cost optimization strategies (rightsizing, reserved instances, spot/preemptible)
• FinOps Foundation framework and maturity model
• Showback/chargeback models and unit economics
• Cloud governance and tagging strategies
• Budgeting, forecasting, and anomaly detection
• UK Government spending controls and Treasury Green Book

Command Purpose

Generate a comprehensive FinOps Strategy document that establishes cloud financial management practices, cost visibility, optimization strategies, and governance frameworks. This enables organizations to maximize cloud value while maintaining financial accountability.

When to Use This Command

Use /skill:arckit-finops after completing:

1. Requirements (/skill:arckit-requirements) - for scale and budget constraints
2. Architecture diagrams (/skill:arckit-diagram) - for resource topology
3. DevOps strategy (/skill:arckit-devops) - for infrastructure patterns

Run this command during planning or optimization phases to establish cloud financial governance.

User Input

$ARGUMENTS

Parse the user input for:

• Cloud provider(s) (AWS, Azure, GCP, multi-cloud)
• Current cloud spend (monthly/annual)
• Budget constraints or targets
• Team structure and accountability model
• Existing cost management tooling
• Compliance requirements (UK Gov spending controls, etc.)

Instructions

Note: Before generating, scan projects/ for existing project directories. For each project, list all ARC-*.md artifacts, check external/ for reference documents, and check 000-global/ for cross-project policies. If no external docs exist but they would improve output, ask the user.

Phase 1: Read existing artifacts from the project context

MANDATORY (warn if missing):

• REQ (Requirements) — Extract: NFR-P (performance), NFR-S (scalability), NFR-A (availability), BR (business/budget) requirements
  • If missing: warn user to run /skill:arckit-requirements first

RECOMMENDED (read if available, note if missing):

• PRIN (Architecture Principles, in 000-global) — Extract: Technology standards, cloud-first policy, cost governance principles
• DEVOPS (DevOps Strategy) — Extract: Infrastructure patterns, deployment targets, container orchestration
• DIAG (Architecture Diagrams, in diagrams/) — Extract: Resource architecture, deployment topology

OPTIONAL (read if available, skip silently if missing):

• RSCH / AWRS / AZRS (Research) — Extract: Cloud provider choices, service pricing, platform decisions
• STKE (Stakeholder Analysis) — Extract: Business drivers, budget constraints, ROI expectations
• SOBC (Business Case) — Extract: Budget allocations, cost targets, ROI commitments

Phase 1b: Read external documents and policies

• Read any external documents listed in the project context (external/ files) — extract cloud billing reports, cost allocation data, billing anomalies, reserved instance usage
• Read any global policies listed in the project context (000-global/policies/) — extract budget thresholds, chargeback models, cost centre mappings, procurement approval limits
• Read any enterprise standards in projects/000-global/external/ — extract enterprise cost management policies, cloud spending reports, cross-project FinOps maturity benchmarks
• If no external FinOps docs found but they would improve cost analysis, ask: "Do you have any cloud billing reports, cost allocation data, or financial policies? I can read PDFs and CSV files directly. Place them in projects/{project-dir}/external/ and re-run, or skip."
• Citation traceability: When referencing content from external documents, follow the citation instructions in .arckit/references/citation-instructions.md. Place inline citation markers (e.g., [PP-C1]) next to findings informed by source documents and populate the "External References" section in the template.

Phase 2: Analysis

Determine FinOps Maturity Target:

Extract from Requirements:

• NFR-P (Performance) → Resource sizing requirements
• NFR-S (Scalability) → Auto-scaling patterns, cost implications
• NFR-A (Availability) → Multi-AZ/region cost factors
• NFR-SEC (Security) → Compliance tooling costs
• BR (Business) → Budget constraints, ROI targets

Cloud Cost Drivers:

• Compute (VMs, containers, serverless)
• Storage (block, object, file)
• Networking (egress, load balancers, CDN)
• Database (managed services, licensing)
• Support plans and marketplace subscriptions

Phase 3: Generate FinOps Strategy

Read the template (with user override support):

• First, check if .arckit/templates/finops-template.md exists in the project root
• If found: Read the user's customized template (user override takes precedence)
• If not found: Read .arckit/templates/finops-template.md (default)
• Then read .arckit/templates/_partials/RENDERING.md and resolve the <!-- DOC-CONTROL-HEADER --> marker in the template before writing. Do not hand-write the Document Control table: the partial RENDERING.md selects is the only source of the 14 standard fields and of the classification ladder.

Tip: Users can customize templates with /skill:arckit-customize finops

Generate:

Section 1: FinOps Overview

• Strategic objectives (cost visibility, optimization, governance)
• FinOps maturity level (current and target)
• Team structure (FinOps team, cloud teams, finance)
• Key stakeholders and responsibilities

Section 2: Cloud Estate Overview

• Cloud providers and accounts/subscriptions
• Major workloads and cost centers
• Current spend baseline
• Spend trends and growth projections

Section 3: Tagging Strategy

• Mandatory tags (cost center, environment, owner, project)
• Optional tags (team, application, data classification)
• Tag enforcement policies
• Untagged resource handling

Section 4: Cost Visibility & Reporting

• Cost allocation model
• Reporting cadence and distribution
• Dashboard requirements
• Cost attribution by team/project/environment

Section 5: Budgeting & Forecasting

• Budget setting process
• Budget types (fixed, variable, per-unit)
• Forecasting methodology
• Budget alert thresholds

Section 6: Showback/Chargeback Model

• Allocation methodology (direct, proportional, fixed)
• Shared cost distribution
• Unit economics metrics
• Internal billing process (if chargeback)

Section 7: Cost Optimization Strategies

• Rightsizing recommendations
• Reserved instances / Savings Plans strategy
• Spot/Preemptible instance usage
• Storage tiering and lifecycle policies
• Idle resource detection and remediation

Section 8: Commitment Management

• Reserved instance inventory
• Savings Plans coverage
• Commitment utilization targets
• Purchase recommendations

Section 9: Anomaly Detection & Alerts

• Anomaly detection configuration
• Alert thresholds and escalation
• Investigation workflow
• Root cause analysis process

Section 10: Governance & Policies

• Cloud governance framework
• Approval workflows for large spend
• Policy enforcement (quotas, limits)
• Exception handling process

Section 11: FinOps Tooling

• Native cloud tools (Cost Explorer, Cost Management, Billing)
• Third-party tools (if applicable)
• Automation and integrations
• Custom dashboards and reports

Section 12: Sustainability & Carbon

• Carbon footprint visibility
• Sustainable cloud practices
• Green region preferences
• Sustainability reporting

Section 13: UK Government Compliance (if applicable)

• Cabinet Office Digital Spend Controls
• Treasury Green Book alignment
• G-Cloud/Digital Marketplace cost tracking
• Annual technology spend reporting

Section 14: FinOps Operating Model

• FinOps cadence (daily, weekly, monthly reviews)
• Stakeholder engagement model
• Escalation paths
• Continuous improvement process

Section 15: Metrics & KPIs

• Cost efficiency metrics
• Unit economics targets
• Optimization targets
• Governance compliance metrics

Section 16: Traceability

• Requirements to FinOps element mapping

Phase 4: Validation

Verify before saving:

• Tagging strategy covers cost attribution needs
• Reporting cadence meets stakeholder requirements
• Optimization strategies aligned with workload patterns
• Governance framework matches organizational structure
• UK Gov compliance addressed (if applicable)

Phase 5: Output

CRITICAL - Use Write Tool: FinOps documents are large. Use Write tool to save.

Before writing the file, read .arckit/references/quality-checklist.md and verify all Common Checks plus the FINOPS per-type checks pass. Fix any failures before proceeding.

1. Save file to projects/{project-name}/ARC-{PROJECT_ID}-FINOPS-v1.0.md

2. Provide summary:

✅ FinOps Strategy generated!

**FinOps Maturity**: [Crawl / Walk / Run] (target: [Level])
**Cloud Provider(s)**: [AWS / Azure / GCP / Multi-cloud]
**Monthly Spend Baseline**: [£X,XXX]

**Tagging Strategy**:
- Mandatory Tags: [List]
- Enforcement: [Policy type]

**Cost Visibility**:
- Reporting: [Daily / Weekly / Monthly]
- Dashboards: [Tool name]
- Allocation: [By team / project / environment]

**Optimization Targets**:
- Rightsizing: [X% coverage]
- Commitments: [X% coverage target]
- Waste Reduction: [X% target]

**Governance**:
- Approval Threshold: [£X,XXX]
- Budget Alerts: [X%, X%, X%]

**File**: projects/{project-name}/ARC-{PROJECT_ID}-FINOPS-v1.0.md

**Next Steps**:
1. Implement mandatory tagging policy
2. Set up cost dashboards and alerts
3. Conduct initial rightsizing analysis
4. Evaluate commitment purchase opportunities
5. Establish FinOps review cadence

Error Handling

If No Requirements Found

"⚠️ Cannot find requirements document (ARC--REQ-.md). Please run /skill:arckit-requirements first. FinOps strategy requires NFRs for budget and scale requirements."

If No Architecture Principles

"⚠️ Architecture principles not found. Using cloud-agnostic defaults. Consider running /skill:arckit-principles to establish technology standards."

Key Principles

1. Cost Visibility First

• You cannot optimize what you cannot see
• Tagging is foundational to cost management

2. Shared Accountability

• Engineering teams own their cloud spend
• Finance provides oversight and governance
• FinOps team enables and facilitates

3. Real-Time Decision Making

• Cost data should be timely and accessible
• Enable teams to make informed trade-offs

4. Variable Cost Model

• Cloud spend should scale with business value
• Unit economics matter more than absolute cost

5. Continuous Optimization

• Optimization is ongoing, not one-time
• Automation reduces toil and improves consistency

6. UK Government Alignment

• Align with Cabinet Office spending controls
• Support Treasury Green Book business cases
• Enable G-Cloud/Digital Marketplace reporting

Document Control

Auto-populate:

• [PROJECT_ID] → From project path
• [VERSION] → "1.0" for new documents
• [DATE] → Current date (YYYY-MM-DD)
• ARC-[PROJECT_ID]-FINOPS-v[VERSION] → Document ID (for filename: ARC-{PROJECT_ID}-FINOPS-v1.0.md)

Generation Metadata Footer:

---
**Generated by**: ArcKit `/skill:arckit-finops` command
**Generated on**: [DATE]
**ArcKit Version**: {ARCKIT_VERSION}
**Project**: [PROJECT_NAME]
**AI Model**: [Model name]

Important Notes

• Markdown escaping: When writing less-than or greater-than comparisons, always include a space after < or > (e.g., < 3 seconds, > 99.9% uptime) to prevent markdown renderers from interpreting them as HTML tags or emoji