Forecast Accuracy Rate (Usage)
Definition
Compare forecast vs. actual cloud usage (serviceName, serviceCategory, serviceSubCategory, etc) over a specific period (e.g., day, month, quarter). This should be specific to service types (ex, measure by a specific serviceName, SKU, serviceCategory, serviceSubCategory etc). Percent variance is recommended, although the scale of usage should also be considered. Each organization defines its acceptable variance
Formula, as published
For specific ServiceName or ServiceCategory or SKU ((Forecasted Resource Utilization - Actual Resource Utilization) / Forecasted Resource Utilization)
- Data sources:
- CSP Billing Data Organizational forecast documents
Calculate it
Example values to start with; replace them with yours.
From the FinOps Foundation
More Forecasting KPIs
Definition and formula: Forecast Accuracy Rate (Usage), FinOps KPI library, FinOps Foundation, licensed CC BY 4.0, read 16 Oct 2026. Changed: HTML removed, dashes and British spellings changed, formula split from its data sources and examples. The calculator and the notes are Finitizer’s.
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