Getting Started with FinOps on Google Cloud

Overview

This one-day introductory course provides an actionable framework to help organisations implement a Cloud Financial Management strategy, maximising their cloud investment with Google Cloud. Participants will explore the five pillars of Google Cloud FinOps, learning how to enable financial accountability, optimise costs, and modernise budgeting and forecasting.

Target audience

This course is designed for individuals responsible for financial governance and cloud cost management within organisations.

Prerequisites

Basic knowledge of cloud computing and Google Cloud technologies, as covered in the 'Cloud Digital Leader' course.

Objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Address financial governance challenges using Cloud FinOps.
• Understand the five pillars of the Google Cloud FinOps operating model.
• Establish policies and enablement strategies for organisational Cloud FinOps.
• Define success metrics to drive financial accountability and value realisation.
• Optimise costs for utilised Google Cloud resources.
• Modernise budgeting and forecasting processes.
• Use Google Cloud costing tools for effective spend management and tracking.

Outline

Module one: Introduction to FinOps on Google Cloud

• Financial governance challenges and industry trends.
• Overview of the Google Cloud FinOps framework.

Module two: Accountability and enablement

• Cloud FinOps operating model.
• Roles, responsibilities, and governance policies.
• Incentivisation strategies.
• Activity: Establishing a Cloud FinOps operating model.

Module three: Measurement and realisation

• Benefits of measurement and KPIs.
• Value vs. cost metrics.
• Transparency through reporting and accountability.
• Activity: Exploring value vs. cost and reporting transparency.

Module four: Cost optimisation

• Google Cloud’s cost optimisation approach.
• Resource utilisation and 'golden signals.'
• Resource, pricing, and architectural optimisation.
• Activity: Analysing golden signals and optimisation strategies.

Module five: Planning and forecasting

• Budgeting, allocation, and forecasting spend.
• Reporting integration with Google Cloud billing models.
• Activity: Hands-on discussion of budgeting and forecasting.

Module six: Tools and accelerators

• Google Cloud budgets and alerts.
• Tagging automation and resource management.
• Cost management tools and Cloud Cost Reporting.