CloudBalance’s Solution to the AWS Commitment Planning Challenge

CloudBalance Commitment Planning — Customer Example

Let’s walk through a customer scenario to illustrate how the Commitment Planning dashboard is used in practice. We’ll demonstrate the features and charts included in the Commitment Planning dashboard as we go along.

Understand the Baseline — how will current commitments perform over the next 12 months?

The AWS Commitment Planning chart provides key insights:

• Nearly 100% commitment coverage and total spend decreased dramatically in recent months. ✅ Great!
• A commitment expiration cliff in April 2026 --> 🚫 opportunity for improvement.
• The scorecard shows utilization < 100% --> 🚫 opportunity for improvement.
  • In commitment details, the Compute SP utilization is 74.9%, indicating the commitment is too high at projected usage levels.

Next, review the numbers in the Projected Monthly Compute Spend — Summary. The table confirms the low utilization for the Compute SP and a coverage drop beginning in April 2026. At the top of the table we can override monthly or annual growth percentages or adjust individual months; hitting the "Recalculate" button updates all charts immediately.

Review coverage details — any short‑term savings?

In the Projected SP and RI Coverage Breakdown, everything is covered except the RDS db.t3.micro instance class --> 🚫 Opportunity for improvement. The Savings Plan shows $480.93/month unused, which correlates with the low Compute SP utilization.

Build a scenario to capitalize on the opportunities for improvement

Opportunity 1: Address uncovered RDS db.t3.micro. Choose an AWS‑recommended 1‑year, no‑upfront RDS RI and add it to the scenario.

Opportunity 2: Address the commitment expiration cliff. Three of four existing commitments expire in April 2026. We can quickly add renewals for these commitments to the scenario by clicking on the + next to the active commitments in the "Active Savings Plans and Reserved Instances" table.

Opportunity 3: Address Compute SP over‑commit. For the Compute SP renewal, reduce the hourly commitment from $2.45/hour to $1.80/hour to reach ~100% utilization.

Recalculate & review

Hit Recalculate to update Savings, Coverage %, Discount %, and Utilization %. In the updated chart, the projected savings of $6,444 increased by over $3,800 and renewed Compute SP commitments reach ~100% utilization.

Test & save the scenario

• Change projected usage up/down to see impact.
• Adjust terms (duration, payment) to explore additional savings.
• Add EC2 Instance SPs or EC2 RIs for steady instance families.
• Optionally lower commitment amounts to balance savings vs. risk.

When satisfied, click Save Scenario to capture the projections and scorecard. Review or update later to reflect changes, and use it as a detailed purchase guide when ready to renew.

Workflow Summary

1. Check the projected Raw Spend and apply overrides for known updates or seasonal spikes.
2. Optional: add renewal of SPs/RIs expiring within the 12 months into the scenario.
3. Optional: add EC2/RDS RIs for predictable workloads.
4. Add EC2 Instance SPs where families/regions are predictable.
5. Add a Compute SP sized to baseline usage.
6. Recalculate; inspect Savings, Coverage %, Discount %, and Utilization %.
7. Iterate the mix (type, amounts, terms, scope) until you reach the best balance of savings and flexibility.
8. Save Scenario and, when ready, use it as your purchase guide.

Final Thoughts

AWS Commitment Planning is challenging, but CloudBalance eliminates much of the manual work and enables customers to focus on finding the right mix for their business. CloudBalance turns commitment planning into a repeatable practice to quickly converge on scenarios that maximize savings while keeping utilization high and risk low.

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