Anomaly Dashboard

Feature Overview

The Anomaly Dashboard is a cost intelligence feature within CoreStack's FinOps module that automatically detects and surfaces unexpected deviations in cloud spending. It is most relevant when you need to identify cost spikes early — before they escalate into budget overruns — across one or more cloud accounts and providers. This feature is most valuable to FinOps Practitioners and FinOps Account Admins who are responsible for monitoring cloud spend and maintaining financial control. It is not a budget alerting or forecasting tool — it identifies anomalies based on historical spending patterns, not predefined thresholds.

Note: The Cloud Account filter has been renamed to Account, and the Cloud Provider filter has been renamed to Provider. If your dashboard reflects older terminology, the behavior is the same — only the label has changed.

How It Works

CoreStack analyzes daily cloud cost data across resource categories and cloud accounts to detect spending patterns that deviate from expected baselines. When a cost spike is identified, it is surfaced in the Anomaly Dashboard as an anomaly with a corresponding cost impact value. Users can review anomalies at different levels of granularity — by resource category, cloud account, or dimension — and drill down into the Anomaly Details page for a full breakdown. The dashboard uses near-real-time daily cost data, so anomalies typically reflect spend from the prior day.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure the following:

Role: You have the FinOps Practitioner or FinOps Account Admin role assigned in CoreStack [VERIFY: Confirm minimum required role for read access to Anomaly Dashboard]
Prior setup: At least one cloud account (AWS, Azure, GCP, or OCI) has been onboarded into CoreStack and is actively reporting cost data
Access: You can navigate to FinOps > Cost Anomaly in the CoreStack side panel

Using the Anomaly Summary

Navigate to FinOps > Cost Anomaly > Anomaly Summary. The Anomaly Summary page loads, displaying widgets and charts organized by resource category and cloud account dimensions.

[ IMAGE TO UPDATE: anomaly-summary-destination — Anomaly Summary page showing the full dashboard with widgets and filter bar ]

Step 1: Apply filters to scope your view

Use the Filter bar at the top of the page to narrow the data to the accounts, providers, or time ranges most relevant to your investigation.

To filter by cloud provider, select a value from the Provider filter.
To add an account filter, click ADD+, select Account from the list, choose the applicable values, and click Ok.

Note: Individual widgets also have their own filter controls. Click the Filter icon in the top-right corner of any widget to view pre-defined filters or add custom filters (including the Account filter) at the widget level.

[ IMAGE TO UPDATE: anomaly-summary-filters — Filter bar showing the Provider filter selected and the ADD+ option for adding the Account filter ]

Step 2: Review the Resource Category summary widgets

Review the three summary widgets at the top of the Cost Anomaly Based on Resource Category section:

Total Cost Impact — the cumulative cost attributed to detected anomalies
Total Cloud Spend — overall cloud spend during the selected period
Total Anomalies — count of anomalies detected across resource categories

These widgets give you a high-level sense of anomaly severity before drilling into charts.

[ IMAGE TO UPDATE: resource-category-widgets — The three summary widgets: Total Cost Impact, Total Cloud Spend, and Total Anomalies ]

Step 3: Analyze spending trends with the Cost Trend By Cloud Provider widget

Review the Cost Trend By Cloud Provider widget to see how cloud spending has changed over time across providers. Use this widget to identify whether cost increases are isolated to a single provider or are occurring across multiple providers.

[ IMAGE TO UPDATE: cost-trend-by-provider — Cost Trend By Cloud Provider widget showing a time-series chart with spend lines per provider ]

Step 4: Identify anomaly patterns with the Cost Anomaly Impact widget

Review the Cost Anomaly Impact widget. This widget plots cost impact over time for a specific cloud provider, with red dots marking the individual anomaly events.

Use the provider selector to switch between cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI) and compare anomaly patterns across your environment.

[ IMAGE TO UPDATE: cost-anomaly-impact — Cost Anomaly Impact widget showing a time-series chart with red anomaly markers, example shown for Azure ]

Step 5: Review cost impact breakdown widgets

Below the trend charts, review the three Cost Impact widgets:

Cost Impact by Cloud Account — shows which accounts are driving the most anomalous spend
Cost Impact by Product Category — breaks down anomaly cost impact by product type
Cost Impact by Resource Category — [VERIFY: Confirm label and behavior of the third widget — draft lists "Resource Category level" but this may duplicate the section above]

These widgets help you prioritize which accounts or categories warrant deeper investigation.

[ IMAGE TO UPDATE: cost-impact-widgets — The three Cost Impact breakdown widgets side by side ]

Step 6: Review the Cloud Account Dimension section

Scroll down to the Cloud Account Dimension section. This section uses daily data scoped to individual cloud accounts to surface account-level anomalies. Review the three widgets in this section:

Total Cost Impact — anomaly cost impact across all accounts
Total Cost Spend — total spend across all accounts
Total Anomalies — count of anomalies detected at the account level

Use the Cost Anomaly Based on Cloud Accounts widget to compare cost impact across specific accounts and identify which accounts require immediate attention.

[ IMAGE TO UPDATE: cloud-account-dimension — Cloud Account Dimension section showing the three summary widgets and the Cost Anomaly Based on Cloud Accounts widget ]

Viewing Anomaly Details

For a deeper investigation of specific anomalies, navigate to FinOps > Cost Anomaly > Anomaly Details. The Anomaly Details page opens, showing cost impact broken down by cloud account, resource category, and dimension.

[ IMAGE TO UPDATE: anomaly-details-destination — Anomaly Details page showing the full layout with overview widgets, filters, and data tabs ]

Step 1: Review the overview widgets

At the top of the page, check the two overview widgets:

Total Cost Impact — cumulative cost attributed to all detected anomalies
Total Cost Spend — total cloud spend during the selected period

A separate Anomaly Overview widget shows aggregate statistics about the anomalies detected.

[ IMAGE TO UPDATE: anomaly-details-overview — Overview widgets showing Total Cost Impact, Total Cost Spend, and Anomaly Overview ]

Step 2: Apply filters

Use the Filter bar to scope the detail view to the specific accounts, providers, or time periods you want to investigate.

[ IMAGE TO UPDATE: anomaly-details-filters — Filter bar on the Anomaly Details page ]

Step 3: Investigate resource category anomalies

Click the Resource Category Anomaly Detail tab. The data table shows detected anomalies organized by resource category, including details such as cost impact and anomaly date.

[ IMAGE TO UPDATE: resource-category-anomaly-detail — Resource Category Anomaly Detail tab with the data table visible ]

Step 4: Investigate dimension-based anomalies

Click the Dimension Anomaly Detail tab. The data table shows detected anomalies organized by CoreStack Dimensions, allowing you to trace cost spikes back to specific business contexts or organizational groupings.

[ IMAGE TO UPDATE: dimension-anomaly-detail — Dimension Anomaly Detail tab with the data table visible ]

Tip: Use the Dimension Anomaly Detail tab when your organization has configured CoreStack Dimensions to map cloud costs to business units, projects, or teams. This view makes it easier to assign accountability for cost spikes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the difference between Anomaly Summary and Anomaly Details?

Anomaly Summary provides a high-level overview of cost anomalies across your entire environment, organized by resource category and cloud account. Use it for monitoring and trend analysis. Anomaly Details gives you a row-level breakdown of individual anomalies, allowing you to investigate specific events by resource category or dimension. Use it when you need to identify the root cause of a specific spike.

Q: How does CoreStack decide something is an anomaly?

CoreStack compares daily cloud costs against historical spending baselines to identify deviations. When a day's spending for a resource category or account exceeds the expected range, it is flagged as an anomaly. [VERIFY: Confirm the exact anomaly detection methodology — e.g., whether it uses statistical thresholds, ML models, or fixed deviation percentages]

Q: Why don't I see any anomalies even though my costs increased?

Cost increases are only flagged as anomalies if they deviate from the established baseline by a significant enough margin. Gradual cost increases or increases within expected seasonal patterns may not trigger an anomaly. If you suspect a spending issue that isn't surfaced here, use the FinOps Cost dashboards to review raw spend trends.

Q: Can I filter anomalies by a specific cloud account?

Yes. On both the Anomaly Summary and Anomaly Details pages, click ADD+ in the Filter bar, select Account, choose the applicable account values, and click Ok. You can also add the Account filter from the widget-level Filter icon available in each individual widget.

Q: What does the red dot on the Cost Anomaly Impact chart represent?

Each red dot marks a specific day on which CoreStack detected a cost anomaly for the selected cloud provider. Hovering over a red dot will show the anomaly date and cost impact value.

Troubleshooting

No anomalies are displayed, but I know there was a cost spike

Cause: The anomaly detection engine requires a sufficient history of daily cost data to establish a baseline. New accounts or accounts with fewer than a few weeks of data may not generate anomaly signals yet.

Solution:

Confirm the cloud account is actively onboarded and reporting cost data in CoreStack.
Check that the Filter bar is not scoping out the relevant accounts or providers.
Allow additional time for baseline data to accumulate if the account was recently onboarded.
If the account has sufficient history and anomalies still don't appear, contact CoreStack support with: account name, cloud provider, date range, and approximate cost increase observed.

The Anomaly Details page shows no data after applying filters

Cause: The selected filter combination (provider, account, date range) has no anomalies in the current data set, or the filters are too restrictive.

Solution:

Remove one filter at a time to identify which filter is excluding the data.
Widen the date range to include a longer lookback period.
Confirm the selected Account and Provider values match accounts that are actively reporting costs.

Filter labels show "Cloud Account" or "Cloud Provider" instead of "Account" or "Provider"

Cause: Your dashboard may be reflecting an older UI version where the filter labels have not yet been updated.

Solution: The underlying behavior is identical — only the labels have changed. Use the Account filter wherever you previously used Cloud Account, and Provider wherever you previously used Cloud Provider. If the old labels persist after a page refresh, contact your CoreStack administrator to confirm the platform version.

Related Resources

CoreStack FinOps Overview
CoreStack Dimensions — Mapping Costs to Business Context
Budget Alerts — Setting Proactive Spend Thresholds
Cost Anomaly API Reference [VERIFY: Confirm if a public API endpoint exists for Cost Anomaly data]