# Organizing costs using AWS Cost Categories
Cost allocation helps you identify who is spending what, within your organization. Cost categories is a cost allocation service to help you map your AWS costs, to your unique internal business structures.
With cost categories, you create rules to group your costs into meaningful categories.
**Example scenario 1**
Say that your business is organized into several teams, *Team1*, *Team2*, and so on. Your teams use 10 AWS accounts in your business. You can define rules to group your AWS costs, so that it's allocated between these teams.
1. You created a cost category named *Team* for your business.
1. For this cost category, you defined a rule so that:
+ All costs for accounts 1-3 are categorized as *Team : Team1*.
+ All costs for accounts 4-5 are categorized as *Team : Team2*.
+ For all other accounts, all costs are categorized as *Team : Team3*.
1. Using this rule, every cost line item from account 6 will be categorized with a cost category value *Team3*. These categorizations will appear as a column in your AWS Cost and Usage Report (AWS CUR) like in the following example. Based on your rule, costs for account 3 are categorized as *Team1*. and costs for account 6 is allocated to *Team3*.
****
| Resource Id | AccountID | LineItemType | UsageType | Unblended Cost | NetUnblended Cost | ResourceTag/Project | costCategory/Team |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| i-11223 | 3 | Usage | BoxUsage:c1.xlarge | 3.36 | 3.36 | Beta | Team1 |
| i-12345 | 6 | SavingsPlanCoveredUsage | BoxUsage:m5.xl | 150 | 140 | Alpha | Team3 |
You can also use these categories across multiple products in the AWS Billing and Cost Management console. This includes AWS Cost Explorer, AWS Budgets, AWS CUR, and AWS Cost Anomaly Detection. For example, you can filter costs allocated to *Team1* in Cost Explorer. by applying the filter `value = Team 1`, to the cost category named *Team*.
You can also create multilevel hierarchical relationships among your cost categories to replicate your organizational structure.
**Example scenario 2**
1. You create another cost category named *BusinessUnit* that includes groupings of multiple teams.
1. You then define a cost category value that's named *BU1*. For this cost category value, you select *Team 1* and *Team 2* from your *Team* cost category.
1. You then define a cost category value that's named *BU2*. For this cost category value, you select *Team 3 * and *Team 4* from the *Team* cost category.
This example will appear in your cost and usage report, as shown below.
****
| Resource Id | AccountID | LineItemType | UsageType | Unblended Cost | NetUnblended Cost | ResourceTag/Project | costCategory/Team | costCategory/BusinessUnit |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| i-11223 | 3 | Usage | BoxUsage:c1.xlarge | 3.36 | 3.36 | Beta | Team1 | BU1 |
| i-12345 | 6 | SavingsPlanCoveredUsage | BoxUsage:m5.xl | 150 | 140 | Alpha | Team3 | BU2 |
After you create the cost categories, they appear in Cost Explorer, AWS Budgets, AWS CUR, and Cost Anomaly Detection. In Cost Explorer and AWS Budgets, a cost category appears as an additional billing dimension. You can use this to filter for the specific cost category value, or group by the cost category. In AWS CUR, the cost category appears as a new column with the cost category value in each row. In Cost Anomaly Detection, you can use cost category as a monitor type to monitor your total costs across specified cost category values.
**Notes**
Similar to resource tags, which are key-value pairs applied to AWS resources, a cost category is a key-value pair, applied to every cost line item. The key is the cost category name. The value is the cost category value. In the previous examples, this means that the cost category name *Team* is the key. *Team1*, *Team2*, and *Team3* are the cost category values.
Cost categories are effective at the start of the current month. If you create or update your cost category in the middle of the month, your change is automatically applied to cost and usage from the start of the month. For example, if you updated your rules for a cost category on Oct 15, any cost and usage since Oct 1 will use your updated rules.
Only the management account in AWS Organizations or individual accounts can create and manage cost categories.
If you use billing transfer and you sign in as a bill source account, you manage the cost categories for your AWS Organizations. You can view your cost categories metadata in your pro forma Cost Explorer and AWS Cost and Usage Report. The bill transfer account can view your cost categories metadata in the AWS Cost and Usage Report reflecting your usage. When you sign in as a bill transfer account, you can configure cost categories only to categorize costs for your own AWS Organizations.
**Topics**
+ [Supported dimensions](#cost-categories-dimensions)
+ [Supported operations](#cost-categories-ops)
+ [Supported rule types](#cost-categories-rule-types)
+ [Default value](#cost-categories-default-value)
+ [Status](#cost-categories-stat)
+ [Quotas](#cost-categories-limits)
+ [Term comparisons](#cost-categories-terms)
+ [Creating cost categories](create-cost-categories.md)
+ [Tagging cost categories](tag-cost-categories.md)
+ [Viewing cost categories](view-cost-categories.md)
+ [Downloading your cost category values](view-cost-categories-details-csv.md)
+ [Editing cost categories](edit-cost-categories.md)
+ [Deleting cost categories](delete-cost-categories.md)
+ [Splitting charges within cost categories](splitcharge-cost-categories.md)
+ [Using cost categories with other cost management and optimization services](cost-categories-other-cost-management.md)
## Supported dimensions
You can select from a list of billing dimensions to create your cost category rules. These billing dimensions are used to group your data. For example, assume that you wanted to group a set of accounts to form a team. You need to choose the account billing dimension, and then choose the list of accounts that you want to include in the team.
**Note**
Some dimensions might have limited support if you associate resources with a cost category. For more information, see [Using cost categories with other cost management and optimization services](cost-categories-other-cost-management.md).
The following billing dimensions are supported.
**Account**
This can be the AWS account name or the account ID, depending on the operation. If you're using an exact match operation (`is` or `is not`), account refers to the account ID. If you're using an approximate match operation (`starts with`, `ends with`, or `contains`), account refers to account name.
**Charge type**
The type of charges based on line items details. Also referred to as the `RECORD_TYPE` in the Cost Explorer API. For more information, see [Term comparisons](#cost-categories-terms).
**Cost category**
A dimension from another cost category. Using cost categories as a dimension helps you organize the levels of categories.
**Region**
The geographic areas where AWS hosts your resources.
**Service**
AWS services, such as Amazon EC2, Amazon RDS, and Amazon S3.
**Tag key**
The cost allocation tag keys that are specified on the resource. For more information, see [Organizing and tracking costs using AWS cost allocation tags](cost-alloc-tags.md).
**Usage Type**
Usage types are the units that each service uses to measure the usage of a specific type of resource. For example, the BoxUsage:t2.micro(Hrs) usage type filters by the running hours of Amazon EC2 t2.micro instances.
**Billing Entity**
Billing entities are the units to identify if your invoices or transactions are for AWS Marketplace or for purchases of other AWS services. For example, the AWS Marketplace billing entity filters by the invoices or transactions for purchases of AWS Marketplace.
## Supported operations
You can use these operations to create the filter expression when you're creating a cost category rule.
The following operations are supported.
**Is**
The exact match operation that's used to filter for the exact value specified.
**Is not**
The exact match operation that's used to filter for the exact value that isn't specified.
**Is absent**
The exact match operation that's used to exclude the tag key that matches this value.
**Contains**
The approximate match that's used to filter for a text string containing this value. This value is case sensitive.
**Starts with**
The approximate match that's used to filter for a text string that starts with this value. This value is case sensitive.
**Ends with**
The approximate match that's used to filter for a text string that ends with this value. This value is case sensitive.
## Supported rule types
Use rule type to define which cost category values to use to categorize your costs.
The following rule types are supported.
**Regular Rule**
This rule type adds statically defined cost category values that categorize costs based on the defined dimension rules.
**Inherited Value**
This rule type adds the flexibility of defining a rule that dynamically inherits the cost category value from the dimension value defined. For example, assume that you wanted to dynamically group costs based on the value of a specific tag key. You need to choose the inherited value rule type, then choose the `Tag` dimension and specify the tag key to use. Optionally, you can use a tag key, `teams`, to tag your resources. They can tag them with values such as `alpha`, `beta`, and `gamma`. Then, with an inherited value rule, you can select `Tag` as the dimension and use `teams` as the tag key. This generates the dynamic cost category values of `alpha`, `beta`, and `gamma`.
## Default value
Optionally, if no rules are matched for the cost category, you can define this value to be used instead.
## Status
You can use the console to confirm the status of whether your cost categories completed processing the cost and usage information. After you create or edit a cost category, it can take up to 24 hours before it has categorized your cost and usage information in the AWS Cost and Usage Report, Cost Explorer, and other cost management products.
There are two status states.
**Applied**
Cost categories completed processing, and the information in AWS Cost and Usage Report, Cost Explorer, and other cost management products is up to date with the new rules.
**Processing**
The cost category updates are still in progress.
## Quotas
For more information about cost categories quotas, see [Quotas and restrictions](billing-limits.md).
## Term comparisons
`CHARGE_TYPE` is a dimension supported for cost category expressions. It's the `RECORD_TYPE` value in the Cost Explorer API. This dimension uses different terms, depending on whether you're using the console or the API/JSON editor. The following table compares the terminology used for both scenarios.
**Term comparison**
| Value in API or JSON editor | Name used in the console |
| --- | --- |
| Credit | Credit |
| DiscountedUsage | Reservation applied usage |
| Fee | Fee |
| Refund | Refund |
| RIFee | Recurring reservation fee |
| SavingsPlanCoveredUsage | Savings Plan Covered Usage |
| SavingsPlanNegation | Savings Plan Negation |
| SavingsPlanRecurringFee | Savings Plan Recurring Fee |
| SavingsPlanUpfrontFee | Savings Plan Upfront Fee |
| Tax | Tax |
| Usage | Usage |
# Creating cost categories
Cost allocation helps you map and assign your AWS Cloud costs to the correct groups within your organization. To allocate these costs, create cost categories. Cost categories are available only to management accounts of AWS Organizations. When you use billing transfer, each management account (bill transfer and bill source) can configure cost categories only for accounts in its own AWS Organizations.Cost categories are composed of rules.
There are two types of rules:
1. Rules to group costs
1. Rules to split costs
**Rules to group costs**
Define rules to group costs by using one or more of the following dimensions:
+ Accounts
+ Cost allocation tags
+ Charge Type, such as credits and refunds
+ Service
+ Region
+ Usage Type, such as BoxUsage:t2.micro
+ Billing Entity, such as AWS and AWS Marketplace
Rules are evaluated in the order in which they're defined.
**Example: Rules to group costs**
Your engineering department has projects *Alpha* and *Beta*, and the marketing department has project *Gamma*.
All resources are tagged with the project name that they're used for, such as *Project:Alpha*, *Project:Beta*, or *Project:Gamma*.
You create a cost category named *Department* to allocate costs to the *Marketing* and *Engineering* departments. For the *Department* cost category, you define your rules as:
+ Rule 1: If a cost has a cost allocation tag of *Project:Alpha* or *Project:Beta*, then assign the cost to *Department:Engineering*.
+ Rule 2: If a cost has a cost allocation tag of *Project:Gamma*, then assign the cost to *Department:Marketing*.
You can also provide a default name for uncategorized costs. In this example, costs associated with untagged resources should be allocated to the *IT* department
+ Rule 1: If a cost has a cost allocation tag of *Project:Alpha* or *Project:Beta*, then assign the cost to *Department:Engineering*.
+ Rule 2: If a cost has a cost allocation tag of *Project:Gamma*, then assign the cost to *Department:Marketing*.
+ For all other costs, assign it to *Department:IT*.
In this example, the cost category name is *Department*. The cost category values are *Engineering*, *Marketing*, and *IT*.
**Rules to split costs**
Costs that are allocated to one cost category value can be split among others. In this example, if *IT* costs should be split between *Engineering* and *Marketing* departments in a 70:30 ratio, you can define a split charge rule to perform that allocation.
When you create your cost category, you can provide additional details such as:
+ **Effective Date** – Set the start date for your cost category. By default, this date will be set to the current month. If you choose a prior month, your cost category rules are then applied retroactively from that date.
+ **Tags** – To control access to who can edit this cost category, add a tag to the cost category. You then update your IAM policy to allow or deny access to that cost category. For example, you can add a tag *Role:Administrator* to your cost categories and then update an IAM policy to explicitly allow specific roles access to cost categories that have that tag.
Dy default, regular accounts and the management account in AWS Organizations have access to create cost categories.
**Tip**
To request a backfill of your cost data in your AWS Cost and Usage Report, create a support case. In your support case, specify the report name and the billing period that you want backfilled. For more information, see [Contacting Support](billing-get-answers.md#billing-support).
Use the following procedure to create a cost category. After you create a cost category, wait up to 24 hours for your usage records to be updated with the cost category values.
**To create a cost category**
1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the AWS Billing and Cost Management console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/).
1. In the navigation pane, choose **Cost Categories**.
1. Choose **Create cost category**. You can use the cost preview panel as reference as you update your rules.
1. Next to **Group your costs**, enter the name of your cost category. Your cost category name must be unique within your account.
1. Use either the **Rule Builder** or **JSON editor** to define your cost categories.
For more information about the JSON request syntax, see the [Cost category](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-cost-management/latest/APIReference/API_CostCategory.html) section in the *AWS Billing and Cost Management API Reference*
1. For **Rule builder**, choose **Add rule**.
1. Choose **Rule type**, either **Manually define how to group costs (Regular rule)** or **Automatically group costs by account or tag (Inherit rule)**.
1. For regular rule, choose if your costs meets **all** or **any** of the conditions.
1. Choose a billing **Dimension** from the list.
1. For a regular rule type, you can choose **Accounts**, **Service**, **Charge Type** (for example, *recurring reservation fee*), **Tag key**, **Region**, **Usage Type**, **Cost Category**, or **Billing Entity**. (You can choose **Cost Category** to create hierarchical relationships among your cost categories.)
1. For an inherited value rule type, you can choose **Account** or **Tag key** (Cost allocation tags key).
1. For a regular rule type, choose **Operator** from the dropdown list. Your options are **Is**, **Contains**, **Starts with**, and **Ends with**.
**Note**
**Contains**, **Starts with**, and **Ends with** are only supported with Accounts and Tag dimensions. If you use these operators with Accounts, the engine evaluates against account name, and not account ID.
1. Choose a filtered value or enter your own value for your **Dimension** in the attribute selector.
**Note**
The **Account** dimension uses account names, not account IDs for the inherited cost category value.
1. Choose **Add a condition** as needed and repeat steps 9 - 11.
1. For **Group costs together as**, enter a cost category value.
1. Choose **Create rule**.
1. (Optional) Add a default value. It categorizes all unmatched costs to this value.
1. (Optional) To rearrange the rule order, use the arrows or change the number on the top right of each rule.
Rules are processed in order. If there are multiple rules that match the line item, then the first rule to match is used to determine that cost category value.
1. (Optional) To remove a rule, select the rule and choose **Delete**.
1. Choose **Next**.
1. (Optional) To split your cost, choose **Add a split charges**. For more information about split charge rules, see [Splitting charges within cost categories](splitcharge-cost-categories.md).
1. Choose **Add a split charge**.
1. Under **Source value**, choose your cost category value.
1. Under **Target values**, choose one or more cost category values you wish to allocate split charges to.
1. Under **Charge allocation method**, choose how you want to allocate your costs. Your choices are **proportional**, **fixed**, and **even split**.
1. For **fixed** charge allocation, enter the percentage amount to allocate each target cost category value.
1. Repeat step 19 as needed.
1. Choose **Next**.
1. (Optional) To add a lookback period for your cost category rules, choose the month from when you want to retroactively apply the rules.
1. (Optional) To add a tag, choose **Add new resource tag** and enter a key and value.
1. Choose **Create cost category**.
## Understanding the cost preview panel
The cost preview panel shows you in real time how your costs group together or split apart as you create or update your cost categories rules. The results you see in the cost preview panel is an estimate based on your month-to-date net amortized cost.
Here are some things to keep in mind as you use the cost preview panel:
+ The cost preview results might not be accurate if your rules have complex conditions. For example, containing too many matched values with `Contains`, `Starts With`, `Ends With` operators.
For a more precise results, save your rules and check the cost categories details page.
+ If your rules are too complex or takes too long to calculate in real time, the preview will not show a cost breakdown.
# Tagging cost categories
Tagging cost categories is beneficial to control access to cost categories. For more information, see [Controlling access to AWS resources using tags](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_tags.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
You can tag your existing cost categories using the following procedure:
**To tag a cost category**
1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the AWS Billing and Cost Management console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/).
1. In the navigation pane, choose **Cost Categories**.
1. Choose the cost category you want to tag.
1. Navigate to the **Resource tags** section.
1. Choose **Manage resource tags**.
1. Choose **Add new resource tag**.
1. Enter a **Key** and **Value**.
1. Once you configure the tags, choose **Save changes**.
# Viewing cost categories
From the cost categories dashboard in AWS Billing and Cost Management, you can view comprehensive information about your category details and values by using details page. This section shows you how to navigate to the details page, understand values shown, and customize your view to show different cost types.
**Topics**
+ [Navigating to your cost category details page](#view-cost-categories-details-navigate)
+ [Understanding your cost category details page](#view-cost-categories-details)
+ [Your cost category month-to-date categorizations](#view-cost-categories-details-mtd)
+ [Change your cost type](#change-cost-type-for-cost-categories)
## Navigating to your cost category details page
You can choose any cost category name in the Billing and Cost Management console to open a details page. The details page is also shown when you add or edit a cost category.
**To view your cost category details page**
1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the AWS Billing and Cost Management console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/).
1. In the navigation pane, choose **Cost categories**.
1. Under the **Cost category** column, choose a cost category name.
## Understanding your cost category details page
Your cost category details page breaks down your month-to-date cost allocations using the **Category details** and **Category values** sections.
+ Use the **month selector** on the top right of the page to change the month you're viewing. You can see a detailed breakdown of cost category value cost allocations within your cost category.
+ Under the **Category details** section, you can view your current [status](manage-cost-categories.md#cost-categories-stat), [default value](manage-cost-categories.md#cost-categories-default-value), value count, and your total month-to-date net amortized costs.
+ The graph under **Categorized costs** shows the allocation of cost category values in your monthly spend. Any uncategorized costs are shown as **Uncategorized**.
## Your cost category month-to-date categorizations
In the **Category values** section, you can see the month-to-date spend for each configured cost category value. The amounts that are shown are the net amortized costs.
To further explore your costs, open Cost Explorer by choosing **View in AWS Cost Explorer**.
## Change your cost type
You can view your cost categories by using different cost types. You can choose the following options:
+ Unblended costs
+ Amortized costs
+ Blended costs
+ Net unblended costs
+ Net amortized costs
For more information about these cost types, see [Exploring your data using Cost Explorer](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cost-management/latest/userguide/ce-exploring-data.html) in the *AWS Cost Management User Guide*.
**To change your cost category type**
1. Open the AWS Billing and Cost Management console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/).
1. In the navigation pane, choose **Cost categories**.
1. Under the **Cost category** column, choose a cost category name. Currently, you can change the cost type for a cost category one at a time.
1. On the upper-right corner of the page, choose the preferences icon (![\[Gear icon on the Cost category console.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/awsaccountbilling/latest/aboutv2/images/preferences-gear.png)).
1. In the **Cost category preferences** dialog box, choose how to aggregate your costs.
1. Choose **Confirm**. The page will refresh with the new cost type.
# Downloading your cost category values
You can download an offline copy of your month-to-date cost category spend from your cost category dashboard details page. The details page is presented after you create or edit your cost category.
**To download your cost category details page**
1. Open the AWS Billing and Cost Management console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/).
1. In the navigation pane, choose **Cost categories**.
1. Under the **Cost category** column, choose a cost category name.
1. Choose **Download CSV** to download a comma-separated values file.
# Editing cost categories
You can edit your cost categories using the following procedure. Cost category names can't be edited. If you're using split charges, you can choose **Uncategorized** cost as your source value at this time.
**To edit a cost category**
1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the AWS Billing and Cost Management console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/).
1. In the navigation pane, choose **cost categories**.
1. Select the cost category to edit.
1. Choose **Edit cost category**.
1. If you want the changes to retroactively apply from a previous date, choose the month you want the parameter changes to apply from.
1. Make changes to parameters and choose **Confirm cost category**.
# Deleting cost categories
You can delete your cost categories using the following procedure.
**To delete a cost category**
1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the AWS Billing and Cost Management console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/).
1. In the navigation pane, choose **Cost categories**.
1. Select the cost category to delete.
1. Choose **Delete cost category**.
**Note**
The deletion of a cost category takes effect starting the current billing month. For example, if you deleted `CostCategoryA` on September 15th, `CostCategoryA` would no longer be visible in reports generated from September onwards. However, it would appear in AWS Cost Explorer reports for the periods prior to September.
# Splitting charges within cost categories
You can use split charge rules to allocate your charges between your cost category values. Splitting charges is useful when you have costs that aren't directly attributed to a single owner. Therefore, the costs can't be categorized into a single cost category value. For example, your organization has a set of costs shared by multiple teams, business units, and financial owners that incur data transfer costs, enterprise support, and operating costs. You can define split charge rules when you create or edit your cost categories. For more information about these processes, see [Creating cost categories](create-cost-categories.md) and [Editing cost categories](edit-cost-categories.md).
This is a list of terms you'll see when configuring your split charges.
**Source**
The group of shared costs you want to split. Sources can be any of your existing cost category values.
**Targets**
The cost category values you want to split your costs across, defined by the source.
**Allocation method**
How you want your source costs split between your targets. You can choose from the following methods:
**Proportional** - Allocates costs across your targets based on the proportional weighted cost of each target.
**Fixed** - Allocates costs across your targets based on your defined allocation percentage.
**Even split** - Allocates costs evenly across all targets.
**Note**
If you use transfer billing and you sign in as a bill source account, split charge functionality isn't available.
## Prerequisites
Before you define your split charge rules, you must categorize your costs into the appropriate cost category values.
**Example**
You define a business unit view of your organization, using a `Business unit` cost category, with values `engineering`, `marketing`, and `FinOps`. Your organization is also operating a shared infrastructure platform that supports engineering and marketing business units.
To allocate costs of this shared infrastructure platform to the target business unit, categorize its costs into a new cost category value, `Infrastructure Platform` using the appropriate [dimensions](manage-cost-categories.md#cost-categories-dimensions).
We recommend that you move your cost category values containing shared costs to the top of the rule list. Because cost category rules are evaluated in a top-down order, your shared costs are categorized before individual business units are categorized. After these shared costs are categorized, they can then be split across your business units.
## Understanding split charge best practices
For instructions on how to configure your split charges, see [Creating cost categories](create-cost-categories.md) step 15. After you define split charge rules, you can view the split and allocated costs on the **cost categories details** page in the console. The details page provides an overview of your costs for each cost category value. This includes the costs for before and after calculating the split charges. You can also download a CSV report from the details page.
Note the following scenarios when configuring your split charges:
+ A cost category value can be used as a source only once across all split charge rules. This means that, if a value is used as a source, it can't be used as a target. If the value is used as a target, it can't be used as a source. A value can be used as a target in multiple split charge rules.
+ If you want to use cost category values as a source or split charge target when the value was created from [inherited values](manage-cost-categories.md#cost-categories-rule-types) rules, you must wait until the [cost category status](manage-cost-categories.md#cost-categories-stat) changes to **Applied**.
+ Split charge rules and the total allocated costs are only presented on the **cost categories details** page. These costs do not appear and don't impact your AWS Cost and Usage Reports, Cost Explorer, and other AWS Cost Management tools.
+ You can define up to 10 split charge rules for a cost category
For more information about cost category quotas, see [Cost categories](billing-limits.md#limits-categories).
# Using cost categories with other cost management and optimization services
You can use AWS Cost Categories to associate cost categories with specific resources. This allows you to use cost categories as a grouping mechanism in other cost management and optimization products. When you associate resources with a , you create a bidirectional relationship. Meaning, the is used as a grouping mechanism by the associated resource, and when the rules are updated, the changes are reflected in the associated resources and corresponding cost management optimization services.
## Setting up resource associations
Resource associations must be configured through the supporting cost management and optimization product console. Association can only be made if dimensions used in cost categories rules are supported by the cost management and optimization product.
## Managing resource associated cost categories
Managing resource-associated cost categories works similarly as managing regular cost categories. However, some functionalities can be limited due to the lack of support by the associated resources.
## Creating and editing associated cost categories
Create or edit associated cost categories by creating rules using supported dimensions.
## Viewing associated cost categories
You can view all of the resources associated to your . You have visibility into where and how cost categories are utilized as a grouping mechanism across services in the Billing and Cost Management console.
**To view your cost category associated resources**
1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the AWS Billing and Cost Management console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/costmanagement/).
1. In the navigation pane, choose **Cost categories**.
1. In the table, choose the **Associated features** tab.
## Deleting associated cost categories
You can't delete cost categories with associated resources directly. The association must be removed before you can delete the cost category.