DRAFT in progress by TC AWS Costs Subgroup.  To be reviewed by TC, CC.

Jira

• Project: AWS Costs (Key: COSTS)
• Issue Type: AWS Environment
• Status values:
  • Draft
  • Submitted
  • Approved
  • Denied
  • Active
  • In Review (periodic?)
  • Shut Down

Requesting a New Environment

• Anyone can create a Draft.
• A Dev Team Representative (up to the team – for example the Dev Lead, PO, Scrum Master or QA Lead) can change status from Draft to Submitted.
  • The Dev Team Representative should be the person who will be available to answer questions.
  • Should be submitted at least two weeks before it’s needed.  Ideally four.
  • See required information.
• AWS Cost Review Group can change status from Submitted to Approved or Denied
  • See approval process.
• Kitfox or dev team (?) can change status from Approved to Active
  • See activation process.

Monitoring Existing Environments

• TBD, but perhaps use the In Review cycle periodically, and eventually Shut Down.

Required Information in a New Environment Request

Basic Info (one-liners)

1. Dev Team.  Who will be using the environment?
2. Purpose.  Specific feature(s) being tested?
3. Modules.  Primary module(s) related to the purpose of the environment.
4. Expected Start Date
5. Expected End Date
6. Data Set / Size. 

Justification

1. Expand on the purpose as necessary.  Why is this new environment needed?
2. Are there any existing environments serving the same team and/or modules?  If so, explain why they are not sufficient for this need.
3. Cost estimates: a) monthly and b) total for the life of the environment.  
   1. Are there any past (or still existing) environments that were used in a similar manner, such that this environment would likely have similar monthly costs?
4. Impact / risks if the request is declined.

Cost Management Plan

1. Will the dev team be following the “pausing/stopping” guidelines?  Explain any planned divergence from those guidelines.
   • Refers to  “D4: Define guidelines/best practices around pausing/stopping environments when they're not in use - e.g. off-hours/weekends/etc.”
   • Specifically what will be the expected operating hours?  Or will it need to run 24/7?
2. What budgets, budget alerts, cost anomaly detection will be used?
   • Refers to “D5. Create AWS Budgets and AWS Budget Alerts for daily and monthly spend rates” and “D6. Explore AWS Cost Anomaly Detection and Rightsizing Recommendations”

Approval Process

• AWS Cost Review Group notified when Jira items moved to Submitted (how?)
• Within two weeks: either approve, deny, or ask questions on the Jira.
• PO and Dev Lead expected to respond to any questions, meet to discuss synchronously if requested.
• Approval Checklist
  • Reasonable answers?
  • Reasonable answers?
• All required fields submitted?
• All Justification questions addressed?
• All Cost Management Plan questions addressed?
• Once approved, notify Treasurer (how?) to be aware of potential impact.

Activation Process

• Dev Lead / PO changes status to Active before (or as soon as) the environment is actually used, i.e. incurring non-trivial costs.
• Within one week of changing to Active, dev team is expected to have Cost Management Plan implemented / active.