IFO4
Loading...The mechanical assignment of an infrastructure cost to a consuming entity through tagging, account hierarchy, hierarchical labels, or derived attribution rules. Cost allocation is not the same as cost attribution: allocation is the bookkeeping operation, while attribution is the analytical claim. The federation expects allocation coverage to exceed ninety-five percent of variable spend before any unit-economic figure is published. Untagged or unallocated spend in excess of five percent is treated as a finding under MEV-Annex:3.2 and may block accreditation.
Standard accounting term predating computing; adapted to cloud through the introduction of tagging APIs in the early 2010s.
Federation members must publish their cost-allocation coverage ratio quarterly. A coverage ratio below the federation floor of ninety-five percent triggers a remediation period during which new accreditation evidence may not be filed. The controlling clause is UFMS-001:2.4(c).
@misc{ifo4_glossary_cost_allocation,
title = {{Cost Allocation}},
author = {{IFO4 Federation Editorial Board}},
howpublished = {{IFO4 Federation Glossary, slug \texttt{cost-allocation}}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://ifo4.org/glossary/cost-allocation},
note = {Category: FinOps; key: CostAllocation}
}Federation members and accredited practitioners may challenge any entry under TGS-002:1.7. Filed challenges are routed to the editorial board, triaged into the revision register, and resolved in writing on the public docket. The slug remains stable through any revision.