IFO4
Loading...A provisioned cloud or infrastructure resource that produces no measurable utility over a defined window, while continuing to incur charges. Idle resources are the most common source of variable spend waste and are the primary target of the FinOps optimise phase. The federation defines idle as utilisation below ten percent across the relevant primary metric for at least seventy-two hours, with documented exceptions for redundancy and disaster recovery roles. Idle resources discovered in the federation evidence trail must be remediated or formally exempted with a rationale under UFMS-001:2.4(c).
A direct repurposing of the general English idle, with a specific cloud meaning that stabilised in the early FinOps Foundation literature of the late 2010s.
Federation members run idle detection at least daily and publish idle dollars in the inform report. Untriaged idle resources older than fourteen days are reported as governance debt under MEV-Annex:3.2. Exceptions for redundancy roles are documented in the exemption register.
@misc{ifo4_glossary_idle_resource,
title = {{Idle Resource}},
author = {{IFO4 Federation Editorial Board}},
howpublished = {{IFO4 Federation Glossary, slug \texttt{idle-resource}}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://ifo4.org/glossary/idle-resource},
note = {Category: Waste; key: IdleResource}
}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.