Build complex cost allocation with simple conversations

Setting up cost allocation and showbacks has traditionally been a time-consuming, multi-step process. Creating showbacks, defining allocation rules, managing tags, and distributing unallocated costs across departments requires navigating through multiple screens, understanding complex configurations, and ensuring accuracy at every step.

Clara, the nOps FinOps Agent, changes this entirely. What used to take hours of manual configuration now happens in seconds through natural conversation.

What's New

We’re excited to unveil AI-Powered Cost Allocation in Clara, an easier, faster way to set up and manage complex cost allocation configurations. Starting today, you can create showbacks and define allocation rules simply by asking Clara.

Simply ask Clara to perform the allocation — she’ll ask for any needed clarification and perform the task in seconds.
Clara breaks down your cost allocations with easy visualizations.
View the completed cost allocation in the nOps platform.

Showbacks with Clara

Traditionally, creating Showbacks is a tedious, time-consuming process prone to errors. Being able to create Showbacks from within Clara turns this into a few simple requests.  No need to fill out forms, select tag keys, define values, or configure filters, you simply tell Clara what you need.

Clara conversation showing a user asking "Create a showback for my development, staging, and production environments" with Clara responding with the configuration details and confirmation

Clara understands your organizational structure and automatically handles the complexity while you focus on the insights.

Create Allocation Rules with Intelligence

Traditionally, allocation rules require multiple attempts to get right, and can frequently change. 

Clara’s ability to help define these rules, with insights into your real data, make distributing unallocated costs across teams, projects, or cost centers effortless. Clara can automatically create allocation rules based on your spending patterns, distribute costs by percentage of spend, assign costs directly to specific showback values, or split costs evenly — all through conversation.

Tell Clara, “Distribute unallocated S3 costs across my teams based on their current spend” and Clara analyzes your cost data, calculates the appropriate percentages, and creates the allocation rule automatically. You can refine rules, combine showback values, or adjust distributions simply by continuing the conversation.

Who Benefits Most

FinOps Practitioners

Engineering Managers

Finance & Business Analysts

  • Eliminate manual showback configuration and allocation rule setup.
  • Focus on insights instead of data entry and form filling.
  • Get cost visibility by team, project, and environment.
  • Avoid learning complex cost allocation interfaces or waiting for FinOps support.
  • Access accurate cost allocation data instantly for budgeting, forecasting, and chargeback.
  • Eliminate the need for manual cost tracking.

How It Works

Clara’s Cost Allocation capabilities are powered by the same multi-agent architecture that drives all Clara features. When you request a cost allocation configuration, Clara:

  1. Understands your intent — analyzing your natural language request to identify what showback structure you need
  2. Analyzes your data — examining your existing tags, cost allocation keys, and spending patterns to determine the optimal configuration
  3. Creates the configuration — automatically setting up showbacks, selecting tag keys, creating custom values, and defining allocation rules
  4. Validates and confirms — presenting the configuration for your review before applying it
  5. Generates ongoing insights — turning any cost allocation query into shareable reports that update automatically

The entire process happens conversationally. You don’t need to understand the technical details of showback configuration, allocation rule types, or tag key selection — Clara handles that complexity while keeping you in control.

How To Get Started

To start using AI-Powered Cost Allocation in Clara, navigate to the Clara feed from your nOps dashboard and simply ask Clara to help with your cost allocation needs. Try requests like:

  • “Create a showback for my production and development workloads”
  • “Set up cost allocation by department”
  • “Take my existing Showback and distribute unallocated costs across my engineering teams”
  • “Show me how costs are allocated across environments”

Clara will guide you through the process and create the configuration based on your requirements.

If you’re already on nOps…

Have questions about the new feature? Need help getting started? Our dedicated support team is here for you. Simply reach out to your Customer Success Manager or visit our Help Center. If you’re not sure who your CSM is, send our Support Team a message.

If you’re not yet on nOps…

nOps was recently ranked #1 with five stars in G2’s cloud cost management category, and we optimize $2+ billion in cloud spend for our customers.

Join our customers using nOps to understand your cloud costs and leverage automation with complete confidence by booking a demo with one of our AWS experts.