The FinOps Foundation, a project of The Linux Foundation dedicated to advancing FinOps practitioners, is introducing version 1.2 of the FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification (FOCUS), the open specification for cloud cost and usage data.
This latest release introduces support for SaaS and PaaS billing data, invoice-level reconciliation, and multi-currency normalization, establishing FOCUS as the unified billing format across today’s Cloud+ environments.
According to the association, FOCUS 1.2 unifies “Cloud+” reporting for practitioners by folding SaaS and PaaS billing data into the same schema as core cloud spend. It also introduces an invoice ID column that links each row directly to provider invoices, streamlining charge-back and month-end close, and sharpens cost allocation with new billing account and sub account granularity.
Three new providers also announced support for Alibaba Cloud, Databricks, and Grafana.
“As organizations increasingly manage complex, multi-cloud and SaaS-heavy environments, FOCUS 1.2 delivers the standardization they need to understand, allocate, and optimize spend across more technology platforms,” said J.R. Storment, executive director of the FinOps Foundation. “This release reflects the rapid expansion of the FinOps practices managing SaaS and PaaS spend alongside cloud over the last year.”
FOCUS version 1.2 was ratified by the FOCUS Steering Committee on May 29, 2025. It helps to satisfy use cases such as:
Cloud+ unified reporting
- Combine SaaS, PaaS, and Cloud billing in one schema, so a single dashboard or SQL query now covers Practitioners’ scope of responsibility and reduces potential for duplicate charges.
SaaS / PaaS | Virtual currency lifecycle
- Analyze credit and token purchase patterns to confirm commitments match demand.
- Track burn-down daily, forecast exhaustion, and avoid surprise overages.
- Rank charge categories that drive token consumption and target high-consumption drivers.
- Compare discounted vs. list token rates to quantify contract savings and identify future optimization opportunities.
FinOps | Multi-currency normalization
- Convert mixed-currency datasets (e.g., USD, EUR, tokens) to a single currency for budgeting and P&L analysis, with auditable exchange rates.
Cloud | Invoice reconciliation and chargeback
- Associate every charge, credit, or refund to its provider invoice ID.
- Allocate shared costs accurately to business entities using BIllingAccountType and SubAccountType dimensions.
- Surface provider credit memos and validate how each one reduces net spend.
- Aggregate billing data and reconcile it against invoices to flag reporting errors.
Analytics | Unit-cost and density metrics
- Calculate cost-per x (e.g., GB stored, request, user) across providers, expose high-density spend, and prioritize savings opportunity areas.
FOCUS is in its third year of development and has gained critical adoption by numerous cloud service providers including AWS, Microsoft, Google Cloud, and Oracle Cloud.
FinOps Practitioners around the world are actively using FOCUS billing datasets from these providers to uncover insights that inform business decision-making and optimize their organizations’ use of technology across many scopes of practice, the FinOps Foundation said.
For more information about this news, visit https://focus.finops.org.