Overview

This guide walks you through the steps to configure daily exports of Azure EA (Enterprise Agreement) Cost Management data to Azure Blob Storage, and to grant Alphaus read access to those files.

Important Notes Before proceeding, make sure you have completed the Azure EA Integration steps first.

Ripple – Azure EA Integration

Step 1. Create an Azure Storage Account

📖 Reference: Microsoft - Create an Azure storage account

Open the Azure Portal
Go to Storage accounts > Create
Select your Subscription and Resource group
Configure the following settings:
1. Storage account name:
  - Must be globally unique
  - 3–24 characters
  - Lowercase alphanumeric characters only
2. Region: Use the same region as your primary workload for lower latency
3. Performance: Standard (recommended for cost export use)
4. Redundancy: Select based on your requirements (e.g., LRS, GRS)
Click Create

Step 2: Create a Container and Configure Read Permissions

📖 Reference: Microsoft - Create a container

Open the Storage account you created in Step 1
Go to Data storage > Containers
Click + Container
Configure the following:
- Name: e.g., cost-exports
- Public access level: Private
Click Create

Step 3. Create a Cost Management Export and Assign Permissions

📖 Reference: Microsoft - Create a new export

How to Create the Export

In the Azure Portal, go to Cost Management + Billing > Exports
Select the appropriate scope (e.g., Subscription, Resource group, or Management group)
Click + Add and select the template Cost and usage (actual + amortized)
Configure the export settings:
- Frequency: Daily (exports month-to-date data on a daily basis)
- Dataset version: 2023-05-01
- Datasets tab – Export prefix: Specify a path prefix if needed (e.g., exports or alphaus)
- Destination tab:
  - Storage type: Azure blob storage
  - Storage account: Select the account created in Step 1
  - Container: Select the container created in Step 2
  - Format: CSV
  - Compression: Gzip
  - File partitioning: Yes
  - Overwrite data: Yes
Click Create

3-A. Grant Write Permission to the Cost Management Service Principal

Grant Cost Management write access to the Storage account so it can write exports.

Go to Storage account > Access Control (IAM) > + Add > Add role assignment
Set the following:
- Role: Storage Blob Data Contributor
- Assign access to: User, group, or service principal
Under Select members, search for and select Cost Management
Click Review + assign

3-B. Grant Read Permission to Alphaus

Grant Alphaus read access to the Storage account so it can retrieve the exported files.

Go to Storage account > Access Control (IAM) > Add role assignment
Set the following:
- Role: Storage Blob Data Reader
Under Select members, search for and select the App Registration connected to Alphaus
Click Review + assign

Step 4. Run the Export

📖 Reference: Microsoft - Verify that data is collected

After creating the export, either wait for the scheduled export to run, or click Run now to trigger a manual export
The first export may take several hours depending on data volume

Step 5. Verify the Export Output

Go to Storage account > Containers and open the target container
Confirm that exported files are present in the following directory structure:

[directory]/[export-name]/[date]/[export-name]_[guid].csv.gz

Example:

ea-exports/daily-usage/20260115/daily-usage_abc123.csv.gz

Appendix: Cost Data Types

📖 Reference: Microsoft - Understand export data types

Data Type	Description
Cost and usage details (actual)	Standard usage and purchase billing
Cost and usage details (amortized)	Amortised costs for reservations (RI) and Savings Plans
Cost and usage details (FOCUS)	FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification (FOCUS) format — combines actual + amortized; may reduce data processing, storage, and compute costs. Note: Management group scope is not supported
Cost and usage details (usage only)	Usage data only — new creation not available, but existing exports are still supported