The fragmentation of cloud billing is finally ending. With the ratification of FOCUS 1.2 (FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification), we finally have a unified schema to query AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and even SaaS providers like Snowflake using a single SQL dialect.

No more mapping UnblendedCost to PreTaxCost. Here is how to unleash the power of FOCUS 1.2 with SQL.

Key New Features in 1.2

• InvoiceId: Finally, a column to link usage rows directly to the PDF invoice.

• EffectiveCost: The true cost after all discounts, amortizations, and credits are applied.

• ServiceCategory: Standardized categorization (e.g., "Compute," "Database") across all clouds.

Query 1: The "True Cost" of Compute

This query works across all providers to show effective compute spend.

SQL

SELECT
  ProviderName,
  Region,
  ServiceCategory,
  SUM(EffectiveCost) AS TotalSpend
FROM focus_billing_data
WHERE
  ChargePeriodStart >= '2025-10-01'
  AND ServiceCategory = 'Compute'
GROUP BY 1, 2, 3
ORDER BY TotalSpend DESC;

Query 2: Invoice Reconciliation

Finance teams often struggle to match data exports to the physical invoice. FOCUS 1.2 solves this with InvoiceId.

SQL

SELECT
  InvoiceId,
  BillingAccountName,
  SUM(BilledCost) AS ReconciledTotal
FROM focus_billing_data
WHERE InvoiceIssuerName = 'Amazon Web Services'
GROUP BY 1, 2
HAVING ReconciledTotal > 1000;

Query 3: Identifying Untagged Resources

Governance is key. Find the offenders who aren't tagging their resources.

SQL

SELECT
  ResourceId,
  ServiceName,
  BilledCost
FROM focus_billing_data
WHERE
  Tags['CostCenter'] IS NULL
  AND ChargeClass = 'Usage'
ORDER BY BilledCost DESC
LIMIT 100;

Why This Matters

By standardizing your queries on FOCUS, you build a provider-agnostic FinOps practice. If your company acquires a startup using Google Cloud, you don't need to rewrite your dashboards. You simply ingest their FOCUS 1.2 export, and your existing SQL queries just work. It is the SQL-based Rosetta Stone for cloud finance.