A company manages 15 AWS accounts through AWS Organizations. The finance team needs to perform custom analysis of monthly costs across all accounts. They want to download a detailed, hourly-level CSV file that breaks down usage and costs by service, by member account, and by user-defined cost allocation tags. The file must be delivered to an Amazon S3 bucket daily, and the team will then query the data using Amazon Athena and create dashboards in Amazon QuickSight. Which AWS feature should they configure to meet these requirements?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
Distractor review
AWS Budgets
AWS Budgets allows you to set spending limits and receive alerts when costs exceed thresholds, but it does not generate a detailed hourly CSV file that can be delivered to Amazon S3 for custom analysis. It is not designed for exporting raw billing data.
Distractor review
AWS Cost Explorer
AWS Cost Explorer provides visualizations and can export CSV data, but it only offers aggregated data at a daily or monthly level, not hourly granularity. Additionally, it does not automatically deliver the file to an S3 bucket for downstream processing with Athena.
Best answer
AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR)
The AWS Cost and Usage Report contains the most detailed billing data available, including hourly usage and costs, broken down by service, member account, and cost allocation tags. It can be delivered to an S3 bucket on a daily basis, making it ideal for custom analysis with Amazon Athena and Amazon QuickSight.
Distractor review
AWS Trusted Advisor
AWS Trusted Advisor offers recommendations to optimize costs, improve performance, and enhance security, but it does not provide a raw billing data export. It cannot generate CSV files with hourly usage and cost data for custom analysis.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
- Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
- Underline the problem statement mentally.
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
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More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A developer needs to launch a test server for a new application prototype. The developer logs into the AWS Management Console, selects an Amazon EC2 instance type, configures the security group, and starts the instance. The instance is running within two minutes, and the developer did not need to submit a formal request to the company's IT procurement team or wait for approval from a cloud administrator. Which essential characteristic of cloud computing does this scenario best demonstrate?
Question 2
A solutions architect is planning a new web application on AWS. The workload will include 3 Amazon EC2 instances (t3.medium) running 24/7, an Application Load Balancer, and an Amazon RDS for MySQL db.t3.small database. The architect needs to estimate the monthly cost for the first year, considering different purchasing options (On-Demand, 1-year All Upfront Reserved Instance, and Compute Savings Plan). Which AWS tool should the architect use to create this estimate?
Question 3
A company's development team frequently needs temporary test environments. A developer can log into the AWS Management Console, select an Amazon EC2 instance type, configure storage, and launch the instance within minutes without any interaction with the IT infrastructure team. This capability is an example of which essential characteristic of cloud computing?
Question 4
A company's finance team needs to analyze AWS spending in detail. They require a report that includes hourly cost data for each AWS service, each individual resource (e.g., a specific EC2 instance), and any cost allocation tags applied. The team plans to export this data to an Amazon S3 bucket and then import it into a custom business intelligence (BI) analytics dashboard. Which AWS tool should the finance team use to generate this level of detailed cost data?
Question 5
A company uses AWS for its development environment. The finance team wants to set a monthly budget of $10,000. They want to receive an email notification when the actual costs reach 80% of the budget ($8,000) and again when costs exceed the budget. The team needs a managed AWS service that can automatically send these alerts without requiring custom code or third-party tools. Which AWS service should the team use?
Question 6
A company uses AWS Organizations to manage multiple accounts. The security team needs to enforce a policy that restricts SSH access (port 22) from the internet (0.0.0.0/0) in all VPCs across all accounts. The team wants to centrally define the allowed rules and automatically apply them to newly created VPCs and security groups, while also automatically remediating any existing non-compliant security groups. Which AWS service should the team use?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this CLF-C02 question test?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR) — The AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR) is the only AWS feature that provides detailed billing data at the hourly level, broken down by service, member account, and cost allocation tags, delivered automatically to an S3 bucket. This report can be queried with Amazon Athena and visualized with QuickSight. AWS Budgets is for alerts and budgets, not for raw data export. AWS Cost Explorer can export aggregated CSV data but not at hourly granularity and does not automatically deliver to S3 for Athena. AWS Trusted Advisor provides cost optimization recommendations but not raw billing data.
What should I do if I get this CLF-C02 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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