SAP-C02 Practice Question: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
A company uses AWS Organizations with multiple accounts. The finance team needs to track costs by department, where each department uses resources across several accounts. What is the BEST way to allocate costs accurately?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse account-level grouping (Option A) with tag-based allocation, assuming that each department has its own AWS account, but the question explicitly states departments use resources across several accounts, making tag-based allocation the only accurate method.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Define cost allocation tags for each department and enable them in the Billing and Cost Management console.
Cost allocation tags allow you to tag AWS resources with department-specific metadata (e.g., 'Department: Finance') and then activate those tags in the Billing and Cost Management console. Once enabled, AWS Cost Explorer and cost reports can filter and group costs by these tags, providing accurate per-department cost tracking across multiple accounts in AWS Organizations. This is the most precise method because it directly associates resource usage with the department responsible, regardless of which account hosts the resource.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use AWS Cost Explorer to view costs by linked account.
Why it's wrong here
Does not aggregate by department across accounts.
- ✓
Define cost allocation tags for each department and enable them in the Billing and Cost Management console.
Why this is correct
Tags allow grouping and tracking costs by department across accounts.
- ✗
Set up AWS Budgets for each department with alerts.
Why it's wrong here
Budgets only monitor spend, not allocate costs.
- ✗
Create AWS Resource Groups for each department and use AWS Config to track costs.
Why it's wrong here
Resource groups do not provide cost allocation.
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