> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.docusnap.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Analyzing Costs

> Track cost development over several months and uncover unused budget.

*ITAM › Cost Analysis* shows two tabs — *Development* and *Optimization* —
for a selectable period of 6, 12, or 24 months.

## Development

The period is summarized in four figures: *Current Monthly Cost* (against
the previous month), *Avg Monthly Cost* (with minimum and maximum), *Yearly
Cost (Projected)*, and *Biggest Change*.

<Note>
  Color shows direction here, not a judgement: yellow means an increase, green
  a decrease.
</Note>

The cost trend shows the monthly course as columns on the left, and the
breakdown by category with a trend arrow per category on the right.

<Note>
  Both charts scale to their own largest value — the column height on the left
  and the bar length on the right are not comparable with each other.
</Note>

Below that, *Biggest Changes* lists the entries with the strongest swing
against the previous month.

## Optimization

The savings potential appears in four figures: *Unused Budget* (per month
and year), *Affected Costs*, *Unused Licenses*, and *Avg Utilization* with a
target value of over 90 %.

<Warning>
  This tab calculates exclusively with units that are already assigned: a
  contract that is recorded but never
  [assigned](/docs/en/itam/cost-allocation) does not appear here — not even when it
  leaves budget unused. All four figures also stay empty as long as no
  assignable positions exist.
</Warning>

<Tip>
  The *Unused Costs* table lists the entries with utilization and unused
  amount per month and year — the direct entry point to
  [Assigning Costs to Assets](/docs/en/itam/cost-allocation).
</Tip>

*Optimization Opportunities* shows tiles with title, description, and action
text provided by the system:

| Rating | Means |
| - | - |
| *Note* | observation, no pressure to act |
| *Warning* | worth checking |
| *Critical* | substantial amount or clear misuse |

## Related

[Assigning Costs to Assets](/docs/en/itam/cost-allocation) describes how you
assign a position's free units to assets.


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