FinOps SLA Definition

A dataset with no owner and no cost ceiling will always be somebody else’s problem.

The FinOps SLA I use has four lines, written per dataset:

Freshness: how stale can this get before someone makes a wrong call. Lateness: how many late runs the downstream users can absorb before it matters. Owner: the name of a person who decides. A team name doesn’t count. Cost ceiling: what this dataset is allowed to cost per month.

The ceiling is the line people push back on, and I still write it down. A number you can be wrong about beats no number.

Once the four exist, spend stops being an argument about the tool. You point at a dataset over its ceiling and the conversation has somewhere to go, because there’s a name next to it and a number it was supposed to stay under.

On a regulated programme years ago, the compliance regime forced this on us early. Audit-ready meant a name against each dataset. It turned out to be useful for cost long before anyone audited anything.

Try it on your most expensive table. Four lines. If you can’t fill in the owner, that’s your finding.

The fuller version, including the cost and ownership sections, is here: https://thomasnys.com/data-platform-assessment-checklist/