Virtual Tags

Overview

Virtual Tags in OneLens empower you to assign cost allocation logic beyond native cloud provider tagging - whether you're on AWS, Azure, GCP, or OCI.. You can fill gaps where tags are missing, incorrectly applied, or entirely unsupported - so your financial reporting reflects your true business structure.

Whether you’re mapping untagged resources, allocating shared expenses, or grouping untaggable items like discounts and savings plans, Virtual Tags give you the flexibility to define cost your way.

What You Can Tag

You can use Virtual Tags to assign cost in the following scenarios:

• Missed Tagged Spend

Capture resources that should have been tagged but weren’t - due to human error, late tagging, or tag propagation issues.

• Untagged Costs

Assign cost to resources that never had any tags applied.

• Untaggable Costs

Apply tags to services or line items that are not taggable through cloud-native methods.

Examples of untaggable services and line items:

Category	Examples
Services	Data Transfer, RDS Backups
Line Items	Discounts, Credits, Savings Plans, Refunds, Reservations, Out-of-cycle Adjustments

How to Create a Virtual Tag

Follow the steps below to create your own Virtual Tags:

1

Go to Settings in the left sidebar.

2

Under Business Mapping, open Organization Cost Center.

3

Switch to the Virtual Tags tab.

4

Click Create Virtual Tag.

5

Enter a Key (name of the tag) and an optional Description. After that click Define Value at the bottom right.

6

Set the cost mapping values and conditions.

Learn how to Defining Values.

7

Click Create Virtual Tag (bottom right).

The tag is now created.

Note

It takes up to 24 hours for cost data to sync with the tag.Once synced, you can start using the tag in Cost Altas to slice, filter, and group cost based on your custom logic.

Defining Values

When you create a Virtual Tag, you're essentially building your own rule-based cost mapping system. This lets you assign a value to specific resources - even if they have no native tags.

You do this by creating conditions that determine which resources get mapped to which tag value. Once the conditions are met, OneLens automatically maps the associated cost to that value - so you can track, report, and allocate cost in a way that aligns with how you view your business.

Use Case

For example: If you run all S3 workloads for data analytics in the us-west-2 region, you can create a virtual tag value called Data Analytics - S3 and map it to:

• Field: Service → Operator: Is → Value: S3

• Field: Region → Operator: Is → Value: us-west-2

All matching S3 charges will now be grouped under Data Analytics - S3 - even if they weren’t tagged that way in AWS.

You can add multiple conditions to create fine-tuned cost mappings.

How to Set Conditions

Step 1: Choose Field

Select the attribute you want to match your condition against. Each field represents a dimension of the resource or billing data.

Available Fields

Cloud	Group By Option	Description
AWS	Account	AWS account.
AWS	API Operation	Specific API operations performed.
AWS	Availability Zone	AWS Availability Zone where resources are deployed.
AWS	Billing Entity	Billing entity associated with the usage.
AWS	Charge Type	Charge classification such as usage, recurring, or one-time fees.
AWS	Cost Center	Assigned cost center.
AWS	Cost Center Category	Defined cost center categories.
AWS	Database Engine	Database engine type (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL).
AWS	Instance Type	EC2 or database instance type.
AWS	Legal Entity	Legal entity associated with the account.
AWS	Platform	Operating system or platform type.
AWS	Purchase Option	Reserved, on-demand, or other purchase options.
AWS	Region	AWS region.
AWS	Resource	Individual resource identifiers.
AWS	Service	AWS service.
All clouds	Tag	User-defined tags.
AWS	Tenancy	Resource tenancy (shared or dedicated).
AWS	Usage Type	AWS usage type classification.
All clouds	Virtual Tag	Virtual tags created in OneLens for additional categorization.
Azure	Benefit Name	Applied reservation or savings plan name.
Azure	Charge Type	Cost record type classification (usage, purchase, refund)
Azure	Frequency	Billing recurrence indicator
Azure	Meter	Unique billing meter identifier
Azure	Meter Category	Top-level Azure service classification
Azure	Meter Subcategory	Azure service feature or tier breakdown
Azure	Partner Name	CSP or reseller partner identifier
Azure	Pricing Model	Billing arrangement type (on-demand, reservation, spot)
Azure	Product	Purchased Azure product or SKU name
Azure	Product Order Name	Enrollment or order grouping label
Azure	Provider	Infrastructure provider type
Azure	Publisher Name	Marketplace or service publisher identity
Azure	Publisher Type	Publisher origin classification (Microsoft, third-party)
Azure	Resource Group Name	Azure resource group container name
Azure	Resource Location	Deployed Azure region or datacenter
Azure	Resource Type	Azure ARM resource type identifier
Azure	Service Family	High-level Azure service grouping (Compute, Storage, Networking)
Azure	Subscription	Azure billing subscription scope
GCP	Cost Type	Charge classification (regular, tax, credit, adjustment)
GCP	Country	Billing or usage geographic country
GCP	Folders	GCP resource hierarchy folder path
GCP	Labels	User-defined key-value resource tags
GCP	Location	GCP multi-region or location grouping
GCP	Organization	GCP organization-level billing entity
GCP	Project	GCP project scope for cost attribution
GCP	Region	GCP compute region identifier
GCP	Resource Global Name	Fully-qualified GCP resource URI
GCP	Resource Name	Short display name of provisioned resource
GCP	Seller	Cost origin classification (Google, third-party reseller)
GCP	Service	GCP product service name (Compute Engine, BigQuery, etc.)
GCP	SKU	Granular billable unit or pricing item identifier
GCP	System Labels	Google-managed automatic metadata labels
GCP	Zone	GCP availability zone within a region
OCI	Availability Domain	OCI datacenter within a region
OCI	Compartment ID	Unique identifier for OCI resource compartment
OCI	Compartment Name	Logical resource grouping container name
OCI	Product Description	OCI service or feature display name
OCI	Product SKU	Billable product pricing unit identifier
OCI	Region	OCI deployed datacenter region
OCI	Resource ID	Unique OCID of the provisioned resource
OCI	Service	Top-level OCI service classification (Compute, Object Storage, etc.)
OCI	Subscription	OCI billing subscription or contract scope
OCI	Tenant ID	OCI tenancy-level billing entity identifier

Step 2: Choose Operator

Operators define how the field value should match the input you provide.

Available Operators

Contains	Matches if the field includes the specified text.
Does Not Contain	Matches if the field excludes the specified text.
Starts With	Matches if the field begins with the specified text.
Does Not Start With	Matches if the field does not begin with the specified text.
In	Matches if the field is one of the listed values.
Is Not In	Matches if the field is not in the list of values.
Is Null	Matches if the field has no value.
Is Not Null	Matches if the field has any value (i.e., not empty).

Step 3: Enter Value

Provide the value(s) you want OneLens to match. You can:

• Choose one or more values for operators like In or Is Not In

• Enter strings or substrings for operators like Contains and Starts With

You can continue adding more fields and conditions to refine how the tag applies.

Verifying Resources

Once you’ve defined a value, OneLens lets you verify the resources that match the logic before finalizing. This helps ensure your mapping works as expected.

Step 3: Allocating Shared Costs

Virtual Tags can also be used to allocate shared costs like support charges, data transfer, or common infrastructure across business units. ➡️ Learn more about Shared Cost Allocation

Note

Allocating cost is optional—you can choose to use virtual tags purely for grouping or visibility purposes without impacting cost allocation.

Value Status Guide

Each value inside a Virtual Tag passes through a lifecycle status to help you track its readiness.

Status	What It Means
Not Defined	You’ve created the value, but no resources are mapped yet.
Defined	Resources have been mapped to the value, and associated costs are identified.
Allocated	The value is used in your cost hierarchy and cost is allocated accordingly.

A value is usable in Cost Atlas as soon as it is Defined. Allocation is optional.

Managing Virtual Tags

All your created tags are listed in the Virtual Tags tab.

You can manage any tag using the menu on the right of each row:

• Manage — Edit values, logic, or name.

• Delete — Remove the tag if it's no longer needed

  

Once the tag has synced, a View in Cost Atlas button appears. Clicking it will open a predefined view showing costs associated with the tag.