Billing reports: Analyzing your costs by project hierarchy
Viewing your costs by project hierarchy helps you analyzecosts by folder or organization. For example, if you use folders in anorganization to represent cost centers, you can effectively configure yourreport to group all costs by those cost centers.
To analyze your costs by project hierarchy, including costs by Organizationsor costs by Folders, set the report'sGroup by option toProject hierarchy.You can also use the report'sFolders & Organizations filter to select specific folders/organizations to focus the data returned in thereport.
About project and resource hierarchy
Projects form the basis for creating, enabling, and using all Google Cloudservices.Folders are used to group projects under theorganization node in aresource hierarchy.A folder can contain projects, other folders, or a combination of both.Each resource has exactly one parent.
Metaphorically speaking, the Google Cloud resource hierarchy resembles thefile system found in traditional operating systems as a way of organizing andmanaging entities hierarchically. From a cost management perspective, you mightuse folders in an organization to represent cost centers (such asDevops orFinance). You can view your costs by project hierarchy to analyze your costsby folder.
Project hierarchy is the ancestry of a project, the resource hierarchymapping of the project (Organization > Folder > Project). Projects can standalone (that is, not be associated with any folders or organizations) or bethe child of anOrganization orFolder. Project hierarchy tracks thecurrent andhistorical project ancestry. For example, changing aproject's name, or moving a project to a different folder or organization,affects thehistorical project ancestry.
To gain a deeper understanding about resource hierarchy and Cloud Billing,refer toCloud Billing concepts, Resource hierarchy.
Configure your report to show project hierarchy
To view your costs by project hierarchy (organization > folder > project),take the following steps:
- In the Google Cloud console,open the Reports page for the Cloud Billing account you want to analyze.
- In the report Filters, set aTime range to use astarting dateon or afterJanuary 1, 2022.
In theGroup by selector, chooseProject hierarchy.
The report returns a row for each unique combinationofOrganization > Folder > Project, and the table includes columns forProject,Project ID,Project number, andProject hierarchy.
The values listed in theProject hierarchy column showOrganization name > Folder name.
Analyze the report when grouped by Project hierarchy
You cansort the table data on different columns to view the project hierarchy costs in differentways:
- To visualizeall of the projects that have thesame project hierarchy,sort the table by theProject hierarchy column.
- To visualize if you have thesame project associated withmore than one ancestry, sort the table by theProject ID column.
You can narrow the report's project hierarchy results using theFolders & Organizations filter.
While you are viewing the report grouped byProject hierarchy, if youchange the report's time range to include astarting date prior toJanuary 1, 2022, theGroup by selection is automatically updated to group byProject.
If you select some folders or organizations in thefilter,and then update thetime range to include astarting date priorto January 1, 2022, the folders/organizations selections are removed.
Understand and analyze changes in project ancestry
For the time range you are analyzing, it is possible for the same Projectto be listed in more than one row in the report table. This can occur ifsomething related to the project's ancestry has changed. Changes that affecta project's ancestry include the following:
- Changing the project's name
- Moving the project to a different organization and/or folder
- Changing a parent folder's name
- Moving a parent folder into another folder and/or organization
Tovisualize if you have projects associated with more than one ancestry,sort the table data by theProject ID column.
Examples of changes in project hierarchy
The following examples show different scenarios where something related to theproject's ancestry was changed, and how that change impacts the results in thereport, depending on how youGroup the results.
All of these examples assume that the changes affecting the project ancestryoccurred after January 1, 2022.
Example 1: Project name change
You can edit a project's display name, but the project ID and the project numberare immutable and remain constant.
| Project (name) | Project ID | Project number |
|---|---|---|
| Current Project Name | my-project-1 | 123456 |
| Project (name) | Project ID | Project number | Project hierarchy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old Project Name | my-project-1 | 123456 | Org1.net > folder1 |
| Current Project Name | my-project-1 | 123456 | Org1.net > folder1 |
Notes aboutproject name changes when grouping byproject hierarchy:
- For the report's time range, if the project has not incurred any usageafter the name is changed, then you will only see one row for the project,listed asOld Project Name.
- For the report's time range, if the selected time rangestarts after thedate the project's name was changed, then you will only see one row for theproject, listed asCurrent Project Name.
- If you use theProject filter to select a project, the project's name displayed in the list of optionsis always theCurrent Project Name. Theproject ID is not editable andremains the same after a project's name is edited.
Example 2: Project moved to a different parent folder
In this example,My test project is moved fromfolder1 tofolder2.After the move,My test project is now a child offolder2. Folders arealways the child of a parent organization.
| Project (name) | Project ID | Project number |
|---|---|---|
| My test project | my-project-1 | 123456 |
| Project (name) | Project ID | Project number | Project hierarchy |
|---|---|---|---|
| My test project | my-project-1 | 123456 | Org1.net > folder1 |
| My test project | my-project-1 | 123456 | Org1.net > folder2 |
Example 3: Parent folder movedinto a different folder
In this example,folder1 is moved intotest folder. After the move,folder1 is now a child (or subfolder) in the parenttest folder.Folders are always the child of a parent organization.
| Project (name) | Project ID | Project number |
|---|---|---|
| My test project | my-project-1 | 123456 |
| Project (name) | Project ID | Project number | Project hierarchy |
|---|---|---|---|
| My test project | my-project-1 | 123456 | Org1.net > folder1 |
| My test project | my-project-1 | 123456 | Org1.net > test folder > folder1 |
Example 4: Name change of a parent folder
You can edit a folder's display name, but the folder ID is immutable andremains constant.
| Project (name) | Project ID | Project number |
|---|---|---|
| My test project | my-project-1 | 123456 |
| Project (name) | Project ID | Project number | Project hierarchy |
|---|---|---|---|
| My test project | my-project-1 | 123456 | Org1.net > Folder Old Name |
| My test project | my-project-1 | 123456 | Org1.net > Folder New Name |
Notes aboutfolder name changes when grouping byproject hierarchy:
- For the report's time range, if the folder's projects have not incurred anyusageafter the folder's name is changed, then you will only see one rowfor the folder, listed as the Org >old folder name.
- For the report's time range, if the selected time rangestarts after thedate the folder's name was changed, then you will only see one row for thefolder, listed as the Org >current folder name.
- If you use theFolders & Organizations filter to select a folder, the folder's name displayed in the list of optionsis always theCurrent Folder Name. Thefolder ID (displayed below thefolder name) is not editable and remains the same after a folder's name isedited.
Example 5: Project moved to a different organization
In this example,My test project is moved fromOrg1.net toOrg2.com, andthe project is not in any folder. After the move,My test project is now achild ofOrg2.com.
| Project (name) | Project ID | Project number |
|---|---|---|
| My test project | my-project-1 | 123456 |
| Project (name) | Project ID | Project number | Project hierarchy |
|---|---|---|---|
| My test project | my-project-1 | 123456 | Org1.net |
| My test project | my-project-1 | 123456 | Org2.com |
Example 6: Project moved to a different billing account
Cloud Billing accounts exist outside of the project'sresource hierarchy.If youmove a project to a different billing account,the project hierarchy remains attached to the project.
Viewing report forOLD billing account
| Project (name) | Project ID | Project number | Project hierarchy |
|---|---|---|---|
| My test project | my-project-1 | 123456 | Org1.net > Folder1 |
Viewing report forNEW billing account
| Project (name) | Project ID | Project number | Project hierarchy |
|---|---|---|---|
| My test project | my-project-1 | 123456 | Org1.net > Folder1 |
Related topic
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Last updated 2026-02-18 UTC.