M0.2 module quiz
Ten questions. 80% to pass (8 of 10). Open book, unlimited retakes.
Answers are collapsed under each question. Answer first, then check.
Q1
The four levers of cloud cost optimization, ranked by typical impact and time-to-value:
A. Rate optimize, architect, rightsize, eliminate waste
B. Eliminate waste, rightsize, rate optimize, architect
C. Architect, rate optimize, eliminate waste, rightsize
D. Rightsize, eliminate waste, architect, rate optimize
Show answer
Correct: B. Waste elimination is fastest and requires no commitment; architecture change is slowest and highest effort. The classic sequencing mistake is buying commitments before eliminating waste, which locks in spend on capacity you were about to stop needing.
Q2
FOCUS is:
A. An AWS-specific billing export format that both GCP and Azure have now adopted
B. A ZopNight schema for normalising provider cost records
C. A cost-allocation methodology for splitting shared costs
D. The FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification, an open standard from the FinOps Foundation
Show answer
Correct: D. Before FOCUS every provider published its own schema, which is why cross-cloud reporting historically required a translation layer per tool. AWS calls the cost column lineItem/UnblendedCost, GCP calls it cost, Azure calls it Cost.
Q3
“Inform” in the FinOps lifecycle means:
A. Publishing all of the raw cost data to absolutely everyone across the organisation
B. Notifying finance of the monthly totals on close
C. Actionable visibility: the right shape of data, at the right cadence, for a specific audience
D. Documenting the tag taxonomy for the whole estate
Show answer
Correct: C. Raw visibility is not the same as actionable visibility. A dashboard nobody can act on satisfies the letter of the principle and none of its purpose, which is why cadence and audience are part of the definition.
Q4
The “Operate” phase exists because:
A. Optimization is inherently a one-time project effort and nothing more
B. Cloud providers change their prices monthly
C. Compliance requires a quarterly cost review
D. Savings decay without a recurring cadence that re-detects and re-acts
Show answer
Correct: D. Without Operate, an org optimizes, recovers 15%, and watches it erode over two quarters. The decay pattern is what distinguishes a Walk-stage org from a Run-stage one.
Q5
Crawl, Walk and Run describe maturity that is:
A. Per-organisation, one stage at a time
B. Determined entirely by the organisation’s own total cloud spend volume
C. Per-capability, so an org can be Run on scheduling and Crawl on unit economics
D. Fixed once assessed, and never revised
Show answer
Correct: C. Treating maturity as a single org-wide stage produces plans that try to lift everything at once. Per-capability assessment produces a plan with an order.
Q6
The most common sequencing mistake in the four levers is:
A. Rightsizing before eliminating the waste
B. Eliminating waste before rightsizing
C. Re-architecting before measuring
D. Buying commitments before eliminating waste
Show answer
Correct: D. Commit on the post-optimization floor, not the current peak. Buying at the peak strands capacity the moment the peak subsides, which is the over-commitment trap in its purest form.
Q7
Which is NOT one of the six FinOps Foundation principles?
A. A centralized team drives FinOps practices
B. Cost must be minimised at every opportunity
C. Teams need to collaborate
D. Everyone takes ownership for their technology usage
Show answer
Correct: B. Cost minimisation is not a principle; business value driving technology decisions is. A principle set that said “always spend less” would forbid the spending that generates return.
Q8
FOCUS adoption matters for cross-cloud reporting because:
A. The same query can run against AWS, GCP, Azure and SaaS feeds without a per-provider translation layer
B. It reduces the raw volume of billing data to store
C. It guarantees identical pricing across all of the providers, so no normalisation is needed
D. It replaces the need for a tagging policy entirely
Show answer
Correct: A. The standard normalises the schema, not the prices or the tags. That is a smaller claim than people expect and it is the one that removes real work.
Q9
A cost report that is accurate but arrives six weeks late fails the Inform principle because:
A. Accuracy of the figures degrades over time
B. Late reports violate the FOCUS specification outright somehow
C. The cadence does not match the decision it is meant to support
D. It cannot be attributed back to owning teams
Show answer
Correct: C. Timeliness is part of the definition rather than a nice-to-have. A number that arrives after the decision was made informs nobody, however correct it is.
Q10
The centralized-team principle means the FinOps team should:
A. Drive practice, tooling and standards while engineering teams own their own spend
B. Own every cost decision in the org
C. Approve all infrastructure changes
D. Report directly into the finance function rather than into engineering itself
Show answer
Correct: A. Central ownership of every decision does not scale and removes the accountability the ownership principle depends on. The centralized team builds the road; the teams drive on it.
What’s next
Back to FinOps Foundation principles.