FOCUS 1.2 is the version of the FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification ratified on May 29, 2025. It adds seven new columns in three groups: invoice reconciliation and finer cost allocation, including an invoice ID and more billing and sub-account granularity; multi-currency support for reporting in national currencies; and four virtual currency columns for the credits and tokens that SaaS products often bill in. Together these extend FOCUS past public cloud to SaaS and PaaS, so all of it can sit in one normalized table for Cloud+ analysis. New providers announced support including Alibaba Cloud, Databricks, and Grafana. Always verify which FOCUS version each provider emits before building on a specific column. Across 500+ environments, a single normalized billing schema is what makes a 31% average bill reduction measurable.
FOCUS 1.2 is the FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification release that extends the standard beyond public cloud to SaaS and PaaS billing. FOCUS is the FinOps Foundation's open standard for normalizing cost and usage data so every provider speaks the same schema, and 1.2 is the version where that schema grew to cover the rest of the technology bill. This explainer covers what FOCUS 1.2 is and exactly what changed. It is part of our complete guide to cloud cost visibility and tooling, the cluster this article links up to.
What is FOCUS 1.2?
FOCUS 1.2 is the version of the FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification that the FOCUS Steering Committee ratified on May 29, 2025. According to the FinOps Foundation's announcement of FOCUS 1.2, the release adds seven new columns and unifies Cloud+ reporting by folding SaaS and PaaS billing data into the same schema as core cloud spend. FOCUS itself, defined at focus.finops.org, gives billing data a consistent set of columns such as BilledCost, EffectiveCost, and ServiceName with identical meanings across providers; 1.2 keeps those stable and extends the edges of the schema to new spend types and reconciliation needs.
What changed in FOCUS 1.2 for SaaS and PaaS billing?
FOCUS 1.2 changed three things, and the SaaS and PaaS story runs through all of them. First, it added invoice reconciliation and deeper allocation, including an invoice ID column that links each row to a provider invoice and finer billing-account and sub-account granularity, which sharpens chargeback and month-end close. Second, it added multi-currency support, with requirements for reporting in national currencies that a provider or practitioner converts billing into, so spend across vendors can be normalized to one currency. Third, and most relevant to SaaS, it added four virtual currency columns for the credits and tokens that many SaaS and PaaS products bill in, letting practitioners track credit burndown and convert tokens to a national currency. The net effect is that SaaS and PaaS billing can finally sit in the same FOCUS table as cloud spend.
FOCUS 1.2 new columns at a glance
| Group | What it adds | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice reconciliation & allocation | Invoice ID, finer billing and sub-account granularity | Links rows to invoices, sharpens chargeback and close |
| Multi-currency | Reporting in national currencies and conversion requirements | Normalizes spend across vendors into one currency |
| Virtual currency | Four columns for credits and tokens | Tracks SaaS credit burndown, converts tokens to currency |
Verdict: FOCUS 1.2 is the release that makes FOCUS a Cloud+ standard. If you buy SaaS or PaaS that bills in credits or tokens, 1.2 is what lets you report it alongside your cloud spend instead of in a separate spreadsheet.
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Our FinOps implementation stands up FOCUS-normalized visibility across cloud, SaaS, and PaaS, reconciles it to the invoice, and turns it into savings. On the performance model, you pay only from realized savings. No savings, no fee.
Book a cloud cost audit →Who supports FOCUS 1.2 and how do you adopt it?
Adoption is broadening, with new providers announcing 1.2 support including Alibaba Cloud, Databricks, and Grafana alongside the major clouds that already emit FOCUS. To adopt it, enable the FOCUS-formatted export your provider offers, confirm the FOCUS version it emits against the provider's own documentation since support advances over time, then land the exports in a warehouse and union them on the shared columns, exactly as in how to build a multicloud cost dashboard with FOCUS and BigQuery, the sibling guide to this one. The normalized data is the See stage of our See, Cut, Lock, Run method; a FinOps implementation is what turns it into a lower bill. If you want the very latest, the next release moved further again, which we cover in what FOCUS 1.3 is and what it changed.
The Multicloud Visibility and FOCUS Guide maps the FOCUS column model, including the 1.2 additions, to a working data model for cloud, SaaS, and PaaS reporting.
Common questions about FOCUS 1.2
What is FOCUS 1.2?
FOCUS 1.2 is the version of the FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification ratified by the FOCUS Steering Committee on May 29, 2025. It adds seven new columns that extend FOCUS beyond public cloud to SaaS and PaaS billing, and it improves invoice reconciliation, cost allocation, multi-currency reporting, and the handling of credits and tokens. It is the release that makes FOCUS a unified format for Cloud+ spend rather than cloud alone.
What changed for SaaS and PaaS in FOCUS 1.2?
FOCUS 1.2 added columns that let SaaS and PaaS vendors report in the FOCUS schema, including four virtual currency columns for tracking credits and tokens that many SaaS products bill in, plus multi-currency support and an invoice ID for reconciliation. This means SaaS and PaaS billing can sit in the same normalized table as core cloud spend, so practitioners can analyze Cloud+ cost in one place.
Do I need to upgrade to FOCUS 1.2?
If you only consume public cloud billing and your providers still emit an earlier version, there is no urgency, since the core columns are stable. Upgrade when your providers emit 1.2 and you want the new capabilities: SaaS and PaaS coverage, invoice reconciliation, multi-currency, and virtual currency tracking. Always verify which FOCUS version each provider currently emits against their documentation before building on a specific column.
Written by Fredrik Filipsson and reviewed by Morten Andersen, applying our See, Cut, Lock, Run method. Independent and vendor neutral.
Cloud pricing and service behavior change frequently. Verify the specifics in this guide against the providers’ own current documentation and the FinOps Foundation: FinOps Foundation Framework ↗ and FOCUS billing specification ↗. This article also reflects Cloud Cost Room’s hands-on, vendor-neutral engagement experience.