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Cloud Native Governance Guide

Enterprise governance framework for cloud-native infrastructure. Define ownership, implement FinOps practices, and establish review cadences for multi-cloud operations.

📖 15 min read ☁️ Cloud Native v1.0 📋 Governance

Cloud Governance Structure

Cloud infrastructure requires a dedicated governance structure that coordinates platform engineering, security, finance, and application teams. This framework focuses on cloud resource optimization, security compliance, and cost management.

Cloud Governance Committee

Role Responsibility Meeting Attendance
VP of Platform Engineering Strategic direction, platform standards All meetings
Cloud Architecture Lead Technical standards, multi-cloud strategy All meetings
FinOps Manager Cost optimization, budget management All meetings
Cloud Security Lead Security standards, compliance monitoring All meetings
SRE Manager Reliability standards, capacity planning All meetings

Meeting Cadence

  • Weekly: Cloud Operations Review (SRE Manager chairs)
  • Monthly: Cloud Governance Committee (VP Platform Engineering chairs)
  • Quarterly: FinOps Review with Finance leadership

Cloud Data Ownership Matrix

Cloud data ownership follows a shared responsibility model where platform teams manage infrastructure while application teams manage workloads.

Cloud Account Ownership

Aspect Owner Details
Data Steward Cloud Architecture Lead Accountable for account inventory
Source Systems Cloud Provider APIs AWS Organizations, Azure Management, GCP Resource Manager
Update Authority Platform Engineering Finance for cost center updates
Validation Owner Account Owners Verify cost center and classification

Kubernetes Resources Ownership

Object Type Data Steward Update Authority
Kubernetes Cluster Platform Engineering Lead Platform Engineering
Namespace Cluster Administrator Application Teams
Deployment Application Team Lead Application Teams via GitOps
Service Mesh Platform Engineering Lead Platform Engineering

Data Quality Rules

Cloud data quality directly impacts cost optimization, security posture, and operational effectiveness.

Cloud Account Validation

Rule Action on Failure Priority
Account ID format valid (12 digits for AWS) Reject import; flag for review Critical
Cost Center populated for non-sandbox Flag for finance review Critical
Monthly Spend updated within 7 days Update from billing API High
Owner populated for active accounts Assign to Cloud Architecture Lead High

Kubernetes Version Compliance

Rule Action on Failure Priority
Version populated for active clusters Flag for discovery update Critical
Version within support window (N-2) Schedule upgrade High
GitOps Repo required for production Block production deployments High

Review Cadences

Daily Operations

Activity Owner Deliverable
Cost anomaly review FinOps Team Anomaly alerts triaged
Deployment health check SRE Team Failed deployments escalated
Cluster status verification Platform Engineering Cluster issues identified

Weekly Reviews

Activity Day Deliverable
Cloud Operations Review Monday Weekly status, planned changes
Version compliance audit Tuesday Upgrade queue prioritized
Namespace utilization review Wednesday Quota adjustments identified
Cost trend analysis Friday Weekly cost report

FinOps Integration

FinOps practices ensure cloud financial accountability and optimization within the governance framework.

Cost Visibility

  • Account-Level Tracking: Monthly Spend updated daily from cloud billing APIs
  • Namespace Cost Attribution: Kubernetes costs attributed via labels
  • Variance Alerts: 10%, 25%, 50% increase thresholds

Cost Allocation Model

  • Shared Platform Costs: Allocated by namespace utilization
  • Direct Costs: Charged to resource owner's cost center
  • Untagged Resources: Charged to Cloud Architecture for triage
FinOps Best Practice: All Cloud Accounts must have Cost Center assigned. Accounts without Cost Center cannot be included in financial reports.

Optimization Practices

  • Rightsizing: Monthly review of instance utilization
  • Reserved Capacity: Quarterly RI/Savings Plan review
  • Waste Elimination: Orphaned resource detection and cleanup

Escalation Procedures

Cost Anomaly Escalation

Threshold Action Timeline
10% daily increase FinOps reviews, notifies account owner 4 hours
25% daily increase Escalate to Platform Engineering 2 hours
50% daily increase Emergency review, potential shutdown 1 hour
Budget 100% exceeded Escalate to Cloud Governance Committee Immediate

Security Escalation

Issue Severity Timeline
Public storage bucket detected Critical 1 hour
Missing encryption High 24 hours
mTLS disabled (production) High 24 hours
Cluster version outdated Medium 7 days
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