# Savings

**Savings** sits under **Optimization** in the product's sidebar. It is a queue of savings findings: each one names cost that can be removed, the evidence behind it, and who owns it. People in your organization author the findings; Costfluent does not detect them automatically.

## Before you start

- Any team role can view the queue. Authoring, editing, accepting, implementing, declining and retiring a finding need the team role Owner or Editor with edit access to the workspace.
- The queue is available on every plan.

## Author a finding

1. Open **Savings** and select **Author finding**.
2. Fill in **Finding**, **Evidence**, **Estimated monthly saving** with its **Currency**, and **Owner**.
3. Rate **Confidence**, **Risk** and **Effort** as Low, Medium or High.
4. Select **Author finding**. The finding starts as **Open**.

Evidence is required: an estimated saving nobody can check is not a finding.

## Move a finding through its states

- **Accept** an open finding when you decide to act on it.
- **Mark implemented** an accepted finding once the change is made.
- **Decline** an open or accepted finding, with a required **Reason**. The reason stays visible under the finding.
- **Edit** a finding while it is still open.
- **Retire** a finding in any state to remove it from the queue.

A step that is not allowed from the finding's current status is refused with "That step is not allowed from the finding's current status".

## Read the queue

- **All statuses** filters the queue to Open, Accepted, Implemented, Verified or Rejected.
- The totals, one card per currency, show the Open, Accepted and Implemented amounts, **Verified (measured)**, and the number of **Findings**.
- **Measured saving** shows **Not measured** until a measurement exists.

## How it behaves

- An estimate is never reported as a saving. A finding reaches **Verified** only through a measurement of the cost before and after the change; the product has no action that sets it.
- Declined and verified findings are final.
- Retiring hides a finding from the queue; it does not change any cost figure.

## Related

- [Insights](/optimization/insights)
- [Explore cost data](/cost-reports/explore)