---
title: Governance Console
description: Provides a centralized, self-service view of Datadog usage and adoption.
breadcrumbs: Docs > Account Management > Governance Console
---

# Governance Console

{% callout %}
# Important note for users on the following Datadog sites: app.ddog-gov.com

{% alert level="danger" %}
Governance Console is not available for the selected [Datadog site](https://docs.datadoghq.com/getting_started/site) ().
{% /alert %}

{% /callout %}

## Overview{% #overview %}

Governance Console provides centralized configuration and governance for multi-team Datadog accounts. It offers a unified view of usage, adoption, and configuration across your Datadog deployment. Governance Console enforces policies, applies default configurations, and transforms your organization's activity into insights for optimization.

### Required permissions{% #required-permissions %}

The `governance_console_read` permission controls access to the Governance Console. Users with `governance_console_read` assigned to their role can view the Governance Console UI and associated reporting and insights.

Product-specific permissions restrict users' ability to change product-specific settings. For example, modifying or automating metrics configuration requires the `metrics_write` permission.

## Using Governance Console{% #using-governance-console %}

{% image
   source="https://datadog-docs.imgix.net/images/account_management/governance_console/governance-console-overview-3.04739e50f51d60fde85612ec135131fd.png?auto=format"
   alt="Governance Console Summary page. Shows an Org Usage Summary section with visualizations of key metrics." /%}

### Summary{% #summary %}

The [Summary page](https://app.datadoghq.com/governance/summary) displays an overview of your organization's usage of Datadog products.

### Products{% #products %}

The [Products page](https://app.datadoghq.com/governance/products) displays the Datadog products used by your organization, with relevant metrics for each product. Select **View Details** to see more information about your organization's usage of a particular product, including limits and quotas.

### Controls{% #controls %}

Datadog Governance Controls help you automatically implement policies in your Datadog organization by identifying configuration drift and notifying the accountable users. Each control helps establish and maintain your compliance with best practices.

The [Controls page](https://app.datadoghq.com/governance/controls) displays a list of controls, for which you can configure detection, notification, and automatic enforcement. See [Governance Console Controls](https://docs.datadoghq.com/account_management/governance_console/controls) for more information.

## Further reading{% #further-reading %}

- [Datadog governance 101: From chaos to consistency](https://www.datadoghq.com/blog/datadog-governance/)
- [Best practices for managing Datadog organizations at scale](https://www.datadoghq.com/blog/volkswagen-organizations/)
- [Datadog Audit Trail](https://docs.datadoghq.com/account_management/audit_trail/)
- [Cloud Cost Management](https://docs.datadoghq.com/cloud_cost_management/)