Line Allocations

Purpose of Line Allocations:

Line Allocations are performed on amounts entered in journal and document lines.. With the automation of line allocations, you will avoid multiple line entry for splitting expenses amongst your various organizational dimensions. This improves the accuracy of cost capture and reduction of data entry time.

Key Uses of Line Allocations:

Once setup and implemented, Line Allocations will help with:

• Splitting Costs by percentage
• Splitting Costs by amount

Special Vocabulary:

• Dimension – Dimensions are the core components of an organization that you want to analyze with reports. Examples include departments, locations, programs, projects, or events. In Fundamentals you have the opportunity to determine and use up to 8 global dimensions in your Chart of Accounts.
• Allocation Details
  • Percentage – Allocating costs by a percentage of the invoice line. Total Percentage must total 100 on the Line Allocation card for percentage types, and net to zero for markups.
  • Amount – As a user, you may also decide to allocate costs by dollar amounts, especially with recurring costs that do not change over time (rent, utilities, etc.)

Line Allocations Menu

To setup a Line Allocation go to Allocations in the menu bar and choose Line Allocations. A page will show your existing line allocation, what the allocation is for (Description), and a posting allocation description where you can note how the allocation will be used. If you’d like to edit your allocation, click on the allocation code (first column on the left) or if you’d like to add a new allocation press +New in the action bar. This will take you to the Line Allocation Card.

The Line Allocation Card has three tabs:

• General tab

This is where you’ll set up your calculations and targeted accounts. With a new Line Allocation, the first field is marked by a red Asterix (*) to indicate that the Number is a required field and you cannot continue without that field being filled in. This “number” can be alpha-numeric depending on the needs of your organization. With the remaining fields help pop-ups are available by hovering over the table column names. This will ensure you build your allocations as accurately as possible.

• Effective Date – This specifies the date from which an allocation goes into effect.  This allow copying of existing codes to define future changes in the percentages to be assesses.  The system will compare the Posting date against the effective date to determine which set of rates should be used.  NOTE:  Once used an allocation may not be modified so there is an audit trail of the calculations used at the time of posting.
• Posting Description – a description which will override the entered description on the original line

Allocation SubformHere is where you set the percentages or percent markups for your allocations. Note that you will need to fill in more than one line of information, so, for example, you set 2 or more lines with percentages in them that will total 100% when complete, or a net zero percentage for markups where the debits and credit must offset.. That way all costs will be allocated with your chosen percentages.

• The Audit Tab – This tab allows you to see who has created a specific allocation on what date, and when it was last modified and by whom. This gives you more control over how costs are managed in your organization.