Applying Allocations

This chapter provides an overview of line item allocations and discusses how to allocate line item amounts.

Understanding Allocations

You use allocations to distribute or transfer amounts from and to other planning centers, budget periods, and dimension members. From the My Planning Workspace for a line item activity, perform allocation tasks using the Edit Allocations link on a planning center's master version.

.Allocate budget amounts to cover, or offset, the costs in one planning center by charging them to another planning center. An amount that you charge to another planning center displays as a negative amount in your planning center. This same amount displays as a positive amount in the other planning center that is intended to cover the cost.

For example, suppose that you are responsible for a print shop's budget. Your planning center name is X defined as a department ID. Your customers are internal to your organization and your costs must be fully covered. Your operating budget is USD 450,000 for the year that you are ready to allocate. You are authorized to allocate 50 percent to planning center A, 35 percent to planning center B, and 15 percent to planning center C. When you complete your allocations, your total budget amount nets to zero and the budget amounts for planning centers A, B, and C increase according to the allocations transferred to them as follows:

Consider defining a distinct time frame during your budgeting process specifically for making allocations. The time period for this activity can occur before the bulk of your budget work or after you submit all budgets. In this way, you can be assured that when you perform allocations, they are synchronized with your budget amounts. If you apply allocations while other users continue to modify budget amounts, you are likely to encounter allocation amounts inconsistent with your budget amounts because the budget amounts are still changing. This is more likely to occur if you apply allocations using percentages rather than fixed amounts.

You can apply line item allocations at any planning center level for the master version, provided that your User ID is configured with the Allowed to do allocations? option on the User ID page. The line-items that you have access to depends on your authority to access the activity and planning center for your user ID and role name.

See Assigning Planning and Budgeting Roles to PeopleTools User Roles.

Note. The volume of data that you check out to perform budgeting activities affects system performance; therefore, the process of performing allocations at a high level—including across multiple planning centers and large volumes of data—can take considerable system resources to complete.

When you want to apply allocations, check out the master version when your status is Open to access the planning center. Use line item data in the master version when you perform allocations. The system reflects the allocations that you apply across different planning center levels in the master version and in the working budget versions at planning center levels above the budget preparer level.

Allocating Line Item Amounts

This section discusses how to:

• Maintain allocations.

• Select the allocation source line items.

• Determine allocation source amount.

• Select the allocation target line items.

• Determine allocation target amounts.

Pages Used for Allocations

Maintaining Allocations

Access the Allocation List page.

Execute	Click to process the selected allocation IDs. The system updates the amounts for each line-item row to equal the sum of the method/adjustment amount and allocation target amount specified for the allocation ID.
Select	Select this check box to select the associated allocation ID.
Allocation ID	Displays the allocation ID that is unique to the business unit, planning model, activity, and scenario. Note. You cannot use the same ID again for the model. Create unique naming conventions when establishing allocation IDs, such as using the initials of the user and a department number.
Statistical Allocation	Select to allocate statistical data.
Go	Click to enter the allocation source and target information.
Allocated Amount	Displays the target allocation amount. After you update the allocation, the system adjusts the allocated amount to match the new source line-item amount; the Update Amt field, Update Amount button, and Update Percent button may no longer display.
Allocation Type	Indicates whether the allocation ID is defined to use percentages or amounts. The system displays the allocation type as either Percentage or Amount.
Update Amount	Displays the difference between the prior line-item amount and the changed line-item amount. Note. If a value displays in the updated amount field, you cannot carry out the allocation until you update either the amount or the percentage for the allocation.
Update	Click to update the Allocated Amount for the source allocation. The system performs the required calculation based on whether it is an amount or percentage allocation type. For allocated amounts, the system uses the allocation percentage that you enter on the Source Amount page and applies it to the method/adjustment amount. The target allocation percentage remains the same, but the target allocation amount reflects the new amount being allocated. For example, suppose that you have an allocated amount for a line item of 25,000 USD based on a 50 percent allocation percentage and a 50,000 USD method/adjustment amount displaying on the Source Amount page. Also suppose that you modify the method amount to equal 100,000 USD. When you click Update Amount, the system updates the allocated amount to 50,000 USD, which is 50 percent of 100,000 USD. For allocated percentages, the system uses the allocation amount that you enter on the Source Amount page to determine the amount to allocate. The system updates the allocation percentage to ensure that, when it is applied to the method/adjustment amount, the entered allocation amount remains unchanged. The target allocation amount remains the same, but the target allocation percentage reflects the new percentage used for the allocation. For example, suppose again that you have an allocated amount of 25,000 USD, but the amount is derived from a 25,000 USD fixed allocation amount that you enter on the Source Amount page. Suppose that you modify the method/adjustment amount to equal 100,000 USD and you want to retain 25,000 USD as the allocation amount. When you click Update Percent, the system updates the allocation percentage to 25 percent. Note. If you prefer, you can manually change the allocation amount or percentage using the Source Amount page.
Executed	Displays Yes if the system adjusted the associated allocation ID or No if the system did not adjust the associated allocation ID. Note. To reverse the execution of an allocation, clear the Select check box next to the desired executed allocation, and then click Execute.

Selecting the Allocation Source Line Items

Access the Allocation Source page.

Budget Period	Select a budget period if you want to allocate a particular budget period amount for a line item. If you do not select a budget period, the system retrieves line items for the allocation source using all budget periods defined for the activity scenario in the planning model.
Account Category	Select the desired account category to select a similar group of accounts.
From Value and To Value(from value and to value for dimensions)	Enter the desired range to narrow your line-item selection criteria. If you are allocating statistical codes, select one statistical code value. You cannot allocate for more than one statistical code. When allocating budget amounts for a multi-currency model, select a single currency code. You cannot allocate more than one currency code in the same allocation.

Determining Allocation Source Amount

Access the Source Amount page.

The page displays each line-item row that meets the selection criteria for the allocation source.

Note. The allocation for a line item can change if the source line item amount changed since you created the allocation. The change occurs when you use the Allocation List page to update the allocation amount or percentage.

Selecting the Allocation Target Line Items

Access the Allocation Target page.

Budget Period	Select the desired budget period to define the allocation target with a single budget period. If you do not select a budget period, the system defines the allocation target using all budget periods defined for the activity scenario in the planning model and displays one line for each budget period for every line-item. Note. You can define a budget period for the allocation target that differs from the budget period for the allocation source. For example, if you want to isolate the distribution of a line-item allocation amount defined for a full budget cycle to a particular budget period, specify this budget period using the Allocation Target page.
Copy From (button)	Select the desired allocation ID (that you defined) to specify your allocation target using line items previously defined for another allocation ID.
Copy	Click to populate the dimensions on this page with values defined for the selected Copy From allocation ID and access the Allocation Target page.
Account Category	Select the group of accounts from the line-item rows that you want to allocate.
From Value and To Value(from value and to value for dimensions	Enter a range to narrow your line-item selection criteria for the target rows.

Determining Allocation Target Amounts

Access the Target Amount page.

Total to Allocate	Displays the amount to distribute as determined by the information entered on the Source Amount page. You must allocate the entire displayed amount.
Total Allocated	Displays the amount that you distributed to line-items using this page. This running total lets you monitor the allocation target amounts as you use this page.
Remaining	Displays the amount left to distribute to line-item rows using this page. This running total lets you monitor the allocation target amounts as you use this page. This value must equal zero when you save the information on this page.
Allocate Spread	Select the desired spread allocation. Values are: Weighted: Distributes the Total to Allocate amount based on the weighted percentage of each selected line-item row. The system calculates the weighted percentage for each line item. The weighted percentage for each line item is the sum of the method amount and adjustment amount for that line divided by the sum of the method amounts and adjustment amounts for the selected line items on this page. After the system determines the weighted percentage, it distributes to the selected line-item rows the total amount to allocate based on these percentages. For example, suppose that you select three line items displayed on this page to distribute the total allocation source amount. The value in the Total to Allocate field is 10,000 USD. The method and adjustment amount total for the first line is 10,000 USD; for the second line, it is 5,000 USD; and for the third selected line item, the amount is 5,000 USD. The system calculates a weighted percentage for the first line of 50 percent and a weighted percentage of 25 percent for the second and for the third lines. Based on the weighted percentage, the system distributes the total amount to allocate as follows: 5,000 USD (50 percent) to the first selected line, 2,500 USD (25 percent) to the second selected line, and 2,500 USD (25 percent) to the third selected line. Even: Distributes the total amount to allocate evenly across all selected line-item rows. For example, suppose that you select 20 line items displayed on this page to distribute the total allocation source amount. The total amount to allocate is 5,000 USD. For each selected line item, the system calculates an allocation amount of 250 USD and a percentage of total of 5 percent.
Refresh	Click to recalculate the values for the Total to Allocate, Total Allocated, and Remaining fields.
Select	Select the check box to apply the allocation ID to the line item row.
Method/Adj Amount(method/adjustment amount)	Displays the amount available to allocate after defining the source amount.
Allocation Amount and Percentage of Total	Enter a different amount or percentage to override the allocation spread value for individual line items. If you enter a percentage of total, the system calculates the allocation target amount by applying the percent to the total amount that must be allocated.
Target Amount	Displays the amount distributed to the line items based on the information that you enter. The system displays the allocation target amounts as positive amounts.