Overview of Cost Allocation

Cost allocation allows admins to configure various fields (cost segments) such as “projects” or “store locations” that contain a list of defined values (such as “1001 Project ABC” or “101 San Francisco Store”). Employees select allocation(s) when adding or editing expense reports and line items to assign their expenses to the appropropriate project or store location, for example (see Allocating Cost for an Expense Report Line Item for details). Cost segment fields are presented as type-ahead search fields to end users.

Cost allocation provides a rich features set that can be tailored to fit your business needs. The following includes configuration instructions as well as some best practice recommendations.

Setting Up Cost Segments

To set up cost allocation, click the Cost Allocation link in the left column of the Services | Configurations page. The Cost Allocation section of the page shows a single inactive cost segment called Project. Below the cost segment is an empty list of cost allocation values (projects) for the Project cost segment:

Adding or Editing a Cost Segment

You can use the Project cost segment for cost allocation codes by editing it, or you can add a new cost segment:

• To edit the Project cost segment, click the cost segment name ("Project"), and then click the Edit link on the right side of the page for the Project cost segment. The Edit Cost Segment dialog appears, and you can change the options below.
• To add a new cost segment, click the Add a New Segment button under the selection box in the Cost Segments section of the page. The New Cost Segment dialog appears, and you can set the options below.

In the Edit Cost Segment or New Cost Segment dialog, enter or choose the following options:

1. Link to Profile: Click the Link to Profile checkbox to link the cost segment to one of the defined profile fields. 
   1. Benefit & Best Practice: Link to profile cost segments allows for easy defaulting of values for end users. Typical and recommended usage is for a cost segment such as Department. A user belongs to a given Department, which is defined in the user's profile. The cost segment Department value will default to what is in the user's profile. In the rare case the user needs to change it, he/she can search for a different department. In most cases, the user won't have to fill this field in at all.
2. Name:  For a Link to Profile segment, you can then choose from a dropdown of defined profile fields, such as "Department" or "Cost Center". The dropdown shows the Display Label defined in the Profile Field Configuration in the console in order to be consistent with any profile field customizations. If you don't click this checkbox, you can enter any name for the cost segment in the Name field. The Name is the label of the cost segment field that appears to employees.
3. Description: Enter a description for this cost segment. This is not displayed anywhere to employees.
4. Subsegment Of (optional): Choose a parent cost segment for this cost segment from the drop-down menu (you must have already created the parent segment; see "Setting Up a Parent Segment and Child Subsegment" below). 
   • Note: The following Cost Segment properties for child segments are inherited from the parent: Entries Added By, Required, Expense Types
5. Entries Added By: This option defines whether entries can be added to the cost segment by employees or not. 
   • Admin: Set up a validated list of entries (cost allocation codes) for this segment that only you (an administrator) can change.
   • Admin and Employees: Set up a dynamic list that shows entries but also allows employees to add more entries.
6. Required: 
   • If Required is checked, you can also choose:
     • Report and Transaction: Click this radio button to require the cost segment at both the report level and the transaction level. At the report level, the selected cost allocation is the default for all line items in the report.
     • Transaction Only: Click this radio button to make the cost segment required at only the line item level. The requirement is only enforced for line items with an expense type that is mapped to the segment (see Expense Types details below).
   • If Required is not checked, the cost segment is optional rather than mandatory and may be left blank for expense reports and line items.
7. Active: Click the checkbox for this option to make the segment active. Active segments are visible to employees. Inactive segments are not.
   
8. Expense Types: Segments can be mapped to specific expense types. All cost segments will show at the expense report level regardless of the expense types selected. When line items are added to the report, allocation information will be copied down to the line item only if the expense type seleted is mapped to the cost segment.
   
9. Click the Save button to save the changes to the cost segment.

Setting Up a Parent Segment and Child Subsegment

You can also create a cost segment with subsegments. For example, you can create a cost segment called “Client” for clients that has a subsegment called “Project” for projects. Add the parent cost segment (Client) first, and then add the Project segment and choose the parent segment from the Subsegment Of drop-down menu in the Add Cost Segment dialog or Edit Cost Segment dialog.

Important Considerations for Configuring Cost Allocation Values

When deciding which information to put in which field for cost allocation values, please consider the following information:

1. Searchable fields - search terms entered by users will search these fields:
   1. allocation name
   2. allocation code
2. Displayed fields - the following fields are displayed in the search results to users:
   1. allocation name
   2. allocation description (in the case of parent/child segments, only the description for the child allocation is displayed)
3. Expense Export - the following fields are included in the All Details export on the Payer tab in Expense:
   1. allocation name
   2. alloation code
   3. allocation external id
4. Travel PNR Sync - the following fields are included in the PNR for travel bookings:
   1. allocation name
   2. allocation code
5. Dashboard Bulk Upload fields - the following fields can be uploaded in the Admin Access configuration (See "Uploading Cost Allocation Values" below):
   
   1. allocation name
   2. allocation description
   3. allocation code
   4. parent allocation name
   5. expense approver ID
   6. expense approval threshold amount
   7. travel approver ID (coming soon)

Adding Cost Allocation Values to Each Segment

To add cost allocation values to a cost segment — such as projects for the Project cost segment, or store locations for a Store Location cost segment — follow these steps:

1. Select the cost segment in the Cost Segment box (or dropdown menu, if the cost segment section is hidden).
2. Click the Add New button (Add New Project in the figure below) in the List section. A new area appears in the List section for adding new entries to the segment:
   
   
   
   
3. Enter the name in the Name field, and the description in the Description field.
4. Enter a code used for accounting purposes in the Code field, and any other ID you need (such as a payroll system ID) in the External ID field.
5. Choose the approver for this cost allocation code from the Approver dropdown menu. This assignment establishes the cost allocation approver. See "Assigning Approvers for Cost Allocations" in this topic for details about cost allocation approvers.
6. Click the Active checkbox to make the cost allocation code active.
7. Click Save to save your changes.

To edit a cost allocation code (such as a project in the Projects cost segment), click the Edit button that appears in the right column of the cost allocation code list. The fields appear as shown above for a new cost allocation code. If the Active check box is unchecked, the entry is inactive and does not appear in the cost allocation code list.

Note: If an unsubmitted or denied expense report transaction was assigned to a code that has been deactivated, the transaction reverts back to unallocated, and the employee can reallocate the transaction to an active code. If the cost segment is mandatory, the employee must select a different cost allocation code prior to submitting the expense report. Transactions in expense reports that have already been submitted are not affected if a cost segment or a cost allocation code is deactivated. The assigned allocation still appears in all views of the expense report and in exports. 

If you are adding cost allocation codes such as projects to a subsegment such as Project (whose parent is Client), you must specify with each project the client that must be assigned to it. If you assign the parent segment to the subsegment’s cost allocation codes, employees allocating an expense must first select the parent segment (the client), and then select the subsegment (the project). 

Assigning Approvers for Cost Allocations

If you choose an approver for a cost allocation code from the Approver dropdown menu as described in the previous section (Step 5), each submitted expense report that references the cost allocation must then be approved by the cost allocation approver as well as by the submitter's approver. When a submitter assigns the cost allocation code for an expense report line item and then submits the expense report, a notification is sent to the cost allocation approver, who must approve the expense report line item before the expense report can be routed to the submitter's approver.

If, in an expense report, the submitter selects more than one cost allocation that has an approver, the expense report is routed in parallel to the approvers for those cost allocations. The expense report must be approved by all approvers in order to be paid.

The cost allocation approver can only approve or deny the report and can't make adjustments. Denying the report triggers a review by all approvers upon resubmission.

Note: If the cost allocation approver is the same as the user's approver, the approver needs only to approve or deny once, and two records are added to history: one for the submitter's approver and one for the cost allocation approver.

Uploading Cost Allocation Values

To upload the cost segment codes for a defined cost segment (such as “Project Jupiter” or “Project Mars” for “Project”), follow these steps:

1. Select the cost segment (such as Project).
2. Download or export the upload template:
   • If you have no other cost allocation codes assigned, start by downloading the cost_allocation_upload_template.csv template.
   • If you already have cost allocations assigned, you can click the Export button in the top right corner to export your existing cost allocation values as a spreadsheet, and then use the exported spreadsheet as a template.
3. Save a new version of the exported spreadsheet, and edit the new spreadsheet using software such as Microsoft Excel. Do not change the header names (see the table below for details).
4. Save the file as a comma-separated values (CSV) file.
5. Click Upload Bulk Allocations to upload the file.

Warning:

Searching or Filtering Cost Allocation Codes

In each cost segment you can search for specific cost allocation codes or filter the list to show only a filtered selection of cost allocation codes. Click the Filter button in the upper right corner above the list to show the search field.

If you defined the cost segment as a subsegment (such as Project as a subsegment of Client), the parent segment appears with a drop-down menu so that you can filter the results based on the segment.