Projects Allocations Overview
Allocation Methods and Rates
Allocation Methods are sets of rules and calculations that determine the allocation amounts and define the Progressus and General Ledger postings. The allocation rules are constructed as a series of ordered steps and are stored in a method table.
The steps specify which transactions to extract, what type of rate to apply, what calculations to perform, and when and where to book entries. Each particular series of steps defines a unique method that is maintained by Allocation Method. Methods with titles like Time and Materials, Cost Plus, Overhead Application are common.
Allocation Processor
Allocation Processor performs the calculations and generates the postings to Progressus and optionally to General Ledger. The program can be run in Preliminary or Final Mode. Preliminary Mode performs the calculations, creates entries, and produces a log for review purposes. Final Mode process creates the allocation transactions, produces a log for review purposes, and posts the transactions to the appropriate module.
The module includes methods to generate allocations on Projects using Timesheets, Expense Sheets, Time and Expense Journals, Purchase Invoices, etc. Along with these direct costs, there are underlying or indirect costs that every organization incurs as well, such as rent, utilities, legal expenses, accounting fees, insurance, and so on. The Project Allocations module calculates these indirect costs based on the direct costs that are charged to the Project. For example, for every dollar of labor, you can apply a user-specified percentage of Burden or Fringe costs, General & Administrative costs, and Overhead costs to support that labor. With the Project Allocations process, you can get a truer cost representation for the Project.
Allocations use single and/or multi-level rate structures with specific criteria such as Project/Task/Work Type/Customer/Dimension. The process can be run in Preliminary Mode with the ability to review results in a working file that can be exported to Excel. Once the Allocation Processor is run in Final Mode, you can review the resulting batch in a final file which can be exported to Excel.
Setup and Processing
Before you can use Progressus Allocations, set up must be done on various pages.
The following table lists a sequence of setup and processing tasks, with links to the topics that describe them.
| Name | Article |
|---|---|
| Allocation Rate Types | Allocation Rate Types |
| Allocation Rate Table | Allocation Rate Table List |
| Allocation Keys | Allocation Key Definition List |
| Allocation Hierarchy | Allocation Hierarchy List |
| Setup Multi-Level Rates | Setup Multi-Level Rates |
| Allocation Methods | Allocation Methods |
| Allocation Processor | Allocation Processor |
| Allocation Results Working | Allocation Results Working |
| Allocation Results Final | Allocation Results Final |
Progressus Allocations Training videos
For more information on Allocations processing see the following training videos: