Cost Allocation Step Setup

The Cost Allocation Step Setup (STEP) reference page defines each step within a series within an allocation. A minimum of one step is required for each series and there is no limit to the number of steps other than the complexity in establishing and maintaining the allocation. At this level the inheritance rules from the Allocation or Series ID can be changed. Records can be added to this page directly or are added by the system with each Pool Base Distribution record added for a new step in a series.

Fields already defined on an earlier reference page have been omitted.

Field Name	Description
Step Number	Each step must have a unique number to define more detailed setup and for system processing.
Description	Each step should have a description that identifies what is being allocated within the step at a very high level.
Base Type	The method of allocation from pools to bases within a step can be defined as one of the following: Fixed Percentage – An allocation where a set percentage is entered for base records on the Pool Base Setup reference page. Statistical – An allocation where the Statistical Units reference page is used to populate the Statistical Unit on the Pool Base Setup reference page based on the defined Statistical Group and Statistical Record ID. From this data, the system will determine the percentage allocated. Direct Financial Only – An allocation where the total cost of each base distribution as a share of all base distributions is used as the bases for calculating the allocation percentage. Direct and Instream Financial – Base accumulation distributions are compared to base accounting distributions from previous series/steps in the same allocation. If exact matches are found, then the allocated amount(s) from those previous series/steps are added to the base statistical unit (dollar amount) in the current step. The updated statistical unit is used to determine an updated allocation percentage for each base record in the step.
Charge Back Object	When running a Charge Back Allocation (see Cost Allocation Control Setup reference page), additional expenditures will be posted based on the selected expenditures. Those additional expenditures will default this object and not use the object from the selected accounting records.
(Inheritance Settings)	This set of chart of account (COA) settings is the third of three levels of definition for what COA codes will be used in the base expansion: Default - Indicates that what is set at the Allocation or Series ID will apply and not be changed at this level. Pool - Indicates that records generated from base expansion will assume the same COA value of records generated from pool expansion. Base - Indicates that records generated from base expansion will take the value from the Base Accounting Distribution