In SAP Analytics Cloud, you can create complex multistep allocations with ease:
- Create or load multiple allocation steps as required
- Define the specific source and target dimensions for each step
- Visually configure multiple allocations rules per step
- Define the specific source elements, allocation driver, and target elements for each step
- Execute allocations against a selected version from within a story
Allocations Overview
The planners at ABC Corporation have finished their labor and expense forecast. Watch the following video to find out more about they plan to use allocations to burden the cost centers who receive the services.
Allocations in General
Allocations are used to assign overhead costs to operating units so that they know their full cost of operations. For example, you want to allocate the cost of HR to departments based on the number of employees, or allocate annual values to period values based on historical trends. Or, allocate overhead based on the relative amount of manufacturing costs.
You can create multiple allocation processes, which can consist of a single step or a sequence of steps. You can then execute the process in a table to perform its allocation steps on the data for that table. An allocation step as a whole determines how values from one source dimension are distributed among members of target dimensions.
The allocations for a step are governed by allocation rules. An allocation rule specifies that values in source dimension members are to be allocated to target dimension members using a driver. A driver is a variable, such as the level of activity or volume that affects costs over a given time span. For example, changes in the driver headcount affect salaries, or changes in square meters of floorspace affect rent.
As you create steps, you can visualize the entire allocation process in the Steps Overview pane. To rearrange the step order, select and drag steps on the tab bar of the allocation process page. You can also load existing steps based on the same model into your process.
Allocation Processes and Data Action Allocation Steps
There are two ways to configure an allocation:
- Allocation process is considered to be the legacy allocation although it's still supported.
- Data action allocation step is the more recent option to create an allocation. For any new allocations, this option is used because it's more efficient to maintain.
The settings are identical between the two options, however, the data action allocation step can be configured from one screen. Therefore, it can be created more quickly.
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