This article explains how to create and manage cost types for OnePlan. This requires the app 'Financial Plan' is installed. Before building out cost types, first configure your cost categories. Then, on the Cost Types page, select which cost categories are shown for each Cost Type.
Go to the Admin pages, select Financial Plan in the navigation. Then, click the Cost Types tab.
Cost types allow organizations to calculate, evaluate and monitor what financial costs are planned, actually spent, and also financial gains.
Your organization may have similar or different cost types depending on business use cases and configuration. Here are some common general uses that may apply, for reference.
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A Budget is the initial plan for what is estimated to be spent on this initiative. Expected costs are entered into cost categories. A cost category is how costs or gains are broken out into smaller defined categories. These are often organized as whether they are labor costs, and also whether they fall into expense type buckets, such as capital or operational expenses.
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Once the Budget gets approved and a plan moves forward in the process, The Forecast costs are often used as the ongoing expected or estimated costs, updated as the plan or initiative continues. The forecast costs can be entered manually, or copied from another cost type, such as Budget. Then, updated as needed.
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The Actuals cost type shows what has already been spent on the plan.
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Another common example of a cost type is Benefits. This is where you would track what is expected to be gained from this plan. Notice the cost categories would be different in terms of what is gained vs another cost type for financial spend.
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Click the New Cost Type (+) button.
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Complete the New Cost Type form.
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Name: Enter the name of the cost type.
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Method: Select None, or Total of Cost Type.
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Cost Total Field: If the method is set to Total of Cost Type, select the Plan-level field that will display the aggregated total of the cost type.
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Multiplier: Multiply all values by a common multiple. i.e. “1000” if all values are to be 1000x whatever is entered. So, typing 1000 would really be 1,000,000.
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Read Only: Check the check box if data is imported/synced from financial system via integration, or only imported from elsewhere, such as the Resource Plan.
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Status Date: As applicable, select a date. All costs prior to and including that date will be locked for editing. For example, if it the end of 2019, and all budgets have been approved through July 2019, enter 7/31/2020. Everything prior to July will be un-editable. August 2020 forward will still be editable.
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Lock Field: Select the applicable plan-level field that will be used for locking the cost type. This setting is used in conjunction with the Calculations settings.
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Available Apps: Select whether the cost type should show in the Financial Plan, Resource Plan, or both.
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Import Method: Select the cost import method. Options include Blended Costs or Actual Costs. Blended costs are a standardized rate for a role or business unit. Actual costs are an individual resource's actual rates.
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Import From: Select the source for the cost import, if applicable. Typically, the Resource Plan cost types import into the Financial Plan cost types. You may need to create the Resource Plan cost type from which this cost type's data will come. Then, come back in here and select the source cost Import From option.
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Auto Import: Available when Import From is set to Resource Schedule or Timesheets. Check the check box to auto import the cost type to the set location.
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Status Date Lock: When a Status Date is set, the Financial Planner will not import data prior to the set Status Date.
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Plan Types: Select which plan types will see this cost type on the Financial Planner. Select one or multiple that apply.
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Next to each Cost Type are a series of buttons to help you manage your Cost Types.
These buttons include:
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Edit: Click the Edit icon to edit the Cost Type configuration.
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Delete Click the Delete icon to remove the Cost Type from your environment.
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Cost Categories: Click the Cost Categories icon to select the Cost Categories associates with the Cost Type.
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Move Up: Click Move Up to move the Cost Type up in the list order. This order will be reflected in the front end Cost Type menu in the Financial Planner.
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Move Down Click Move Down to move the Cost Type down in the list order.
You can select which Cost Categories will be available for each Cost Type. To do this:
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Click the Cost Categories icon
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Select the check boxes for the applicable cost categories for this cost type. If you select a parent/summary row, all children rows beneath will be checked. Leave the check boxes clear for any categories that don't apply.
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Select the Auto-Add Children checkbox to automatically include any newly created child Cost Categories in this Cost Type. For example, if you’ve selected Labor Cost Categories and enabled Auto-Add, any new role added in the Roles configuration will be automatically included and selected under this Cost Type.
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Click Save.