Financial Plan Cost Types - Administrator Overview

This article provides an administrative overview of Financial Plan Cost Types in OnePlan.

Cost Types define how financial values behave in a Financial Plan, including how costs and revenue are planned, calculated, imported, combined, locked, and displayed.

What you’ll learn
After reading this article, you’ll understand:

What Financial Plan Cost Types are

The difference between Normal and Combined Cost Types

When to use each type

How Cost Types fit into the overall Financial Plan configuration flow

Audience

This article is intended for:

OnePlan Administrators who configure Financial Plans
System or Application Owners defining financial structure and behavior
Implementation teams designing or reviewing financial configurations

This content assumes administrative access to Financial Plan configuration and is not intended for end users who only enter or review financial data.

What Are Financial Plan Cost Types?

Financial Plan Cost Types represent different financial views of the same plan.

They allow administrators to:

Track planned, forecasted, and actual costs
Model revenue or benefits
Compare multiple financial views side by side
Control how financial data is calculated, imported, locked, or presented as read‑only

A single Financial Plan can include multiple Cost Types. Users can switch between them in the Financial Planner to view the plan from different financial perspectives.

Cost Types in the Financial Plan Configuration Flow

Cost Types are configured after the core financial structure is in place.

The recommended setup order is:

Cost Categories – define the financial structure
Cost Categorization – defines how values are assigned
Normal Cost Types – define how financial data is planned and managed
Combined Cost Types – define consolidated views for reporting and analysis

Following this order helps ensure accurate calculations, predictable behavior, and easier maintenance.

Normal vs. Combined Cost Types

There are two types of Financial Plan Cost Types: Normal and Combined.
They serve different purposes but work together to support planning and reporting.

Normal Cost Types

Normal Cost Types represent a single, standalone financial view.

They are commonly used for:

Budget
Forecast
Actuals
Revenue or Benefits

Normal Cost Types:

Allow manual data entry
Can import data from Resource Plans, Work Plans, or Timesheets
Control how financial data is calculated, locked, and managed

Normal Cost Types are where financial data is planned, entered, and maintained.

→ See Financial Plan Cost Types – Configure a Normal Cost Type

Combined Cost Types

Combined Cost Types create a consolidated financial view by automatically combining two Normal Cost Types into a single, always‑current view.

They are commonly used for:

Reporting and analysis
Executive or portfolio‑level views (for example, Estimate at Completion)

Combined Cost Types:

Automatically pull values from two source Cost Types
Always stay up to date as source data changes
Do not accept direct data entry or imports

Data sources:

Combined Cost Types can include historical Cost Types only, or
A combination of historical and prospective Cost Types

Combined Cost Types are intended for viewing and analysis, not for planning or data entry.

→ See Financial Plan Cost Types – Configure a Combined Cost Type

When to Use Each Cost Type

Use Normal Cost Types to plan, enter, import, and manage financial data
Use Combined Cost Types to present, compare, and analyze consolidated financial data

Together, they support flexible financial modeling while preserving data integrity and consistency.

Next Steps

Continue with the article that matches your configuration goal:

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