Business Unit Allocation

The prerequisite for this topic is to read: Workflow: Setting Up and Using Vendor Payables. This gives you an overall picture of the vendor payable system.

The Business Unit Allocation setup form allows you to define expense splits by business units when creating vendor invoices. Use it to assign portions of the expenses to specific divisions, branches, departments, and groups. When circumstances for your agency change, you can use the form to easily edit these splits, thereby minimizing update chores.

You must first activate the desired business unit levels by selecting the Business Unit check boxes in Agency Setup > Accounting Options, and then complete the Business Unit Setup data entry form where you assign specific business units to each other. Keep in mind your agency may not use all of the business units available because branches and groups are optional.

  1. Open the Administration Center.
  2. On the Agency Overview toolbar, click Edit. The Agency Setup data entry form opens.
  3. Expand the Vendor Payables section.
  4. Click Business Unit Allocation Setup. The Business Unit Allocation form opens.

Click New (or Edit) and enter the following information. When finished, click Add (or Update). The updated information appears in the associated grid. To add multiple entries, repeat this procedure.

Effective Date

The effective date (starting date) of the Business Unit Allocation.

The default is the current date. You can select another date from the date picker, or you can enter one manually.

To determine the appropriate allocation to apply to a specific invoice, the system compares the Effective Date of the allocation to a specific invoice's Vendor Invoice Date, as entered on the Vendor Invoice form.

Allocation Name

Name this business unit allocation for the type of expense category it will be used for, along with its business unit allocation. This is enough information to find it later when it comes time to attach it to the appropriate vendor invoice template. See Vendor Invoice Templates for more on this subject.

Example: "Office Supplies and Maintenance/all divisions" or "All types of Insurance/Insurance Div"

Division

Select the Division to which you will allocate all (e.g., 100%) or a portion (e.g., 10%, 20%, 50%) of the allocation. Continue making these divisional allocations until your Division Splits equals 100%.

Division Split Percentage

For each Division enter a Division Split Percent (e.g., 10%, 20%, 50%, etc.). This represents the total percent of a vendor's invoice that you want allocated to this particular division. Continue adding divisional allocations until the Division Splits equal 100%.

Example: You want to split your water utility bill proportionally among your agency's locations, Seattle and Tacoma.

In the Division Split Percent field enter 60 for the Seattle division and 40 for the Tacoma division in two separate entries. The total for the grid is now 100%.

Split Type

From the list, select the Split Type (measure) by which this division's allocation portion is determined. Your choices are:

  • # of Employees
  • # of Sq. Feet
  • Percent
 

The allocations you make in this field apply to all of the division's sub-units in the Business Unit Breakout section.

If you have entered data in the Division Splits section, and if your total Division Split Percent equals 100%, then click the Get Business Units button to automatically enter business unit data in the Business Unit Breakout grid.

Use the grid to enter Split Value amounts for each sub-unit, based on the Split Type for that specific division. The system automatically calculates the division's sub-unit expense percentages in the Split Value column.

Division, Branch, Department, Group

Indicates the name of the division, branch, department, or group.

Split Type

The Split Type selected for the division that you entered in the Division Splits section of the form appears in the grid. The Split Type is the measure by which this division's expense portion is determined. The possible split types:

  • # of Employees
  • # of Sq. Feet
  • Percent
 

Each division's sub-units have the same Split Type in the grid.

Split Value

For each row, assign a portion of the division's Split Type to the sub-unit by entering data in the column (e.g., # of Employees, # of .Sq Feet, or Percent).

Example: The Split Type assigned to an agency's Seattle division is # of Employees. The Seattle Division has an Administrative, a Personal Lines and a Commercial Lines department. Enter the number of employees in each department in the Split Value column in the Business Unit Breakout grid.

Split Value Pct

For each row, the system calculates the sub-unit Split Value Pct based on each sub-unit's split value amount in proportion to a total of 100% for the overall business unit division.

Example:

  1. The Split Type assigned to an agency's Seattle division is # of Employees; the Seattle division has an Administrative, a Personal Lines, and a Commercial Lines department.
  2. Under Split Value in the grid, enter 10 employees for the Administrative department, 30 employees for the Personal Lines department, and 40 employees for the Commercial Lines department.
  3. In the Split Value Pct (percent) column, the system calculates the percentage automatically: 12.500 for the Administrative department, 37.5 for the Personal Lines department and 50.000 for the Commercial Lines department. This is a total of 100% for all departments in the Seattle division.
 

If you select Percent as a division's Split Type, then the sub-unit data entered in the Business Unit Breakout grid, Split Value column for that division should total to 100% and the calculated values in the Split Value Percent column should be exactly the same.

Total Allocation Pct

For each row, the system calculates the sub-unit Total Allocation Pct based on each division's, Division Split. If Division A = 40% and Division B = 60% then all of the allocations to Division A's sub-units equal 40% and all of the allocations to Division B's sub-units equal 60%. The total for both Division A and Division B's subunits equal 100%.

Because Business Unit Allocations are attached to various Vendor Invoice Templates, you can easily maintain your Vendor Invoice Templates by using the Copy Allocation feature. You can update multiple templates by changing a single business unit allocation and saving it with a new Effective Date.

Copy Allocation allows you to store the new allocation unit values (e.g., new employee numbers, new split percentages, etc.) with a new Effective Date, while retaining the same unique Allocation Name. In the process of paying a vendor, the system can then compare the Effective Date of each allocation to an invoice's Vendor Invoice Date (as entered on the Vendor Invoice data entry form) to determine which allocation to apply to that invoice.

  1. In the Allocation Setup grid, highlight the row you want to copy.
  2. On the File menu, click Copy Allocation.
  3. Click OK to confirm that you want to copy the row.
  4. The Division Splits and Business Unit Breakout sections appear. Data, copied from the highlighted row, pre-fill the grids, except the Effective Date. This field is blank.
  5. Select the new Effective Date from the date picker.

You must choose a different date than the original Business Unit Allocation effective date, or the system won't allow you to save your new allocation.

  1. Edit the Division Splits and Business Unit Breakout as necessary.
  2. When you are finished modifying the data, click Add/Update on the Allocation Setup grid to enter the row in the grid.
  1. Your agency receives a utility invoice on 1/10/11 that has a Vendor Invoice Date of 12/15/10.
  2. Your agency has two different utility allocations, one with an Effective Date of 1/1/10 and another with an Effective Date of 1/1/11.
  3. The system recognizes the allocation effective date of 1/1/10 as the correct allocation from which to apply the division splits.
  4. The allocation effective date of 1/1/11 won't be applied to an invoice with a Vendor Invoice Date prior to that of the allocation's Effective Date.
  1. Your agency acquires another smaller agency, as of a specific acquisition date. A new business unit must now be included in the business unit allocations.
  2. Copy your agency's existing allocations. For the Effective Date of these allocations, enter the acquisition date.
  3. Edit the division splits to include the new business unit.
  4. The system applies these new allocations only to vendor invoices with a Vendor Invoice Date on or after the new allocations' Effective Date.

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