COST POOLS

Use this screen to control every aspect of both indirect cost pools and service center pools. Use the subtasks to set up cost, base, allocation, and variance accounts; pool rates; and service center information. This screen is the focal point of cost pool setup.

Cost Pools are identified by an allocation group number and a fiscal year. Any valid fiscal year is acceptable for pool setup, even if the chosen fiscal year is closed. Pools set up in group number 1 will allocate to projects; otherwise, they will be used only for rate calculation and will not allocate. The system uses the rates calculated in groups other than group 1 primarily to analyze the effect of changes in pool structures.

You can use the Pool Cost and Pool Base subtasks to set up the cost (numerator) and base (denominator) account/organization combinations that define this pool, or you can create many account/organization/pool links at one time, using the wildcard features offered by the Base Creation Setup, Cost Creation Setup , and Create Pool Links screens (all in Projects » Cost and Revenue Processing » Cost Pool Setup).

To set up pools for a new fiscal year or to set up a new pool in the current year, there are two different tools available. The first is the Clone feature, which is available in this screen through the File menu. You can use the Clone feature to set up new pools, one at a time, using an existing pool as a template. The second tool is the Copy Pools toolkit, which is available in the Miscellaneous Toolkits screen (Projects » Cost and Revenue Processing » Utilities). You can use this toolkit to clone one or all pools from a source fiscal year and allocation group into a destination fiscal year and allocation group.

Do not include allocation accounts from other cost pools or service centers in the base of an hours-based cost pool.

Use this screen to initialize any cost pool or service center. Additional maintenance of the data on this screen is required only when changes to the cost pool setup are needed, or whenever pool target, provisional, or cost of money rates change. You must initialize new pools each fiscal year.

Group

Use this drop-down list to select allocation group numbers that have been set up in the Allocation Groups screen (Projects » Cost and Revenue Processing » Cost Pool Processing and Reporting). Group 1 is the primary allocation group, in that all the pools in that group will allocate to projects; however, you can select any valid allocation group. This is a required field. The adjacent field displays the description of the allocation group.

Fiscal Year

Use this drop-down list to select fiscal years that have been set up in Costpoint General Ledger. You can choose any fiscal year, including years that have been closed. This is a required field.  Pools are identified by pool number and fiscal year.

Pool

Enter a six-digit number that identifies a specific pool within an allocation group and fiscal year. The pool can be an indirect cost pool, which allocates in accordance with a system-derived amount, or a service center, which allocates in accordance with either a system-derived amount or a user-supplied quantity. This is a required field.

Sequence Number

Enter a number that corresponds to the sequence in which the pool will be allocated. The sequence number is required on this screen, and you can modify it in the Set Pool Processing Sequence screen (Projects » Cost and Revenue Processing » Cost Pool Setup). Example: Pools 1-4 in Sequence 1, Pools 5-10 in Sequence 2, and Pools 11-20 in Sequence 3. Sequence 1 pools will be processed before Sequence 2 pools, etc.  The assignment of the pool sequence numbers is important because some pools must allocate costs into others before the system can calculate the proper rate.

Pool Type

Use this drop-down list to view the different cost pool types available. The names for the pool types were established in the Allocation Groups screen. The pool type name is an optional entry used to group similar pools on reports, and only to identify pools that apply rates to projects. System-defined pool types include:

These descriptions may have been changed for your company. Select the type that best represents each pool.

Service Center

Select this check box to identify the cost pool as a service center. Service centers represent a collection of costs that are incurred in the provision of a service. You can allocate these costs to projects or other cost pools in accordance with either a system-derived number of hours or amount, or a user-supplied quantity.

The initial default for this check box is blank. If it remains blank, the Service Center button is disabled and Units is not available as a Basis Type for the pool.

If the check box is selected, the Pool Rates button is disabled, because service centers do not calculate rates that are stored in the Pool Rates table. Also, the Service Center subtask will be required before leaving this screen.

Apply Rates to Projects

Select this check box to specify whether the pool will allocate to projects. This check box is for cost pools that are not service centers and is designed for unallowable cost pools. The initial default is selected for all cost pools except service centers. For service center pools, it is not available.

For any cost pools that are not in allocation group 1, this check box will not be applicable. This is a required field.

Unallowable

Select this check box to designate this pool as unallowable. This means that no revenue calculations will be performed on this pool. It has the same effect as placing a burden cost ceiling of zero on every project and account that was burdened by a particular pool (for example, if your company wants to capture entertainment costs in an unallowable pool). This pool would then allocate to the projects in the base to reflect the true cost of the project; however, no revenue would be generated from this burden. The Unallowable check box will not be available unless you selected the Apply Rates to Projects check box.

Exclude Burden from Asset Inventory

Select this check box to exclude G&A cost pools from the calculation of inventory burdening for asset inventory. If you select this check box, the Compute Inventory Burden Rates application (Projects » Cost and Revenue Processing » Cost Pool Processing & Reporting) will exclude from its calculations any accounts that are classified as "asset" (ACCT.s_acct_type_cd = A) in the Maintain Accounts screen (Accounting » General Ledger » Accounts).

Name

Enter up to 25 alphanumeric characters for the name of the cost pool. This is a required field.

Short Name

Enter up to six alphanumeric characters for the abbreviation of the cost pool. This is an optional field.

Basis Description

Enter a short description for the pool basis.

Basis Type

Use this group box to describe the basis type.

Dollars

Select this option to derive the allocation base for a given cost pool by adding the amount found in the General Ledger table for all account/organization combinations set up as the base of the cost pool. This option is the default allocation base type for all cost pools.

Hours

Select this option to derive the allocation base for a given service center pool by adding the hours charged to the General Ledger for all account/organization combinations that have been set up as the base of the cost pool. Once you select this option and save the cost pool, you cannot change this setting.

Do not include allocation accounts from other cost pools or service centers in the base of an hours-based cost pool.

Units

This option becomes available when you select the Service Center check box. If you select this option, you will need to enter the base units in the Maintain Allocation Journal screen. This radio button offers an alternate selection of allocation base type that can be used for service center pools only. The units entered can represent head count, number of pages, clock time, square footage, percents, etc. You should enter a description of the base in the Basis Description field. This is a required field.

FS Reclass Debit Acct

Enter, or use to select, a valid account number to be used as the debit side of the Cost Transfer Journal Entry for this pool. When the cost of a project is charged to the performing organization(s) and the revenue is collected by the owning organization, the Create Cost Transfer Journal Entry screen (Projects » Cost and Revenue Processing » Revenue Processing) will automatically create a journal entry to reallocate the cost from the performing organization(s) to the owning organization. After you post this journal entry, you will be able to print Income Statements by Org, if you desire.

The FS Reclass Debit Accounts must already be established in the Maintain Accounts screen (Accounting » General Ledger » Accounts). They should be Detail accounts with Project Required blank. Note that the reclass accounts for the direct costs are entered in the Set Up Financial Statements screen (Accounting » General Ledger » Financial Statement Setup). Debit and credit accounts should be unique for each pool to provide visibility to the reclass process. Remember to link the reclass account numbers to the proper organizations and to their respective FS lines when assigning accounts.

FS Reclass Credit Acct

Enter, or use to select, a valid account number. This account number will be the credit side of the Cost Transfer Journal Entry for this pool.

Default Accounts

Click this button to open the Default Accounts subtask, where you can enter default allocation credit, debit, cost variance and receivable variance account/organization combinations, and reference numbers.

Pool Cost

Click this button to enter the Pool Cost subtask, where you can select the account/organization combinations that will form the cost portion of the pool. Note that you can also use the Cost Creation Setup screen (Projects » Cost and Revenue Processing » Cost Pool Setup), in combination with the Create Pool Links screen (Projects » Cost and Revenue Processing » Cost Pool Setup), to create many new account/organization cost combinations for pools.

Pool Base

Click this button to enter the Pool Base subtask, where you can choose the account/organization combinations that will form the base, allocation, and variance portions of the pool. Variance account/organization selections made at this level will override any default account/organization entries made in the Default Accounts subtask. Note that you can also use the Base Creation Setup screen (Projects » Cost and Revenue Processing » Cost Pool Setup), in combination with the Create Pool Links screen (Projects » Cost and Revenue Processing » Cost Pool Setup), to create many new account/organization base combinations for pools.

Service Center

Click this button to open the Service Center subtask, where you can set up additional information relating to service center pools. It is available only when you have selected the Service Center check box.

Pool Rates

Click this button to enter the Pool Rates subtask where you can enter both current period and year to date rates for a given pool. You can enter actual, target, billing, and cost of money rates against any pool that is not a service center pool. Service center allocation rates are not stored on the rate table.