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Adaptive Planning
Last Updated: 2023-06-23
Create Allocation Rules

Create Allocation Rules

  • Create levels. See  Steps: Create Levels.
  • Complete account hierarchies for the data that you want to allocate. See Create Accounts.
  • Conditional: When you plan to account attributes, tag the accounts that require allocations with an account attribute for allocations.
  • Security:
    Allocation Rules
     permission.
Allocations divide costs between different departments or activities within a company. In Adaptive Planning, allocation rules automatically distribute values between levels with system accounts.
The rules have definitions and scopes. The scope indicates where and when to apply the rule. The definition describes the debits and credits for accounting. Debits come out of the source levels and credits go into target levels.
When you don't want the total value distributed evenly across the target levels, you can apply weights. Example: You can use a Headcount account to distribute the allocations based on the Headcount of the level.
To maintain the performance of the model, we recommend that you limit your model to 10 allocation rules.
  1. Create corresponding system accounts for allocation-in and allocation-out data.
    The accounts must be system accounts in the general ledger hierarchy or the custom account hierarchy:
    We recommend that:
    • All your allocation accounts roll up to a parent allocation account within the hierarchy.
    • You have an allocation pair that corresponds to each type of allocation. Example: Facilities Allocation-In and Facilities Allocation-Out.
    Like all system accounts, allocation accounts are read-only on sheets. You also can't import data into allocation accounts. Only the distribution specified by the rules populates these accounts.
  2. Select
    Modeling
     from the main menu.
  3. Click
    Allocation Rules
    .
  4. Click
    New Rule
    .
    The new rule requires at least a pair of levels and a pair of allocation accounts.
  5. As you complete the
    Definition
     tab, consider:
    Option Description
    Name
    Enter a descriptive name. The name of the rule displays on the
    Allocation Rule
     list and in
    Explore Cell
    .
    Description
    Enter a description to help you and others understand the rule and what it accomplishes.
    Source Levels
    Select the levels to indicate which levels contain the values to be allocated.
    Target Levels
    Select the levels to indicate which levels receive the allocation.
    Allocate-out account
    Select the account that holds the debit of the allocation in the source levels. Only system accounts display.
    Allocate-in account
    Select the account that holds the credit of the allocation in the target levels. Only system accounts display.
    Allocate-Out Value
    Use formulas or attributes to indicate which accounts hold the values to distribute to the allocation accounts.
    • Formulas
      : Enter at least 1 account reference. You can reference several accounts and the allocation rule moves the values in all of them.  Example:
      Acct.6470_OfficeRent
      .
    Accounts with attributes
    : Select the attribute value. The rule moves the sum values of all accounts tagged with the attribute value.
    Weight Formula
    Describes how to distribute the values among the Target Levels. Example: Enter
    Acct.Personnel.Headcount
     to weight the distribution based on the headcount value of each level. The weight formula evaluates on each target level.
    To distribute evenly, leave this field blank.
    Treat weight as currency
    Click the check box when the
    Weight Formula
     references a currency account. Example:
    Revenue
    .  Converts all weights to the top-level currency before applying to the target levels.
    Clear the check box when the weight formula doesn't reference a currency account. Example:
    Headcount
    .
  6. Click the
    Scope
     tab.
  7. As you complete the
    Scope
     tab, consider:
    Option Description
    Applies to Version
    Select the versions for the allocation rule.
    Actuals Version
    For instances with Consolidation and actuals sub-versions, select the
    Source Actuals
     to indicate which sub-version contains the source amounts being moved. Use the
    Target Actuals
     drop-down to select the sub-version for the allocation credits.
    Rule Period
    Select the
    Start
     and
    End
    .  You can select specific periods according to your calendar or you can select
    Start of Version
     and
    End of Version
    .
    Preserve Dimensions
    Select dimension value to preserve when the values transfer to the allocate-in accounts. Otherwise, the values lose the custom dimensions.
  8. Next to the name of the allocation rule, use the arrows to change the order of the allocation rules.
    The order of the rules on the page indicates the order their trigger order. The output of 1 rule might affect the input of another. Be sure that the rules are in the correct order to produce the desired results.
The allocations move automatically between levels. You can review the movement in the allocation accounts for each level.