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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2026-06-12
Create Allocation Pools

Create Allocation Pools

  • Create an allocation plan with tiers.
  • Security: These domains in the Financial Accounting functional area:
    • Access Allocation Plan for Pool Creation
       to create allocation pools.
    • Set Up: Allocation Pool
       to create and maintain allocation pools.
You can create allocation pools to define what happens to costs and revenue as they process through an allocation plan. Workday reclassifies source journal lines with the
Allocation Pool
 worktag as they first enter an allocation pool. These initial reclassification transactions then allocate to other allocation pools. Pools can receive either reclassification transactions or allocation transactions from other allocation pools.
Structure allocation pools in tiers as defined on your allocation plan. As you create your pools, you must specify whether the pool is a final allocation pool or will allocate to target pools in a lower tier. Workday recommends you first create your final pools or pools for your lowest-order tiers, and continue to create pools in the next higher tier.
You can also create exception pools that function like suspense accounts. You can set up your allocation plans to route allocation transactions with accounting validation errors to exception pools to more easily review and resolve these exceptions.
  1. Access the
    Create Allocation Pool
     task.
  2. Configure high-level settings for your allocation pool in the header section.
    Although you can apply effective dates to allocation pool options, any changes you make to the allocation pool header will apply to all versions of an allocation pool regardless of effective date. Complete the header:
    Option Description
    Allocation Pool ID
    When you don't enter an ID, Workday creates it when you save the allocation pool.
    When you submit the allocation pool, the allocation pool ID becomes the reference ID for integration purposes. Only an administrator can change the reference ID and therefore the allocation pool ID.
    Allocation Plan
    You need access to the plan to assign it to an allocation pool. Configure the
    Access Allocation Plan for Pool Creation
     security domain to view a plan in this prompt.
    Tier
    Select a tier as defined on your allocation plan.
    When you edit an existing allocation pool, you can change the tier to one that's lower in the allocation plan hierarchy, but you can't change it to a higher tier. The new tier must be higher in the allocation plan hierarchy than any target pools, default statistic pools, or nontarget grouping pools on all active and pending versions of the pool.
    Company
    The company assigned to an allocation pool must support the ledger types as specified on the allocation plan.
    When you select target pools assigned to other companies, there must be an intercompany profile between the selected company and the company for the target pools.
    Restricted to Source Companies
    Select to restrict source lines allocating to this pool to these companies. All companies must support the same ledger types as specified on the allocation plan.
    Exception Pool
    Select to configure the allocation pool as an exception pool.
    When you select this check box, Workday:
    • Selects the
      Final Allocation Pool
       check box on the
      Allocation
       tab automatically.
    • Hides the
      Company
      ,
      Tier
      ,
      Restricted to Source Companies
      , and
      Balancing Fund
       prompts on the header.
    • Hides the
      Source Journal Line Offset Ledger Account
       and
      Worktag Override Rule
       options on the
      Accounting
       tab.
    After you create exception pools, access the
    Exceptions
     tab on the
    Edit Allocation Plan
     task to select an exception pool for each type of accounting validation error. You can also select a multiple exceptions pool for transactions that have multiple accounting validation errors
    Once you submit an allocation pool as an exception pool, you can’t revert it to a standard allocation pool.
    Balancing Worktag
    Select a worktag to generate balancing lines for interworktag journals. If you don't enter a value, Workday uses the default balancing worktag as specified on the allocation plan. This prompt only displays when you enable worktag balancing.
    Optional Balancing Worktags
    (Optional) Select a worktag to generate optional balancing lines for interworktag journals. If you don't enter a value, Workday uses the default optional balancing worktag when you specify one on the allocation plan. This prompt only displays when you enable optional worktag balancing.
  3. On the
    Accounting
     tab, configure how costs or revenue are accounted when allocated to the pool.
    Complete the tab:
    Option Description
    Allocation Ledger Account
    Enables you to allocate to the same ledger account or a different ledger account as your source costs or revenue. You can use this account instead of or in addition to your book code to segregate your allocations.
    Example: If your original costs are posted to an Expense account, you can allocate to an Allocated Expense account.
    On exception pools, you must select a ledger account that is not partitioned by company.
    Source Journal Line Offset Ledger Account
    Enables you to offset your source journal lines to the same or different ledger account. Workday only uses this value for reclassification transactions.
    Pool Worktags
    Enables you to carry over worktags from your source lines, or apply new worktags to your allocations.
    On exception pools, you can only select a primary balancing worktag type, and you must select the worktag manually since Workday doesn’t derive worktags from source on exception pools. When you don’t have a primary balancing worktag configured in your tenant, you can’t select any worktags.
    Worktag Override Rule
    Select an override rule to replace or add worktags on your allocation transaction lines. You can only select a rule for a worktag type included in the
    Pool Worktags
     grid. See Create Allocation Pool Worktag Override Rules.
  4. On the
    Allocation
     tab, configure what happens to costs or revenues in the pool.
    Complete the tab:
    Option Description
    Final Allocation Pool
    Select to specify the allocation pool as a final pool. Costs allocated into this pool don't allocate further.
    Allocation Offset Ledger Account
    Enables you to offset allocation transactions to a different account than the source allocation lines.
    Allocation Method
    Select:
    • Fixed Percent
       to allocate to target pools by percentages that sum to 100. You can include positive and negative percentages as long as the sum is 100. Example: You allocate to
      Pool A
       for 150%, and to
      Pool B
       for -50%.
    • Pro-rata
       to use statistic definitions to calculate percentages allocated to target pools. You can include positive and negative statistic values as long as the sum isn't zero. Example: In your statistic definition, you assign
      Pool A
       a value of 2, and
      Pool B
       a value of -1.
    Statistic Definition (Pro-rata Only)
    Select a statistic definition to define how costs allocate into target pools. Access the
    Create Statistic Definition
     task to create a statistic definition with these configurations:
    • Either
      Activity
      or
      Balance
      statistic type
    • Allocation Pool
       as either a required or optional dimension
    • Actuals
      ledger type
    Security:
    Set Up: Statistics
     domain in the Common Financial Management functional area.
    Your statistic definition can use a different fiscal schedule than your allocation plan.
    Default Statistic Pool (Pro-rata Only)
    Specify an allocation pool for costs when Workday can't determine allocation percentages based on the statistic definition. Examples:
    • Your statistic definition uses an
      Activity
      statistic type that doesn’t include a statistic for the period you process.
    • Your statistic definition uses a
      Balance
      statistic type that doesn’t include statistics for the period you process or for prior periods.
    • Your statistic definition doesn’t include any pools targeted by your allocation pool, and you didn’t select a pool in the
      Target Pool Statistic Values > Group values for non-target pools into selected pool
       prompt.
    • Your statistic definition includes positive and negative values that sum to 0.
    • Your statistic definition doesn’t include any statistic values.
    Target Pool Statistic Values (Pro-rata Only)
    Select:
    • Use only values for target pools
       to pro-rate allocated amounts to only the target pools specified on the allocation pool that are also included in the statistic definition.
      Example: Your statistic definition includes
      Pools A
      ,
      B
      , and
      C
      , but your target pools only include
      Pools A
       and
      B
      . Your allocations are calculated based on only the statistic values for
      Pools A
       and
      B
      . Costs are only allocated to
      Pools A
       and
      B
      , and no costs are allocated to
      Pool C
      .
    • Group values for non-target pools into selected pool
       to allocate to target pools included in the statistic definition, and specify a pool for remaining statistic values that aren't assigned to target pools.
      Example: Your statistic definition includes
      Pools A
      ,
      B
      , and
      C
      , but your target pools only include
      Pools A
       and
      B
      . Your allocations are calculated based on the statistic values for all 3 pools. Costs are allocated to
      Pools A
       and
      B
       as defined, and the costs for
      Pool C
       are allocated to the selected pool.
    Target Pools
    Specify pools from a lower tier on your allocation plan.
    Note: When you select a Pro-rata allocation method, the Percentage column displays 0.
    Target Pool for Positive Rounding Adjustment
    Target Pool for Negative Rounding Adjustment
    Due to rounding, the total of allocated amounts might not match the amount being allocated. Select a target pool to allocate any positive or negative adjustments to balance this variance.
  5. (Optional) On the
    Assign Roles
     tab, create and assign roles to associate with the allocation pool. Example: Configure an Allocation Pool Accountant role.
    After you create an allocation pool, select
    Assign Roles
     from the related actions menu of the pool to add or remove role assignments.
    Set Up Assignable Roles.
You can view your configured allocation pool.
When viewing or from the related actions menu of an allocation pool, you can select:
  • Copy Pool
     to create a copy as an active allocation pool with no effective date.
  • Edit Pool
     to configure header-level settings. Changes you make to the allocation pool header will apply to all versions of an allocation pool, regardless of effective date.
  • Edit Options
     to configure accounting and allocation settings for an effective date of an allocation pool.
  • View As Of
     to review the configurations for an allocation pool as of an effective date.
  • Inactivate
     to remove a pool from future selections when configuring target pools. Inactive pools are included in processing when already configured as part of an allocation plan. To remove an inactive pool from processing, modify the pool with an effective date and remove it as a target pool of other allocation pools.
    Effective dates control which allocation pools display as worktags on a transaction. Inactive allocation pools won't be available for selection in the
    Worktags
     prompt when you include allocation pools as worktags, but will display when you search. See Concept: Worktags.
Create transactions and journals with an
Allocation Pool
 worktag of the allocation pool where you want source journals to enter the allocation plan.
Process the allocation plan.