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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2025-09-19
Define Cost Allocations for Position Restrictions

Define Cost Allocations for Position Restrictions

You can define how to allocate earnings for a particular position, or position restriction, across:
  • Cost centers.
  • Projects.
  • Grants.
  • Other organization types and locations.
Workers hired into the position inherit the allocations by default. Workers already in the position inherit the allocations only if they have no worker-specific allocations defined for a:
  • Worker, position, and earning.
  • Worker and earning.
  • Worker and position.
  • Worker.
The cost allocations you specify for a position restriction are subject to the costing hierarchy for employee earnings. You can access the
All Position Restrictions Costing Allocations
 report to view all cost allocations defined for positions.
For Payroll for the U.S., if you enable Salary Over the Cap and assign a Grant worktag subject to a Sponsor Salary Cap to a costing allocation, Workday evaluates earnings in the pay component group to determine the covered amount. When a portion of the earning exceeds the cap, Workday displays an action button in the Salary Over the Cap column.
You can’t rescind an assigned costing allocation once it has been used in a journal calculated after 09-20-2025 and with a status of Created, Error, or Posted. If you want to make changes to an existing costing allocation that you can no longer rescind, you can update the allocation from the
Proposed Costing Allocations
 tab.
  1. Access the
    Assign Costing Allocation
     task.
  2. In the
    Include Existing Costing Allocations
     section, select the
    From
     and
    To
     dates.
  3. As you complete the
    Position Restrictions Costing
     section, consider:
    Option
    Description
    Effective Date
    Controls the positions available for selection.
    Position Restrictions
    You can select any position, filled or unfilled, that is available as of the
    Effective Date
    .
  4. Click
    OK
    .
  5. As you complete the task, consider:
    Option
    Description
    Copy Costing Allocation
    Workday doesn't copy attachments when copying a costing allocation.
    Start Date
    End Date
    Dates can't overlap past or future costing allocation intervals.
    Default (As of Start Date)
    When you don't enter
    Costing Override
     values, Workday uses the worktag values for the worker's assigned organizations to allocate costs for their earnings.
    Required with no Default (Must have Costing Override)
    When a worktag is
    Required
     under
    Payroll Costing Allocation
     on the
    Maintain Worktag Usage
     task but a worker has no organization default, you must select a
    Costing Override
     value from the Additional Worktags field.
    Costing Company
    Enter a costing company to assign costing allocations. The
    Costing Company
     column is only available when you select the
    Intercompany Accounting - Enable
     check box in the
    Payroll Accounting
     section on the
    Edit Tenant Setup - Payroll
     task.
    Worktags
    Select a value for each worktag listed in the
    Required with no Default (Must have Costing Override)
     field. Example: If business unit and program are the required worktags, you must select values for both.
    You can also select values for:
    • Worktags listed in the
      Default (As of Start Date)
       column. When you select a value, Workday removes the default value from the display field.
    • Any worktag that's enabled for payroll costing.
    If you have set up related worktags, Workday adds the one you select and its related worktags. You can remove any you don't want.
    You can only select 1 of these worktags as an override:
    Project
    ,
    Project Plan Phase
    , or
    Project Plan Task
    .
    Distribution Percent
    You can add rows to split the costing allocation for the salary over cap portion. The sum of all rows must equal 100%.
  6. (Optional) For Payroll for the U.S., if the action button appears in the Salary Over the Cap column, click the action button to access the salary over cap suballocation amount and organizational defaults. As you complete the grid, consider:
    Option
    Description
    Costing Company
    Enter a costing company to assign costing allocations. The
    Costing Company
     column is only available when you select the
    Intercompany Accounting - Enable
     check box in the
    Payroll Accounting
     section on the
    Edit Tenant Setup - Payroll
     task.
    Worktags
    You can edit the worker's organizational default worktags on the salary over cap suballocation. You can't edit the Grant worktag associated with the salary over cap award.
    Distribution Percent
    You can add rows to split the costing allocation for the salary over cap portion. The sum of all rows must equal 100%.
Position Restriction Costing Allocation
You want to allocate costs for employees hired into position 5000 to 3 cost centers. Allocate 34% to the default cost center for the worker's organization assignment, and split the rest evenly between cost centers 0002 and 0003. Enter:
Default (As of Start Date)
Costing Override
Distribution Percent
Cost Center: 0001
No entry
34
Cost Center: 0002
33
Cost Center: 0003
33
Allocations for a Worker with Multiple Positions (CAN, USA)
Jean has 2 positions, each belonging to a different cost center:
  • Researcher, cost center 0001
  • Professor, cost center 0002
You want to allocate 50% of her earnings to cost center 0003.
Access the
Assign Costing Allocation
 task for her researcher position and enter:
Default (As of Start Date)
Costing Override
Distribution Percent
Cost Center: 0001
No entry
50
Cost Center: 0003
50
Now, access the
Assign Costing Allocation
 task for her professor position and enter:
Default (As of Start Date)
Costing Override
Distribution Percent
Cost Center: 0002
No entry
50
Cost Center: 0003
50
For her researcher position:
  • 50% of her earnings will go to cost center 0001.
  • 50% of her earnings will go to cost center 0003.
For her professor position:
  • 50% of her earnings will go to cost center 0002.
  • 50% of her earnings will go to cost center 0003.