Processing

Union GL, Plan and Forecast Data

This Join function is used to combine actual and plan/forecast data from different data sources into one stream, to which the same calculation rules are then applied.

Since both the GL data and the plan and forecast data share the same fields and granularity in the rules of this function, a simple union of both inputs is sufficient.

Calculate Additional Activity Drivers

This Calculation function is used to calculate activity drivers that are not delivered from a source system nor entered manually. Instead, they can be calculated based on existing driver data.

For demonstration purposes, the following rule has been defined:

Rule R0001 – High Level Advisory Services Raise Drivers for 20% selects only the data subset of the high-level advisory services from the existing activity driver data and increases activity value driver by 20%.

Assign Resources

This Allocation function uses the Union GL, Plan and Forecast Data function as sender data and allocates it to resources using the Resource Assignments function as receiver data.

Here the receiver rule Variable Portions is used to allocate the sender data using the adjustment [%] driver from the receiver.

Allocate Resources to Activities

This Allocation function uses the Assign Resources function as sender data and allocates it to activities using the Resource Drivers function as receiver data.

Only one rule is defined here, which carries out direct allocation, keeping all fields and providing results with a maximum level of granularity. It allocates the amount using the resource value as a distribution base. This is then available in reporting to demonstrate which fraction is used for the allocation.

Allocate Activities to Products and Services

This function uses the Allocate Resources to Activities function as sender data and allocates it to products and services using the Calculate Additional Activity Drivers function as receiver data.

Because it uses the result of another allocation as input, it can also be called a step-down or step-ladder allocation.

Only one rule is defined here, which carries out direct allocation, keeping all fields and providing results with a maximum level of granularity. It allocates the amount using the activity value as a distribution base. This is then available in reporting to demonstrate which fraction was is for the allocation.

Allocate Products to Customers, Regions and Projects

This Allocation function uses the Allocate Activities to Products and Services function as sender data and allocates it to Project Details as receiver data. Additional KPIs, such as Net Profit Margin [%], are calculated to indicate the ratio of net profits to total revenues.

Here the receiver rule Variable Portions is used to allocate the sender data, using the quantity tracing factor from the receiver.