Use
You can use
indirect activity allocations to automatically allocate planned and actual activities.You can specify keys to allocate activity, which is not possible when you use manual activity input in the plan or actual activity allocation. In addition, if calculating the sender activity quantities involves too much time or expense, the R/3 System can determine the activity quantity inversely based on the activity of the receivers.
If you execute indirect activity allocation without completing planning for the combination cost center/activity type, you must activate the actual price indicator in the activity type master data.
A special type of indirect activity allocation for actual allocation is the
plan=actual activity allocation. Differenct than other types of indirect activity allocation, the plan=actual activity allocation allows for a multiple level activity network to be determined iteritavely with the operating rate as the tracing factor.Features
You can choose between two methods of indirect activity allocation, depending on the
activity types category. These methods are determined for each segment and can be combined in one cycle.Activity quantities can be determined on the sender object
For certain activity types you can determine the total activity quantity for each sender. These are category 3 activity types, Manual entry, indirect allocation.
Using indirect activity allocation, these posted activity quantities are distributed by the senders among the receivers defined in the segment according to their
allocation bases. The corresponding segment must use the sender rule Posted quantities. Any receiver rule can be used, with the exception of Fixed quantities (see: Sender and Receiver Rules for Periodic Repostings/Allocations).The Quality control cost center uses 1000 hours of the Testing activity type. This cost center provides activity for the cost centers Goods receipt and Finished products. Allocations are made on the basis of the tracing factor Number of test items (TI). These are 4000 items for the Goods receipt cost center and 6000 items for Finished products. This corresponds to an activity input of 400 hours for Goods receipt and 600 hours for Finished products.
The price per activity unit for the Quality control cost center is 50 USD/hr. This results in activity output costs of 50,000 USD. The receiver cost centers are debited with the following costs based on the tracing factor TI.
Goods receipt: (50,000 USD X 4000 TI) / 10,000 TI = 20,000 USD
Finished products: (50,000 USD X 6.000 TI) / 10,000 TI = 30,000 USD
Activity quantities can be determined for each sender, but only with great difficulty
In this case, the R/3 System determines the activity quantity based:
If you use the sender rule Inversely determined quantities, you define the weighting factors described above by choosing Sender values.
If you use the sender rule Fixed quantities, you define the fixed activity quantity by choosing Sender values.
These activity types belong to category 2 (Indirect entry, indirect allocation).
The corresponding segment can use the following combinations of sender and receiver rules:
Sender rule |
Receiver rules |
Inversely determined quantity |
Any |
Fixed quantity |
Any |
(see:
Sender and Receiver Rules for Periodic Repostings or Periodic Allocations).
In the example, you calculate activities for the sender using the receiver tracing factors with weighting factors, which are to be defined for the sender. The sender rules here are inversely determined quantities. You can use any receiver rule.
The receiver tracing factors are:
Goods receipt: 4000 test items
Finished products: 6000 test items
You need 0.4 hour to check one item using the Quality control cost center. The sender rule defines a weighting factor of 0.4 for the Test activity type.
This results in an activity input of 1600 hours on the Goods receipt cost center and 2400 hours on Finished products.
The Test activity is valuated with a price of 5 USD/hr. This results in a credit to the sender of 20,000 USD and debits of 8,000 USD to Goods receipt and 12,000 USD to the Finished products cost center.
If you are working with transfer prices (parallel value flows), the indirect activity allocations are carried out in the leading valuation. The plan price used for allocation thus applies to all the valuations.
For more information on transfer prices, see the SAP Library
See also:
Defining Periodic Repostings or Periodic Allocations
Creating or Changing Cycles Executing Periodic Repostings or Periodic Allocations Online Displaying the Cycle Overview