Differences in the Summarization Methods
The Information System for Cost Object Controlling provides a number of different procedures for analyzing the costs of a material or order at a summarized level. Data is summarized with the following methods:
The following presents short examples of the different reports for summarized analysis. These examples serve to illustrate the differences between the individual summarization methods.
Product Drilldowns
A product drilldown is an interactive tool for evaluation and presentation of data in Cost Object Controlling. The data is summarized according to predefined structures. You can expand this summarized dataset using different criteria to access the lower levels.
You have a report that summarizes the data by the characteristics plant and material.
Suppose you manufacture materials M1 and M2 in plants A and B (i.e., each material is manufactured in both plants). With product drilldown you can analyze them from different perspectives:
Which materials accounted for which production costs in plant A?
Plant A
– Material M1 USD 1000
– Material M2 USD 3000
What were the production costs for material M1 in the two plants?
Material M1
– Plant A USD 1000
– Plant B USD 6000
Summarization Hierarchies
In the summarization hierarchy, the data is also summarized upwards according to a predefined structure that you can define yourself. In contrast to product drilldowns, you can only expand this summarized dataset in accordance with the predefined structure from the top downwards. The summarization is by original cost element.
Suppose you manufacture materials M1 and M2 in plants A and B (i.e., each material is manufactured in both plants). You define an order hierarchy (structure) in the following sequence:
You then have the following analysis options in the report:
Plant A
Material M1 |
USD 100 |
Material M2 |
USD 200 |
Plant B
Material M1 |
USD 300 |
Material M2 |
USD 120 |
In contrast to product drilldowns, it is not possible to dynamically reverse the order of the characteristics plant and material.
Cost Object Hierarchies
Cost object hierarchies are objects of Product Cost by Period that consist of cost object nodes arranged hierarchically. In contrast to summarization hierarchies, they do not represent primary report structures. You can post actual costs directly to cost object hierarchies. In contrast, the summarization hierarchy is not an object to which you can make postings, but rather a construct for the structured summarization of data.
The costs updated to the cost object hierarchy and the objects assigned to the cost object hierarchy (for example, product cost collectors) can be summarized. For summarized analysis, the cost object hierarchy is a predefined structure that is summarized in the same way as a summarization hierarchy. You can analyze the values summarized on the individual cost object nodes in the Information System of Product Cost by Period.
See also:
For detailed information on the methods, see the following sections:
Product Drilldowns Summarization Hierarchies Cost Object Hierarchies Cost Object Hierarchies in the Information System