Segments
Definition
A segment is part of a cycle. Senders using the same rules to determine the allocated values and the corresponding receivers using the same rules to determine the tracing factor are grouped into the same segment for period-based allocation.
Use
The sales cost center "Automotive" allocates all the incurred costs to the product groups in the divisions "Cars" and "Motorcycles" at the end of each period. Division "Cars" distributes the costs according to the revenues earned by each product group, whereas division "Motorcycles" distributes them according to production costs. Here we need to create two segments, because the tracing factors for the two receiver groups are different. In each segment, we specify which share of the costs should be allocated to the two divisions. The following table illustrates this example:
|
Sender |
Receiver | ||
SEGMENT 1 |
Cost center "Automotive" Allocate 70% of actual costs |
® |
Division "Cars" Tracing factor "Revenue" |
SEGMENT 2 |
Cost center "Automotive" Allocate 30% of actual costs |
® |
Division "Motorcycles" Tracing factor "Production costs" |
|
Senders in a segment using identical value determination |
Receivers in a segment using identical trace factor determination |
If the percentages of the sender values in the segments within a cycle amount to over 100%, the system determines an error during allocation. If the percentage of the segments falls below 100%, the remaining percentage is not allocated and stays in the sender cost center.
Structure
The senders of a segment and the rules for calculating the sender values differ according to the type of allocation.
The receivers are always profitability segments that are created by entering a combination of characteristic values. The rules (tracing factors) used for allocating to the receiver also differ according to the type of allocation.
You define a segment by entering in the segment header frame the sender rules (to be used to determine the sender values) and the receiver rules (to be used to determine the receiver tracing factors). The rules that you select will dictate what entries are possible for the allocation characteristics (senders and receivers) and what entries can be used to specify the tracing factors and sender values. If you select "variable portions" as a receiver rule, you can also carry out entries for the receiver weighting factors.
Since how these entries are related depends on the type of allocation, see the following sections for more detailed information:
Logic for allocating to company codes, business areas and profit centers
The characteristics Company code, Business area and Profit center are handled differently depending on whether they are specified explicitly in the segment.
If you do not specify them as receiver characteristics, they are copied automatically from the sender to the receiver profitability segments. If you use the receiver rule "Variable portions", the tracing factors are aggregated over all company codes, business areas and profit centers.
If you explicitly specify the characteristics as receivers, distribution occurs using the receiver rule. In particular, cross-company-code, cross-business-area or cross-profit-center postings can be created if the characteristics specified for the sender differ from those entered explicitly for the receiver. In this case, the tracing factors used for the receiver rule "Variable portions" are selected for that particular company code, business area or profit center.