About allocation rules

You may select the source accounts by specifying each account and subaccount individually or by specifying a group of accounts or subaccounts with the help of special grouping masks.

To create an allocation pool from similar accounts, you can select source accounts and subaccounts by groups.
To do this, use special masks on the Source accounts tab of the Allocations (GL204500) window.
Accounts and subaccounts have alphanumerical identifiers, which usually are segmented.
An input validation mask helps you enter the required number of characters or the required number of valid segments.
The masks in this window instead allow you to specify characters in some fixed places or some segment values and leave other segments or places blank, thus selecting all the accounts in which the identifiers have the specified fixed characters (and any possible values in other positions).

For example, suppose that all the accounts have five-character identifiers, and all the marketing expense accounts start with 51.
Entering 51 in the account mask (51___) allows you to select the accounts 51001, 51022, 51135, and so on.

Consider another example. Suppose that subaccounts are segmented in the following way: a two-letter country code (US, FR, GE), a two-letter department code (AD, PR, SL, DV, DP), and a three-letter product code (001,002, ... 237). Specifying only US for the first segment (mask: US-__-___) allows you to select all subaccounts related to operations in the United States:

• US-AD-001 through US-AD-237
• US-PR-001 through US-PR-237
• US-SL-001 through US-SL-237
• US-DV-001 through US-DV-237
• US-DP-001 through US-DP-237

If you want to specify only several characters in a specific segment, type ? in other positions of the segment.
For example: __/D?/155 will select all of the following subaccounts:

• US-DV-155 and US-DP-155
• FR-DV-155 and FR-DP-155
• GE-DV-155 and GE-DP-155

Contra accounts and subaccounts may be selected as actual sources of deducting allocation amounts. You must select contra accounts and subaccounts explicitly by choosing them from the list. If the contra account and subaccount are specified, you can define the grouping masks for selecting accounts and subaccounts only to determine the total allocation amount, but the total amount will be deducted from the contra account.

To define how the allocation amount should be collected from the source accounts, use the Allocations (GL204500) window. You can select one of the following options as the allocation method:

• By account PTD: To collect the period-to-date amount.
• From prev. GL allocation: To collect the amount accumulated since the last allocation.

To define how the allocation amount should be distributed among the destination accounts, use the Allocations (GL204500) window. You can select one of the following options as the distribution method:

• By percent: The source amount is distributed among destination accounts by percentages, which are set on the Destination accounts tab of this window. The total is 100 percent.
• By weight: The amount is distributed between destination accounts by user-defined coefficients, which are set on the Destination accounts tab of this window. The total is not defined.
• By dest. account YTD: The amount is distributed between the destination accounts of the destination branches proportionally to year-to-date balances of the destination accounts in the allocation ledger if no base branches are specified.

  If the base branches with the base accounts and subaccounts are specified, the allocation amount is distributed proportionally to YTD balances of the base accounts (recorded under the base subaccounts) of the base branches in the base ledger.

  If the base branches with the base accounts and subaccounts are specified but no base ledger is specified, the system performs the calculation based on the YTD balances of the base accounts in the allocation ledger. If no base branches are specified, the system uses the destination branches for calculation of these proportions.

• By dest. account PTD: The amount is distributed between destination accounts of the destination branches proportionally to period-to-date balances of the destination accounts in the allocation ledger if no base branches are specified.

  If the base branches with the base accounts and subaccounts are specified, the allocation amount is distributed proportionally to PTD balances of the base accounts of the base branches in the base ledger.

  If the base branches with the base accounts and subaccounts are specified but no base ledger is specified, the system performs the calculation based on the PTD balances of the base accounts in the allocation ledger. If no base branches are specified, the system uses the destination branches for calculation of these proportions.

The amount to be allocated is taken from all the specified source accounts (the allocation pool).

If the source accounts are specified explicitly on the Source accounts tab of the Allocations (GL204500) window, the individual maximum amount (Limit amount) or a percentage of it (Limit percent) may be specified for each source account. If the amount limit is specified, the account balance will be allocated completely, unless it exceeds the limit; in this case, only the amount equal to the amount limit will be allocated.

If accounts are selected by a group mask, the limit amount or percent (depending on which is specified) will be the same for each of the selected accounts.

Post periods for an allocation are defined by the start and end period (set on the Allocation tab of the Allocations (GL204500) window), including any periods in between. The allocation may be recurring, which means it will be repeated every financial year for the same periods.

If an allocation was not performed for the required period, it can be processed (batches generated) in the next period only if the required period was not closed.

An allocation can be a part of a multi-level allocation. The same accounts and subaccounts can be involved in different allocations as source and destination accounts and subaccounts. In this case, the order in which the allocations are performed is important.

In Visma.net ERP, multi-level allocation can be performed as a sequence of allocations with a fixed order of allocations. By using the Allocation tab of the Allocations (GL204500) window, you can assign an appropriate sort order value to each allocation. The allocation with the lowest value is applied first, so a 1 indicates first priority, a 2 indicates second priority, and so on.

CAUTION:

If you select and try to process an allocation with a higher sort order value (which indicates a lower priority) while an allocation with a lower sort order value (which indicates a higher priority and earlier processing) is not processed, the system will issue a warning and will not process the selected allocation.

To initiate automatic generation of batches for allocations, use the Run allocations (GL504500)window. In the window, you can view and select allocations for processing.

For each allocation, one batch is generated, which gets the current date as its date stamp. The number of transactions in a batch depends on the number of source accounts, the number of subaccounts involved, and the number of destination accounts.

The batches automatically generated for allocations have a Balanced status. They can be modified if needed and are then released or posted as other batches.

Generally, allocations can be processed several times during the financial period; each time, the batches will be generated. If a Limit amount has been specified (on the Source accounts tab of the Allocations (GL204500) window), the batches will be generated unless the source accounts' balances become zero or the limit is reached.

To view the history of batches for the allocation, use the Allocation history tab of the Allocations (GL204500) window.