About Defining The Allocation Amount/Rate

Cost allocations can be either designated as a flat amount or they can be calculated based on a specified rate.

If you elect to assign a flat amount, you enter the desired amount in the Allocation Amt field. If you wish to have them calculated based on a rate, enter the rate in the Allocation Rate field. If the basis for calculations is revenue or costs, the rate will be a percent of the amount. If the basis is hours, the rate will be a dollar amount per hour.

Another option that may be used is to indicate the datatype (variable) from the Equipment master file that will be used for the allocation amount or rate. With this method, you use the Equip Amt Column or the Equip Rate Column fields to designate a specific field from the EM Equipment form from which the amount or rate will be pulled. Then, when the allocation is performed, the system uses the amount or rate indicated by that field.

Note: In order to use this feature, you must create a custom field in which to designate the amount and/or rate you wish to use. If you will be using both flat-amount allocations and rate-based allocations, you will need to create a field for each of these methods. To create these allocation amount/rate fields, you must use the VA Custom Fields Wizard, which steps you through the process of creating a custom (user-defined) field.

Assuming that you have set up an allocation for Small Tool Expenses, the following is an example of the options you might select when creating the user-defined fields for cost allocation amounts and/or rates:

 

If Allocation is to be an amount:

If Allocation is to be a rate:

Steps in Wizard

Select/Enter

Select/Enter

Form:

EMEquipment

EMEquipment

Name of Custom Field:

udSmTool

udSmTool

Type of Input:

1-Numeric

1-Numeric

Use Datatype:

bDollar

bPct or bRate

Control to Use

2-Textbox

2-Textbox

Form Label:

Small Tool Expense

Small Tool Expense

Grid Column Heading:
 (if including in Grid)

Small Tool Exp

Small Tool Exp