Entering Activity-Based Costs

The system detects and logs most activity codes. However, you can manually log activities and assign them to a specific customer, as needed. For example, if you made a visit to a customer's site, you can charge the expenses associated with that visit to the customer's activity-based costs. You can also log time spent making sales or collection calls to a customer.

Use the ABC Log Entry window to enter miscellaneous activity-based costs for a customer.

Note: The ABC Cost Calculation program does not include costs associated with a manual log entry assigned to a customer.

To enter activity-based cost information:

From the Events > Activity-Based Costing menu, select ABC Log Entry to display the ABC Log Entry window.

You can also display this window by pressing Shift-F6 from any window.

In the ABC Code field, enter the activity to which to apply the cost.

The system populates the ABC Type field with the associated type.

In the Branch field, enter the number that identifies the branch associated with this activity.

The system populates the Entry Date, Time, Mode, and User ID fields.

In the Entity field, enter the name of the customer or vendor, or the code that identifies the branch entity for which to enter an activity-based cost.
In the Order #/Invoice # field, enter the sales, purchase, or transfer transaction number associated with this activity, if applicable.
In the Cost field, enter the cost for the activity, if known. If left blank, the system calculates the cost by multiplying the estimated cost associated with the ABC code by the weight factor.
To exclude this log entry when the ABC cost calculation program is run, select the Exclude check box; otherwise, leave it empty:

If you exclude a code from the cost calculation, the system applies the costs associated with that code only to the customer who incurred the cost. For example, if you exclude a manual ABC log entry for a customer using an activity code called Outside Sales Calls and a cost of $1000, then the system applies the $1000 to the customer. The system does not add the cost to the pool in the cost calculation program, and so the cost is not spread across all customers.

To add more details to the log entry, in the Comment field, enter the information.
Save the information and exit the window to log the entry.

More Options for Entering Activity-Based Costs

The ABC Log Entry window also offers these options:

To...	Select this menu option...
delete the log entry	File > Delete A confirmation message displays. Click Yes.
view or edit data related to the events that triggered the activity-based cost	File > ABC Log View The ABC Log Viewing/Download screen displays.
view additional information about the customer or order	Edit > View Item A selection list displays. Select an option to display the requested screen in view-only mode.
edit information about the customer or order	Edit > Edit Item A selection list displays. Select an option to display the requested screen.