Define allocations in the Anaplan Financial Consolidation system for different purposes, such as distributing expenses based on department headcount. Allocations within Financial Consolidation are comprised of four parts: Source, Driver, Target, and Offset.

Allocations can be done on any dimension within your data model. For example, you can allocate based on the Entity dimension for one allocation, while another allocation can allocate based on a Product dimension.

You can define multiple allocations and use the target of one allocation to drive another allocation. This can be done by defining the Allocation order. 

The first step to setting up Allocations is to configure your Allocation rules.

Allocation best practices

When creating Allocations, consider having a specific Audit member for each allocation under the Allocations parent Audit. This makes it easier to break down the data when viewing it in a report.

Also, consider breaking the Allocation Dataview member into Allocation and Allocation_Offset (to store the offset amount) for better auditability. 

MemberTypeProcess TypeDetail Type
Audit


  ContributionContribution

    Statutory ReportingStatutory Reporting

      Management ReportingManagement Reporting

        Local ReportingLocal Reporting

          Manual JournalsManual Journals

          SourcesSources

        Corporate AdjustmentCorporate Adjustment

          AllocationsAllocationsManualTrue
            IT ExpensesIT ExpensesManualTrue
MemberTypeDetail Type
DataView

  No DataViewNo DataviewFalse
  All_ValuesAll_ValuesFalse
      ValueValueTrue
      ConversionConversionTrue
      ConsolidationConsolidationFalse
      CalculationCalculationFalse
      AllocationsAllocationsFalse
        AllocationAllocationFalse
        Allocation_OFFSETAllocation_OffsetFalse
      @Budget Rate@Budget RateFalse

Access the form

To access the form:

  1. Select the Maintain module.
  2. Select Consolidation if prompted for a Rule Set.
  3. Select Allocations in the Calculation section to open the form.
  4. A list of the current Allocation Rules is displayed.

Using the form

Allocation rule headers

The Allocation rule form opens with all the Allocation rule headers in view. 

These columns for the Allocation Rule headers are available:

ColumnValue
AllocationSpecify the name of your allocation and it must be under 100 characters in length.
ModelSpecify the name of the model that you want to run the allocation against. You can select from a list of all models for your tenant.
Allocation Order

Specify the order value. If you have many allocations in your system, the Allocation Order lets you select the order in which the allocations will run. 

The value for Allocation Order is an integer, where 1 represents the first allocation run.

It's important if you have an allocation where the source is based off of the result of a previous allocations target calculation.

Allocation Dimension

Specify which dimension in your system will be used as the basis for the allocation. 

For example, if you select Entities as your allocation dimension, the defined allocation will take the values from your defined source Entity and be able to spread it across a range of target Entities. 

Allocation Rule Details

When you select an Allocation Rule, the Details pane opens at the bottom of the screen displaying the details of the selected rule.  

These columns for the rule details are available:

ColumnValue
Source Target

Select one of these four options:

  • Source: The intersection that defines the source data to be used in the allocation.
  • Driver: The intersection that defines the driver to be used in the allocation. This defines the pattern to be applied to the source intersection to calculate the target value.
  • Target: The intersections that define the target of the allocation. This is the destination intersections where the calculated output of the allocation is submitted. 

    The target for the Allocation Dimension can have a one-to-many relationship with the source. This means that data from one source intersection can be spread to many data points in the target.
  • Offset (Optional): If defined, the Offset value is used to back out the source amount from the target of the allocation. This is used to avoid double-counting the source amount once the allocation has been performed. In general, the operator for the offset is set to Negative. Operators for Source, Driver, and Target are normally set to Positive.
OperatorSpecify the operator to be used in the Allocation. Allowable values are + and -.
IsPeriodic

It determines if the Allocation will use data from the YTD (Amount) or Periodic measure.

  • If set to True for either Source or Driver, the Allocation uses data from the periodic measure instead of the YTD (amount) measure. 
  • If set to True for the Offset or Target,  Data is stored in the Periodic Measure instead of the YTD (amount) measure. 

    Data should only be stored in the Periodic measure if the Scenario that is being allocated on is a periodic scenario, that is, Input_Periodic = TRUE.
  • If set to False or blank for Source, Target, Offset, or Driver, the YTD (Amount) measure is used.
<All Dimensions>Select members from all applicable dimensions for Source, Driver, Target, and Offset.