What are allocations?
The word "allocations" can mean different things to different people in different contexts. In MUMMS allocations means the assignment of a category of charges to some entity or group of entities for payment of those charges. Some examples include:
- All of user Jane Doe's charges for Fab processing are allocated to the supervisor John Smith.
- Peter Wilson's charges for Fab Processing are allocated to two different supervisors, John Smith and Lucy Wu.
- Jane Doe's compute charges under supervisor John Smith are allocated to two different cost objects, 50% to 1234567 and 50% to 7654321.
Note that, as in the first case above, an allocation does not have to mean charges are split, charging to one entity (in this case the supervisor John Smith) is still considered an allocation.
Allocations for Use-Based and Fixed-Rate Charges
There are two different types of charges for services, use-based charges and fixed-rate charges.
Type | Description |
|---|---|
Use-Based | These are charges for services that are incurred when they are used, like the use of Fab processing equipment. For example, if a user uses a piece of equipment in the Fab, they will be charged for that specific activity, based on the time spent using that equipment and/or the materials used for the activity. |
Fixed-Rate | These are charges for services that cost a specific amount for each billing period (each month). For example, a user may be charged $10 each month for an access card. |
Because of the different nature of these charges, you will see differences when working with allocations for these charges:
- Splitting of Charges: When you specify more than one cost object for payment of fixed-rate charges, you must provide percentages for each of those cost objects, so that the total adds up to 100% and charges are fully covered. However, for use-based charges, you do not provide percentages. Instead, the user is presented with a list of cost objects (accounts) from which to choose when engaging a machine in Coral. It is up to the user to select the correct cost object.
- Allocation Dates: Since fixed-rate charges are applied to the entire month, allocations for these charges must extend from the beginning of a billing period (the first day of the month) to the end of a billing period (the last day of the month). So, for example, charges for compute services for user Jane Doe could be allocated to cost object 1234567 from June 1 - September 30, but not June 3 - September 6. This restriction does not apply to use based charges.
- Retroactive Changes: Since fixed rate charges are billed at the end of the month, changes to allocations for those charges can be made any time up to the end of the month and will be reflected in that months billing. However, for use based charges, those charges are assigned to a cost object at the time they are incurred, so allocations can only be changed for the current day forward.*
*If you really want the details: when you modify cost object allocations, you can add and remove multiple allocations at once. So if you had allocations for Fab processing to cost objects A and B and you removed both of those and added cost objects C and D, MUMMS would not know what to do with the existing activities that had been charged to cost objects A and B (whether they should be applied to cost object C or D or some combination of the two). There is, however, a separate function in MUMMS that will allow a one-to-one replacement of a cost object retroactive to the beginning of the current billing period see the Replacing a Cost Object page for details.