Creating Analysis Cost Groups

For the Equipment Manager to collect costs against a piece of equipment, you must set up analysis groups appropriate to your business. Analysis groups provide the links whereby transaction costs and revenue are related to equipment, rental agreements, and maintenance work orders.
You must create and link at least one analysis group. This will enable the application to generate analysis codes for each piece of equipment. 

Setup involves creating analysis group IDs and linking them to the accounts you will be using in Equipment Management. Once an account is linked to an analysis group, you create cost codes and cost groups that will link system-defined cost and revenue categories to the accounts. This allows you to track revenue and costs related to equipment, rental agreements, and maintenance work orders on the financial tabs of the Equipment Manager window.

Step 1: Create Analysis Groups

1. Select Cards > Financial > Analysis Groups.

2. Enter an Analysis Group ID. The three groups you set up previously will appear in the list. You must set up at least one analysis group. In addition to the analysis group for equipment, you should set up a group for rental agreements if you are using the Rental module and one for work orders if you are using the Maintenance module. Do not include the analysis code ID and description. These will be system-generated when equipment records are created in the Equipment Manager or when rental agreements are created.

3. Select Save.

Step 2: Link Accounts to Analysis Groups

Use the Account Analysis Defaults window to assign analysis groups to accounts you want to track detailed analysis information for. Every account to be analyzed must be linked to an analysis group. If an account is set up as required for analysis, every transaction booked to the account must be allocated to a piece of equipment. Transactions not related to equipment cannot be booked to this account. For example, if the account used for revenue for equipment sales is enabled for account analysis, it cannot be used for revenue from sales that is not equipment-related.

1. Select Cards > Financial > Analysis Defaults.
2. Complete the following fields:
   • Account
     Enter an account number.
   • Analysis Group ID
     Select an analysis group. To ensure that the alternate Equipment Management window displays for account analysis allocation when you select the Account Analysis button from a transaction entry or inquiry window, one of the analysis groups must be the group for equipment. You may select an additional group if the account is relevant to rental or maintenance revenue/expenses. One account would not be relevant to both.
   • Quantities
     If you need to include quantities in account analysis, mark this checkbox. Generally, quantity is not relevant to equipment and rental analysis. You should include quantity (labor hours) for maintenance analysis.
   • Decimal Places
     Select the required number of decimal places from the drop-down.

   • Analysis Type
     Specify whether entering amounts against the analysis codes in this group during transaction entry is optional or required, and, if required, whether the amounts can be changed. The available analysis types are Optional, Required, Fixed, or None. Choosing Required is recommended to ensure that values relevant to the Profitability Analysis module are recorded appropriately. Analysis types of Fixed and None are not specifically relevant to Equipment Management; however, you may use None to prevent equipment posting from being directed to a specific account. Every Equipment Management account must be set up for account analysis. This likely includes asset accounts for the cost of assets, depreciation, and loss or gain from sales.

3. Do not complete the bottom portion of the window.
4. Select Save.

Step 3: Create Cost Codes

Cost codes are optional and are useful in the Maintenance module only. They allow the further breakdown of revenue or costs booked to an account.

1. Select Microsoft Dynamics GP > Tools > Setup > Equipment > Profitability > Cost Codes.
2. Enter a Cost Code and a Description.
3. Select Income, Labor, or Costs from the Cost Code Type drop-down list.
4. Select Save.

Step 4: Create Cost Groups

Cost groups provide a way of organizing accounts so revenue and costs can be classified for reporting purposes. You should plan this structure carefully to best meet the needs of your organization.
A cost group is made up of cost categories, accounts, and cost codes. Each cost group is made up of several cost categories. Each cost category is linked to several accounts. Each account may have several cost codes.

1. Select Microsoft Dynamics GP > Tools > Setup > Equipment > Profitability > Profitability Maintenance
2. Complete the following fields:
   • Cost Group
     Enter a Cost Group.
   • Cost Group Type
     Select a Cost Group Type from the drop-down. You should set up at least one cost group for each of the cost group types relevant to the modules you are using. You can only set up one cost group for each type. The cost group type determines which financial tab the cost categories appear on. Rental Income and Rental Expenses appear on the Rental Financial tab. Sales Income and Sales Expenses appear on the Sales Financial tab. Work Order Expenses appear on the Work Order Costs tab. Total Income and Total Expenses appear on the Total Financial tab. Work Order Income and Miscellaneous cost group types will appear on tabs in future releases.

   • Cost Category
     Enter cost categories. These are the labels that will appear on the financial tabs of the Equipment Manager. You can use the buttons to the right of the category descriptions to change the order in which the cost categories appear. The order here will determine the order in which the cost categories appear on the financial tabs of the Equipment Manager. Cost category names must be unique across the system. You cannot use the same cost category name for two different cost groups. Category descriptions can be the same.

   • Category Description
     Enter a description of the cost category.
   • Account Number
     With the cost category selected, use the lookup to select one or more accounts for the cost category. An account cannot appear twice within a cost group because this would lead to duplicate posted values.
   • Account Description
     The account description for the account number will display.
   • Cost Code
     For each account number, select one or more cost codes. Indicate the default cost code.
3. Select Save. You will be prompted to run a reconcile procedure.