Cost Centers, Internal Orders or Assignment Fields. Which one is just right?

With so many choices, choosing the right way to track and report your transactions can have you feeling a little like Goldilocks. But the right choice ultimately depends on your reporting needs.

Cost Centers allow you to report on planned spending and compare it to actual revenue and expense postings for a specific department, program or project at the general ledger level of detail.

An Internal Order is similar to a Cost Center but is non-fiscal year based (any start or end date, annual or “life to date”).

This is ideal for long term projects lasting beyond a fiscal year, or short term projects.

The Assignment field is a reporting tool used to organize all postings to Cost Centers or Internal Orders by a case and space sensitive Assignment (a.k.a., Allocation), regardless of the general ledger.

Each of these is an alternative way to group similar transactions, and each has their own pros and cons.

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Learn More:

• Training Documentation: FIS Overview (slide 22 – 27)
• Training Documentation: Basic Controlling Reporting
• Reference Guide: Cost Center Without and With Internal Order – Plans & Actuals
• Reference Guide: Uploading CC and IO Plans to FIS

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Last Updated:  December 12, 2017