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Cost Centers

This guide gives the information about Cost Centers and how these cost centers are useful for different departments.

You can divide incurred expenses for a matter among different cost centers, or organizational departments. They divide based on the cost center's percentage of financial responsibility and create a transaction history for detailed reporting and analysis.

Cost centers must first be installed on the appropriate matters using Module Setup Tool before they can be used.

The following flowchart illustrates how cost centers update.

Viewing Cost Centers

The Cost Centers list page lets you view a list of the cost centers that you created and those that you have the rights to view.

To view cost centers

  1. Click the Finance tab.
  2. Click the Cost Centers link under the tab bar.
    The list view opens. The list view includes a list of all cost centers that you have the rights to view.
    Cost Center collections appear in the left pane.
    For information about the areas in the list view, see Viewing Matter Records for more information.

No Cost Centers Visible in the List View?

The first time that you access cost centers, it may appear that there are none available in the list view. This is because the list view defaults to the Recently Viewed collection. Select the All Cost Centers collection link in the left if you know that there are cost centers available. The next time that you access matters, the list view defaults to the last collection that you opened.

Opening Cost Centers Records

To open a cost center record, click its link in the list view. The cost center opens to its General page and its additional pages appear in the left pane.

Creating a Cost Center

Create or edit individual cost centers to track expenditures for a matter. You must create cost centers before you can associate them with a matter.

To create a cost center

  1. Click the Finance tab.
  2. Click the Cost Centers link under the tab bar.
  3. Click New.
    The General page opens.
  4. In the Number field, enter the title that applies to this cost center. This is a required field.
  5. In the General Ledger Code field, enter the reference code for the cost center from the general ledger.
  6. Select a save option.
    The new cost center is added to the list of cost centers that you can select when you are working with the appropriate matters.

    Creating A New Cost Center

Mapping a Cost Center to a Matter

Use the Cost Center page for a matter to manage the expenses that are allocated to specific cost centers.

Before you can map a cost center to a matter, you must first initialize the cost center mapping. This action only needs to be performed once per matter record.

To initialize a cost center mapping

  1. Search for the appropriate matter record and open it.
  2. In the left pane, click the Cost Centers link.
  3. Click Initialize Cost Center Mapping.
    This link will only appear if there are no cost centers currently associated with the matter. See Editing Cost Center Allocations for more information on editing existing cost center allocations.

Any number of cost centers can be applied to a matter. Enter a percentage of responsibility for each cost center until the sum of the applied cost centers equals one hundred percent.

To map a cost center to a matter

  1. Search for the appropriate matter record and open it.
  2. In the left pane, click the Cost Centers link.
  3. Click Edit Cost Center Mapping.
  4. Click the Edit button.
  5. Enter a value in the Cost Center Mapping ID field. This is a required field.
  6. In the Cost Center field, click the Search Projects icon to locate and select a cost center. This is a required field.
    You are returned to the Cost Center page and the selected cost center is added to the Cost Center field.
  7. In the Percent Allocated field, enter the percentage of the costs that you want to allocate to the selected cost center. This is a required field.
  8. Click Add.
    The cost center information is saved.
  9. If you want to allocate additional costs to additional cost centers for this matter, repeat steps 6 through 8.
    Important: When you finish adding cost centers, the combined percents allocated must equal 100% or you will not be able to save this record. If you are allocating costs to only one cost center, its percent allocated must be 100%.
  10. Select a save option.

Viewing Cost Centers Transaction History

When an invoice, expense or task is posted, a transaction history is created for each cost center based on the percentage applied to the cost center within the matter.

When an invoice, expense, or task is voided, an amount based on the percentage applied within the matter is subtracted from the applicable cost center.

To view the cost center transaction history

  1. Search for a cost center and open it.
  2. In the left pane, click the Transactions link.
    The transaction history for the selected cost center opens.

Deactivating or Re-activating a Cost Center

Use the Change Phase button to deactivate or reactivate a cost center. By default, a cost center is active when it is created.

To deactivate to reactivate a cost center

  1. Search for a cost center and open it.
  2. Click Change Phase, and then, based on the current status of the cost center, select one of the following options:
    • Deactivate if the cost center is currently activated and you want to make it unavailable.
    • Re-Activate if the cost center is currently deactivated and you want to make it available again.
  3. Click Yes to confirm the change.
  4. Select a save option.

Editing Cost Center Allocations (Invoice-Level)

These settings can be adjusted by an administrator for TC Financial Management 4.0.3 and later.

Users can define cost center allocations on an invoice-by-invoice level if enabled by their system administrator (Enabling Invoice-Level Cost Center Allocations).

Invoices for a given matter will all revert to the matter-level cost center allocations if not otherwise specified. See Editing Cost Center Allocations (Matter-Level) for adjusting matter-level cost center allocations.

Editing Cost Center Allocations on Invoices

  1. Create a new invoice with line items. Save and view upon completion.
  2. Select the Cost Centers tab on the sidebar of the invoice after completing the invoice.
  3. Select the Initialize Cost Center Mapping link above the cost centers.
  4. After clicking this link, it is replaced by Edit Cost Center Mapping. Click this link to edit at invoice level.
    Note: The "Allocations shown are not committed" message will be present until the invoice is posted and therefore finalized.
  5. Click Edit in the Cost Centers section.
  6. Click the Edit action on the desired cost center row to change the allocation.
  7. Save the record.
  8. Click Post to finalize.

Changing the matter-level allocations will not retroactively reflect any posted invoices. Changes to matter-level allocations will only affect future invoices. Any changes at the invoice level will not affect matter-level allocation settings.

Editing Cost Center Allocations (Matter-Level)

You can edit the cost center allocations for the invoices of a matter from the Cost Centers page of the matter. Depending on your budget settings, you can also edit cost center allocations for an individual invoice.

Note: Only your system administrator can enable the setting for editing cost center allocations on invoices.

If you change the cost center allocations of a matter after an invoice associated with the matter is submitted, the cost centers of the invoice do not change. The invoice retains the cost center allocation on the submission date.

To edit cost center allocations

  1. Open the matter or invoice.
  2. In the left pane, click the Cost Centers link.
  3. Click Edit Cost Center Mapping.
  4. Click Edit.
  5. In the Action column, click the Edit icon of the cost center that you want to edit.
    The selected cost center information appears in the *Cost Center and *Percent Allocated fields.
  6. Make the appropriate changes in the Cost Center and Percent Allocated fields.


Transaction Cost Center Section

Important: When you finish editing cost centers, the combined percents allocated must equal 100% or you will not be able to save this record. If you are allocating costs to only one cost center, its percent allocated must be 100%.

  1. Select a save option.
    Note: The Amount Charged field above will be calculated based on the set percent allocation multiplied by the total number of invoices levied against that matter. In the above example, a total of $100.00 in invoices have been posted, resulting in a $50.00 Amount Charged field for Cost Center 1. 
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