By: Subrahmanyam

Activity Types

• The activity type classifies the specific activities that are provided by one or more cost centers within a company.
• If a cost center provides activities for other cost centers, orders, processes, and so on, then this means that its resources are being used. The costs of these resources need to be allocated to the receivers of the activity. Activity types serve as tracing factors for this cost allocation.
• In an internal activity allocation, the quantity of the activity, such as the number of repair hours, is entered into the R/3 System. The system calculates the associated cost based on the activity price and generates a debit to the receiver and a credit to the sender for both the quantity and costs. Internal activity is allocated using secondary cost elements , which are stored in the master data of the activity types as default values.
• You can restrict the use of the activity type to certain types of cost centers by entering the allowed cost center categories in the activity type master record. You can enter up to eight allowed cost center categories, or leave the assignments "unrestricted" by entering an asterisk (*).
• The activity type category is used to determine whether, and how and activity type is entered and allocated. For example, you can allow some activities to be allocated directly, but specify for others that they are either not allocated, or allocated indirectly only.

For direct activity allocation, you enter the quantity of the activity to be allocated manually. To enable both costs and activity to be allocated, the R/3 System has to valuate the activity quantity allocated at the price specified by the sender for this activity type. For a direct activity allocation, the plan price for the combination "cost center/activity type" is used for this calculation.

You can enter the planned price either manually, or have it calculated by the system automatically within planning. If you want to set the price manually, you need to set the price indicator to 3 (manual). You can use this procedure if your price calculation is not complex, for example where the prices required for your rates are determined within your organization and do not depend on internally produced activities, or where the rate depends on the prices of external suppliers and not on the costs of the cost center. Automatic calculation of plan prices is covered in course AC412.

Statistical Key Figures

• Statistical key figures such as number of employees or length of phone calls, are statistical values that describe cost centers, profit centers, and overhead orders. They can also describe a value for a particular activity provided by a cost center, such as the number of employees who make repairs at the transport cost center (an activity-dependent statistical key figure).
• You can post both plan and actual statistical key figures.
• You can use statistical key figures as the tracing factor for periodic transactions such as distribution or assessment, and for key figure analysis.
• You define statistical key figures as a fixed value or as a totals value:
• The fixed value (such as "employees") is carried over from the period in which it is entered to all subsequent periods of the same fiscal year. You need enter a new posting only if the value changes. The fiscal year total is the average of the period totals.
• You post the totals value (for example "telephone calls") only to the period in which it was entered. For totals values, the fiscal year total is the total of all period values.
• You can transfer statistical key figures from the Logistical Information System (LIS) by assigning a key figure from the LIS to a statistical key figure in Cost Center Accounting.

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