Cost categories (form)

Article
05/05/2014

Applies To: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Feature Pack, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

Click Production control > Setup > Routes > Cost categories.

Use this form to define cost categories that specify costs that are related to operations resources and routing operations. Each cost category has an assigned cost group for supporting cost segmentation in the calculated costs of manufactured items. Different cost categories are used for handling different costs and cost groups. For example, different hourly rates for different labor skills or machines, or for differences between setup and process steps. The cost categories and the costs that are associated with a routing operation will be used by BOM calculations. These will also be used by the route card or job card journals when reporting time against a production order.

Certain types of production labor hours may apply to project time estimates and reporting. This requires that a cost category is also used for project purposes. A cost category used in projects can have project-specific costs and sales prices. When you select the field use in projects, the form displays additional tabs and buttons about project-related information. A cost category that is only used for project purposes should be maintained in the Project categories form.

Note

Cost accounting also contains a Project categories form, but this form has no relationship to cost categories for routing operations.

Tasks that use this form

Operation relation (form)

Route (form)

Production route (form)

Example

A manufacturing company used three types of machines with different cost structures and two types of labor skill sets with different labor rates. The company defined one cost group labeled machines and assigned it to three cost categories that were defined for the three types of machines. Each of these three cost categories had a different hourly cost that represented the average costs for running the machine. The company defined another cost group labeled labor and assigned it to two cost categories that were defined for the two types of labor skills. Each of these two cost categories had a different hourly cost that represented the average hourly pay rate. The cost categories were assigned to the routing operations that were performed at the machine operations resources and the labor operations resources.

Navigating the form

The following tables provide descriptions for the controls in this form.

Tabs

Tab	Description
Overview	View and maintain cost category information.
General	View and maintain information for a selected cost category.
Ledger - resources	Assign the ledger accounts that are related to operations resources for the selected cost category.

Buttons

Button	Description
Transactions	View the project-related hour transactions for the selected cost category. Other types of transactions do not apply.
Setup	Open the following submenu items: Workers – Maintain a list of employees who are authorized to use the cost category. Projects – Maintain a list of projects that are available for the selected category. Note The list is part of the validation system. You can set up validation groups in the Setup > Validation section. Cost price - hour – Set up hourly costs for the selected category. Sales price - hour - Set up hourly sales prices for the selected category. Line property setup – Set up a line property for the category. Ledger posting – Set up ledger posting by category. Note The list of records in this form offers a quick overview of the posting profile of one specific category.
Validation	Set up validation assignment rules for workers and projects to control access limitations.
Function	The functions do not apply to a category for project hours; therefore, the submenu items are unavailable.
Inquiry	View committed costs for the selected category.
Forecast	Open submenu items to copy or delete a budget or to transfer a budget to ledger.
Project control	Open submenu items to view project-related information for the selected category.
Price	Define and enable pending costs for the selected cost category (for routing operation purposes).

Fields

Field	Description
Category ID	Unique identifier for the cost category.
Category name	Description of the cost category.
Use in Project	Select whether the cost category will be used in projects, which will require entry of additional project-specific information.
Cost price	Display the current active cost for the cost category. Use the Price form to enter and activate a pending cost.
Cost group	Show the cost group that is assigned to the cost category.
Worker	Select whether the worker identifier must be reported in the hours journal for projects.
WIP account	Optionally assign the receipt account for operations resource consumption if production is to be posted as Item + Category.
WIP issue	Optionally assign the issue account for operations resource consumption if production is to be settled by applying Item + Category.
Resource issues	Optionally assign the ledger account for posting operations resource issues when you end a production order. This applies when the production is posted as Item + Category.
Resource issues, offset account	Optionally assign the offset account for posting operations resource issues when you end a production order. This applies when the production is posted as Item + Category.