Cost Centers

A cost center is a question the system asks when someone takes an item — for example "Which machine is this for?" or "What job number?". The answer gets attached to the transaction, so later you can see exactly where your tooling and supplies money went. Without cost centers you know that $400 of inserts left the cabinet; with them you know it all went to one mill on one job.

You manage these questions on the Cost Centers page (sidebar, under Cost Centers → Manage — the section only appears if your user group has the Cost Centers permission). Each row is one question, called a header. Click the plus button to add one. The form asks for:

• Name — your internal identifier, like Machine, Job, Department, or an accounting number.
• Label — what the person taking the item actually sees, like "Machine Number".
• Input Type — how they answer. Dropdown types pick from a list of values you define (Mill01, Lathe01, and so on — see Values: the answers people can pick); other types let them type an answer.
• Use Type — where the question is asked (Issuing, Receiving, etc.).
• Sequence — the order questions appear during issuing.
• Required and Active switches — Required means the transaction cannot finish without an answer; turning Active off hides the question from the app without deleting any history.

Use the Active / Archived buttons at the top to switch between current and retired headers. The Archive button retires a header; headers marked with a lock and a System badge (like Part Number, which is synced automatically with your Finished Goods catalog) cannot be archived.

If a cost center uses a dropdown input type, you decide what appears in that dropdown. These entries are called values (the system also calls them details). For a "Machine Number" header the values might be Mill01, Lathe01, Saw02 — one per machine on your floor.

To manage them, open Cost Centers and click the list button on a header (or Manage Details from its edit page). Click Add Value and fill in:

• Code — a short ID up to 15 characters, like Mill01. This is what gets stamped on transactions, so keep it short and consistent.
• Description — friendlier display text up to 50 characters, like "Haas Mill #1".
• Item Limitation — a flag shown in the values table so you can mark entries whose use is restricted to particular items.
• Active — uncheck to hide the value from the dropdown without losing the history attached to it.

The Active / Archived buttons at the top filter the table, and the Archive button on a row retires a value. To bring an archived value back, click Edit and re-check Active — nothing is ever truly deleted, which keeps old transactions readable.

Why bother keeping this list tidy? Every value is a choice someone makes while standing at a cabinet. A short, current list means accurate answers; a long stale one means people pick the first thing and your Analyzing spend by cost center numbers stop meaning anything.

The Cost Center Analysis page answers the question every cost center exists for: where is the money going? It looks at every tagged transaction and lets you slice the spend any way you like.

Filtering

In the Filters card, pick one or more Cost Centers (headers) and, optionally, specific Values / Details — for example just the "Machine Number" header, or only Mill01. Hold Ctrl to select several; leave a box empty to include everything. Set a Start Date and End Date or use the Last 7 Days / Last 30 Days / Last 90 Days quick buttons, then click Apply Filters. Clear Filters resets the page.

What you see

• Three totals at the top: 5-Day, 30-Day, and All-Time Total Cost for whatever you filtered.
• A Cost Trend line chart showing cost per day across your date range — spikes are easy to spot and investigate.
• Recent Transactions — up to the 100 most recent matches, each with its date, a type badge (ISSUE, RETURN, or STOCK), product, location, quantity, cost, and the cost center answers recorded on it.
• A Cost Center Summary of how many values each header has, plus Selected Range Stats: total cost in range, transaction count, and average cost per transaction.

For exports or recurring breakdowns beyond this page, the Report Builder also has Cost Center Headers, Cost Center Details, and Transaction Cost Centers data available — see Building a custom report.

If a tool list is always for the same job or machine, you can answer the cost center questions once, on the list itself, instead of making the worker answer them at the cabinet for every single item.

When building or editing a tool list, expand the Cost Centers section (it is marked Auto-applied when items are issued). Every active cost center appears there: dropdown ones offer the same value list workers would normally see, and text ones give you a box to type in. Fill in whichever apply — a setup kit for the Haas mill might get Machine Number = Mill01 — and leave the rest blank. The Clear All Cost Centers button wipes the section if you change your mind.

From then on, whenever items from this tool list are issued, those answers are applied to the transactions automatically and the person issuing does not need to select them. The spend still shows up in Analyzing spend by cost center exactly as if it had been entered by hand — just faster and with no chance of a typo at the cabinet.

This is worth doing for any list tied to a recurring job: it keeps your cost data complete even on the busiest shifts, when skipping questions is most tempting. For the basics of building lists themselves, see Tool lists: pre-built picking lists.