2.6.1.� Maintain Item Costs

For visibility into Costs associated with Items—and to perform routine Cost maintenance—select the "Maintain Item Costs" option. The following screen will appear:

Maintain Item Costs

When maintaining Item Costs, you are presented with the following options:

Item Number: Enter the Item Number of the Item whose Costs you want to maintain.
UOM: Inventory Unit of Measure.
Costing Elements: Display lists Item Costs for the specified Item using various categories—or Costing Elements—to distinguish one type of Cost from another.

To the far right of the screen, the following buttons are available:

CLOSE: Closes the screen, returning you to the application desktop.
NEW COST: Opens screen for creating a new Item Cost, as shown below.
EDIT COST: Enables you to edit highlighted Costing Elements. The edit screen is the same as that for creating a new Item Cost—except that when editing, the fields will contain Costing Element information. Double-clicking on a Costing Element will also bring you to the editing screen.
DELETE COST: Highlight an Item Cost and then select this button to remove the Cost from the list.

Right-clicking on an Item Cost in the Costing Elements list enables you to select from the following menu options. If the Costing Element does not contain lower level Costs, you will not be given the option to view Costing detail.

View Costing Detail: Select to view detailed Costing information for the specified Item.
Update Actual Cost: Select to update the specified Actual Cost.
Post Actual Cost to Standard: Select to post the specified Actual Cost to Standard Cost.
Edit Actual Cost: Select to edit the specified Actual Cost.
Create User Cost: Select to create a user-defined Costing Element.
Export Contents: Export the data displayed on the screen into a plain-text, TAB-delimited file. This file may subsequently be imported into a spreadsheet or other office tool.

To create a new Item Cost, select the NEW COST button. The following screen will appear:

Create New Item Cost

When creating a new Item Cost, you are presented with the following options:

Item Number: The Item Number specified on the referring screen will display here.
UOM: Inventory Unit of Measure.

Note

Manufactured Items have no this level material Costs. Material Costs for manufactured Items are absorbed by lower level component Items. The following system-defined Costing Elements are available for manufactured Items:

Direct Labor

Machine Overhead

Overhead

For purchased Items, the following system-defined Costing Elements is available:

Material

If you require additional Elements to describe Costs associated with manufactured or purchased Items, you may create user-defined Costing Elements.

Costing Element: Select a Costing Element to associate with the specified Item. The list of Elements will include all system-defined Costing Elements, as well as any user-defined Costing Elements that may have been added.

Tip

Use the right-click menu from the Maintain Item Costs screen to post Actual Cost to Standard Cost.

Actual Cost

Enter the amount of the Actual Cost you want to associate with the specified Costing Element. Actual Costs are the real-time Costs associated with an Item, including current material and production charges. The Actual Cost of an Item may fluctuate given changes in the Cost for materials, or other Costs related to changes in Bills of Materials or Bills of Operations. The Actual Cost provides a current record of charges actually incurred by an Item.

Post Cost to Standard

Select to post the Actual Cost for the specified Costing Element to its Standard Cost.

This option brings the Actual Cost and the Standard Cost for the Costing Element into alignment with each other. Standard Cost is the Cost used for posting General Ledger transactions. Standard Cost is distinguished from Actual Cost in the sense that Standard Cost is fixed, whereas Actual Cost is subject to fluctuations arising from material or production changes. The two Costs may diverge. However, they can be brought back into alignment by posting Actual Cost to Standard.

To the far right of the screen, the following buttons are available:

CANCEL: Closes the screen without creating a new Item Cost, returning you to the previous screen.
SAVE: Adds the Item Cost to the list of Costs for the specified Item.