Contents

Adding Spread Methods

Editing Spread Methods

Deleting Spread Methods

In Planning Maestro, Spread Methods are patterns for spreading amounts over certain time periods. For example, a Quarterly Start Spread Method spreads an amount evenly over the beginning of four quarters: $12,000 is divided into $3,000 at the beginning of each quarter.

Planning Maestro includes some default Spread Methods. You can also add new Spread Methods. After you create a Spread Method, you can use that Spread Method in line items in Operating Expenses, Revenue, Personnel, Drivers, and Adjustments.

Example: Your company receives grants for research. Several grants pay 50% of the amount at the beginning of your fiscal year, and then the other 50% at the end of the second quarter. You can create a Spread Method that spreads amounts according to this pattern and reuse it for every grant your company is awarded this way.

This document shows you, a Planning Maestro user, how to add, edit, and delete Spread Methods in Planning Maestro.

Please Note: Planning Maestro enables you to use a fiscal calendar with 12 periods or 13 periods. You can create Spread Methods that spread amounts over whichever type of fiscal calendar you use.

If you use a 13-period fiscal calendar and want to create a Spread Method that spreads amounts over quarters, see the Adding Quarterly Spread Methods with 13 Periods section of this document.

Locating Spread Methods

To manage Spread Methods, open the Automation module and select Spread Methods.

The Spread Methods page opens. Review the default Spread Methods provided for you.

• Even – Assigns 1/12 of the amount to each period.

Example: $12,000 is separated into $1,000/month if your fiscal calendar has 12 periods or $923/month if your fiscal calendar has 13 periods.

• Period Amount – Assigns an amount to each period.

Example: $100 is assigned as $100/month.

• Quarter End – Assigns ¼ of the amount to the last period of each quarter.

Example: $12,000 is divided by 4. The last month of every quarter is assigned $3,000.

• Quarter Start – Assigns ¼ of the amount to the first period of each quarter.

Example: $12,000 is divided by 4. The first month of every quarter is assigned $3,000.

• Year End – Assigns an entire amount to the last period of the fiscal year.
• Year Start – Assigns an entire amount to the first period of the fiscal year.

Adding Spread Methods

Step 1: To add a new Spread Method, on the Spread Methods page, click + New Spread Method.

Step 2: A New Spread Method panel opens on the right. This new method starts with a default spread you can adjust as needed. Enter the following information in the fields provided.

New Spread Method fields:

Name – Enter a clear name for this Spread Method that you and other users can easily recognize and remember.

Description (optional) – Enter a description or purpose for this Spread Method.

Spread Hierarchy – This field displays the Time Dimension or calendar view for this Plan. Leave this field as it is.

Spread Over – Click on this dropdown menu and select one of the following options to set the time period in which this amount is spread:

• Year – Select this option to spread the amount over the 12 periods of the year.

Please Note: The number of periods available for this spread are set by the Time Dimension in this Plan. Some companies use 12-period years; others use 13-period years.

• Quarter of Year – Select this option to spread the amount within a quarter.

Please Note: If you select this option and your company uses a 13-period fiscal calendar, see the following section for more specific instructions.

• Period of Year – Select this option to spread the amount over a single period (month).

Spread Over Length – Enter the number of years, quarters, or months to spread this amount over, depending on the Spread Over length you chose above.

Example: If you chose to spread the amount over Quarter of Year, enter 3 to spread the amount over 3 quarters.

Spread By – Click on this dropdown menu and select one of the following options:

• Year – Select this option to spread the amount evenly over a year.
• Quarter of year – Select this option to spread the amount evenly over a quarter.
• Period of year – Select this option to spread the amount evenly over a period.

Please Note: The Spread By method you can choose is limited by the Spread Over option you chose above. For example, if you chose to Spread Over one period, you can only select Period as the Spread By method.

Start Type – Click on this dropdown menu and select one of the following options:

• Data Projection – Select this option to start this spread in the month of the related Data Projection (the line item you’re spreading using this method) starts.
• Hierarchy – Select this option to start this spread in Period 1 of the fiscal year for this Plan (not the calendar year – for example, if your Plan’s Time Dimension has the fiscal year start in July, this Spread Method begins the spread in July).

Prorate – To prorate the amount for the line item with this Spread Method (to adjust the amount assigned to the starting or ending period for this line item just to the part of the period the line item covers) click this toggle switch to turn it to the ON position.

To give the line item the full period amount even if it begins or ends in the middle of a period, leave this toggle in the OFF position.

Example: If a line item beginning on November 15 uses a Spread Method that assigns $100/month, and the Spread Method is prorated, the line item receives $50 for the month of November.

Spread Type – Click on this dropdown menu and select one of the following options:

• Even – Select this option to spread the amount evenly over the Spread Hierarchy, Spread Over Length, Spread By, and Start Type methods you chose above.
• Custom – Select this option to set up a custom Spread and spread an amount unevenly.

Example: Select this option to assign 30% of a cost to Quarter 1, 20% to Quarter 2, 20% to Quarter 3, and 30% to Quarter 4.

Choose whether to use Weights for this Spread Method. Weights are the visual display of how much of the amount is assigned to a quarter, period, or year. Planning Maestro calculates the percentage based on these Weights.

To use Weights, leave the toggle switch in the ON position.

The table displays a Weight column.

To stop using Weights, click on the toggle switch to turn it to the OFF position.

• The Weight column disappears from the table.
• You can assign percentages directly to each period.

Use the table to assign a Weight or Percent to each year, quarter, or period (depending on how you designed the Spread Method using the options above).

Weight (if you left the Use Weights toggle switch ON) – The actual number you enter in this field does not matter; only the comparative values of the amounts matter.

Example: If you are using weights, you could assign Period 6 and Period 12 half of the amount each by enter the weights 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1.

or

Percent (if you turned the Use Weights toggle switch OFF) – Enter the percentage of the amount to assign to each year, quarter, or period (again, depending on how you designed the Spread Method).

Using Weights to Represent Hours

You can also use Weights to set up custom Spread Methods for Hourly Related Expenses (HREs) or other line items that represent a number of hours.

Example: You could create a Holiday Spread Method for line items representing paid time off for holidays or a higher pay per hour for working on holidays. To create this Spread Method, you could enter the number of holiday hours for each period into the Weight column.

Depending on your company’s holiday policy, January could have 8 hours for New Year’s Day, February could have 8 hours for President’s Day, March might have no holidays, and so on.

Step 5: When you finish setting up the Spread Method, click Save & Exit.

Adding Quarterly Spread Methods with 13 Periods

If you are setting up a Spread Method spread over a Quarter of the year, and your company’s fiscal calendar uses 13-periods, use this section to set up this new Spread Method.

Start Type – Click on this dropdown menu and select one of the following options:

• Data Projection – Select this option to start this spread in the Period that the Data Projection it is assigned to (the line item you’re spreading using this method) starts.
• Hierarchy – Select this option to start this spread in Period 1 of the fiscal year.

Prorate – To prorate the amount for the line item with this Spread Method (to adjust the amount assigned to the starting or ending period for this line item to just the part of the period the line item covers) click this toggle switch to turn it to the ON position. To give the line item the full period amount even if it begins or ends in the middle of a period, leave this toggle in the OFF position.

Spread Type – Click on this dropdown menu and select one of the following options:

• Even – Select this option to spread the amount evenly over the Spread Hierarchy, Spread Over Length, Spread By, and Start Type methods you chose above.
• Custom – Select this option to set up a custom Spread and spread an amount unevenly.

Example: Select this option to assign 30% of a cost to Quarter 1, $20% to Quarter 2, 20% to Quarter 3, and 30% to Quarter 4.

When you spread amounts by Quarter of Year, a No. of Periods option appears below. The options display different numbers, depending on how many quarters this spread covers.

13-period fiscal calendars use three 3-period quarters and one 4-period quarter. Depending on how you set up this Plan’s Time Dimension, each quarter in your fiscal year could have 3 periods or 4 periods.

The No. of Periods lets you choose how this spread works depending on whether each quarter is a three-period quarter or a four-period quarter.

Number of Periods in a Quarterly Spread Method in a 13-Period Fiscal Year
Number of Quarters in the Spread Over Length	No. of Periods
Number of quarters you are spreading the amount over	Number of Periods that could be in the number of quarters you are spreading over
1	3 or 4 One quarter in a 13-period year could have 3 periods or 4 periods
2	6 or 7 Two quarters in a 13-period year could both have 6 periods total (two 3-period quarters) or 7 periods total (one 3-period quarter and one 4-period quarter)
3	9 or 10 Three quarters in a 13-period year could have 9 periods total (three 3-period quarters) or 10 periods total (two 3-period quarters and one 4-period quarter)
4	13 No options necessary since the schedule covers an entire year

If you spread amounts over more than one quarter, the options below reflect the total number of periods:

Example: If the spread covers two quarters, select how the spread works when both quarters have 6 periods total (3 periods each) or 7 periods total (one 3-period quarter and one 4-period quarter):	Example: If the spread covers three quarters, select how the spread works when it has 9 periods total (three 3-period quarters) or 10 periods total (two 3-period quarters and one 4-period quarter):

Choose how the spread  treats each type of quarter in your spread (3-period and 4-period quarters):

• To select how this Spread Method works for the three-period quarters, click on the top radio button (3, 6, 9, etc.) and enter the weight or percentage for each period.

• To select how this Spread Method works for the three-period quarters, click on the radio button on the bottom (4, 7, 10, etc.) and enter the weight or percentage for each period.

Example: If you are spreading an amount over one quarter with a 13-period fiscal calendar, you could assign 33.33% to each period in 3-period quarters and 25% to each period in the 4-period quarter.

When you finish setting up the Spread Method, click Save & Exit.

The new Spread Method appears in the list. You and other users can use this Spread Method for any line item in the Operating Expenses, Revenue, Personnel, Drivers, or Adjustments applications in the Worksheets module.

Editing Spread Methods

You can edit custom Spread Methods you added.

Step 1: To edit a Spread Method, open the Spread Methods page. Open the Automation module and select Spread Methods.

Step 2: On the Spread Methods page, select the name of the Spread Method you want to edit.

Please Note: You cannot edit or delete the default Spread Methods.

Step 3: The Spread Method opens in a panel on the right. You can edit the period, allocation, weights, or percentages of the Spread Method.

Step 4: Click Save & Exit.

Your changes are saved. Line items using this Spread Method in the Operating Expenses, Revenue, Personnel, Drivers, and Adjustments modules now reflect your changes.

Deleting Spread Methods

 You can delete any custom Spread Methods you added to Planning Maestro. To delete a Spread Method, open the Spread Methods page. Open the Automation module and select Spread Methods.

Please Note: You cannot delete any of the default Spread Methods or custom Spread Methods that are being used by any line item in the Worksheets applications. To delete a Spread Method that is already being used, delete the line item(s) using the Spread Method, or assign those line items to another Spread Method.

Step 1: On the Spread Methods page, select the Delete icon (  ) under the name of the Spread Method you want to delete.

Step 2: A popup warning appears. Click Confirm.

• The Spread Method disappears from the list.
• A confirmation message appears.

Please Note: If this Spread Method is in use by any line item in the Planning applications, a warning message appears: “Cannot delete “[Spread Method]” because it is in use. To delete this Spread Method, remove this Spread Method from the line item(s) using it and then try deleting it again.