What is a cost center? And how to set them up in AskCody

Learn about cost centers and how to set them up in AskCody

A cost center is a function within an organization whose main purpose is to track expenses of different departments in the organization.

Cost centers aren’t always entire departments; In fact, a department may have multiple cost centers within it.

A cost center can involve function, business unit, or project group that needs to have its expenses tracked separately.

Cost centers in AskCody

In AskCody we provide organizations with the possibility to track expenses when catering or additional services are ordered for meetings. Cost centers in combination with the Custom Properties the users provide when ordering catering and additional services in the AskCody Services Add-in in Outlook give a solid foundation for tracking expenses.

This information is possible to export from the AskCody Portal into an ERP system via a downloaded CSV file or via a build API. 

Cost center options for AskCody Services Add-in

In the AskCody Portal, it is possible to configure different ways to show cost centers in the AskCody Services Add-in for Outlook.

1. The users of the Add-in will choose between all available cost centers.
The users of the Add-in will choose between all available cost centers. This way of using cost centers is for organizations with a fairly limited amount of cost centers. This way of using cost centers usually revolves around the users being instructed to use the cost center that is associated with that user's department or group. 

2. Only the different cost center groups are visible to the users of the Add-in.
This way of using cost centers is for organizations with a larger amount of cost centers. By dividing cost centers into groups, they are to scroll through when using the add-in. However, when a cost center is allocated to a group, then it will only be accessible to the users appointed to that specific group. Users are appointed to a group through an AD integration.
Read more about the cost center groups here.

3. Hide all cost centers in the Add-in.
The users will not see the cost centers, because you can choose to hide the cost center, so the user doesn't have to take action on this in the Add-in. If you choose to hide the cost centers it might be because you manage cost centers in your AD, and have cost centers attached to groups in AD. 
Read more about synchronizing cost centers from AD to AskCody here. 

How to set cost center options for the AskCody Services Add-in 

• Log in to the AskCody Portal.
• Navigate to the Admin Center.
• Open the Services tab and choose Settings. 
• Find Cost center selection mode and choose the option you want. 

How to create a cost center 

• Log in to the AskCody Portal.
• Navigate to Services.
• Open the Finance tab and choose Cost centers.
• Click Add, to add a new cost center.
• Fill out the required fields. The code is only used to differentiate between the different cost center groups when exported as a CSV file or exported to an ERP system via API.