Allocate a penalty notice to a cost center or driver
This article explains how to allocate a Strafmandat (penalty notice) to a department, project, and optional driver so its cost rolls up correctly in reporting. Cost allocation requires the strafmandate:view permission, available to the FleetManager and SystemAdmin roles.
What a cost allocation records
A cost allocation ties a notice to one or more Kostenstellen (cost centers) so fines can be grouped for management analytics and exports. Each allocation is a link — it records which cost object the notice belongs to, not a split of the euro amount. The department value is the one used to group fines in the cost-by-department reporting and in the "Department" column of exports.
Set the cost allocation
Open the notice from the Strafmandate list and use its cost-allocation action, then complete the fields.
- Department — required. The department or Kostenstelle the notice should be charged to. Saving fails with "Department allocation is required" if this is empty.
- Project — optional. A project cost object, if the fine should also be tracked against a project.
- Driver — optional. A driver reference, when you want the cost associated with a specific driver as well.
When you save, the system records the department allocation and, where provided, the project and driver allocations. The action returns the stored values so you can confirm what was written.
Warning: Saving a cost allocation replaces all existing allocations on that notice before writing the new set. If a department Kostenstelle was previously written automatically when you recorded a payment, re-saving the allocation screen with different values will overwrite it. Always confirm the department value before saving.
How allocation interacts with payments
There are two ways a department allocation gets written:
- Automatically on payment — when you record a payment with a cost center code (or a tenant default Kostenstelle exists), the system writes or refreshes the department allocation using that code.
- Manually here — using the cost-allocation action lets you set the department, project, and driver explicitly, replacing whatever was there.
Tip: If most of your notices should land on the same Kostenstelle, ask a SystemAdmin to set a default cost center for penalty-notice payments. New payments then allocate to it automatically, and you only need to open this screen for exceptions.
Where allocations show up
The department value feeds the cost-by-department dashboard widget and the management-analytics cost breakdown. Notices with no department allocation are grouped as Unassigned in those views, which makes allocation gaps easy to spot. The cost center you enter is also matched by the cost-center filter used in analytics and exports.
What gets audited
Updating a cost allocation is a critical financial mutation. The system records an audit entry summarizing the department, project, and driver values along with who changed them, so you can trace allocation changes in the notice's financial history.
Related
- Record a payment on a penalty notice
- Review a penalty notice's financial summary and history
- Run management analytics and export reporting data
