Cost Entries Overview (Desktop)
Cost Entries translate asset activity into cost records, helping teams understand what equipment costs are being applied to a job, review cost details, and support more acurate job costing and profitability analysis. Cost entries focus on expenses and how equipment impacts project costs.
NOTE: Cost Entries are for internal equipment tracking. Billing Entries use a similar structure but represent charges rather than internal costs.
Permission Requirements
- View Cost/Billing Entries allows users to view cost and billing entries.
- Process Cost/Billing Entries allows users to to mark cost and billing entries as processed or unprocessed.
- Manage Cost/Billing Entries allows users to add, edit, and delete cost and billing entries.
- Export Cost/Billing Entries allows users to export cost and billing entry data.
- Accept Changes to Cost/Billing Entries allows users to approve or decline cost and billing entry data changes.
đŸ’¥Cost Entries is part of a premium product, Asset Financials, and requires a separate license. Please contact your Account Manager for more information on premium product licenses or reach out to Customer Support at help@tenna.com or call 888.836.6269.
In this article:
What are Cost Entries
A cost entry is a financial record for a single asset Ă— job Ă— calendar period Ă— rate type combination, representing your internal equipment cost.
Final Value = Raw Value + Business Rules Applied (rounding, min/max, non-working days, and other adjustments)
How to View Cost Entries
There are two ways to access Cost Entries:
- 1
- Navigate to "Jobs" and select "Cost Entries".
- 2
- Click "Jobs" on the left-hand navigation menu and select "Cost Entries".
Cost Entry Attributes
Every cost entry is built from a common set of fields:
Core fields: Asset (Fleet No./Name), Job (Number/Name), Entry Date (manual entries only), Period (start–end), Rate Type, Rate Value, Raw Value, Final Value, Cost Amount.
Rate Type options: Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Run Time (Usage), Split – Run Time (Usage), Split – Idle Time (Usage), Net Working Time (Usage).
- Rate resolution priority: Asset Override beats the Asset Category rate in the Job Rate Table, with any exception percentage applied on top.
- Period logic: Hourly/Daily/Usage = a single date. Weekly = Sunday–Saturday. Monthly = the 1st through end of month.
Codes (Rate Code, Revenue Code, Phase Code) are read-only on entries — they're inherited from the rate table at creation and are never retroactively updated.
Values:
- Raw Value: the actual telematics data before business rules are applied. Always read-only.
- Final Value: the Raw Value after business rules (rounding, min/max, non-working day exclusion). Editable on non-pending entries.
- Cost Amount = Final Value Ă— Rate. It can be manually overridden, which breaks the calculated relationship. When an exception is active: Cost Amount = Rate Ă— Exception % Ă— Final Value.
Breakdowns are inherited from the rate table and allocate the Cost Amount across GL categories (Ownership, Fuel, Maintenance, etc.). They're read-only at the entry level.
Notes are free-text, capped at 500 characters, and remain editable even on pending entries.
Filtering Cost Entries
The Entries Filters panel includes:
State, Asset Fleet No., Asset Name, Asset Category (tree), Asset Org (tree), Job Number, Job Name, Job Org (tree), Period (date range - All view only), Rate Type, Exception (including "No Exception"), Processed (Yes/No), and Cost Amount (numeric range with negative support).
Pro Tip! The Period filter uses overlap logic, it returns any entry whose period overlaps the selected date range, not just entries fully contained within it.
Entry States, Processing, and Approvals
Entry states are system-managed, you can't set them directly.
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Normal | Standard state; no changes pending review |
| Pending | A Weekly/Monthly entry whose period hasn't ended yet. Only Rate and Notes are editable |
| Waiting Approval | Changes were submitted by a user without Accept Changes permission and need reviewer action |
Processing Rules:
- Pending entries cannot be processed
- Waiting approval entries can be processed using the last accepted values
- Processed entries remain visible and retain their full history
The Processed Flag
Separate from state, every cost entry also carries a Processed flag (Yes/No). It's set manually by users with the Process Cost Entries permission and is primarily an informational marker for ERP integration tracking.
- Waiting Approval entries can be processed; processing uses the last accepted values and ignores any unapproved changes.
- Pending entries cannot be processed.
- Processed entries can still be edited, though editing shows a warning.
Automated vs. manual entries
Entries come from two sources:
- Automated: system-generated from telematics and job assignments, labeled Tenna Automation
- Manual: user-created, labeled with the creator's name
Hovering the source icon (pencil for manual, Tenna logo for automated) on any entry shows Created By, Created On, Last Modified By, and Last Modified On.
Automated entry generation eligibility
Before generating a cost entry, the system runs 5 checks. All five must pass, or no entry is created for that asset on that day. Once an asset is eligible, the entry amount is calculated as Rate Ă— Exception % (if active) Ă— Value.
- Not disposed- disposed assets are excluded from entry generation entirely. They remain in rate table asset overrides for historical reference but never produce new financial records.
- Not consumable- consumable assets have no rate types or rate table rows, so they're fully excluded.
- Has active job assignment- an asset must be assigned to a costing job; no job means no financial record to generate.
- Valid rate exists- the Job Rate Table must have a configured rate for the asset's category. If the category row is disabled or has no rate value, the system has nothing to calculate unless an asset override exists.
- Rental inclusion- rental assets are only eligible if the account-level setting Include Rental Assets in Entries Management is turned on. This is configurable per account and can exclude all rentals.
Exceptions
Exception types (defined in Settings) temporarily override standard rates.
- Only one exception can be active per asset at a time.
- Exception rates use the rate application percentage from the exception type definition.
- On Hold (Tenna's default exception) forces a $0 financial outcome regardless of usage.
Exceptions are read-only on entries, apply only to Hourly, Daily, and Usage rate types, and aren't available on manual entries or Weekly/Monthly rate types.
FAQs
What is the difference between Cost Entries and Billing Entries?
Cost Entries track internal equipment costs applied to jobs. Billing Entries track charges that may be billed externally or internally to customers.
Can users add cost entries manually?
Yes. Manual entries are added in "Edit Entries" for a specific job and statement period, subject to permissions and eligibility.
Why might no cost entries appear?
Common reasons include missing the "View" permission, or DAC restrictions that limit access to all relevant assets.
Can cost entries be exported?
Yes. Users with the Export Cost/Billing Entries premission can export cost entry data to CSV or Excel.