Chargeback — FAQs and Troubleshooting

Use this page for customer questions and troubleshooting related to Chargeback in Yarken — including chargeback concepts, prerequisites, the chargeback definition report, creating and managing chargeback, reviewing chargeback, the Chargeback Data cube, and governance controls.

Understanding Chargeback

Q: What is Chargeback in Yarken?

A: Chargeback in Yarken assigns allocated technology spend to the consumers that use a service or solution. It transforms cost allocation into formal business accountability.

Chargeback happens after spend has already been allocated through the TBM model — from expenses through Cost Pools, Towers, Assets, Solution Offerings, and finally to Consumers. It is the final governance step that formalizes who is responsible for which technology cost.

Chargeback also adds control to the financial close process. Once chargeback is created for a month, that month is locked — protecting the integrity of the data and preventing further changes unless the chargeback is reverted by an admin.

Q: When should I use Chargeback?

A: Use Chargeback when:

• Allocated technology costs need to be formally assigned to business units or consumers for a specific month

• Finance or business stakeholders need a reviewable and approvable chargeback result

• You need to lock a completed month to protect finalized data

• You need to export approved chargeback for downstream billing or ERP systems

Chargeback prerequisites

Q: What are the prerequisites for creating Chargeback?

A: Before creating Chargeback, confirm that:

• Spend has been allocated to Consumers for the month

• A chargeback report has been prepared and saved

• The saved report is selected as the default in Admin → Settings → Chargeback

• You are working in the correct year and month

• User has a role with chargeback access (Admin or Cost Model Manager)

If the consumer allocation is incomplete, the chargeback will not be created.

Q: Which roles can create, approve, and revert Chargeback?

A: The Chargeback Approver role has full access to all chargeback activities.

Chargeback definition report

Q: What is the chargeback definition report?

A: The chargeback definition report is a saved report from Analytics that defines the structure Yarken uses to generate chargeback. It determines how spend data is grouped, analyzed, and distributed across consumers.

The report must include three mandatory fields:

• Consumer ID

• Solution Offering ID

• Consumer Spend

Q: Can the default chargeback definition report be deleted?

A: No. The default chargeback definition report cannot be deleted from Saved Reports in Analytics. prevents the action.

Creating and managing Chargeback

Q: What happens after Chargeback is created?

A: After chargeback is created for a month:

Q: What are the chargeback statuses and what do they mean?

A: Chargeback moves through the following statuses:

Q: How do I revert Chargeback?

A: Created chargeback can be reverted in either Draft or Approved status:

1. Click the ellipsis (…) icon on the month card

2. Select Revert

3. Click OK in the confirmation dialog

Reverting:

• Removes the created chargeback for that month

• Deletes the chargeback data for that month

• Unlocks the month so data can be modified again

Use revert when the core result needs to be corrected. After reverting, fix the upstream data (allocation, mapping, expenses) and then create chargeback again.

Q: Can I modify data in a month after Chargeback has been created?

A: No. When chargeback is created for a month, that month is completely locked across all models:

• No further data uploads can be made for that month in any model

• Existing records for that month cannot be edited, copied, or deleted across models

• Cloud Consumption cannot be published or unpublished for the chargeback month

• Assets are locked for the chargeback month, including Cloud assets

• Budget/forecast or cloud spend published to Cost Transparency cannot be edited or deleted for locked months

• Spend line item edits respect locked months

• Copy To, Import Model, and Copy Model operations automatically skip locked chargeback months, and skipped months are recorded in Background Processes

If changes are needed, an Admin or Chargeback Approver must revert the chargeback for that month, make the required corrections, and then recreate the chargeback.

Q: Can I create Chargeback in a Budget, Forecast, or custom model?
A: No. Chargeback can only be created in the Spend model (default model). Budgets, Forecast, and any custom models (including custom spend models) are not allowed to create Chargeback. However, once Chargeback is created, the month locking is applied across all models — including Budgets, Forecast, and custom models.

Troubleshooting Chargeback

Chargeback creation fails — "consumer allocation incomplete"

Cause: Spend has not been fully allocated to Consumers for the selected month, or the consumer mapping is missing or incomplete.

Resolution:

1. Navigate to Yarken Designer → Consumers and verify that spend has been allocated to consumers for the month

2. Check for Unallocated Solution Spend — if solution offering spend has not been mapped to consumers, the chargeback cannot be created

3. Review the consumer mapping — verify it includes the correct Solution Offering IDs and Consumer IDs

4. If mappings are missing, upload or manually create consumer mappings for the month

5. After fixing the allocation, return to Chargeback → Chargeback and try creating again

Chargeback definition report not appearing in Settings → Chargeback

Cause: The saved report was not visible in the dropdown due to the report does not contain supported chargeback-related dimensions.

Resolution:

1. Verify the report has been saved in Analytics (not just created but not saved)

2. Confirm the report includes the three mandatory fields: Consumer ID, Solution Offering ID, and Consumer Spend

3. Confirm the report is created from the Consumer Spend cube using the Spend model

4. If the report still does not appear, clear browser cache and reload the application

Cannot delete or modify mandatory fields in the chargeback definition report

Cause: This is expected behavior. The mandatory columns (Consumer ID, Solution Offering ID, and Consumer Spend) are protected by design.

Resolution:

This is not a bug — it is a safeguard:

1. The fields Consumer ID, Solution Offering ID, and Consumer Spend cannot be removed from the chargeback definition report

2. You can add additional dimensions to the report, but the three mandatory fields must always remain

3. If you need a different report structure, create a new saved report with the mandatory fields plus your desired dimensions, and select it in Admin → Settings → Chargeback

Cannot delete the default chargeback definition report from Saved Reports

Cause: This is expected behavior. The default chargeback definition report is protected from deletion.

Resolution:

1. The report configured as the chargeback definition cannot be deleted from Analytics → Saved Reports

2. If you need to replace the report, create a new report, select it as the default in Admin → Settings → Chargeback, and then the previous report becomes deletable (as it is no longer the active chargeback definition)

Month is locked and data cannot be modified

Cause: Chargeback has been created for the month, which locks the month automatically.

Resolution:

1. Verify chargeback has been created for the month — look for the red lock symbol on the month card

2. If the month needs to be corrected, an Admin or Chargeback Approver must revert the chargeback:

   • Click the ellipsis (…) icon on the month card

   • Select Revert

   • Confirm the action

3. After reverting, the month is unlocked — make the required corrections to upstream data (expenses, allocation, mappings)

4. Once corrections are complete, create chargeback again for the month

Note: Revert deletes the chargeback data for that month. The full chargeback process must be re-run after corrections.

Chargeback preview shows incorrect or unexpected data

Cause: The upstream allocation is incorrect, the chargeback definition report includes wrong dimensions or filters, or data has changed since the last cube refresh.

Resolution:

1. Do not create chargeback if the preview looks wrong — stop and investigate first

2. Check the chargeback definition report in Admin → Settings → Chargeback — verify it references the correct saved report

3. Open the saved report in Analytics → Consumer Spend and verify the data looks correct with the current filters

4. Check the upstream allocation in Yarken Designer → Consumers — verify consumer mappings are correct for the month

5. Check the Cube Refresh page — if the Consumer Spend cube is in Pending status, refresh it before creating chargeback

6. After fixing the upstream data, return to the chargeback preview

Chargeback amounts do not match Analytics Consumer Spend reports

Cause: The chargeback definition report uses different dimensions, filters, or structure than the Analytics report being compared, or the cube was refreshed between the two views.

Resolution:

1. Compare the chargeback definition report in Admin → Settings → Chargeback with the Analytics report you are comparing against — note differences in dimensions, filters, and measures

2. Verify both views use the same year, month, entity, and model filters

3. If a cube refresh occurred between creating chargeback and viewing Analytics, the Analytics data may have changed — this does not retroactively change the chargeback record

4. Review consumer mappings — if mappings were modified after chargeback was created, the chargeback reflects the mappings as they were at creation time

5. If the chargeback is wrong, revert it, fix the data, and recreate it

Chargeback Overview shows no data after chargeback creation

Cause: Chargeback was created but the view is not reflecting data, or the user does not have the required entity/account/cost center access.

Resolution:

1. Verify that chargeback was successfully created — the month card should show Draft or Approved status with a red lock symbol

2. Click the View > button on the month card to re-open the Overview

3. Check the Entity filter — ensure the correct entity is selected. If you have access to multiple entities, verify all relevant entities are included

4. Verify the user has the correct account access and cost center access — chargeback data respects all three access layers (entity, account, cost center)

5. Check the Cube Refresh page — if the Consumer Spend cube or Chargeback Data cube is in Pending status, refresh it

6. If the issue persists, try clearing browser cache and reloading the application

Related content

• Chargeback

• Create and manage chargeback

• Get started with Chargeback