chargeback (Space)

A process that determines a department’s financial charge for the actual area it occupies plus a proportional percentage of the facility's common area.

This in done in a few steps:

1. Common area is proportionately distributed among the departments on a floor, in a building, or across the facility site according to the area's Prorate field. This determines each department's percentage of facility common area.

2. Each of the department's assigned areas and its shares of common areas are multiplied by each area's associated Cost Per Area (square foot or square meter).

3. For each department, the cost of each assigned area and the cost of the common percentage areas are totaled to determine a department’s financial charge for the total area it uses

The rationale behind proportionately dividing common areas among departments is that the larger the department, the greater number of personnel it has using common areas; thus, the greater percentage it should pay for using the common area.

In addition to distributing common area in this manner, your facility manager may wish to distribute a floor's remaining area to the departments on the floor, in the building, or in the site. Distributing the cost of remaining area in this manner ensures that all space on a floor is billed for. Typically, a floor's remaining area is a much smaller amount than its common area.