Best practice CO cost centres?

Hi all,
Please can you tell me where I can find a source for best practice CO cost centres to set up for my client ? Would it be somewhere in ASAP for example?
Thanks very much..
Mike

Location and Functions can be a determining factor for justifying for creating exclusive cost centers.
The cost centers set up shall facilitate to serve the purpose of the main Tasks and Goals of Advanced Cost Management.
The following principles shall guide for setting up cost centers.
Management Overhead Cost Transparency
resource consumption through processes
parallel quantity and value flow
Increasing Efficiency
resource leverage in overhead areas
continuos efficiency control of internal processes
Fair Cost Calculation
source appropriate cost assignmentof internal activities
cost of complexity
cost of product and process change
Information for Strategic Decision Making
reduce overhead costthrough process optimisation
increase profitability throughidentification of non profitableproducts and customers

Similar Messages

Best practice for implementing Manufacturing Cost Planning ( MCP)

is there any best practice for implementing Manufacturing Cost Planning ( MCP) using BI-IP?

Hi:
Both options are viable. If you reverse posting in FB50 then FI GL account postings will also be reversed and along with cost center postings. Hence here advantage is that cost center reversal will be with referenced to the original document with which wrong posting were made. Disadvantage here is that you will to post the entry again in FB50 . In KB11N you will simply transfer cost center amount from wrong to new one that should be in place of it but here you will have no reference . I personally think reversing posting through FB50 is viable options , reverse postings can be seen in KSB1 as well against that cost center.
Regards

Best practice for reclassifying Cost Center/Element

Dear experts,
Currently the company I'm working for are using SA document (FB50) if there are mistakes when posting cost to Cost Center, they will DR New Cost Center and CR Old Cost Center.
However, it is seem a bit difficult to trace the changes later on. Hence, I would like to ask for opinions on what is the best practice for reclassifying cost center or cost element.
Right now, I'm planning to propose of using KB11N to reclassify cost center. Is this a good practice and easy to trace the cost movement? Is there any different with normal journal adjustment via FB50 and KB11N?
Need some advices from experts.

Hi:
Both options are viable. If you reverse posting in FB50 then FI GL account postings will also be reversed and along with cost center postings. Hence here advantage is that cost center reversal will be with referenced to the original document with which wrong posting were made. Disadvantage here is that you will to post the entry again in FB50 . In KB11N you will simply transfer cost center amount from wrong to new one that should be in place of it but here you will have no reference . I personally think reversing posting through FB50 is viable options , reverse postings can be seen in KSB1 as well against that cost center.
Regards

Exchange 2007 Multiple Send Connector Cost Best Practice

Hi,<o:p></o:p>
I am running exchange 2007 SP2 and have 2x exchange connectors set up with an equal default cost of 1.<o:p></o:p>
Connector 1 is set to * address space and should forward all emails to two email security/management servers<o:p></o:p>
Connector 2 is set to a internal sub domain server whose purpose is to file the emails on a CMS. Emails are marked for "filing" when
the Outlook plugin adds the connector 2's subdomain address into the bcc field.<o:p></o:p>
What I want to clarify is if I was to change the cost of Connector 1 to 0 would all mail then only be routed via this connector?<o:p></o:p>
I presume it would ignore the 2nd connector because the 1st connector's address space is * and thus no emails would route through connector
2 and therefore be filed to CMS ?<o:p></o:p>
What would the best practice be for the costs of each connector ??<o:p></o:p>
Thanks<o:p></o:p>
Mat<o:p></o:p>

I don't believe that 0 is a valid cost for a connector (I get an error if I try to see a connector with that). If you have two connectors, Exchange will send to the one that matches the address space most correctly. If you had no second connector,
connector 1 would attempt delivery to your CMS. Since you have that second connector, those messages will be delivered by it.
Connector costs are normally used when you have multiple connectors with the SAME address space, and allows Exchange to fail from one to another when the preferred is not operational for some reason. For example, if you have an ISDN line as your backup
Internet connection, you want to give connectors that use it a higher cost than your MPLS connections use.
I'll add that in most environments I've worked for the past several years, this redirection is handled at the network layer rather than the application layer.

Best practices for using the 'cost details' fields

Hi
Please could you advise us to the best practices for using the 'cost details' field within Pricing. Currently I cannot find the way to surface the individual Cost Details fields within the Next Generation UI, even with the tick box for 'display both cost and price' ticked. It seems that these get surfaced when the Next Generation UI is turned off, but cannot find them when it is turned on. We can see the 'Pricing Summary' field but this does not fulfill our needs, as some of our services have both recurring and one-off costs.
Attached are some screenshots to further explain the situation.
Many thanks,
Richard Thornton

Hi Richard,
If you need to configure dynamic pricing that may vary by tenant and/or if you want to set up cost drivers that are service item attributes, you should configure Billing Tables in the Demand Management module in 10.0.
The cost detail functionality in 9.4 will likely be changed to merged with the new pricing feature in 10.0. The current plan is not to bring cost detail into the Service Catalog module.

Profit/Cost center best practice

Hi,
I'm looking for some best practice document on how to setup properly profit/cost centers for a manufacturing company. I'm thinking at a very simple manufacturing company which purchases some raw materials and manufactures and sells some finished goods.
Any advice on that?
Thanks!
Fabio

Hi ,
check below links:
https://websmp101.sap-ag.de/~form/sapnet?_FRAME=CONTAINER&_OBJECT=011000358700002498432003E
https://websmp201.sap-ag.de/~sapidb/011000358700000760832007E/CW34_FIN_Profit_Centers.pdf
Thanks,
Neetu

Best Practice on Moving Standard Hierarchy (Cost /Profit) into production

Hi,
What is the best practice to move standard hierarchy into production? Is it better to move it as a transport? Or is it better to upload into production with LSMW?
Thanks,
Santoshi

Hi,
Best practices applied to all developments whether it is R/3, BI modelling or Reporting and as per the best practice we do development in Development system, testing in testing box and finally deploy successful development to production. yes for user analysis purpose, user can do adhoc analysis or in some scenario they create user specific custom queries (sometimes reffere as X-query created by super user).
So it is always to do all yr developement in Development Box and then transport to Production after successful QA testing.
Dev

Make cost centre transactional?

Hi All,
I have a requirement in payroll reporting to make the cost centre of an employee 'as was'.
e.g
Jan 07 Emp1 cost ctr1 £1000
Feb 07 Emp1 cost ctr1 £1000
Mar 07 Emp1 cost ctr 2 £1000
So if in March I run a report I will see £2000 against cost ctr1 and £1000 against cost ctr2 for emp1.
Any best practice suggestions welcomed
Steve

Thanks for swift response. I actually need to filter the date reporting by IN-period (0END_INPER), will your suggestion still work for me?
Thanks

Automatic settlement to particular combination of cost centres and gl codes

HI,
A company uses Plant Maintenance for Engineering overhauls. MM is used for Engineering spares only (i.e. not for goods for resale etc).
The requirement is to set up ongoing Plant Maintenance Orders, one for each item of plant (only 600). The plan is just to leave them open, as they are only used at a simple level.
Anyway, for each PM order, the requirement will be to settle automatically, and to a particular GL code and a particular cost centre.
So, for three different works orders:-
Cost Centre -
> 333 334 335
GL code
1234----
>(X)
1235----
>(Y)
1236----
>(Z)
1) What is the best way to achieve this? I am thinking that GL code will be specified by order type (therefore I will need about 10, corresponding to the GL codes) and cost centre will be specified by Work Centre in each order.
2) How do I set up automatic settlement? Can this be at period end only or instantly when good are booked to the order by the stores.

Hi ,
For Plant Maintenance with FICO , you need Settlement rule & settlement profile.　
The settlement rule determines what portions of a sender's costs are to be settled to which receiver(s).
In thesettlement profile you determine to which objects orders of this order type can settle to. You can also assign an order type to a settlement profile at a later date. You can change the settlement profile in the order.
After you create the settlement profile , you need to save the profile to particular order type.
Inside the settlement profile , you will define the control parameter of how is the way to settle included which cost center to post.
For automatic settlement , i think you need user exist - Please refer to userexit IWO10027 or COOM0003 with your abaper.
Thank you.

Best practice for migrating data tables- please comment.

I have 5 new tables seeded with data that need to be promoted from a development to a production environment.
Instead of the DBAs just using a tool to migrate the data they are insistent that I save and provide scripts for every single commit, in proper order, necessary to both build the table and insert the data from ground zero.
I am very unaccustomed to this kind of environment and it seems much riskier for me to try and rebuild the objects from scratch when I already have a perfect, tested, ready model.
They also require extensive documentation where every step is recorded in a document and use that for the deployment.
I believe their rationale is they don't want to rely on backups but instead want to rely on a document that specifies each step to recreate.
Please comment on your view of this practice. Thanks!

>
Please comment on your view of this practice. Thanks!
>
Sounds like the DBAs are using best practices to get the job done. Congratulations to them!
>
I have 5 new tables seeded with data that need to be promoted from a development to a production environment.
Instead of the DBAs just using a tool to migrate the data they are insistent that I save and provide scripts for every single commit, in proper order, necessary to both build the table and insert the data from ground zero.
>
The process you describe is what I would expect, and require, in any well-run environment.
>
I am very unaccustomed to this kind of environment and it seems much riskier for me to try and rebuild the objects from scratch when I already have a perfect, tested, ready model.
>
Nobody cares if if is riskier for you. The production environment is sacred. Any and all risk to it must be reduced to a minimum at all cost. In my opinion a DBA should NEVER move ANYTHING from a development environment directly to a production environment. NEVER.
Development environments are sandboxes. They are often not backed up. You or anyone else could easily modify tables or data with no controls in place. Anything done in a DEV environment is assumed to be incomplete, unsecure, disposable and unvetted.
If you are doing development and don't have scripts to rebuild your objects from scratch then you are doing it wrong. You should ALWAYS have your own backup copies of DDL in case anything happens (and it does) to the development environment. By 'have your own' I mean there should be copies in a version control system or central repository where your teammates can get their hands on them if you are not available.
As for data - I agree with what others have said. Further - ALL data in a dev environment is assumed to be dev data and not production data. In all environments I have worked in ALL production data must be validated and approved by the business. That means every piece of data in lookup tables, fact tables, dimension tables, etc. Only computed data, such as might be in a data warehouse system generated by an ETL process might be exempt; but the process that creates that data is not exempt - that process and ultimately the data - must be signed off on by the business.
And the business generally has no access to, or control of, a development environment. That means using a TEST or QA environment for the business users to test and validate.
>
They also require extensive documentation where every step is recorded in a document and use that for the deployment.
I believe their rationale is they don't want to rely on backups but instead want to rely on a document that specifies each step to recreate.
>
Absolutely! That's how professional deployments are performed. Deployment documents are prepared and submitted for sign off by each of the affected groups. Those groups can include security, dba, business user, IT and even legal. The deployment documents always include recovery steps so that is something goes wrong or the deployment can't procede there is a documented procedure of how to restore the system to a valid working state.
The deployments themselves that I participate in have representatives from the each of those groups in the room or on a conference call as each step of the deployment is performed. Your 5 tables may be used by stored procedures, views or other code that has to be deployed as part of the same process. Each step of the deployment has to be performed in the correct order. If something goes wrong the responsible party is responsible for assisting in the retry or recovery of their component.
It is absolutely vital to have a known, secure, repeatable process for deployments. There are no shortcuts. I agree, for a simple 5 new table and small amount of data scenario it may seem like overkill.
But, despite what you say it simply cannot be that easy for one simple reason. Adding 5 tables with data to a production system has no business impact or utility at all unless there is some code, process or application somewhere that accesses those tables and data. Your post didn't mention the part about what changes are being made to actually USE what you are adding.

SAP to Non-SAP Integration best Practices

Hi Folks,
Recently I demonstrated to few of my managers the integration of our SAP ISU with a 3rd Party MDUS System via SAP PI. A question which was repeatedly asked is 'Why SAP PI'? Isn't there any other way to do it? They did mention BAPIs and doing things directly in ABAP but I couldn't really answer as to how weigh one on the other in this particular scenario.
I do know that there are standard ES Bundles for achieving integration with 3rd Party Systems via SAP PI, We can do the interface and message mappings but
is it possible to achieve this integration with the 3rd Party MDUS System without using PI?
3rd party MDUS can only integrate via its web Services so how would they get called?
Whats the trade-off in case of Performance, Development Cost?
I am looking for best practices, recommendations, trade-offs and possibilities. Your input is very much appreciated.
Regards,
Adil Khalil

Hi Adil,
The below blog might be useful
Consuming Services with ABAP
regards,
Harish

Best practices for ARM - please help!!!

Hi all,
Can you please help with any pointers / links to documents describing best practices for "who should be creating" the GRC request in below workflow of ARM in GRC 10.0??
Create GRC request -> role approver -> risk manager -> security team
options are : end user / Manager / Functional super users / security team.
End user and manager not possible- we can not train so many people. Functional team is refusing since its a lot of work. Please help me with pointers to any best practices documents.
Thanks!!!!

In this case, I recommend proposing that the department managers create GRC Access Requests. In order for the managers to comprehend the new process, you should create a separate "Role Catalog" that describes what abilities each role enables. This Role Catalog needs to be taught to the department Managers, and they need to fully understand what tcodes and abilities are inside of each role. From your workflow design, it looks like Role Owners should be brought into these workshops.
You might consider a Role Catalog that the manager could filter on and make selections from. For example, an AP manager could select "Accounts Payable" roles, and then choose from a smaller list of AP-related roles. You could map business functions or tasks to specific technical roles. The design flaw here, of course, is the way your technical roles have been designed.
The point being, GRC AC 10 is not business-user friendly, so using an intuitive "Role Catalog" really helps the managers understand which technical roles they should be selecting in GRC ARs. They can use this catalog to spit out a list of technical role names that they can then search for within the GRC Access Request.
At all costs, avoid having end-users create ARs. They usually select the wrong access, and the process then becomes very long and drawn out because the role owners or security stages need to mix and match the access after the fact. You should choose a Requestor who has the highest chance of requesting the correct access. This is usually the user's Manager, but you need to propose this solution in a way that won't scare off the manager - at the end of the day, they do NOT want to take on more work.
If you are using SAP HR, then you can attempt HR Triggers for New User Access Requests, which automatically fill out and submit the GRC AR upon a specific HR action (New Hire, or Termination). I do not recommend going down this path, however. It is very confusing, time consuming, and difficult to integrate properly.
Good luck!
-Ken

Error while Connecting report Best Practices v1.31 with SAP

Hello experts,
I'm facing an issue while trying to connect some of my reports from Best Practices for BI with SAP.
It only happens when it's about info sets, the other ones that are with SAP tables go smoothly without a problem.
The most interesting is I have already one of the reports connected to SAP info sets.
I have already verified the document of steps of creation of additional database that comes with BP pack. They seem ok.
Here goes what Crystal Reports throws to me after changing the data source to SAP:
For report "GL Statement" one of the Financial Analysis one which uses InfoSet: /KYK/IS_FIGL_I3:
- Failed to retrieve data from the database; - click ok then...
- Database connector error: It wasn't indicated any variant for exercise (something like this after translating) - click ok then
- Database connector error: RFC_INVALID_HANDLE
For report "Cost Analysis: Planned vs. Actual Order Costs" one of the Financial Analysis one which uses InfoSet: ZBPBI131_INFO_ODVR and ZBPBI131_INFO_COAS; and also the Query CO_OM_OP_20_Q1:
- Failed to retrieve data from the database; - click ok then...
- Database connector error: check class for selections raised errors - click ok then
- Database connector error: RFC_INVALID_HANDLE
Obs.: Those "Z" infosets are already created in SAP environment.
The one that works fine is one of the Purchasing Analysis reports:
- Purchasing Group Analysis -> InfoSet: /KYK/IS_MCE1
I'm kind of lost to solve this, because I'm not sure if it can be in the SAP JCO or some parameter that was done wrongly in SAP and I have already check possible solutions for both.
Thanks in advance,
Carlos Henrique Matos da Silva - SAP BusinessObjects BI - Brazil.

I re-checked step 3.2.3 - Uploading Crystal User Roles (transaction PFCG) - of the manual where it talks about CRYSTAL_ENTITLEMENT and CRYSTAL_DESIGNER roles, I noticed in the Authorizations tab that the status was saying it hadn't been generated and I had a yellow sign, so then that was what I did (I generated) as it says in the manual.
Both statuses are now saying "Authorization profile is generated" and the sign is now green on the tab.
I had another issue in the User tab (it was yellow as Authorizations one before generating)....all I needed to do to change to green was comparing user (User Comparison button).
After all that, I tried once more to refresh the Crystal report and I still have the error messages being thrown.
There's one more issue in one of the tabs of PFCG transaction, it is on the Menu one where it is with a red sign, but there's nothing talking about it in the manual. I just have a folder called "Role menu" without anything in it.
Can it be the reason why I'm facing errors when connecting the report to SAP infoSets? (remember one of my reports which is connected to an infoSet works good)
Thanks in advance,
Carlos Henrique Matos da Silva - SAP BusinessObjects BI - Brazil.

Best Practices for Integrating UC-5x0's with SBS 2003/8?

Almost all of Cisco's SBCS market is the small and medium business space. Most, if not all of these SMB's have a Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 or 2008. It will be critical, In order for Cisco to be considered as a purchase option, that the UC-5x0 integrates well into these networks.
To that end, I see a lot of talk here about how to implement parts and pieces of this, but no guidance from Cisco, no labs and no best practices or other documentation. If I am wrong, please correct me.
I am currently stumbling through and validating these configurations myself, Once complete, I will post detailed recommendations. However, it would have been nice to have a lab to follow instead of having to learn from each mistake.
Some of the challanges include;
1. Where should the UC-540 be placed: As the gateway for QOS or behind a validated UC-5x0 router/security appliance combination
2. Should the Microsoft Windows Small Business Server handle DCHP (as Microsoft's documentation says it must), or must the UC-540 handle DHCP to prevent loss of features? What about a DHCP relay scheme?
3. Which device should handle DNS?
My documentation (and I recommend that any Cisco Lab/Best Practice guidence include it as well) will assume the following real-world scenario, the same which applies to a majority of my SMB clients;
1. A UC-540 device utilizing SIP for the cost savings
2. High Speed Internet with 5 static routable IP addresses
3. An existing Microsoft Small Business Server 2003/8
4. An additional Line of Business Application or Terminal Server that utilizes the same ports (i.e. TCP 80/443/3389) as the UC-540 and the SBS, but on seperate routable IP's (Making up crazy non-standard port redirections is not an option).
5. A employee who teleworks from various places that provide a seat and a network jack, which is not under our control (i.e. a employees home, a clients' office, or a telework center). This teleworker should use the built in VPN feature within the SPA or 7925G phones because we will not have administrative access to any third party's VPN/firewall.
Your thoughs appreciated.

Progress Report;
The following changes have been made to the router in support of the previously detailed scenario. Everything appears to be working as intended.
DHCP is still on the UC540 for now. DNS is being performed by the SBS 2008.
Interestingly, the CCA still works. The NAT module even shows all the private mapped IP's, but no the corresponding public IP's. I wouldnt recommend trying to make any changes via the CCA in the NAT module.
To review, this configuration assumes the following;
1. The UC540 has a public IP address of 4.2.2.2
2. A Microsoft Small Business Server 2008 using an internal IP of 192.168.10.10 has an external IP of 4.2.2.3.
3. A third line of business application server with www, https and RDP that has an internal IP of 192.168.10.11 and an external IP of 4.2.2.4
First, backup your current configuration via the CCA,
Next, telent into the UC540, login, edit, cut and paste the following to 1:1 NAT the 2 additional public IP addresses;
ip nat inside source static tcp 192.168.10.10 25 4.2.2.3 25 extendable
ip nat inside source static tcp 192.168.10.10 80 4.2.2.3 80 extendable
ip nat inside source static tcp 192.168.10.10 443 4.2.2.3 443 extendable
ip nat inside source static tcp 192.168.10.10 987 4.2.2.3 987 extendable
ip nat inside source static tcp 192.168.10.10 1723 4.2.2.3 1723 extendable
ip nat inside source static tcp 192.168.10.10 3389 4.2.2.3 3389 extendable
ip nat inside source static tcp 192.168.10.11 80 4.2.2.4 80 extendable
ip nat inside source static tcp 192.168.10.11 443 4.2.2.4 443 extendable
ip nat inside source static tcp 192.168.10.11 3389 4.2.2.4 3389 extendable
Next, you will need to amend your UC540's default ACL.
First, copy what you have existing as I have done below (in bold), and paste them into a notepad.
Then, im told the best practice is to delete the entire existing list first, finally adding the new rules back, along with the addition of rules for your SBS an LOB server (mine in bold) as follows;
int fas 0/0
no ip access-group 104 in
no access-list 104
access-list 104 remark auto generated by SDM firewall configuration##NO_ACES_24##
access-list 104 remark SDM_ACL Category=1
access-list 104 permit tcp any host 4.2.2.3 eq 25 log
access-list 104 permit tcp any host 4.2.2.3 eq 80 log
access-list 104 permit tcp any host 4.2.2.3 eq 443 log
access-list 104 permit tcp any host 4.2.2.3 eq 987 log
access-list 104 permit tcp any host 4.2.2.3 eq 1723 log
access-list 104 permit tcp any host 4.2.2.3.35 eq 3389 log
access-list 104 permit tcp any host 4.2.2.4 eq 80 log
access-list 104 permit tcp any host 4.2.2.4 eq 443 log
access-list 104 permit tcp any host 4.2.2.4 eq 3389 log
access-list 104 permit udp host 116.170.98.142 eq 5060 any
access-list 104 permit udp host 116.170.98.143 any eq 5060
access-list 104 deny   ip 10.1.10.0 0.0.0.3 any
access-list 104 deny   ip 10.1.1.0 0.0.0.255 any
access-list 104 deny   ip 192.168.10.0 0.0.0.255 any
access-list 104 permit udp host 116.170.98.142 eq domain any
access-list 104 permit udp host 116.170.98.143 eq domain any
access-list 104 permit icmp any host 4.2.2.2 echo-reply
access-list 104 permit icmp any host 4.2.2.2 time-exceeded
access-list 104 permit icmp any host 4.2.2.2 unreachable
access-list 104 permit udp host 192.168.10.1 eq 5060 any
access-list 104 permit udp host 192.168.10.1 any eq 5060
access-list 104 permit udp any any range 16384 32767
access-list 104 deny   ip 10.0.0.0 0.255.255.255 any
access-list 104 deny   ip 172.16.0.0 0.15.255.255 any
access-list 104 deny   ip 192.168.0.0 0.0.255.255 any
access-list 104 deny   ip 127.0.0.0 0.255.255.255 any
access-list 104 deny   ip host 255.255.255.255 any
access-list 104 deny   ip host 0.0.0.0 any
access-list 104 deny   ip any any log
int fas 0/0
ip access-group 104 in
Lastly, save to memory
wr mem
One final note - if you need to use the Microsoft Windows VPN client from a workstation behind the UC540 to connect to a VPN server outside your network, and you were getting Error 721 and/or Error 800...you will need to use the following commands to add to ACL 104;
(config)#ip access-list extended 104
(config-ext-nacl)#7 permit gre any any
Im hoping there may be a better way to allowing VPN clients on the LAN with a much more specific and limited rule. I will update this post with that info when and if I discover one.
Thanks to Vijay in Cisco Tac for the guidence.

Best Practices for Using Photoshop (and Computing in General)

I've been seeing some threads that lead me to realize that not everyone knows the best practices for doing Photoshop on a computer, and in doing conscientious computing in general. I thought it might be a good idea for those of us with some exprience to contribute and discuss best practices for making the Photoshop and computing experience more reliable and enjoyable.
It'd be great if everyone would contribute their ideas, and especially their personal experience.
Here are some of my thoughts on data integrity (this shouldn't be the only subject of this thread):
Consider paying more for good hardware. Computers have almost become commodities, and price shopping abounds, but there are some areas where spending a few dollars more can be beneficial. For example, the difference in price between a top-of-the-line high performance enterprise class hard drive and the cheapest model around with, say, a 1 TB capacity is less than a hundred bucks! Disk drives do fail! They're not all created equal. What would it cost you in aggravation and time to lose your data? Imagine it happening at the worst possible time, because that's exactly when failures occur.
Use an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS). Unexpected power outages are TERRIBLE for both computer software and hardware. Lost files and burned out hardware are a possibility. A UPS that will power the computer and monitor can be found at the local high tech store and doesn't cost much. The modern ones will even communicate with the computer via USB to perform an orderly shutdown if the power failure goes on too long for the batteries to keep going. Again, how much is it worth to you to have a computer outage and loss of data?
Work locally, copy files elsewhere. Photoshop likes to be run on files on the local hard drive(s). If you are working in an environment where you have networking, rather than opening a file right off the network, then saving it back there, consider copying the file to your local hard drive then working on it there. This way an unexpected network outage or error won't cause you to lose work.
Never save over your original files. You may have a library of original images you have captured with your camera or created. Sometimes these are in formats that can be re-saved. If you're going to work on one of those files (e.g., to prepare it for some use, such as printing), and it's a file type that can be overwritten (e.g., JPEG), as soon as you open the file save the document in another location, e.g., in Photoshop .psd format.
Save your master files in several places. While you are working in Photoshop, especially if you've done a lot of work on one document, remember to save your work regularly, and you may want to save it in several different places (or copy the file after you have saved it to a backup folder, or save it in a version management system). Things can go wrong and it's nice to be able to go back to a prior saved version without losing too much work.
Make Backups. Back up your computer files, including your Photoshop work, ideally to external media. Windows now ships with a quite good backup system, and external USB drives with surprisingly high capacity (e.g., Western Digital MyBook) are very inexpensive. The external drives aren't that fast, but a backup you've set up to run late at night can finish by morning, and if/when you have a failure or loss of data. And if you're really concerned with backup integrity, you can unplug an external drive and take it to another location.
This stuff is kind of "motherhood and apple pie" but it's worth getting the word out I think.
Your ideas?
-Noel

APC Back-UPS XS 1300. $169.99 at Best Buy.
Our power outages here are usually only a few seconds; this should give my server about 20 or 25 minutes run-time.
I'm setting up the PowerChute software now to shut down the computer when 5 minutes of power is left. The load with the monitor sleeping is 171 watts.
This has surge protection and other nice features as well.
-Noel

Best practice CO cost centres?

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