Lookup Table
The lookup table is an option to configure cost information on a lower level and provide costs for attribute values of the selected event, which makes it highly useful for complex costing patterns. For example, in fixed cost configurations, a fixed cost and a lookup table can work together complementing each other - an event occurrence in general produces a fixed cost, and costs of the configured attributes are added to it when applicable. For example:
Answering a request in a call center has a fixed cost of 2$, but the requests related to business insurance have an additional cost of 3$, as they require the involvement of a higher-level specialist. Therefore, an occurrence of the event Assign with attribute Topic that has a value Business insurance will have a total cost of 3$.
Configuring lookup table
You can either create a table manually in the Timeline interface or upload an already created one. For the table to be processed correctly, the data in it should match attribute values with their costs. Costs configuration offers you a built-in table editor to assure the correctness of the table format.
- In the Define cost window, select the Lookup table option and click Specify table. A new Lookup table window opens with a dialog about table creation.
- Select the attribute(s) for which you want to provide costs. To do it, click Edit event/attribute.
- In the appeared window, select one or more attributes. Then click Save to create a table. It will contain the selected attributes as columns, plus one column for cost values.
- Fill in the table. Add the attribute values to the respective column(s) and costs for them in the Value column. You have a necessary set of table editing tools above it, so you can adjust the number of rows to fit all the data you need. Make sure to spell attribute values here exactly similar to how they are named in the project data. Otherwise, the program will not be able to match them and calculate costs properly.
- When all values are provided, click Save. The table is ready to be used as a source for cost information.
- Finish the configuration in the Define cost window, save it, and apply as described in the main instruction of this article.
The created table can be also used as a template that you can export in CSV format and fill in with data outside Timeline for further upload. Click 
to do it. After you add values, upload the file by clicking Upload new table. You still can adjust it in the built-in editor.
Multiple attributes
If multiple attributes are used in a lookup configuration the cost is assigned to specific attribute values that occurred simultaneously, and the future cost value will be specified for the whole table row. In this case, a cost will be applied to a certain combination of attribute values. As a result, you can specify any needed combination of event values and provide a specific cost for it. For example, in the table below the cost of a call center request will be defined by the combination of its topic and the region of processing:
| Topic | Region | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment | West | 2 |
| Enrollment | South | 3 |
| Enrollment | North | 5 |
| Enrollment | East | 3 |
| Billing | West | 2 |
| Billing | East | 1 |
9/5/2024 4:23:54 PM