Cost Allocation Calculator

Installation of Cost Allocation Calculator – Excel Version

1) Check Whether you have Microsoft Excel

You’ll need Microsoft Excel to use the Excel Calculator. Virtually all computers running Windows have Microsoft Excel. If you do not know whether you have Microsoft Excel on your computer, follow these steps for computers running the Windows operating system.

1. Click on the Windows button on the bottom left corner of your computer screen to browse the programs on your computer.
2. Find the search bar and enter Excel. If you have Excel, the Excel icon should display. 

If you do not have Excel, you will not be able to download and run the Cost Allocation Calculator Excel Version. Consider downloading the Access Version of the Cost Allocation Calculator.

2) Downloading and Saving the Excel Calculator The First Time

1. Download the Excel Calculator. 
2. Save the Calculator to folder on your computer. Preferably, this would be a trusted location. A trusted location is a folder or drive where you usually save and open workplace files.
3. Unblock protection for the Calculator file using your file window. To do this:
4. Find and right click on the file. 
5. The file properties window should appear. Navigate to the General tab.
6. At the bottom of the General tab, locate the Security section that states: This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer. 
7. Check the Unblock checkbox and then click OK.

3) Open the Excel Calculator file 

1. You may get a pop-up or status bar warning that the file has been opened in protected view or that macros have been disabled. YOU MUST enable editing and enable macros for the Excel Calculator to work. 
2. If, after you enable content, you still get a message saying that Microsoft has blocked macros from running, that means either:
3. You have not unblocked security (see Section 2.3, above), or 
4. You may need to save the file to a trusted location (see Section 4, below), or
5. There are additional company security measures that may need resolved. Visit this site for some tips or contact your IT Department. 

4) Find and create Trusted Locations

One way to help reduce security issues preventing your use of the Allocation Calculator is to save the file to a trusted location. To find your computer’s trusted locations, follow the steps below and check out this helpful Microsoft article.

1. Open Excel and navigate to Home > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings.
2. Click on Trusted Locations and view the list of trusted locations.  Adding trusted locations is only possible if your organization’s security policies allow it.
3. To add a trusted location, click on the Add New Location button.
4. Then use the Browse button to find the folder you want to make a trusted location and click OK. In this case, you would be adding as a trusted location the folder where you stored the Calculator file.
5. Click OK to exit the Trust Center and any other windows.