3
Dimensions and Dimension Values
Chapter summary
This chapter describes dimensions and dimension values.
Who should read this chapter
You need to know the information in this chapter if you are:
- An administrator who creates and maintains dimensions and dimension values for personal use as well as for distribution to users of the shared database that you administer
- A Budget workstation user who creates dimensions and dimension values for personal use and uses dimensions and dimension values that have been distributed to you
- An Analyst workstation user who, although unable to create or maintain them, wishes to gain a basic understanding of dimensions and dimension values
List of topics
This chapter includes the following topics:
About Dimensions and Dimension Values
How data is organized
Data is organized in Financial Analyzer using three kinds of data structures:
- Dimensions
- Dimension values
- Financial data items
Financial data items are made up of dimensions, which in turn are made up of dimension values.
Definition: Dimensions
Dimensions are database objects that perform the following functions:
- They organize the data contained in financial data items
- They answer the following questions about data: what, when, and where
- They enable you to select and work with specific subsets of data
Definition: Dimension values
Dimension values are the elements that make up a dimension.
Example: Dimensions and dimension values
The report in this example contains the following dimensions and dimension values:
The report displays information for a financial data item called Actuals.
Text description of the illustration U_03c001.gif
The following illustration shows how the intersection of the Taxes, Eastern Region and January 1996 dimension values points to the financial data item value 5,565,146 in the database.
Text description of the illustration U_03c002.gif
Who can work with dimensions and dimension values?
Administrators
As an administrator, it is your responsibility to maintain the dimensions and dimension values that your users access in the shared database that you administer. When you create or modify a dimension or dimension value and want other users to be able to access it, you must distribute the dimension or dimension value to the shared database and to other users.
Budget workstation users
As a Budget workstation user, you can create and modify dimensions and dimension values for personal use. You can modify dimensions and dimension values that your administrator has created for you, but you cannot save the modifications unless you assign a new name to the modified dimension or dimension value, so that you retain the original. Also note that you cannot submit data to the shared database if is associated with a dimension or dimension value that you have created in your personal database.
Creating and Modifying Dimensions
Creating dimensions
You choose Dimension from the Maintain menu to create a new dimension. This opens the Maintain Dimension dialog box. From this starting point you can perform the following functions:
- Enter a name for the dimension. The name is used in reports, graphs, worksheets, and data entry forms.
- Enter an object name. The object name is the internal identifier by which the system references the dimension.
- Enter an object prefix.
- Choose the dimension type. You can choose Text or Time.
- Specify the maximum name length for dimension values that are part of this dimension.
Assigning properties and user privileges to dimensions
Once a dimension has a name, object name, object prefix and type, you can specify whether the dimension supports the following types of operations:
- Aggregation of financial data over time.
- Whether the dimension supports best case and worst case variance reporting.
- Whether values for this dimension should be refreshed in each user's database according to the order specified in your (administrator) database.
- Whether the user can scale data associated with this dimension.
You can also specify the types of users who can create new hierarchies, models, or attributes based on this dimension. You can choose DBA, EveryOne, or NoOne.
Important: Base your selections on how the dimension will be used in the system. Refer to "Suggested Ways to Set Up Dimensions for an overview of typical ways in which dimensions are used in Financial Analyzer.
Example: Dimension information
The following example shows the Maintain Dimension dialog box with information for the Product dimension.
Text description of the illustration newdim.gif
In this example:
- The Product dimension maintains the same sort order as the administrator
- If scaling is supported by the financial data item that the dimension is part of, users will be able to scale date values associated with this dimension in reports
- All users can create hierarchies and attributes based on this dimension
- All users can create models using Product as the base dimension
Modifying dimensions
You choose Dimension from the Maintain menu to modify dimensions in your personal database. This opens the Maintain Dimension dialog box, from which you can perform the following modifications:
- You can give a dimension a new name.
- You can delete a dimension from your personal database. As an administrator, you can also delete a dimension from the shared database by deleting it from your personal database, and then distributing this change to the shared database and to other users.
- You can modify the properties that have been assigned to a dimension. For more information, see "Assigning properties and user privileges to dimensions.
- You can move a dimension to a new position in the list of dimensions maintained by the system.
- As an administrator, you can change the types of users who can create objects based on the dimension. For more information, see "Assigning properties and user privileges to dimensions.
Distributing a deleted dimension
If you delete a dimension, you must distribute the structure with a Delete from System action. This deletes the structure from the shared database and from the personal databases of all of your users, including any administrators immediately below you in the reporting hierarchy. Administrators below you in the reporting hierarchy should propagate this change by distributing the deletion to their shared database and to the personal databases of their users, and so on down to the leaf nodes. If they choose not to do so, they can retain the structure for their own use, but they can never submit data associated with the structure into your shared database.
If you delete and then redefine a dimension
If you delete a dimension and then attempt to define a dimension with the same object name before distributing the deletion, the system prompts you to specify whether to process the deletion.
- If you indicate that the dimension is a new object that is intended to replace the deleted object, the system creates a system deletion task on the distribution list.
- If you indicate that the deletion was inadvertent, the system removes the deletion task from the distribution list, but any dimension values remain deleted. If you choose this option, it is your responsibility to redefine the dimension exactly as it was prior to the deletion. The system will not check for this.
Related information
For more information about working with dimensions, search for the following topics in the Financial Analyzer Help system:
- "Creating Dimensions"
- "Modifying Dimensions"
- "Moving Dimensions"
- "Renaming Dimensions"
- "Deleting Dimensions"
Suggested Ways to Set Up Dimensions
Using dimensions in models
When the data associated with a financial data item needs to be calculated, a model is defined using one or more of the dimensions that make up the financial data item. For example, models might be based on dimensions such as Line Item and Account. Dimensions that are used in models typically aggregate over time and do not require hierarchies because Financial Analyzer provides a Time hierarchy.
Using dimensions in hierarchies
When the data associated with a financial data item needs to be aggregated into higher and lower levels of detail, a hierarchy is defined using one or more of the dimensions that make up the financial data item. For example, hierarchies might be based on dimensions such as Organization and Product. Dimensions that are used in hierarchies typically do not aggregate over time and are not used in models.
Using dimensions as attributes
When you need to establish a relationship between two dimensions for the purpose of selecting values of one dimension by their association with another dimension, an attribute can be defined to link them. Typically, the grouping dimension of an attribute is not used to dimension any financial data item, does not aggregate over time, is not used in a model, and does not require hierarchies.
Using custom time dimensions
You can set up time periods using either the Standard Time dimension, or you can create a custom time dimension. A custom time dimension requires hierarchies to build time relationships.
Suggested properties to assign when creating dimensions
The following table recommends the properties to assign to dimensions used in models, hierarchies, attributes, and custom time dimensions.
Creating and Modifying Dimension Values
Creating dimension values
You choose Dimension Value from the Maintain menu to create a new dimension value. This opens the Maintain Dimension Value dialog box, where you choose the dimension for which you want to create the dimension value. From this starting point you can perform the following functions:
- Enter a name for the dimension value.
- Enter a dimension value name. The dimension value name is the internal identifier for by which the system references the dimension value.
- Specify the text for row and column labels.
- For a dimension value in a custom time dimension, select the time period. You can choose Month, Quarter, Year, or Year-to-Date.
- For a dimension value in a model dimension that supports aggregation, select an aggregation type for rolling up the data associated with the dimension value. You can choose one of the following:
- Add month into quarters -- Data for each month is added into quarterly totals. Used for line items on income statements.
- First month only into quarter -- Only the first month of the quarter is used in quarterly totals, or only the first month of the year is used in yearly totals. Used for line items on cash flow statements.
- Last month only into quarter -- Only the last month of the quarter is used in quarterly totals, or only the last month of the year is used in yearly totals. Used for line items on balance sheets.
- Average months into quarter -- Values are averaged over the quarter or over the year. Used for line items such as Head Count.
- Average across time and org -- Values are averaged over all organizations and over the quarter of the year. Used for line items such as Unit Price.
- Recalculate quarter -- Values are recalculated at the end of the quarter or year, using the line item equation. Used for line items such as Return on Sales, which represents a ratio.
- Do not aggregate -- Values for or dimension values marked with this aggregation type are removed from status before any rollups or worksheet spread operations are performed.
- For a dimension value in a dimension that supports best case and worst case variance reporting, specify the variance to use when displaying a financial data item involving a variance. You can choose ACT - BUD or BUD - ACT.
- For a dimension value in a dimension for which the Control Dimension Value Scaling property was selected when the dimension was created, you can disable numeric scaling.
Note: If you are creating a new dimension value that is similar to a saved dimension value, you can save time by copying information for row and column labels, time period, aggregation type, variance, and scaling from the saved value to the new value. Choose Copy in the New Dimension Value dialog box to copy dimension value information.
Example: Dimension value information
The following example shows the Maintain Dimension value dialog box with information for a Product dimension value.
Text description of the illustration newdval.gif
In this example:
- The dimension name is 110- Sentinel Standard
- The row label is Sentinel Standard
- The column label is Sent Std
- Aggregation Type is not applicable because the Product dimension does not aggregate over time
- Variance Type is not applicable because the Product dimension does not support best and worse case variance indicators
- Users can apply numeric scaling to this dimension value
Modifying dimension values
You choose Dimension Value from the Maintain menu to modify dimension values. This opens the Maintain Dimension Value dialog box, from which you can choose the dimension and the dimension value and perform the following modifications:
- You can give a dimension value a new name.
- You can delete a dimension value from your personal database. As an administrator, you can also delete a dimension value from the shared database by deleting it from your personal database, and then distributing the change to the shared database and to other users.
- Edit row and column labels.
- You can move a dimension to a new position in the list of dimension values maintained by the system.
- For a dimension value in a custom time dimension, you can change the time period.
- For a dimension value in a dimension that supports aggregation over time, you can change the aggregation type.
- For a dimension value in a dimension that supports best case and worst case variance reporting, you can change the variance type.
- For a dimension value in a dimension for which the Control Dimension Value Scaling option was selected when the dimension was created, you can disable numeric scaling.
If you delete and then redefine a dimension value
If you delete a dimension value and then attempt to define a dimension value with the same object name before distributing the deletion, the system prompts you to specify whether to process the deletion.
- If you indicate that the dimension value is a new object that is intended to replace the deleted object, the system creates a system deletion task on the distribution list.
- If you indicate that the deletion was inadvertent, the system removes the deletion task from the distribution list. If you choose this option, it is your responsibility to redefine the dimension value exactly as it was prior to the deletion. The system will not check for this.
Related information
For more information about working with dimension values, search for the following topics in the Financial Analyzer Help system:
- "Creating Dimension Values"
- "Modifying Dimension Values"
- "Moving Dimension Values"
- "Renaming Dimension Values"
- "Deleting Dimension Values"
