Filter the financial information

Dimensions, which are categories or segments of data, are a quick way to filter the whole dataset.

Rather than focus on the high-level overview of your financial statements, use dimensions (and entities) to filter the financial statement and analyze the performance at a lower level of detail. After you filter by one dimension, you can filter by another dimension. You can repeat this action to filter by multiple dimensions and view your financial statements at a more detailed level.

Watch this Phocas Academy video: Filter your financial information

Get familiar with dimensions

In Financial Statements, a dimension is a level in your statement and an entity is a value within a dimension. For example, a dimension is Country and the entities are Australia, the UK, and the USA. The panel on the left of the statements grid contains a list of the dimensions in the underlying financial database, along with any custom dimensions.

Typically, dimensions come from the underlying database but users who have permission to manage financial statements can create custom dimensions and dimension groups to add a level of detail that was not in the original dataset and enhance the analysis capabilities in your financial statements.

The dimensions are displayed in a list on the left of the statement grid.

The dimensions you see in the list are relevant to that particular statement. If you have other types of custom statements and other versions of a particular statement, the dimensions in those statements are also available. These other dimensions might not be relevant to the statement you are currently viewing, so they are initially hidden to avoid cluttering the list. However, they are available for additional analysis capabilities. For example, you might have created a sub-dimension for one Profit and Loss (P&L) statement that you want to use on other P&L statements.

Click the Expand button to view the full list of dimensions and use them in your analysis as required. Click the Collapse button to hide those other dimensions from view.

Apply a filter

Click the dimension you want to use as a filter, such as Country, Branch, Department, and so on. You move into the Analytics module, where you'll notice some of the menu items change and the Summary button turns grey. The Analytics grid displays a summary performance of each entity in the selected dimension.

From here, you have two options:

• Use the range of Analytics tools to drill deeper into your data, all the way down to the transaction level. See the Analytics pages for detailed information.
• Select one or more entities in the grid, then click the Summary button to return to the Financial Statements module and view the filtered statement. The filter you apply displays above the grid, and the number of selected entities displays on the corresponding dimension button.

  

  Expand the sections below for more examples.

Example 1: Filter a financial statement to view the performance of one branch

In the financial statement, click the Branch dimension, then in the Analytics grid, select the branch (B008) and click the Summary button.

The statement grid now displays the Profit and Loss for branch B008.

Example 2: Filter a financial statement to view the performance of a multiple branches

In the financial statement, click the Branch dimension, then in the Analytics grid, select the branches (B002, B003 and B004) and click the Summary button.

The statement grid now displays the combined Profit and Loss statement for the selected branches. The net profit value is the sum of the net profits of those branches.

Example 3: Filter a financial statement to view the performance of a multiple cost centers in a branch

Suppose you have filtered the Profit and Loss statement by the Country (dimension) > Australia (entity). Now you want to take your analysis a step further and see how two specific cost centres in Australia are performing.

In the filtered financial statement, click the Cost Centre dimension.

In the Analytics grid, select the cost centers (C001 and C004) and click the Summary button.

The statement grid now displays the combined Profit and Loss statement for the selected cost centres in Australia. The net profit value is the sum of the net profits of those cost centres.

Remove a filter

To remove a filter and return to the high-level summary financial information, click the X on the dimension button(s).

To completely reset the data, click the Reset button.

Hide dimensions

To get a better view of the financial statement grid and see more columns without having to scroll across, you can hide the dimension panel which includes the Summary, Focus, and Reset buttons. This is particularly useful if you have a small screen.

Click the Hide dimensions button on the bottom-left of the grid. Click the button again to bring the panel back into view.