Manage groups (sub-dimensions)
Create and maintain additional groupings for your dimensions to enhance the analysis capabilities in your financial statements.
User permission: Manage Custom Statements
There are two ways to manage dimension groups: directly in Financial Statements (covered on this page) and in the Designer module.
When using the Financial Statements method to create a sub-dimension, you can't differentiate at a level lower than a General Ledger account, such as cost center. However, this can be done in the Designer module.
If you use the Budgets & Forecasts module, take care when making any changes in Financial Statements, as you risk losing budget values. See the Relationship with the Financial Statements module page to learn about the impacts of making changes to statements. It's a good idea to publish your budgets and forecasts before you make any changes here.
Use the Groups feature to create and maintain groups (sub-dimensions) within your existing dimension groups. Conceptually, each group is a sub-dimension made up of dimension entities from a selected primary dimension.
Before you start, read the Overview of dimensions page for a foundational explanation of dimension groups, including what they are, why they’re used, and how primary and sub-dimensions relate. This page builds on that information.
Get started with the Groups feature
To open the Groups feature, click the Settings button in the top-right corner and select Groups.
The Groups window is where you manage the groups (sub-dimensions) in your dimension groups.
You can't create a new main dimension group or rename an existing dimension group here.
Primary dimension
The list in the top-left of the window contains the primary dimensions in the database. These are the dimensions that appear in the dimension panel next to the statement grid. If a dimension has any sub-dimensions (making it a dimension group), you'll see the number of sub-dimensions in brackets after its name.
Grid
Select the primary dimension you want to work with to update the grid accordingly.
The grid contains the following details for the selected dimension:
Rows: The dimension's entities. By default, the Account dimension is selected, so the accounts appear in the grid. When you select a different dimension, you see its entities in the grid.
Columns: The properties of the dimension's entities, such as the account Code and Name, plus any groups (sub-dimensions). The groups provide additional descriptive attributes for each dimension entity. They're another way of grouping the data in the primary dimension.
Cell values: These define how dimension entities roll up in the groups.
For example, in the image below, the Trading Entity dimension is the primary dimension in a dimension group. It has two sub-dimensions, Operating type and Country.
When you select this dimension:
Each trading entity appears as a row in the grid.
Operating type and Country appear as columns in the grid, and each trading entity is assigned to an operating type and country.
Filters
Use the filters to limit the number of items that are displayed in the grid, which can help when mapping them to groups:
Properties: Properties give you information about the selected dimension, which helps you to map (assign) the entities to the applicable groups. Select the checkboxes of the properties you want to see in the grid, and clear the checkboxes of the ones you don't want to see.
Activity: The selected dimension might contain entities for which there is no transaction activity. It's still possible to map such entities to a group. Select Activity, No Activity, or All as required.
Keyword: The filter box allows you to find a particular dimension entity row quickly. As you type a keyword, the grid contents are filtered to display only the rows that match. Often you don’t need to enter a whole keyword, as the search is fast. There's also a search box in the filter for each dimension column header.
Group entities: The All dropdown button in the header of each group (sub-dimension) column allows you to filter for:
Specific dimension entities: In the dropdown list, select the checkboxes of individual entities you want to focus on. Only those entities are displayed in the grid.
Mapped and unmapped entities: In the dropdown list, select (Unmapped). This selection makes the mapping process easier, as only the unmapped entities (those you've yet to assign to the sub-dimension) are displayed in the grid. To view all the mapped items again, clear the Unmapped checkbox.
Actions
You can add, rename, and delete groups (sub-dimensions) to meet your growing business needs. You can also export groups to validate them against other sources.
Changes you make to groups are saved in the underlying database design. As a result, they're available to all users with access to that database. The groups are included in favorites and dashboards. They’re also available in the Analytics module.
When managing your dimension groups, use the Undo and Redo buttons in the top-right corner to save time when you need to undo or redo the following actions: enter or import data, and create, clone, rename, or delete columns.
Find specific dimension entities (sort and filter)
It’s likely that your dimensions contain many entities, and therefore, there are many rows in the grid.
To manage the data more easily:
Click a column header to sort the data by that condition in ascending or descending order.
Use one of the filtering methods explained above.
Add a group
As dimensions are a way of grouping data, adding new groups (sub-dimensions) gives you even more ways to group the data. Groups are useful for many reasons, but they’re particularly valuable when:
Your business has a long list of things, such as lots of departments or cost centers. For example, you could create groups for each type of store (franchise or independent) or each size of store (small, medium, or large).
Your business is project-based. You can have individual groups for each project.
You want to analyze consolidated results. You might want to group your entities in a certain way to help with your analysis.
You want to reclassify items, something that might be unavailable in your ERP.
You can add a new group from scratch or clone an existing one to save time and reuse the data. Alternatively, you can import the group data.
Watch the PUG Training video Financial Statements 101 for a demonstration of adding a group called Consolidated Trading Entity with a custom sort order that's then used to add a level in the statement for analysis purposes (jump to 13:00).
Clone a group
Cloning is useful when you want to create a new group that’s very similar to an existing one. For example, if you have a group that updates each year, such as Market Strategy, you can clone it and append its name with the year, then reassign the dimension entities as required.
With the required primary dimension selected, click the menu button in the column header of the group you want to clone and select Clone. A column for the new group (clone) is added to the grid.
Proceed to rename the group and change the entity mappings as required.
Add a new group from scratch
With the required primary dimension selected, click the Add button in the top-right corner. A column for the new group is added to the grid.
Rename the group to something more meaningful. For example, change Dimension 1 to Country.
Map (assign) the entities in the primary dimension to the applicable entity in the group:
Save time by mapping multiple dimension entities to a group entity at the same time. Use the sort and filter tools to locate the specific items, then select their rows (click and drag to select all rows in a series).
Type the new group entity's name into the yellow box in the column and press Enter. In this example, you select the three Australian company rows and type Australia (entity) into the Country (group) column.
After you add one or more group entities, you can select from that list of entities when mapping the subsequent dimension entities.
Repeat the above steps (1 to 3) to add more groups and map the entities. In this example, you add another group for the size of the company, which can be small, medium, or large.
Import groups
Rather than manually adding or editing your group data, you can import it from a Microsoft Excel file. The best starting point is the export file (see Export groups below), which acts as a template to work from. You can edit the data in the file as required, such as add new groups and entities or change the mapping, then import the file to quickly update the data in the grid.
With the required primary dimension selected, ensure there’s at least one group column in the grid. If there are none yet, add a blank column and give it a more meaningful name (or you can rename it later).
Open the exported file in Microsoft Excel, make your changes, then save and close the file.
Back in the Groups window, click Import, locate and select your file, then click Open.
In the Groups import window, review the imported data and select the applicable group from the list above each column header (or select Ignore for any columns you don't want to import), then click Apply.
Rename the new groups, if required.
Example: Add groups for accounts
In addition to customizing the top levels of your financial statements (see Customize account groups), you can add groups (sub-dimensions) to the Account dimension group to get a level of detail that you don't have in your original dataset.
Then, when you add a sub-dimension as a level in the statement grid, its entities display as sub-levels underneath the applicable category rows.
In the Groups window, select Account from the primary dimension list.
Use the Properties column to bring in additional information, such as the financial statement category mapping.
Add the groups using any of the methods explained above.
In each group column, add the dimension entities, then map the accounts to those entities.
Rename a group
You should change each group's default name, such as Dimension 1, to something more meaningful, such as Country. Remember, these names appear in the dimension panel next to the statement grid, so descriptive names are more useful for analysis purposes.
With the required primary dimension selected, locate the required group column in the grid, then click the menu button in its column header.
Select Rename. The header becomes editable.
Overwrite the default name, then click outside the header to apply your changes.
Apply a custom sort order
When you add a group (sub-dimension) as a level in the statement grid, its entities display in a default order. You can customize this order to meet your reporting needs.
With the required primary dimension selected, locate the required group column in the grid, then click the menu button in its column header.
Select Custom sort order.
Drag each item up or down to the new position and click OK.
To revert to the default sort order, in the group's menu, select Custom sort order and click Delete.
Delete a group
With the required primary dimension selected, locate the required group column in the grid, then click the menu button in its column header.
Select Delete and click Delete to confirm.
Save your changes
After making changes in the Groups window, select one of these options:
Click Save and close to save your changes without triggering a database build. Your changes will take effect on the next database build.
Click Build Now to rebuild the database immediately and apply your changes. After a successful build, you’ll receive a message asking you to refresh the page, and then you’ll see the new dimensions.
Export groups
Export the dimension group data in the grid for easy validation with other sources.
With the required primary dimension selected, click Export in the bottom-left corner. The file downloads to your computer. Click the file to open it in Microsoft Excel.
You can use the exported file as a template to update the group data for that dimension. Ensure the grid has at least one group column. See Import groups.
View groups in Financial Statements
When you rebuild the database after adding groups (sub-dimensions) to dimensions, you’ll see the new sub-dimensions in the dimension panel, underneath their respective primary dimensions.
You can then use the sub-dimensions as you would use any other dimension during your analysis. For example, you can add them as levels in the grid or use them to filter the data in the grid.
View groups in Designer
If you're an administrator with access to the Designer module, you can also view the new groups (sub-dimensions) in the database design.
In Financial Statements, click the blue menu button next to the database name and select Design database.
In Designer, the sub-dimensions are displayed underneath the corresponding primary dimension. A lock icon indicates that these dimensions can't be edited here, as they are managed in the Groups feature in Financial Statements.
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