Dimension group FAQs

This topic applies to standard dimensions. For user-defined dimensions, see Manage user-defined dimensions.

You can easily create a dimension group that includes all active members of a dimension.

When creating the dimension group, select the following options:

  1. Select All members as the group type.
  2. Change the sort order as needed.
  3. In the Filters list, filter for all Active members.
    1. For the Field, select Status.
    2. For the Operator, select equals.
    3. For the Value, select Active.

Depending on the type of field you select, matching can work differently.

  • For numerical fields, equals, greater than, and less than are often used to filter based on whether the amount is equal to, above, or below the number you enter.
  • In general, non-number fields ask you to select a specific record from a list (for example, a specific department name or manager). For these types of fields, equals, not equal to, is empty, and is not empty are the most useful operators.
  • If you want to match records that contain a certain word (for example, project names that contain the word "design"), use the contains operator. Instead of choosing a record from a list, enter the word in the Value field.

Some fields, such as amount due and item price, contain data that can change over time. For the purposes of filtering reports, amount-based filters are always applied using the most current data, even if the "as of" date for the report is in the past.

For example, suppose that you create a revenue report that filters for items with the highest price. When you run the report, the filter will be applied based on the current price of the items, even if the report is being run for a prior reporting period.

The filters operate differently depending on whether you select any specific members in the Members list.

  • If you use the Members list to select specific dimension members, such as particular departments or customers, the filters will be applied only to those specific members.
  • To apply filters to all members of a dimension (for example, selecting all your locations where the Status equals "Active") do not select any specific members in the Members list.

Example: Suppose that you have a location group that has three members such as California, New York, and Oregon (an inactive location), and you then add a filter for locations where the Status equals "Active." In this case, when you use the location group to filter reports, the report will include data only for California and New York and will not include the inactive location.

Dimensions are often hierarchical. For example, a department can have one or more child departments, up to several levels deep.

When a report filter includes a member of a dimension, data from any members that belong to it will also be included. This means that a department group that matches the Engineering department will automatically include data from any subdepartments (like Development, Quality Assurance, and Documentation.)

When filtering financial reports by department or location, you can decide to exclude subdepartments or sublocations by deselecting the Include subdimensions option under the filter field.

Create a dimension group that is filtered to include both inactive and active members. Then, use that dimension group to filter financial reports.

See the help for the specific dimension, for example, location or department, for details on making a dimension inactive.

If a user is restricted to the child of a dimension value and then a group is used in reporting that would include the child the option to view the report group is blocked for the restricted user.