Set up dimension groups

The way that you set up dimension groups for your company depends on your business and how you plan to use the groups.

For example, your company performs services from multiple locations. You can set up dimension groups that help you filter reports by location, customer, employee, and even project.

Within each type of dimension group, you can define multiple groups for different purposes, such as groups that filter customers by type, amount due, country, or a combination of criteria.

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

Company

Regional availability

All regions

User type

Business

Project Manager

Employee (Viewing)
Permissions Dimension groups (varies by application): List, View, Add, Edit

There's a separate dimension group list for each type of standard dimension, and permissions control your access to them.

All dimension groups are found on the Reports menu. To view them, go to Reports > Setup > Dimension groups.

You can also find specific dimension groups in the Setup section of their associated applications. For example, to find the customer groups list:

Go to Accounts Receivable or Order Entry > Setup > Customers > Groups.

Some dimension groups, such as customers, suppliers, and items, can be found on multiple menus. All dimensions groups are available from the Reports > Setup menu.

The following table lists the additional menus where you can find specific dimension groups. Availability depends on the dimensions that are set up for your company and your own permissions to each application.

Dimension group menus
Dimension group Menus

Department groups

Company

Location groups

Company

Employee groups
  • Company
  • Expenses

Item groups
  • Order Entry
  • Purchasing
  • Projects
  • Inventory

Customer groups
  • Accounts Receivable
  • Order Entry

Supplier groups
  • Accounts Payable
  • Purchasing

Project groups
  • Projects
  • Order Entry
  • Accounts Receivable

Warehouse groups

Inventory Control

Contract groups

Contracts

Class groups

Company

If you do not see a particular dimension group in a menu, ask your administrator to give you permission to the dimension group. There are separate permissions for each application from which you can access the dimension group list.

Add a dimension group

  1. Go to Reports > Setup > Dimension groups and select Add (circle) next to the dimension for which you're adding a group.

  2. Enter an ID and Name for the dimension group.

    You cannot change IDs after you've saved the group, but you can edit the name later.

  3. Optionally, enter a description that will remind you what this group includes or how it's used.

  4. From the Group type dropdown, select the type of group that you want to create.

    • Select All members if you want to set up filters that automatically select the group members from a pool of all dimension members.

      For example, you can create a Direct Customers group that filters customers to include only the ones with the Customer Type field set to Direct.

    • Select Specific members to select the dimension members manually. You can then apply filters to refine the group further.

      The group type and options that you select determine which members are included in report data when you filter on this dimension group.

      If you're creating financial reports that show dimensions in rows or columns, your selection also determines the column and row headings, and the order in which they're listed.

  5. Optionally, if you selected All members in the Group type field, specify how group members are sorted when displayed in reports.

    How you define the group determines the display order for members.

    Sort options for dimension members
    Group type How to sort members

    All members

    By default, members are sorted in ascending order based on ID, but you can change the sort order. For example, you can sort a customer group in Ascending order based on the Last Name field.

    To define the sort order, set the Sort order to Ascending or Descending and then select the field to use for sorting.

    Specific members

    Members will be displayed in the order they appear in the Members list.

    Learn how to select and order members.

  6. Select the Dimension structure checkbox to create a dimension structure automatically. This means that the group can be used on the rows or columns of financial reports.

    You can later find your dimension structures by going to Reports > Setup > Dimensions and then the name of the dimension.

    If you do not create a dimension structure for the group, you’ll be able to use the group only for filtering.

  7. Add filtering to the group.

      1. Select the field that you want to filter on.

      2. Select the operation and value that you want to filter for.

        The options depend on the field that you select.

        If you add more than one filter, All (AND) is selected in the Filter conditions field by default. This means that members are included only if they match all criteria. However, you can change this behavior by selecting Or (Any) in the Filter conditions field.

    Learn more about filtering with field values.

More on determining what's in the group

The group type and options that you select determine which members are included in report data when you filter on this dimension group.

If you're creating financial reports that show dimensions in rows or columns, your selection also determines the column and row headings, and the order in which they're listed.

  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.
  1. Select All members as the group type.
  2. Change the sort order as needed.
  3. Use the Filters list to filter on specific fields (such as the department manager).
Do not select any specific members. If you select specific members (such as particular locations or suppliers), the filters will apply only to the members that you selected.
  1. Select Specific members as the group type.
  2. Use the Members list to add, delete, or reorder members.
  3. Do not apply any filters to the group.
  1. Select Specific members as the group type.
  2. Use the Members list to add, delete, or reorder members.
  3. Use the Filters list to narrow the members further based on specific fields.
Non-numeric fields are matched alphabetically.
  1. Select All members as the group type.
  2. Set the Sort order to Ascending or Descending and then select the field to use.
  3. Enter the number of matches in the Max matches field.
If you're planning to show top or bottom matches in a financial report, such as showing the top customers by revenue, do not use this option for the group.

Select specific dimension members and set their order

When you select specific members of a dimension, you’re picking the individual locations, departments, customers, suppliers, employees, items, projects, or classes that you want to include. For example, you might want to create an Employee group that contains certain employees.

  1. Set the Group type to Specific members.
  2. Use the Members list to select the members to include. The sort order that you select will be used in any reports that show dimensions in columns or rows.

If you're creating a dimension group at the top level, you cannot include members that belong to an entity. Try creating the dimension group from the entity itself.

Filter with field values

You can add filters that select dimension members based on the value of certain fields. For example, you can select customers of a certain type or suppliers that have a payment priority of urgent.

  1. Select the field that you want to filter on.

  2. Select the operation and value that you want to filter for.

    The options depend on the field that you select.

    If you add more than one filter, All (AND) is selected in the Filter conditions field by default. This means that members are included only if they match all criteria. However, you can change this behavior by selecting Or (Any) in the Filter conditions field.

Filter for projects, employees, locations, or departments managed by the current user

Dimension groups can automatically show managers just the information that's relevant to them. For example, you can set up a Project dimension group called "My projects," which dynamically filters for projects managed by the current user. Similarly, groups can be used to filter for employees, departments, or locations managed by the current user.

The current user is the user who is currently logged into Intacct.

Suppose that you have several project managers. Each project manager wants to see reports and dashboards filtered for their projects only.

  1. Create a Project group that filters for projects managed by the current user.

    • Project group named "My projects"
    • Select All members
    • Select Project manager ID as the filter field, then set the Operator to is current user

    Because Project manager ID is connected to an Intacct user, the group can filter for projects where the current user is the manager.

  2. Use the dimension group to filter reports and dashboards.

For example, you can create a financial report that shows revenue and expenses by project. This report can be prefiltered for the "My projects" group. Or you can prompt the user when the report is run so that they can easily switch between showing all projects or just their own projects.

When you set the filter to the current user, you limit the user to see only the group, such as projects, employees, or locations associated with the user. For example, the filter field is "Project Manager" and the operator is "current user. " When the project manager runs the report, they’ll only see their own projects.

To create a group that filters for the current user:

  1. Create a new group of type Project, Employee, Department, or Location.
  2. Define the group as usual, giving it a name that users will recognize, such as "My projects" or "My employees."

  3. In the Filters section, select a field that's connected to an employee who is a user in Intacct.

    • For Project dimension groups, you can select the Project manager ID field.
    • For Department, Location, or Employee dimension groups, you can select the Manager field.

    Not all contact fields are connected to a user. For this reason, filtering for the current user is restricted to the Project Manager ID and Manager fields.

  4. Set the Operator to is current user.

Combine multiple filters

If you have multiple filters, the default behavior is to match only members that meet all the criteria. However, you can change how this works using the Filter conditions dropdown menu.

Filter conditions
Filter condition Result

All (AND)

Include members that match all criteria (the default behavior).

Any (OR)

Include members that match any criteria.

Expression

Uses an expression that you define to apply the filters.

For example, the following expression matches members that either meet criteria 1 and 2, or that meet criteria 3.

(1 AND 2) OR 3

If you want to select "one of" something, such as departments where the manager is either Jim, Sue, or Terri, create several filters and use the Any (OR) filter condition.

Create a group filter for active and inactive members

There are times when you want to include dimensions that are inactive in reports. Create a dimension group that filters for both types of dimension member.

  1. Open or edit the dimension group for the dimension type, for example, departments, locations, or territories.
  2. In the filters section, create two filters:
    • Status equals active
    • Status equals inactive
  3. Make sure that the condition type is set to Any (OR).
  4. Save your changes.

You can use this group when you want to have both active and inactive members appear in a report.

Determine what's in the group

The group type and options that you select determine which members are included in report data when you filter on this dimension group.

If you're creating financial reports that show dimensions in rows or columns, your selection also determines the column and row headings, and the order in which they're listed.

  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.
  1. Select All members as the group type.
  2. Change the sort order as needed.
  3. Use the Filters list to filter on specific fields (such as the department manager).
Do not select any specific members. If you select specific members (such as particular locations or suppliers), the filters will apply only to the members that you selected.
  1. Select Specific members as the group type.
  2. Use the Members list to add, delete, or reorder members.
  3. Do not apply any filters to the group.
  1. Select Specific members as the group type.
  2. Use the Members list to add, delete, or reorder members.
  3. Use the Filters list to narrow the members further based on specific fields.
Non-numeric fields are matched alphabetically.
  1. Select All members as the group type.
  2. Set the Sort order to Ascending or Descending and select the field to use.
  3. Enter the number of matches in the Max matches field.
If you're planning to show top or bottom matches in a financial report, such as showing the top customers by revenue, do not use this option for the group.

Select specific dimension members and set their order

When you select "specific members" of a dimension, you’re picking the individual locations, departments, customers, suppliers, employees, items, projects, or classes that you want to include. For example, you might want to create an Employee group that contains certain employees.

  1. Set the Group type to Specific members.

  2. Use the Members list to select the members to include. The sort order that you select will be used in any reports that show dimensions in columns or rows.

If you're creating a dimension group at the top level, you cannot include members that belong to an entity. Try creating the dimension group from the entity itself.

Filter with field values

You can add filters that select dimension members based on the value of certain fields. For example, you might want to select customers of a certain type or suppliers that have a payment priority of urgent.

  1. Select the field that you want to filter on.

  2. Select the operation and value that you want to filter for.

    The options depend on the field that you select.

    If you add more than one filter, All (AND) is selected in the Filter conditions field by default. This means that members are included only if they match all criteria. However, you can change this behavior by selecting Or (Any) in the Filter conditions field.

Following are some examples of how you might use each type of dimension group.

Dimension group examples
Dimension group Examples

Department groups
  • All active departments
  • Specific departments
  • By manager
  • Where the manager is the current user
  • By parent department

Location groups
  • All active locations
  • Specific locations
  • By manager
  • Where the manager is the current user
  • With the same parent location
  • With a particular base currency

Employee groups
  • All active employees
  • By earning type (hourly or salary)
  • By manager
  • Where the manager is the current user
  • With salaries greater than a specific amount

Item groups
  • All active items
  • By product line
  • By item type
  • Most expensive or least expensive (top of bottom match on item price)
  • By tax status (taxable = true or false)

Customer groups
  • All active customers
  • By customer type
  • By customer industry
  • Top outstanding total due
  • With a credit limit greater than or less than a specific amount

Supplier groups
  • All active suppliers
  • By supplier type
  • With a payment priority of urgent
  • Top outstanding total due

Project groups
  • All active projects
  • By project type (for example, billing type = Time and materials)
  • With a budgeted billing amount greater than a certain amount
  • All billable projects (customer field is not empty) that are not complete (percentage complete is less than 100)
  • By project manager
  • Where the project manager is the current user

Contract groups
  • With the same source contract
  • Created at a particular entity
  • With a particular state
  • With a particular renewal period

Warehouse groups
  • With the same parent warehouse
  • With the same location

Class groups
  • All active classes
  • With the same parent class
  • That are active or inactive
  • By description

Filter for projects, employees, locations, or departments managed by the current user

Dimension groups can automatically show managers just the information that's relevant to them. For example, you can set up a Project dimension group called "My projects," which dynamically filters for projects managed by the current user. Similarly, groups can be used to filter for employees, departments, or locations managed by the current user.

The current user is the user who is currently logged into Intacct.

Suppose that you have several project managers. Each project manager wants to see reports and dashboards filtered for their projects only.

  1. Create a Project group that filters for projects managed by the current user.

    • Project group named "My projects"
    • Select All members
    • Select Project manager ID as the filter field, then set the Operator to is current user

    Because Project manager ID is connected to an Intacct user, the group can filter for projects where the current user is the manager.

  2. Use the dimension group to filter reports and dashboards.

For example, you can create a financial report that shows revenue and expenses by project. This report can be prefiltered for the "My projects" group. Or you can prompt the user when the report is run so that they can easily switch between showing all projects or just their own projects.

When you set the filter to the current user, you limit the user to see only the group, such as projects, employees, or locations associated with the user. For example, the filter field is "Project Manager" and the operator is "current user. " When the project manager runs the report, they’ll only see their own projects.

To create a group that filters for the current user:

  1. Create a new group of type Project, Employee, Department, or Location.
  2. Define the group as usual, giving it a name that users will recognize, such as "My projects" or "My employees."

  3. In the Filters section, select a field that's connected to an employee who is a user in Intacct.

    • For Project dimension groups, you can select the Project manager ID field.
    • For Department, Location, or Employee dimension groups, you can select the Manager field.

    Not all contact fields are connected to a user. For this reason, filtering for the current user is restricted to the Project Manager ID and Manager fields.

  4. Set the Operator to is current user.

Combine multiple filters

If you have multiple filters, the default behavior is to match only members that meet all the criteria. However, you can change how this works using the Filter conditions dropdown menu.

Filter conditions
Filter condition Result

All (AND)

Include members that match all criteria (the default behavior).

Any (OR)

Include members that match any criteria.

Expression

Uses an expression that you define to apply the filters.

For example, the following expression matches members that either meet criteria 1 and 2, or that meet criteria 3.

(1 AND 2) OR 3

If you want to select "one of" something, such as departments where the manager is either Jim, Sue, or Terri, create several filters and use the Any (OR) filter condition.

Create a group filter for active and inactive members

There are times when you want to include dimensions that are inactive in reports. Create a dimension group that filters for both types of dimension member.

  1. Open or edit the dimension group for the dimension type, for example, departments, locations, or territories.
  2. In the filters section, create two filters:
    • Status equals active
    • Status equals inactive
  3. Make sure that the condition type is set to Any (OR).
  4. Save your changes.

You can use this group when you want to have both active and inactive members appear in a report.