Understand dimension relationships

Dimension relationships can be a helpful way to simplify data entry by autofilling related values between dimensions. These relationships automate and speed up data entry. They can also help avoid possible data entry errors.

Think of dimension relationships as a way to assist data entry by prefilling entries and not an actual control mechanism. By creating the relationships, you can instruct Intacct to autofill default values. Of course these can be changed as needed.

To further assist in data entry automation, you can create relationships between dimensions that enable many values on 1 side of the relationship (1-to-many) or many values on either side of the relationship (many-to-many).

You can create relationships between any dimensions, as well as accounts. However, some dimensions have predefined logic that’s similar to relationships. For these dimensions, that logic takes precedence over any dimension relationships you’ve created.

For example, Projects has predefined logic. If you create relationships with Projects and Location, Department or Customer, Projects will take precedence over relationships.

Subscription

Platform Services

Regional availability

All regions

User type Business user
Permissions Business user with admin permissions
Restrictions You can't export or import an application package that contains standard-to-standard dimension relationships. Import or export the package first, then manually create the relationships.
Prerequisites

Must be enabled in General Ledger

  1. Go to General Ledger > Setup > Configure GL
  2. Select the checkbox to enable dimension filtering at the bottom of the Dimension Relationships table

Why use dimensional relationships

Dimension relationships are useful for:

  • Autofilling dimension values

    For example, you can select a customer and the system autofills the related location.

  • Filtering and validating dimensions

    For example, you can select a specific location and the system displays only a subset of departments.

  • Cascading dimensions

    For example, select a specific customer, and the system populates the related location, and the project, which is dependent on the selected location and department.

If you want an entity to inherit a relationship and autofill the associated value, define the relationship in the location.

Here are some examples:

  • Department and location: If you use the same department every time you create a transaction against a specific location or entity, you can create a relationship between the two dimensions that enables the department value to be autofilled in transactions against that location when doing data entry.
  • Location and customer: If you use the same location each time you create a transaction against a specific customer or vendor, you can create a relationship between the two dimensions that enables the location value to be autofilled in transactions against that customer or vendor.

Multiple many-to-many relationships

When multiple many-to-many relationships exist in which there is a common dimension, at least 1 dimension value must overlap. Otherwise, Intacct assumes that all the values are valid.

Example

A Project has set the relationships:

  • Location as many-to-many
  • Departments as many-to-many

and the list of valid departments and locations is:

  • Department D01 is related to only P01
  • Location L01 is related to L02 and L03, but not on the list for P01

Because there is no overlap, Intacct accepts all values as valid.

Use General Ledger (GL) as a dimension

You can create a relationship with any standard or user-defined dimension. For example, you can create a relationship between GL Account and Department, and then define the default department to autofill each time you select that specific GL account.

For example, if you select Account 6230-Advertising then the department Corporate Marketing gets autofilled.

This feature works only on GL Account fields across the company. It doesn't work, for example, on an account label field. Nor does it work for Order Entry, Purchasing, or Inventory because the GL account is associated with a transaction definition that automatically defines the GL posting.

If override isn't enabled, the system restricts you to always using the specified dimension value.

Make the related dimension field a dropdown list

To set the related dimension field to a more easily-accessible dropdown list, you can change the format. Go to the specific customer information screen, and under More actions, select Edit this page. In the screen that appears, select Location and Show Standard Picker.

Intacct uses a default naming that appears in the dropdown field has a specific convention. For example, a Location might look like 100-Rel-New York. You can define your own naming convention.