Dimension Combinations Workspace
Use this workspace to create dimension combinations to be used in various contexts in Maconomy.
A dimension combination is a collection of dimension values that have a common name. For each dimension, you can apply company-specific values. In this way, the value that you specify for a given dimension in a given dimension combination depends on the company that makes the entry in question.
In the Dimension Combinations tab, you enter a name for the dimension combination. Then, for each dimension, you can enter a dimension value to be applied when the dimension combination is used.
If you want the dimension combination to derive a different value, depending on which company makes the actual entry, you can use the Dimension Combination Lines sub-tab. On each line, enter a range of company numbers and a value for one or more dimensions. The values that you enter are used instead of the values that you specified in the Dimension Combinations tab when a company within the specified range enters information in a situation where the current dimension combination is used. If the company that makes the entry is not included in the specified range of companies, Maconomy uses the information in the Dimension Combinations tab.
The following information explains the general function of dimension combinations first. This explanation is based on the functionality of the Dimension Combinations tab. Following that explanation, the usage of the Dimension Combination Lines sub-tab is described, including the setup of dimension combinations for specific posting needs.
- As templates for Derived Dimensions islands
- As posting references
You define the use of each dimension combination in the Type field.
Dimension Combinations as Templates for Derived Dimensions Islands
Dimension combinations that you use as templates for the Derived Dimensions islands are convenient if you often include the same derived dimension values on, for example, activities, jobs, customers, accounts, and so on. The following explanation uses activities as an example, but the functionality is identical for every information card on which you can enter derived dimensions.
When you use the same derived dimension values on every activity, you can choose to enter the dimension values manually on every activity. However, if you later want to change one or more dimension values on all activities, you would need to update the information card for every single activity. A more convenient approach is to enter a certain dimension combination in the information card of every activity. A dimension combination contains the dimension values that you normally use for a specific activity. If you need to update the dimension values, you only need to change the value in the dimension combination. That change is then populated in all information cards that refer to the dimension combination in question.
Another advantage of using dimension combinations is that when you create an activity, you do not need to enter all of the dimension values, just the name of the dimension combination.
When you define a dimension combination, Maconomy performs the dimension derivation from the activity as if you had manually entered in the Derived Dimensions island the values that you defined in the dimension combination.
You can enter both a dimension combination and values for one or more dimensions in the Derived Dimension island for the same activity. Maconomy uses the values for the dimensions that you enter on the activity over those that you enter for the same dimensions in the dimension combination. Maconomy derives the remaining dimension values from the dimension combination. Values that you enter in the Derived Dimensions island for an individual activity can thus be regarded as exceptions to the values that you enter in the assigned dimension combination.
The following example shows the values that are used as derived dimensions for an activity to which both a dimension combination and dimension values for some dimensions have been assigned. For the sake of clarity, only a selection of the Maconomy dimensions is displayed in the following example.
In the example, it is assumed that activity 101 is assigned to dimension combination A, and that the Dimension Derivations workspace defines a derivation priority for activities. The dimension combination and the dimensions that are derived from the activity are set up as follows:
| Dimension | Value in Dimension Combination A | Value in the Island Derived Dimensions, Activity 101 |
|
Location |
NY |
|
|
Entity |
BOS |
CHI |
|
Project |
MB |
|
|
Purpose |
In this table, Maconomy uses the value NY in the Location dimension on the dimension combination because no activity-specific value has been entered for this dimension. For the Entity dimension, however, a value has been entered on both the dimension combination and the activity. Because the activity-specific dimension value has first priority, Maconomy uses the value CHI. Also, Maconomy uses the value MB for the Project dimension because this value was entered on the activity. Even if another value was entered for this dimension in the dimension combination, Maconomy would use the value MB, just as it used the value CHI for the Entity dimension.
No value has been entered for the Purpose dimension, either in the dimension combination or on the activity. When entries are made on the current activity, Maconomy attempts to derive a value for this dimension from somewhere else, using the priorities that you set up in the Dimension Derivations workspace. In other words, the setup described previously corresponds to the following setup in the Derived Dimensions island for activity 101:
| Dimension | Derivation Values used for Activity 101 |
|
Location |
NY |
|
Entity |
CHI |
|
Project |
MB |
|
Purpose |
Note that Maconomy always retrieves the Overwrite field for a given dimension from the same location as the dimension value. This means that if Maconomy retrieves the dimension value from the tab of a dimension combination, Maconomy also retrieves the value of the Overwrite field from the tab of the dimension combination, regardless of whether you selected the Overwrite Entity check box in the information card to which the dimension combination is assigned.
When you assign a dimension combination to an activity, Maconomy does not transfer the values from the dimension combination to the fields in the Derived Dimensions island.
Dimension Combinations as Posting References
You create a posting reference in the Dimension Combinations single dialog workspace when you enter the account number to which Maconomy should post automatic G/L entries that it creates. For instance, Maconomy must know the G/L account on which to enter work in progress (WIP) when posting a job journal. In the same way, Maconomy must know on which G/L account it should post COGS when posting an item journal, which, for example, was created because of an item delivery.
In Maconomy, you can define posting references in several places. In the Posting References workspace, you enter a number of department-dependent posting references, for example, identifying where to post WIP, subscription prepayments, and so on.
To define a posting reference, enter a dimension combination of the type "Posting Reference" and specify an account number for this dimension combination. The account number is for the account where you want to post when you use this specific posting reference. When you create an account in the Account Information Card workspace or change it into a control account, Maconomy automatically creates a dimension combination that has the same number and description as the account. Thus you only need to manually create posting reference dimension combinations for manual accounts.
You enter specify values for other dimensions than Account on dimension combinations of the type "Posting Reference." This is, for example, useful if you always want a certain dimension to have a certain value when posting-for example, COGS-or if you use local charts of accounts as described in "Setting Up Dimension Combinations for Company-Specific Charts of Accounts."
On dimension combinations of the type "Posting Reference," you must select the Overwrite check box for all dimensions for which a value is provided. This ensures that the specified dimension values are always applied when you use the posting reference in question.
Dimension Combination Lines Sub-Tab: Setting Up Dimension Combinations to Support Company-Specific Dimension Values
On every line of the Dimension Combination Lines sub-tab, you can enter a range of company numbers. In addition, you can enter a value for each dimension and specify whether the value should overwrite any existing dimension value.
The lines in the Dimension Combination Lines sub-tab represent exceptions to the dimension values in the Dimension Combinations tab. If you create an entry on, for example, an activity, the combination of the company that you specified on the entry and the activity itself determines which values Maconomy retrieves from the dimension combination. When Maconomy derives values from a certain information card, it follows these steps to determine which dimension values to derive:
- If a value exists for the dimension in the Derived Dimensions island on the activity, Maconomy uses that value along with its Overwrite value.
- If there is no value for the dimension in the Derived Dimensions island, Maconomy uses the value that you entered for the dimension in the topmost line that identifies the company for which the entry is made, along with its Overwrite value.
- If Maconomy does not find a dimension value in step 2, either, it uses the value that you entered in the Dimension Combinations tab, along with its Overwrite value.
- If Maconomy does not find a dimension value in the Dimension Combinations tab, it does not derive a value for the current dimension from the derivation priority in question.
In the same way as described for the Dimension Combinations tab, Maconomy always retrieves the Overwrite field value for a given dimension from the same location as the dimension value. This means that if Maconomy retrieves the dimension value from the Dimension Combination Lines sub-tab of a dimension combination, Maconomy also retrieves the value of the Overwrite field from the that sub-tab, regardless of whether you selected that field on the information card to which the dimension combination is assigned.
Example: Dimension Combination with Company-Specific Values
In this example, the following dimension combination is used as a starting point:
| Dimension Combination DC1 | ||||||
|
Location |
NY |
|||||
|
Entity |
||||||
|
Project |
Promo |
|||||
|
Spec. 1 |
HQ |
|||||
|
Local Spec. 1 |
||||||
|
Company No. From |
Company No. To |
Location |
Entity |
Project |
Spec. 1 |
Local Spec. 1 |
|
A |
C |
BOS |
Leads |
A4415 |
This dimension combination is assigned to activity ACT1, for which the Derived Dimensions island contains the following values:
| Dimension | Value |
|
Location |
|
|
Entity |
Campaign |
|
Project |
Sales |
|
Spec. 1 |
|
|
Local Spec. 1 |
Because a line was created in the Dimension Combination Lines sub-tab, the company that is making the entry is vital for determining the dimension derivation from activity ACT1. The dimension derivation yields different results depending on whether the company number is within the range of A-C. The following describes the values that are used in the dimension derivation for companies that are within the range and companies outside the range, respectively.
Companies within the Range A-C
In this example, assume that company A makes an entry. The Location dimension is blank on the activity. Therefore, Maconomy looks in the line in the sub-tab that identifies company A. Here, Maconomy finds the value BOS and applies it, even though the Dimension Combinations tab specifies another location value.
Because the values that you enter in the Derived Dimensions island on the activity are always top priority, the Campaign entity and the Sales project are prioritized, even if other values exist in the Dimension Combinations tab and/or the Dimension Combination Lines sub-tab.
The dimension Spec. 1 is blank on the activity card. As in the case of the location value, Maconomy looks for a Spec. 1 value in the line in the sub-tab that identifies company A. Because no value is specified for Spec. 1 here, Maconomy uses the value that you entered in the Dimension Combinations tab.
Finally, Maconomy finds a value for Local Spec. 1 in the same way as it found the value for the Location dimension.
To sum up, for companies that are within the range of A-C, the preceding setup corresponds to having set up the Dimension Derivations island on the activity card as follows:
| Dimension | Value |
|
Location |
BOS |
|
Entity |
Campaign |
|
Project |
Sales |
|
Spec. 1 |
HQ |
|
Local Spec. 1 |
A4415 |
When a company that has a number that is outside the range of A-C enters information on activity ACT1, the following dimension values are used:
The Location dimension is blank on the activity, and no lines in the Dimension Combination Lines sub-tab identify companies outside the range of A-C. Therefore, Maconomy uses the value in the Dimension Combinations tab. Here, Maconomy finds the value NY.
Because the values that you entered in the Derived Dimensions island on the activity are always top priority, Maconomy always uses the Campaign entity and the Sales project, even if other values exist in the Dimension Combinations tab.
Spec. 1 is found in the same way as Location.
Local Spec. 1 is blank on the activity card and in the Dimension Combinations tab. Therefore, Maconomy does not derive a local specification 1 value for this activity when companies outside the A-C range enter information.
To sum up, for companies outside the range of A-C, the preceding setup corresponds to having set up the Dimension Derivations island on the activity card as follows:
| Dimension | Value |
|
Location |
NY |
|
Entity |
Campaign |
|
Project |
Sales |
|
Spec. 1 |
HQ |
|
Local Spec. 1 |
Dimension Combinations on Dimension Information Cards
When you enter a dimension combination on a dimension information card (that is, the Locations, Entities, Projects, Purposes, Spec. 1-3, and Local Spec. 1-3 workspaces), Maconomy ignores any values that you entered in the dimension combination for the dimension in question. This means that if you specify a dimension combination, for example, for the value NY in the Locations workspace, Maconomy does not use any values that you entered for the Location dimension in the tab and sub-tab of that dimension combination when it performs a dimension derivation from the location NY.
Derivation of Company-Specific Dimension Values
Dimension combinations enable you to set up company-specific rules for the derivation of dimension values. This is especially useful if some companies in the multi-company model use local charts of accounts, for example, because local legal or reporting requirements. This section describes some examples of such situations. The later section "Setting Up Dimension Combinations for Company-Specific Charts of Accounts" describes the process of setting up Maconomy to support the examples shown in this section.
A situation such as this can occur if costs that are related to certain activities are posting on one account in the global chart of accounts (the Account dimension), but a certain company needs to post the activity costs on separate accounts, and the company has therefore created a local chart of accounts in the Local Specification 1 dimension.
This situation is illustrated in the following example:
| Activity | Global Account | Local Spec. 1 in Company A | Local Spec. 1 in Company B |
|
101 Training, unspecified |
G3310 |
A4410 |
B6500 |
|
102 Training, internal |
G3310 |
A4415 |
B6510 |
|
103 Training, external |
G3310 |
A4420 |
B6520 |
In this case, costs on all three activities entered by company A are posted on account G3310 in the global chart of accounts, whereas the value in Local Specification 1 depends on whether the posting is made on activity 101, 102, or 103. When company B enters costs on the same activities, the amounts are still to be posted on account G3310 in the global chart of accounts, whereas entirely different values are to be used for Local Specification 1.
Company A and B are thus able to create separate reports on unspecified, internal, and external training, whereas only one account for training exists in the global accounts.
Another example could be a company that uses a chart of accounts that is structured differently than the global chart of accounts. As in the preceding example, it could be that the global chart of accounts has only one account for Training activities, but that account may be placed differently in the local chart of accounts for a particular company, for example, because of different legal requirements in the country in which the company is based.
| Activity | Global Account | Local Spec. 1 in Company C |
|
101 Training, unspecified |
G3310 |
C4410 |
|
102 Training, internal |
G3310 |
C4410 |
|
103 Training, external |
G3310 |
C4410 |
In this case, when company C enters costs on the three activities, Maconomy posts the cost on account G3310 in the global chart of accounts, and on the value C4410 in the Local Specification 1 dimension, no matter which activity the entry is made on.
Setting Up Dimension Combinations for Company-Specific Charts of Accounts
This section describes some examples of how you can set up dimension combinations to support company-dependent charts of accounts. The examples are based on the needs described in "Derivation of Company-Specific Dimension Values."
You create company-dependent charts of accounts in the Local Specification 1-3 workspaces, where you can create different lists of dimension values. You can then assign these lists to the individual companies, and each company can only use the local specification values in the list that you assigned to that company.
Assume that you want to set up a chart of accounts that supports the need described in the first example in "Derivation of Company-Specific Dimension Values." In that example, there was a requirement that costs on activities 101, 102, and 103 all be posted on the global account G3310 because there was no need to specify the nature of the training. Companies A and B, however, wanted to split the costs for these three activities into three specific accounts, to represent unspecified, internal, and external courses.
For this purpose, you create two lists in Local Specification 1 that contain the local chart of accounts for companies A and B, respectively. The charts of accounts contain, among other values, the values to be used for entering training costs. You assign the two lists to the two companies in the Company Information workspace.
Then, you create three dimension combinations, one for each activity.
You assign the first dimension combination to activity 101. Here, you enter G3310 in the Account No. field in the Dimension Combinations tab. In the Dimension Combination Lines sub-tab, you create a line for a range of companies A to A (that is, company A only). On this line, you enter the value A4410 in the Local Spec. 1 field. Finally, you create a line for a range of companies B to B. On this line, you enter the value B6500 in the Local Spec. 1 field. After you create the lines, you can assign the dimension combination to activity 101 in the sub-tab of the Activities workspace as a posting reference. Because you did not enter any account numbers on either of the two dimension combination lines, Maconomy always uses the account number from the Dimension Combinations tab, regardless of which company is making the entry on activity 101. However, other than the account number, Maconomy uses local specification A4410 when company A enters costs on this activity, and local specification B6500 when company B enters costs on the activity. Maconomy does not transfer any local specific dimension values from the dimension combination when other companies enter costs on activity 101. Instead, Maconomy uses the local specifications that you provided on the entry.
You create the dimension combinations for the other two activities in the same way and assign them to the activities. These other two dimension combinations still use account G3310 in the Dimension Combinations tab, but the local specification 1 values in the Dimension Combination Lines sub-tab are A4415 and B6510, respectively, on the dimension combination that you assigned to activity 102, and A4420 and B6520, respectively, on the dimension combination that you assigned to activity 103.
In the second example in "Derivation of Company-Specific Dimension Values," you want all training costs to be posted on account G3310. Company C, however, needs to enter those costs on account C4410, no matter which of the three activities is used.
For this purpose, you create a list in Local Specification 1 that contains the local chart of accounts for company C. The chart of accounts contains, among other values, the value C4410. You assign the list to company C in the Company Information workspace.
In the Dimension Combinations workspace, you then create a dimension combination by entering the account number G3310 in the Dimension Combinations tab. In the Dimension Combination Lines sub-tab, you create one line that has a company number range from C to C. On this line, you specify the value C4410 for the Local Spec. 1 dimension. Then, you assign this dimension combination to all three activities.
With this setup you can ensure that when company C enters costs on any of the three activities in question, Maconomy uses the account G3310 and the Local Specification 1 value C4410. When other companies enter costs on the activity, Maconomy uses the account G3310 as well, but it does not derive any local specification 1 values from the dimension combination. Instead, Maconomy uses the local specifications that are provided on the entry.
When you use local charts of accounts, you should create a full local chart of accounts in the local dimension in question, no matter whether the local chart of accounts only differs from the global chart of accounts on a few counts. In this way, you can be certain that you will be able to present the full accounts of that company without having to piece them together from two different dimensions, which may prove difficult. Consequently, for every company that uses a local chart of accounts, you should create company-specific lines in all dimension combinations so that all amounts are posted on both the global and the applicable local accounts.