Analysis views are used to analyze the information about dimensions from general ledger entries, budgets, and cash flow forecast entries.
Let's first have a look at what dimensions are, and then we will be able to see how to analyze the information that dimensions provide using analysis views.
A dimension can be seen as information linked to an entry, something like a tag or a characteristic. The purpose of dimensions is to group entries with similar characteristics so that you can report on the data in a way that is meaningful to the company. Each company can define its own dimensions according to how they need to analyze their data.
Posted entries and posted documents can contain analyzable dimension information as well as budgets. The term dimension is used to describe how analysis occurs. A two-dimensional analysis, for example, would be sales per area. You can also apply more than two dimensions when posting a document or a journal. This will allow you to carry out a more complex analysis, for example, sales per sales campaign, sales per customer, or group per area.
Each dimension can have unlimited dimension values that are subunits of the dimension. For example, a dimension called
Department
can have subunits called Sales
, Administration
, and so on. These departments are dimension values.
Dynamics NAV supports unlimited dimensions. This means that you can create as many dimensions as needed according to how you are currently categorizing areas of the business. However, even if you can create unlimited dimensions, there are some restrictions on how they are stored and how easy it is to access their information.
In Dynamics NAV, all dimensions are stored in special dimension tables. Some dimensions are also stored in fields inside the table they refer to. We can group dimensions in three categories according to their access level (how easy it is to access them):
Imagine that in our company we have two different divisions: one responsible for selling items and another responsible for renting items. We decide to use dimensions to analyze the results of each division. So, we are going to create a dimension called DIVISION.
To create new dimensions, access Departments | Financial Management | Setup | Dimensions and follow the steps described in this section:
We have already created a new dimension along with its dimension values. Now we must determine if it is going to be a global dimension, a shortcut dimension, or one of the rest of the dimensions.
To do so, open General Ledger Setup by navigating to Departments/Financial Management/Setup/General Ledger Setup. Select the Dimensions tab.
In the company CRONUS USA Inc., global dimensions are already defined. The company has already defined up to six shortcut dimensions.
Select DIVISION in the Shortcut Dimension 7 Code field, to define our new dimension as a shortcut dimension.
As we said earlier in this chapter, the difference between global, shortcut, and the rest of the dimensions is how easy it is to access them.
We are going to see how to access the DEPARTMENT global dimension, the DIVISON shortcut dimension, and the SALESPERSON dimension, which is one of the rest of the dimensions.
To see how dimensions can be accessed to fill them when creating documents, follow the given steps:
1000
to sell 1
PCS.Salesperson Code cannot be selected because it is not a global dimension or a shortcut dimension.
This is because Division is a shortcut dimension. As we said earlier, shortcut dimensions are, in some occasions, shown on pages as if they were stored on the table. Usually they are shown in pages meant to enter information, but not on pages meant to show posted information.
As we have seen, there are several dimensions that are not easily accessed by the users, especially when the document or the entry has been posted. This is when we need to analyze the data.
Analysis views are specially meant to access all the dimensions in the same easy way, in groups of a maximum of four dimensions at the same time. The four dimension groups may seem a limitation, but it is not, since we can create as many analysis views as needed combining all the dimensions we want.
With an analysis view, we can view data from the general ledger. Entries are grouped by criteria, such as:
In other words, if a G/L entry has been posted to a particular account with one of the four dimensions selected, the G/L entry information will be included in the analysis view as an analysis view entry. You can also include G/L budget entries in an analysis view to compare reality and budget.
Follow the given steps to set up an analysis view:
The system will create one summarized analysis view entry for each G/L account, period, and dimension combination.
In the preceding example, we will get one entry for each G/L account from account numbers 42000 to 49950, for each month, and also for each combination of dimension values of the Division, Salesperson, and Department dimensions.
An analysis view is a fixed photo of the posted G/L entries grouped with specific criteria.
If you change any of the fields found on the Analysis View Card page, for instance if you change the Starting Date field, you will get the following message:
If you select Yes, all entries will be deleted and you will have to click on the Update option again to create analysis view entries according to the new criteria.
You will also have to use the Update action to include the new general ledger entries posted after you last updated the analysis view. You can also let the system update it automatically when new G/L entries are posted by checking the Update on Posting field found on the Analysis View Card page.
Analysis views can be used in different scenarios:
In this section, we are going to see an example of using analysis views on each of the scenarios detailed.
The analysis by dimensions functionality is used to display and analyze the amount derived from the existing analysis views.
Follow the steps to see an example of how Analysis by Dimensions works:
If analysis views are selected as a source for account schedules, the amounts in the account schedules are calculated based on the analysis views entries. Since analysis views entries are based on general ledger entries, the result should be the same.
The difference is that, when analyzing account schedules, you can only filter the amounts based on global dimensions. If you use analysis views as a source for account schedules, then you can filter on any of the four dimensions selected on the Analysis View Card page. These dimensions can be global dimensions, shortcut dimensions, or any other dimensions.
To use analysis views as a source for account schedules, follow the given steps: