Manual
Dimensions
A dimension is a way of slicing the figures: by department, by sales channel, by project. Each dimension has values, and every document line, journal line and entry carries a value of each dimension the company uses. The general ledger then answers questions such as “what did the delivery department cost last month?” without an account for each department.
Passion Bakery uses two:
| Dimension | Name | Values |
|---|---|---|
| DEPARTMENT | Department | PRODUCTION, SALES, ADMIN (Administration), DELIVERY |
| CHANNEL | Sales Channel | WHOLESALE, RETAIL (Retail shop), EVENTS (Events and orders) |
Setting up dimensions
- On Dimensions (under Setups), add each dimension: its Code, its Name and Blocked.
- Choose Dimension Values to add its values: Code, Name and Blocked.
- On General Ledger Setup, in the Dimensions group, choose the dimensions the company uses as Dimension 1 Code to Dimension 8 Code.
Fields of a dimension are captioned with its name: at the bakery, customers, items, documents and entries have a Department Code and a Sales Channel Code. A dimension that General Ledger Setup doesn’t name has no fields on the pages at all, so a company that uses two dimensions sees two.
Important
A dimension of General Ledger Setup can’t be changed once G/L entries carry its codes. Choose them before you start posting.
Where a line’s codes come from
You rarely type a dimension code. Records carry default codes, and documents and journals take them:
| Record | Takes its codes from |
|---|---|
| A sales document | Its bill-to customer |
| A purchase document | Its vendor |
| A document line | Its item, G/L account or resource, else the document’s header |
| A journal line | Its account, else its balancing account |
| An assembly order | The item it makes |
Changing a code on a document’s header changes it on the lines that had the old code; a line given a code of its own keeps it. Posting carries the codes to every entry the line makes: G/L entries, customer and vendor entries, item and value entries, bank account entries.
At the bakery, every customer has the department SALES and its channel (Joy Events and Catering is EVENTS, Walk-in Customers RETAIL, the others WHOLESALE), so each sale lands in the right channel by itself. Ingredients carry PRODUCTION.
Rules on what may be posted
- A blocked dimension value, or a value of a blocked dimension, can’t be posted.
- A G/L account can ask for codes. Its card’s Dimensions group has, for each dimension, its code and its Value Posting:
| Value Posting | What a line posted to the account must have |
|---|---|
| Code Mandatory | A code of the dimension, any one |
| Same Code | The account’s own code |
| No Code | No code of the dimension |
Posting refuses a journal or document line that breaks the rule of its account or its balancing account, saying what to choose. Accounts that posting reaches through setup (receivables, payables, VAT, inventory) and closing entries aren’t checked.
Using dimensions in reports
G/L accounts, customers, vendors, bank accounts and items have a filter for each dimension (Department Filter,
Sales Channel Filter), which their balances follow. The Trial Balance, Detailed Trial Balance and
Account Schedule reports filter by dimension too, and a dimension filter is chosen from a list of the dimension’s
values or typed, such as SALES|ADMIN. Every list of entries can be filtered on its dimension columns.