Corresponding Dimensions are an extension of the standard Business Central functionality Dimensions. Business Central allows you to set up to eight different dimensions for all master entities such as bank account, employee, salesperson, and so on. Each of these dimensions can then have up to seven bound dimensions tied to it.
The total number of bound dimensions always corresponds to a number that is one less than the total number of base dimensions.
The main advantage of this extension is that it speeds up and simplifies the filling of repetitive data into the individual dimensions, and simplifies the processes that produce the entries we want to analyse. By filling in the values of the bound dimensions only once when setting them up, it also reduces the error rate that repeated manual filling in might otherwise lead to.
Settings
Like standard dimensions, corresponding dimensions can be set on the Dimensions page, which can be accessed through the search bar. In addition to the standard columns such as Code or Name, there are also individual columns called Corresponding Dimension Code 1-7. A corresponding dimension can be assigned to another dimension by selecting the desired row and selecting a field in the column with the bound dimension. We can then select the value we want to set from the table of available dimensions and confirm
The values of the corresponding dimensions and the corresponding dimensions themselves always match the values of the primary dimensions. Therefore, the dimension for which you are currently setting the bound dimensions will always be missing from the list of available bound dimensions.
The settings from the example below will allow us to track sales entries by salesperson and the area the salesperson is responsible for. It will also be possible to track the profitability of a sales campaign for a given area. Corresponding dimensions can be further useful, for example, to track the profitability of specific projects or the costs we incur per employee.
Recursion
When setting up corresponding dimensions, you must also keep in mind that this extension works recursively. So, for example, when you assign a specific salesperson to a customer, or fill it out in the sales invoice of that customer, not only the dimension for the area is automatically populated, but also the Sales Campaign dimension that is bound to that Area dimension.
The settings below make sense.
The settings below don't make sense. Given the recursive nature of correspodning dimensions, it is unnecessary to bind the sales campaign to the Salesperson dimension, since the Salesperson dimension already contains the dimension for the area, and with it all the dimensions bound to that dimension.
After the names of the corresponding dimensions have been assigned, the next step is to set specific values for them. This value will be then automatically filled in when the main dimension is filled in. The procedure is the same as for setting the values of a standard dimension. Select the row with the dimensions for which you want to set the values and choose Dimension Values from the Dimensions menu, then select a specific corresponding dimension value for each main dimension value.
When setting up dimension codes in the system, it is recommended to set up codes that contain some supporting information about the dimension, such as the initials of the salesperson, or the names of areas, etc. This setup then makes it easier to naviagte in the dimensions values during analysis or back-checking.
More information about dimensions in general and about how to work with them can be found here.
Corresponding Dimensions and Dimensions Combinations
Dimension settings can be further refined by specifying combinations of dimensions and their values that can be either completely blocked or limited. If two dimensions are limited, this setting can be further refined by defining the specific values of the dimensions that should be blocked from each other. For example, if we had a dimension for projects and a dimension for budgets that fund the projects, we may want to allow only those combinations of dimension values that belong together and then disallow the rest, to easily prevent misreporting of costs.
General information about setting dimensions combinations can be found here.
Corresponding dimensions cannot be set for blocked dimensions combinations
Corresponding dimensions react to these settings in the sense that if the combinations of dimensions A and B are completely blocked, dimension A cannot be set as the bound dimension of dimension B and vice versa. Therefore, if we block against each other the Salesperson and Area dimensions from our example above, it will not be possible to set Area as the bound dimension of Salesperson and vice versa.
If we try to set mutually blocked dimensions as bound, the setup will not be completed and the message below will appear.
The same message appears if we limit the Salesperson and Area dimensions and only block the combination of certain values. For example, based on our setup above, we might want to prevent salespeople from interfering with each other's areas of responsibility to prevent subsequent distortion of the tracked data. Therefore, if we limit Jim Oliva's access to areas of Southern Europe and North America, as he is only responsible for Northern Europe, it will be possible to assign the Area as a corresponding dimension of the Salesperson, but if in the next step we try to assign the salesperson Jim Oliva to a region other than Northern Europe, we will not be able to complete the setup.
Toggle button Do not display blocked dimensions combinations
If we do not want to bother with verifying which combinations of dimensions or their values are mutually blocked, we can activate the functionality below called Do not display blocked dimensions combinations in the General Ledger Setup, thanks to which the system will not offer us blocked dimensions or their values in the selection of values.
Blocking of dimensions combinations after setting the corresponding dimensions
If at any time during the use of corresponding dimensions we decide to block their combinations or combinations of their values, the system will display the message below and allow us to either delete the existing setting or keep it.
Bulk blocking of combinations of two dimensions
When setting up combinations of dimensions, there may be a situation where we need to limit two dimensions between themselves, and each of them would have a large number of values, while combinations of only a few of them should be allowed.
For this case, you can use our modification in the form of an action available in the top bar of the Dimension Combination Matrix. Using this action, in the first step we set which two dimensions should be limited between each other and confirm the action. All combinations of values of the two dimensions will now be blocked between each other in bulk, without having to manually constrain them one by one.
Then once you view the specific values of a given combination by clicking the Limited value, you simply enable only a few selected combinations of dimensions values and the remaining combinations will remain blocked. The example below shows bulk blocking of dimensions Project and Budget.
Priorities and collisions of dimensions
Priorities
It is possible that while using this extension we will want to use the same corresponding dimensions for several dimensions. Such situations are handled by the priority system - the corresponding dimension belonging to the last dimension added to the document line always has the highest priority. In practice, this means that the corresponding dimensions of this dimension will override the values of the identical corresponding dimensions filled in the previous steps.
With this functionality in mind, we recommend following a few simple rules when setting corresponding dimensions:
If we have all corresponding dimensions bound to only one dimension, then we will not need to pay any attention to the priority system.
However, the case above is often not possible due to the complexity of business processes and it is necessary to keep corresponding dimensions on multiple dimensions. In such a case, we recommend that the columns in the documents or journals where we will record the dimensions are modified using the Customize tool in a logical sequence to match our dimension settings. By doing this, we should be able to ensure that the bound dimensions of the next dimension do not conflict with the bound dimensions of the previous dimension.
If this situation cannot be avoided, it is also possible to give dimensions that might override each other the same value.
For a practical explanation of the priority system, we can use the following example. We want to analyse the profitability of sales campaigns for a specific segment of the goods sold - a business group. Furthermore, we also want to keep track of the entries of the salespeople responsible for a given area. Each area will also have its own sales campaign so that we can track the profitability of this type of campaign as well.
The setup above therefore implies that the first thing to be added is the Salesperson and its corresponding dimensions, the Area with code 20 corresponding to Northern Europe and the Sales Campaign with the corresponding value for a campaign targeting Scandinavian countries. The Salesperson will be added first because each customer usually has a salesperson assigned to them, so when a new sales document is created, this value will be added automatically.
In the next step, however, we must also fill in the value to the dimension for the Business Group. Since the Business Group was filled in last in the sequence, its value for the Sales Campaign will overwrite the Sales Campaign tied to the salesperson. The Sales Campaigns are assigned to each product segment as follows.
Therefore, if we fill in the the Business Group with the value ELECTRONICS, the sales campaign will be overwritten with the value CAMPUSACAN corresponding to the Sales Campaign targeting North America, which may be undesirable.
If, in the context of this example, we wanted to avoid overwriting corresponding dimensions values due to the system of priorities, the following change in the dimensions settings could be a solution. The Salesperson dimension will now also carry a dimension for the Business Group, so that we are able to track the entries for the segment of goods sold. And we will adjust the criteria by which we want to track the profitability of sales campaigns so that it can be tied either only to the segment of goods sold (see below), or only to the area that the campaign would target.
Another solution is to train the users concerned and point out that such overwriting can occur and it is therefore necessary to check the values of all dimensions after they have been filled in. Such back-checking should always take place minimally at the beginning when testing the correct settings.
Priorities and empty values of the corresponding dimension
If there is a situation where multiple dimensions have the same corresponding dimension and the values of one of them remain empty, and at the same time the dimension to which this dimension is bound is added to the document last, the value of the corresponding dimension of the previous dimension will be preserved and will not be overwritten by the empty value of the corresponding dimension added last.
Collisions
If we decide to use the same corresponding dimension for multiple dimensions, it may also cause a collision. For example, we may have a Salesperson dimension set up with corresponding dimensions for Area and Sales Campaign. In addition to this dimension, we also want to use the Area dimension, which has a corresponding dimension for the Sales Campaign. Next, when we create a sales document, we will probably add the Salesperson dimension first, because in most cases customers are assigned to a particular salesperson. Based on the Salesperson dimension, their corresponding dimensions - the value for the Area and Sales Campaign, are then automatically added to the document line. At this point, the dimension priorities come into play again. Because the dimension for the Area is added second, and also has its own corresponding dimension for the Sales Campaign, the system will automatically fill in the value it takes from the Sales Campaign directly tied to the Area, and the value of the Sales Campaign bound to the Salesperson will never have its turn.
Collision of corresponding dimensions can occur due to inefficiently designed settings. The best solution is therefore to consider which corresponding dimensions make sense and which can conflict with each other during the process of setting up the corresponding dimensions. Besides, it is also necessary to thoroughly test all scenarios for which we intend to use this extension.
In the example we described above, it makes sense to remove the Sales Campaign from the Salesperson dimension entirely. Because it is likely that, in addition to analysing the sales of a particular salesperson responsible for a particular area, we will also want to track the sales campaigns for a particular area. And because the corresponding dimensions are recursive, meaning that the Area dimension tied to the Salesperson also implicitly contains the Area dimension to which the Sales Campaign is tied, it will fill in all the required information exactly where we want it, and the dimension values will not interfere with each other if the setup is done correctly.
