Example: Multi-Source Linked Accounts with Applied Dimensions

Audience: Administrators who manage the model.

This example walks you through how to link an account to multiple source accounts, and apply dimensionality to those linked accounts to consolidate multiple accounts into one.

We'll use the example of tracking personnel expenses like Salary, Payroll Taxes, and Benefits in two different personnel modeled sheets:

Personnel Current

Personnel Plan

We'll also assume you use Spend Category as a dimension with dimension values for Salary, PayrollTaxes, and Benefits. The dimension values let us tag the data from the source accounts when we make account links. Because of how applying dimension values works, you don't need to have Spend Category as a dimension in the source sheet your accounts come from.

To combine multiple sources in your general ledger, you can use:

Formulas to keep a simple ledger, but lose any custom dimensionality.

Multiple single account links, that retain dimensionality but increase the number of subaccounts in your ledger.

Multi-source links, to retain dimensionality and eliminate the need for multiple subaccounts.

Single Account Links

The account structure for the General Ledger accounts for single account links might looks like this:

6700 Payroll Expense Accounts

6710 Salary

6711 Salary Current

6712 Salary Plan

6720 PayrollTaxes

6721 PayrollTaxes Current

6722 PayrollTaxes Plan

6730 Benefits

6731 Benefits Current

6732 Benefits Plan

Multi-Source Link Without Applied Dimensionality

Using multi-source link accounts without applying dimensionality we can delete the subaccounts linking to each sheet and consolidate the structure to:

6700 Payroll Expense Accounts

6710 Salary

6720 PayrollTaxes

6730 Benefits

Multi-Source Link With Applied Dimensionality

With multi-source link accounts and applied dimensionality, you can generate a much simpler structure, keeping the same detail and maintaining dimensionality. We'll use multi-source links to add account links for six accounts in Payroll Expenses to combine multiple sources into a single account.

By tagging each linked account with the appropriate dimension value, and only retrieving that data, you simplify the account structure, to this:

6700 Payroll Expenses

See Concept: Linked Accounts, Example: Link Accounts for Expenses, and Example: Link Accounts for Dimensions and Revenue

Navigation

From the nav menu, select Modeling
. From the Accounts
menu, click: General Ledger Accounts
.

Add Multiple Links

Select the 6700 Payroll Expenses and change the account type to Link in Account Details
.

Select Add
in the Links to
section.

Select the Current Salary account from the Personnel Current modeled sheet in Add Link Accounts
.

Click the +
above the Account Details section to add these account links : Plan Salary account from the Personnel Plan modeled sheet. Current Benefits account from the Personnel Current modeled sheet. Plan Benefits account from the Personnel Plan modeled sheet. Current PayrollTaxes account from the Personnel Current modeled sheet. Plan PayrollTaxes account from the Personnel Plan modeled sheet.

Click the check above the Account Details to apply the changes.

Save.

Apply Dimension Value

In the General Ledger Account admin, select the 6700 Payroll Expenses account you created that uses multiple accounts links.

Select the Current Salary account link in the Links to
section.

Select Edit
.

Select the Spend Category dimension.

Tag the Salary account links by selecting the Salary dimension value.

Click the check mark to save the link details.

Repeat the process to edit the other account links so they all use Spend Category as a dimension, and tag each account link with the relevant dimension value: Tag the Benefits account links by selecting the Benefits dimension value. Tag the PayrollTaxes account by selecting the PayrollTaxes dimension value.

Click the check above the Account Details to apply the changes.

Save.

Results of Multi-Source Link and Applied Dimensionality

If you look at your account structure, you now have a single account, instead of a parent account with multiple subaccounts for each of the three expense areas of Salary, Benefits, and PayrollTaxes.

Because you selected account links and applied a dimension value, your accounts break out by dimension.

If you include your multi-source linked 6700 Payroll Expenses account on a report, and set Spend Category as a report column, the data splits by the three custom dimension values.