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Workday User Guide
Last Updated: 2025-03-14
Example: Create and Use an Analytic Dimension

Example: Create and Use an Analytic Dimension

This example illustrates how to use analytic dimensions to more easily report on external dimension data using Workday's reporting tools. This example uses an analytic dimension business object together with an Instance Mapping stage in a Prism dataset to convert a Text field containing external dimension data into an Instance field.
You have an external CSV file that you want to bring into Prism Analytics to report on in Workday. The CSV file includes a text field with these unique values:
  • no-size
  • adult-small
  • adult-medium
  • adult-large
  • adult-xlarge
  • child-small
  • child-medium
  • child-large
You want to report on the data in this field as a dimension in one of Workday’s reporting tools, such as Report Writer.
  • Create a Prism table containing external data. The table must have a Text field that represents dimensional data and contains unique text values for each dimension value.
  • Create a derived dataset that imports the table.
  • Security:
    • Prism: Manage Analytic Dimensions
       domain in the Prism Analytics functional area (View and Modify permission).
    • Prism: Tables Create
       domain in the Prism Analytics functional area.
    • Prism: Tables Manage
       domain in the Prism Analytics functional area.
    • Prism Datasets: Create
       domain in the Prism Analytics functional area.
    • Prism Datasets: Manage
       domain in the Prism Analytics functional area.
    • Prism Datasets: Publish
       domain in the Prism Analytics functional area.
  1. Decide whether or not to organize the analytic dimension values into groups (hierarchies).
    In this example, we will organize the values into hierarchies. If the dimension field contains a large number of unique values, we recommend that you organize the values into hierarchies.
  2. Decide how to organize the hierarchies in the analytic dimension business object.
    You decide to organize the dimension values into hierarchies as shown in this image:
    A hierarchical diagram that shows the relationship between different dimension values as described in the following table.
    The blue rounded shapes represent hierarchies, and the black rectangular shapes represent values. For each artifact in the image, the first name is the display name, and the name in parentheses is the unique ID. The unique IDs for each value are defined by your external data, such as adult-medium.
    This table describes an example hierarchy, including the hierarchy name, hierarchy ID, the superior hierarchy, and any included dimension values:
    Hierarchy Name
    Hierarchy ID
    Superior Hierarchy
    Included Values
    Sizes
    sizes
    None
    Unique dimension values from the external data:
    • no-size
    Display names for each dimension value:
    • No Size
    T-shirts
    t-shirts
    Sizes
    None
    Adults
    adults
    T-shirts
    Unique dimension values from the external data:
    • adult-small
    • adult-medium
    • adult-large
    • adult-xlarge
    Display names for each dimension value:
    • Small
    • Medium
    • Large
    • XLarge
    Children
    children
    T-shirts
    Unique dimension values from the external data:
    • child-small
    • child-medium
    • child-large
    Display names for each dimension value:
    • Small
    • Medium
    • Large
  3. Create an analytic dimension business object that contains the text values from your external CSV file as dimension values.
    1. Navigate to the
      Create Analytic Dimension Business Object
       task.
    2. Complete these options and click
      OK
      :
      Option
      Description
      Name
      All Sizes
      Analytic Business Dimension Object ID
      all-sizes
      Allow Hierarchies
      Enable
      Workday creates the business object and displays displays the
      View Analytic Dimension Business Object
       report.
    3. Click
      Maintain Values
      .
      Workday displays the
      Maintain Analytic Dimension Values
       task where you can add, edit, and delete dimension values.
    4. Select the Add Row (+) icon to add a new dimension value, and enter these rows:
      Value Name
      Value ID
      No Size
      no-size
      Small
      adult-small
      Medium
      adult-medium
      Large
      adult-large
      XLarge
      adult-xlarge
      Small
      child-small
      Medium
      child-medium
      Large
      child-large
    5. Click
      OK
      .
      Workday adds the dimension values to the business object and displays the
      View Analytic Dimension Values
       report.
  4. Create the hierarchies in the analytic dimension business object and assign values.
    1. From the related actions of the All Sizes analytic dimension business object, select
      Analytic Dimension Business Object
      Create Hierarchy
      .
    2. In the
      Create Analytic Dimension Hierarchy
       task, enter the Hierarchy Name, Hierarchy ID, Superior Hierarchy, and Included Values for one of the hierarchies you want to create in the business object, and click
      OK
      .
    3. Repeat these steps until you create all hierarchies in this table:
      Hierarchy Name
      Hierarchy ID
      Superior Hierarchy
      Included Values
      Sizes
      sizes
      None
      • No Size
      T-shirts
      t-shirts
      Sizes
      None
      Adults
      adults
      T-shirts
      • Small
      • Medium
      • Large
      • XLarge
      Use the related actions menu for each dimension value to ensure that you select the value that uses the desired unique Value ID.
      Children
      children
      T-shirts
      • Small
      • Medium
      • Large
      Use the related actions menu for each dimension value to ensure that you select the value that uses the desired unique Value ID.
      Workday updates the analytic dimension business object with the hierarchies you defined.
  5. Edit the Prism Analytics dataset that contains the external dimension data and use an Instance Mapping stage to convert the external text values to instance values.
    1. Access the
      Data Catalog
       report, right-click the derived dataset that contains the external dimension data, and select
      Edit Transformations
      .
    2. Click
      Add Stage
       and select
      Instance Mapping
      .
    3. In
      Input Field Name
      , select the text field that contains the dimension data.
    4. In
      Output Field Name
      , enter the name of new Instance field: Custom T-shirt Sizes
    5. In
      Business Object
      , select the All Sizes analytic dimension business object.
    6. Click
      Done
       and click
      Save
      .
  6. Publish the dataset to update the Prism data source so that it now contains the external dimension field as an Instance field.
    1. Select
      View Dataset
       from the dataset related actions menu.
    2. On the
      View Dataset Details
       report, select
      Quick Actions
      Publish
      .
Workday updates the Prism data source with the fields defined in the dataset, including the new Custom T-shirt Sizes Instance field.
You can create a custom report or discovery board using the Prism data source and select the Custom T-shirt sizes field.

This content is not part of the Workday Administrator Guide.