Building the Business Segment Structure (deprecated)

1 Setting up dimension load steps / Automation
2 Manual dimension definition
3 Template types to load dimensions

There are many options to build and maintain the structure of each business segment. One or multiple can be used depending on the use case and access to source systems:

Manual definition (staging cube): mainly recommended for smaller dimensions and when the structure cannot be loaded from a source system.
ODBC: Frequently used when the dimension can be loaded from an ERP system or data warehouse.
CSV: Dto. but when an ODBC connection is not available but instead a file export can be provided in a suitable format
Dimension: When the business segment can be derived from another TM1 dimension in the system
Attribute: An attribute of the dimension can be used to determine the structure
Process: A custom Turbo Integrator process can also be used to build the structure.

For a full documentation please refer to the Apliqode Framework documentation. The following paragraphs will focus on the manual definition and the general concepts that are valid for any of the load types.

It can also be a viable option to create new business segment elements as part of the data load, please refer to this paragraph.

Setting up dimension load steps / Automation

Even if the build of the dimension is a simple one step process some general settings have to be present in the "Automation" tab before the dimension can be loaded successfully. For a complete documentation of all options please refer to the Apliqode Framework manual. In this chapter only the most relevant options for Apliqo FPM will be explained. The "Dimension" filter in the Automation tab will provide three options for the business segment: the operational BSEG dimension (which is mainly covered in this chapter), the plan BSEG (specifics will be covered in the planning setup chapter) and unique element hierarchy (which is a technical dimension that only needs to be setup once).

Dimension update configuration

Group: Multiple dimensions can be grouped by simply entering the same string for each of those dimensions, they can then updated as a group rather than having to run the update processes multiple times.
Launch another dimension: This should be set to the unique element hierarchy (approval hierarchy) of this dimension, e.g. "FIN BSEG 2 Unique Elem Hierarchy", and will then automatically keep this "helper" dimension up-to-date every time an update of the business segments happens.

Options for dimension cleaning

Dimension Delete All Elements: Use this option with caution especially in a production environment. When turned on all elements of the dimension will be deleted and re-loaded from the configured sources. Deleting an element will lead to the loss of any data associated with the element.
Delete And Recreate All Attributes: Only the attributes defined in the source(s) will be retained.
Dimension Unwind: If turned on you can specify one or multiple nodes to unwind, i.e. removing the parent-child relationships between elements before reloading them from a source. This is a usually recommended approach to avoid duplication of data after an element has moved from one parent to another.

Options for Dimension Maintenance

Automatically Create Top Node: Will create the root element (e.g. "FIN BSEG 2 Rollups") even if it is not part of the data source (recommended)
Automatically Create NA Element: Will create the dummy element (e.g. "NA FIN BSEG 2") even if it is not part of the data source (recommended)
Launch Standard Subset Updates: Will create a number of standard subsets (described in paragraph subsets, recommended)
Launch Subset Framework Updates: Will update dynamic and static subsets (described in paragraph subsets, recommended)
Update Element Security: Should be turned on if security is defined for this business segments (more details in paragraph security)

Options for Dimension Sort Order

By default the order of the elements in the dimension will be as in the source, by turning this option on you can configure a different sort order, e.g. alphabetically.

Update Steps

Under "Update Steps" click the plus icon to create a new step, the next available step index will be pre-selected. Depending on the chosen source type additional fields will appear. After clicking "Ok" the new step should appear in the list and can be expanded and edited. A detailed description of source type specific settings for each step follows in the next paragraphs.

Manual dimension definition

Choosing "CUBE" as the source for a dimension update step will allow you to manually maintain the structure either by directly entering the structure on screen or uploading it from an Excel template (Note: It is called cube because the definition is stored in a staging cube within Apliqo FPM's database). In the step setup you need to define the template type (ByRollup or ByParentChild, the format is common for all source types and described in a separate paragraph below) and a source index. The source index allows you to use multiple source slots for the same dimension to more easily manage more complex dimension structures. Please note that unlike for other source types the definition of attributes is handled directly from the source definition and will automatically appear in the step setup once added to the source cube.

You can now start to input the dimension definition in the "Definition" tab. Make sure to select the correct source index in the filterbar that has been chosen in the step setup before. You can now either use the screen to directly enter the information or prepare an Excel template and upload it. The following instructions are for using the template type "ByRollup".

Start by adding the desired amount of levels in the hierarchy by using the right arrow button in the toolbar and confirming with "Add Level". Repeat the process as many times as needed. Additional levels can always be added later or removed if not needed.

Now fill in the dimension structure, firstly defining the type (C for a consolidated element/total, N for a numeric element that will be able to store data) and the weight (a numeric value with which the data of an element is consolidated into it's direct parent, typically 1) followed by the the name of the element in the correct column for the desired level. Make sure that only one level entry exists per row. The result should look like this:

Please note:

If you are creating a main rollup it is good practice to add it to the "FIN BSEG x Rollups" element, which will make it easier to navigate the dimension structure.
Normally you would use a weight of "0" to add the top node of your rollup to the main rollups element because adding multiple rollups containing the same elements normally doesn't make sense.

In most cases you will also want to add some attributes to the dimension source. Do so by clicking the "+" button in the toolbar and then further specify the attribute:

Attribute Name: The name of the attribute, e.g. Description
Attribute Type: String, Numeric or Alias
Alias Format: Only for type Alias to create a concatenation of code and description
Localization: Optionally to maintain an attribute, e.g. the description, in multiple locales / languages

The created attributes will now appear as additional columns in the input template and the attribute values can be entered.

You can now update the dimension using the "Build Dimension" button in the toolbar. Please note that this process will update all defined steps not just the one you have been editing. So make sure all definitions are valid and thoroughly checked, especially when you are using the "Delete All Elements" option. Navigate to the first tab to review the structure in the actual dimension (Tip: Selecting the subset "Top Elements" will get you there quickly). Because of the dimension maintenance settings in this example the system has automatically added the dummy / NA element.

Load dimension definition from Excel

You can manage the dimension content in an Excel template if preferred. The easiest starting point would be to set up the required levels and attributes as described above and then use the "Export" -> "Excel (Load Format)" option from the toolbar. Ensure the format is correct according to the template definition before uploading the modified Excel file. It is strongly recommended to use the clear function in the Excel upload dialogue to make sure there is no remaining content in the staging cube.

Template types to load dimensions

There are two types of template formats for the dimension loads the format is specified below. In both cases the "Total Rows" item is supposed to hold any attribute names in the following naming convention:
[Type] AttributeName[locale code], the locale code is optional.
Example: [S] Description[de] -> defines the German locale for a string attribute "Description"

» ByRollup

» ByParentChild