6 Dimensions, Levels, and Positions

Dimensions describe the top-to-bottom relationship between the levels or positions of the dimensions in RPAS. They reflect the dimensions set up at your business and being used by the merchandising solutions.

RPAS supports many alternative dimensions that provide different roll ups and help you analyze the data from a different perspective.

Levels are subdivisions of a dimension. Levels group information of the same type. For instance, a level within the Product dimension could be Department. The Department level would contain all the departments that exist.

Positions are the individual members of the level.

This chapter describes the various tasks you can perform with dimensions, levels, and positions. It includes the following sections:

• Showing/Hiding Levels

• Expanding and Collapsing Levels

• Level Splitting

• Showing and Hiding Positions

Showing/Hiding Levels

Dimension levels that appear in the view are based on the configuration. Only levels configured for a view are visible in the view. In the Fusion Client, you can show or hide the levels using:

• Right-click menu

• Levels tab in the Dimension dialog box

Using the Right-Click Menu

To show or hide levels using the right-click menu:

1. In the view, right-click anywhere in the area that displays the dimension.

2. Select the level you want to show or hide.

   Figure 6-1 Right-Click Menu

   
   

   The view updates to display or hide the relevant level.

Note: You can perform the same action by accessing the right-click context menu in the page edge.

Using the Dimension Dialog Box

To show or hide levels and select the display type using the Dimension dialog box, complete the following steps:

1. In the page edge, click the dimension tile you want. The Dimension dialog box appears.

   Figure 6-2 Dimensions Dialog Box, Levels Tab

   
   

2. Click the Levels tab. The Levels tab shows all the levels and alternate roll-ups and enables you to select one or more levels within a single dimension.

3. Select the levels you want to show or hide using the check boxes to the left of the level name.

4. Select Block View or Outline View as the display type.

5. Click OK to apply the changes and close the dialog box.

   Or, click Apply to apply the changes and continue working on the other tabs.

Expanding and Collapsing Levels

Although you can click the Expand/Collapse buttons next to each level displayed in the view, it can be time consuming if there are many levels. The Fusion Client includes the following options to help you expand or collapse levels easily:

• Right-click menu

• Levels Tab in the Dimension pop-up

Using the Right-Click Menu

To expand or collapse levels using the right-click menu:

1. Select the levels you want to expand or collapse, and right-click.

2. On the right-click menu, select Expand Level(s) or Collapse Level(s).

   Figure 6-3 Expand Level and Collapse Level Options in the Right-Click Menu

   
   

Using the Dimension Dialog Box

To expand or collapse levels using the Dimension dialog box:

1. In the page edge, click the dimension tile of the dimension you want to collapse or expand. The Dimension dialog box appears.

   Figure 6-4 Dimensions Dialog Box, Levels Tab

   
   

2. On the Levels tab, select the relevant check box to expand or collapse all the positions at the level. To expand or collapse all positions at all the visible levels, click the Expand/Collapse shortcut menu on the top.

   Figure 6-5 Expand/Collapse Shortcut Menu

   
   
   
   

   Note: The expand and collapse check boxes are enabled only for the levels selected.

   
   

3. Click OK to apply the changes and go back to the view.

   You can also click Apply to apply the changes and continue working on the other tabs.

Level Splitting

Level splitting allows you to group dimension data based on position characteristics defined by attribute values.This enables users working with large sets of data to group together subsets of data to make the information easier to work with. These attributes can be either predefined (set up during the configuration process) or dynamic (defined by a user and made available globally).

For example, for an attribute that describes the climate of a store location, you can group those store locations by climate using a level split. This lets a planner working on the winter season to first work with stores in cold weather regions and then work with stores in more temperate regions.

Level splitting is applied to the entire workbook, although when the split was defined it may have been specified that the split should only be shown in some of the views in the workbook. As each dimension in the workbook can only have one split applied to it at any one time, applying a split to a view without any apparent grouping may still result in a message saying that a split already exists. Users then have the option of continuing with the existing split or clearing it and applying the new split to the entire workbook.

Figure 6-6 Level Splitting Example

As shown in Figure 6-6, the attribute values (cold, moderate, hot) act as positions within the level split. Each level split contains only the positions that have that attribute: only the cold locations appear in the cold split, only the hot locations appear in the hot split, and so on.

The level split has its own dimension tile. You can move this tile just as you would a dimension tile because level splits behave like independent dimensions. See Creating a New Split for more information.

Behind the scenes, a hierarchy is built based on attribute values at the level that is split, allowing the aggregations to be correctly calculated and providing a spreading for values edited at aggregated levels. Other capabilities, such as locking and protection processing, are fully functional on the positions of the split.

Creating a New Split

Before you can create a level split, you must have an attribute, dynamic or static, to base the split on. Static attributes are defined in the Configuration Tool and can only be changed by users with access to the tool. Dynamic attributes can be created by any user. To learn how to create a dynamic attribute, see Creating Dynamic Attributes.

You can define multiple splits for a specific dimension but only one of those splits can be applied to the dimension at any one time. If there are multiple dimensions in use for the pivot table, each of these dimensions can have a split applied to it.

1. Click the Level Splitting icon in the toolbar. In the Level Splitting menu, select New Split.

   Figure 6-7 Level Splitting Icon

   
   

   Or, right-click a position. The right-click context menu appears. Select Level Splitting. In the Level Splitting menu, select New Split.

   Figure 6-8 Level Splitting Option in the Right-Click Context Menu

   
   

2. The New Split dialog box appears (Figure 6-9). Select the following options:

   • Dimension: Select the dimension that you want to split.

   • Level: Select the level that you want to split into groups.

   • Attributes: Check the attribute that you want to use to group the levels into and use the Move icon to move it to the right side. More than one attribute can be selected.

     If multiple attributes are selected for a split, the order they are selected will determine the order they are applied. The first attribute in the list will be used to group the dimension into bands. The second attribute in the list will then be used to subdivide within the initial bands, and so on. The order can be modified by using the up or down arrows in the New split dialog box.

     If you want to create a new attribute, use the New Attribute icon.

   • Apply To: Select the views that the split should apply to. You can choose one view, some views, or all views.

   • Split Name: To save the split for later use, enter a name and click Save Split.

   Figure 6-9 New Split Dialog Box

   
   

3. When finished, click OK. The dialog box closes, and the levels are split, as shown in Figure 6-10.

Figure 6-10 New Level Split

You can move the split dimension to a different axis, as shown in Figure 6-11. Moving the split dimension to a different axis can be helpful when you have aggregate levels of the base dimension. In Figure 6-11, the base dimension is Location. When aggregating that dimension, you can see the total Weekly Sales for regions by climate.

Figure 6-11 Split Dimension on Different Axis

You can also move the split dimension to the page edge, as shown in Figure 6-12.

Figure 6-12 Split Dimension on Page Edge

You can use more than one attribute to define a split for a dimension. In Figure 6-13, two attributes were used to define the split.

• Climate (Hot, Moderate, Cold)

• Sales (Low, Medium, High)

These are used in the priority order used to select them when the split was defined. Because Climate was the first attribute selected, the stores are first grouped by the climate bands. Within a specific climate band, the stores are then grouped by sales. These splits can be moved to different axes or the page edge.

Figure 6-13 A Split with Two Attributes

Clearing a Split

To clear or remove a split from the view, complete the following steps:

• Click the Level Splitting icon in the toolbar. Then select Clear Split.

  Figure 6-14 Clearing a Split with the Level Splitting Icon

  
  

• Or, right-click a position. In the right-click context menu, select Level Splitting. Then, select Clear Split.

  Figure 6-15 Clearing a Split with the Right-Click Context Menu

  
  

The split is removed from the view.

Selecting a Split

To apply a saved split to a view, complete the following steps:

1. Click the Level Split icon in the toolbar and then click Select Split.

   Figure 6-16 Select Split: Level Splitting Icon

   
   

   Or, right-click a position. In the right-click context menu, select Level Splitting and then Select Split.

   Figure 6-17 Select Split: Right-Click Context Menu

   
   

2. The Select Split dialog box appears. Select the split you want to apply to the view.

   Figure 6-18 Select Split Dialog Box

   
   

3. Click OK. The split is applied to the view.

   • If no existing split exists for the dimension the split is being applied to, the split will be immediately applied.

   • If an existing split exists for the dimension the split is being applied to, a warning dialog box will appear.

     Figure 6-19 Existing Split Warning

     
     

     As only one split can be applied to a specific dimension at one time, users have the option of continuing with the existing split or removing it and applying the new one.

Editing a Split

To edit an existing split, complete the following steps:

1. Ensure that a split appears in the view.

2. Right-click the level split or click the Level Split icon.

3. From the Level Split menu, select Edit Split.

   Figure 6-20 Editing a Level Split

   
   

4. The Edit Split dialog box appears.

5. Edit the split as necessary and click OK.

Note: A split cannot be edited if it is in use in a worksheet. To edit the split, first clear the split from the workbook.

Showing and Hiding Positions

Positions that appear in the view are based on the configuration. Only positions configured for a view are visible in the view. In the Fusion Client, you can show or hide the positions using the Dimension dialog box.

To show or hide positions:

1. In the Page Edge and Tiles area, click the dimension tile you want. The Dimension dialog box appears.

2. In the Dimension dialog box, click the Show and Hide tab.

   Figure 6-21 Dimension Dialog Box, Show and Hide Tab

   
   

3. Select the positions you want by holding down the CTRL or SHIFT key.

4. Click the Add and Remove arrows to move positions between the Visible Positions and Hidden Positions areas.

   Or

   Drag and drop the positions between these areas.

5. Click OK to apply the changes and go back to the view.

   You can also click Apply to apply the changes and continue working on the other tabs.

   Use the Add All and Remove All arrows to move all the positions between the Visible Positions and Hidden Positions area.