Actuals Dimension

The Actuals Dimension is a special case of a Case Dimension. It creates a single, variable length overlay, allowing you to specify how many periods of actual results you want to use in any given scenario or report. Once created, it can be used like any other dimension, allowing you to import data into its Overlay, or to manually create layers within it.

Creating the Actual Dimension

Open the Model Dimensions group within the navigation panel and right-click on any group to access the Add menu, then select Actuals Dimension. If you do not see an option for adding an Actuals Dimension, then one has already been created. Should this be the case, you will need to edit or delete the existing actuals dimension to achieve the desired result.

 

The software automatically performs the following actions:

 

  1. Sets the Kind of Overlays to An overlay for all cases.
  2. Sets the Layer Priority to 1000 (an arbitrarily large value to make the actual data the highest priority)
  3. Creates two Cases
    1. No
    2. 3 Months (an example)
  4. Creates a Case Parameter titled "# periods"
    • Sets the value for the No case to 0
    • Sets the value of the 3 months (an example) to 3
  5. Creates two Shared Layers
    1. "Default Actuals Layer for Duration line items"
      1. Creates a Value Layer with all 0 values, covering the entire span of the model (Period prior to start of plan to Last plan period)
      2. Places the layer in the Actuals (all elements) Overlay.
      3. Sets the Priority Adjustment to -.1. (This forces all layers with lower priorities to be overridden by this layer when actuals are in use).
    2. "Default Actuals Layer for Instant line items"
      1. Creates a Formula Layer covering the entire span of the model (Period prior to start of plan to Last plan period)
      2. Places the layer in the Actuals (all elements) Overlay.
      3. Sets the Priority Adjustment to -.1. (This forces all layers with lower priorities to be overridden by this layer when Actuals are in use).
      4. Sets Step 1 of the formula to refer to the current line item, starting at the Current Period minus one period (the result of the previous period).
        • This makes the default layer for all instant line items to be the last actual balance

       

Each of these actions could be performed manually by you, if the need arises, to simulate the behavior of the Actuals Dimension.

 

Related Links:

Case Dimensions

Overlays

Shared Layers

Line Item Sets