Creating and Editing Dimensions

Zuletzt aktualisiert am 03.03.2025

Overview

Dimensions are xP&A’s most powerful concept. Dimensions allow you to build your business’ structure directly into your financial models, removing the need for formula duplication and lookups.

With dimensions, you can:

  • Reduce the number of formulas in your models by 100x or more
  • Make it much easier to maintain and develop your models over time
  • Significantly reduce the chance of human error when working with formulas
  • Make it much easier to connect to historical data
  • Make it much easier to visualize and pivot data from your models
Creating a Dimension

You have several options for creating a dimension:

  • Create a new dimension via the + icon in the overview of the model on the left.
Shows the plus sign in the dimension overview of a model. Create a new dimension
  • Create a dimension directly on a variable:
    You can also create a new dimension directly on a variable by clicking on the Dimensions button and adding a dimension breakdown.

 

Shows the Dimensions button on a variable Add a dimension to a variable

If dimensions exist in your data sources, these will show up as options when you click the Dimensions button on a variable that is connected to integrated data. If you select these dimensions, this will automatically create the dimension in xP&A (if they do not exist in xP&A yet), and add it to your model/variables. See linking dimensions to data sources for more.

  • Create a dimension in the Dimensions workspace:
    Open the Dimension workspace and click New.
     
Editing a Dimension

How you edit a dimension depends on whether you are editing the dimension in the spreadsheet or in the Dimensions workspace.

To edit a dimension in the spreadsheet of a model:

  1. Click the dimension you want to edit.

    Categories in a model
  2. The dimension is displayed as follows, for example:
    Category in a model
  3. If necessary, edit the dimension items. The following functions are available:
    • You can rename, duplicate, or delete an item in the item's three-dot menu.
    • Change the order of the items by moving one or more items using drag and drop.


      Edit category item
  4. If necessary, edit the dimension and the item list using the functions in the upper right corner of the dimension area.

    Edit category

    The following functions are available:
    • Sort, filter or search the dimension
    • Rename the dimension
    • Change the dimension icon
    • Show or hide sparkline columns
    • Remove the dimension from the model
    • Delete the dimension

Dimensions can also be edited in the Dimensions workspace. The Dimensions page shows you a list of all of the dimensions on your account, and any dimensions that are used in models that have been shared with you (shared dimensions).

  1. If neccessary, click xP&A in the upper left corner.
  2. Navigate to the Dimensions workspace.
    The Dimensions workpace is displayed as follows, for example: Open the category workspace
  3. Configure the dimensions as desired (see Options for Dimensions).
  4. If you want to edit the dimension items click on an empty space in the dimension line (see Editing Dimension Items). 
Options for Dimensions

On the Dimensions page you have the following options for dimensions:

Option

Description

All,

Yours,

Shared

Filters the list of dimensions

 

Search for a dimension

 

Open a dimension mapping graph

Create a new dimension

Give dimensions an icon to distinguish them, by clicking the icon next to the dimension name

Models (Tooltip)

Visualise how dimensions link to each other (if you have linked dimensions).

Hover over the models entry to display the tooltip:

Shows the tooltip showing the models a category used in that appears when you click on the models icon Connected models

Opens a context menu where you can inspect or delete the dimension.

Edit a dimension item

To edit the items list in a dimension, click on an empty space in the desired dimension line (see Editing Dimension Items).

Adding a Dimension Item

Add new dimension items in the bottom row by clicking New item.

Shows the button 'New item' to be used to add a new item to a dimension Add dimension item

All dimension items for a dimension must be unique, i.e. you cannot have two duplicate dimension items.

Editing Dimension Items

To edit dimension items:

  1. Click on an empty space in the dimension line. 
  2. The Dimension detail view is displayed as follows, for example: Product dimension with dimension items
  3. Configure the dimension items as desired.

    The following functions for dimension items are available:
    • Add/delete/rename dimension items using the three-dot menu behind the name of the dimension item.
    • Create and update dimension-level links and item-level mappings.
    • Set the dimension icon.
    • Search, sort, filter, or reorder dimension items.
    • See which data sources the dimension is linked to (by hovering over each item).

In the spreadsheet, you can navigate to the dimension to which a dimension item belongs by clicking the arrow icon:

Shows the button with a purple arrow that is used to open the dimension details from a variable Navigate to dimension
Additional Functions for Dimensions

The following additional functions for dimensions are available:

To bring an existing dimension into a model:

  • Navigate to the dimension under the + icon in the overview of the model on the left. You can bring in multiple dimensions at once by clicking multiple dimensions while the picker is open:

  • Click the Dimensions button on a variable, to add that dimension to the variable (and to the model):

You can show or hide indirect dimension mappings in the data tables, or in the detail view of the dimension in the Dimension workspace.

Example:

  • If each Employee has a Title, and each Title sits within a Team, then each Employee sits within a Team via their Title.
  • The indirect dimension mapping is from the Employee to their Team.
  • When in the Employee dimension, you can reveal the Team of each employee by clicking the >  in the column header.
Show/Hide indirect dimensions Show/Hide indirect dimensions

1-to-1 vs. 1-to-many relationships

  • Linked dimensions have a 1-to-1 relationship, i.e. each dimension item in the primary dimension links to only one dimension item in the linked dimension. Each employee may only have one job title, for instance.
  • xP&A's dimensions are not designed for 1-to-many relationships, i.e. one job title cannot sit within multiple departments.

Often, there will be a relationship between dimensions. For example, assigning each Employee to a Job Title, or assigning each Deal to a Sales Representative. 

To link dimensions, click the + in the far-right column (in the data tables, or in the detail view of the dimension the Dimensions workspace) and select the Link dimension option.

Shows the link to be used to link dimensions that appears when you click on the + sign in the last column of the dimension details Link dimensions

This will create an extra column in the data table, allowing you to map the two dimensions together (e.g. giving each Employee a Location).

Shows the dropdown to be used to map dimensions when clicking into a column of a dimension item Map dimensions

To paste data in (e.g. from a spreadsheet), simply copy your data, then select your row/s), and paste (Ctrl/Cmd + V). xP&A will "paste over" whatever row(s) you had selected.

If you do not want to paste over what you have already in the data table, then create a new item at the bottom of the table (you may have to take off alphabetical sorting if you have that applied), select that new item, and paste over that new item (see Adding a dimension item).