Using Dimensions

Dimensions are xP&A’s most powerful concept. This topic conceptually explains dimensions so that you can use them in your models.

Suppose you are building a financial model for your online coffee business. You sell 10 different products (SKU), each with a different price.

In xP&A, you can create a dimension called SKU with each product as its own item:

In a spreadsheet you would create a row for each product, and a column for Price:

In xP&A, you can create a single Price variable, broken down by your SKU dimension:

Suppose that you have to pay 20% in taxes on each sale, and you want to calculate your post-tax revenue for each product.

In a spreadsheet, you would have to create 10 new rows and do a separate calculation for each product.

In xP&A, you can simply do the calculation once, and xP&A will automatically calculate it for each dimension item separately.

Suppose that you add a new product to your offering.

In a spreadsheet you would have to find every instance of your product list in your model, insert a new row in the right place, and then fill in the correct formula for it.

In xP&A, you can simply add your new product to your SKU dimension, and xP&A will automatically include it wherever the SKU dimension is used.

If your dimension has an inherent hierarchy, e.g. your dimension is Group and contains Divisions, Branches, and Shops that are rolled up, you can build your dimension in order to display and aggregate data at the corresponding level.

To create this hierarchy in the dimension settings, simply grab a dimension item on the left and drop it under the dimension it belongs. This automatically assigns levels (top items are level 1, their children level 2, and so on). For more information, see Creating and Editing Dimensions.

In the following example, Division 1 is level 1, Branch A is level 2 and Shop 1, 2 and 3 are level 3:

In addition to levels, dimensions may also have types, which are classifications you can assign to items.

Types may align with levels, but don’t have to.

For example, you could have a Shop type where Shop 5 and Shop 6 are grouped under Shop 4.

In models, you can group the dimensions either by types or levels. For more information, see Creating and Editing Dimensions.

You think about your products falling into two different groups: Coffee beans and Coffee equipment.

In xP&A, you can create a dimension called Product Group, link it to the SKU dimension, and then assign each SKU to a Product Group. (For more information, see Creating and Editing Dimensions.)

Suppose that your taxes are not just 20% across all products, but that there is a different tax payable on food (e.g. coffee beans) versus coffee equipment.

In a spreadsheet, you would do the following:

Suppose that you have your monthly revenue broken down by SKU and want to create a stacked bar chart showing your monthly revenue broken down by Product Group.

In a spreadsheet, you would have to first “pivot” your data (using formulas and copy&pasting) and then chart the pivoted version of the data.

In xP&A, you can simply create a chart of your Revenue variable, and then pivot the data directly on the chart without any setup.

Every business is messy, and sometimes you will need to hardcode certain values or set different formulas for different periods.

You can override any dimension value by simply clicking and typing into the relevant cell. This is a useful 'escape hatch', but should be used sparingly!