The term dimension sounds very abstract, but dimensions in Business Central are a practical tool for evaluations. Almost every company uses dimensions in one way or another.
But what does the term dimension actually mean in Business Central?
In Business Central, dimensions are codes that can be given when booking and on the basis of which a wide variety of evaluations can be created. The classics are certainly cost center and cost object here, but basically there is no limit to the imagination here. Dimensions can be, for example:
- Groups
- Projects
- Sales Territories
- Divisions
- Campaigns
- …
As you can already see, you can hardly avoid dimensions if you want to evaluate data from Business Central.
I would also like to give a few practical tips here:
- Deal with the topic at an early stage in a project and take enough time.
- Set up the dimension system so that each business case can be uniquely assigned.
- Do not set up dimension values called “Miscellaneous” or “Other”, otherwise the user could be seduced to choose these codes particularly often and this affects the quality of evaluations.
- Consider whether it makes sense to use dimensions instead of multiple G/L accounts (e.B. revenue accounts).
- Set up dimensions so that the accountant/processor needs to do as little as possible.
- Set up dimensions so that the accountant/processor can do as little wrong as possible.
- Only set up dimensions that you actually want to evaluate. Otherwise, they only generate additional effort and data garbage.
Since a short time it is also possible to change already booked dimension values. We show you how to do this in this video (German).
But before you get started, you should take a close look at the possibilities and requirements of the dimensions in Business Central. There are a variety of possibilities both on the setup page and on the evaluation page and you should know them at least roughly beforehand. Therefore, we have decided to update our course for this topic.
You can get a short insight with trailer and examples on our website.
Have fun learning!
LG Rene