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Dimensions are data sets that appear as buttons down the left of the screen in both grid and chart view. Common dimensions are customers, products, sales reps, regions, vendors, accounts, and so on. When you select a dimension it turns blue, as shown in the image below. 

 Some dimensions also have a subset (or group) of dimensions. E.g., in the image below 'Product group' and 'Category' are grouped under 'Products'. 

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Properties are information stored about dimensions (e.g., a customer address or unit of measure for a product), displayed as columns on the Phocas grid once you select a dimension. By default, Phocas displays Code and Name. Properties may be different for each dimension and each database.

 

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Selecting a dimension

Step 1. Select a database.

Step 2. Select a dimension. The selected dimension button will turn blue and the data displayed in the grid will change accordingly. In the image above, the 'Products' dimension has been selected and the grid displays product data.

  • Columns are sorted by total in ascending order.
  • Negative figures are shown in red.
  • Cells that do not contain data are shaded green.

    • The main way to filter data is to use dimensions. After you filter the data by a dimension, more functions and options become available, for example, you can perform a search to further filter the data or select and focus on specific rows of data.

    Info

    A dimension is a group of data and an entity is a value within a dimension. For example, a dimension is Country and the entities are Australia, the UK and the USA.

    Dimensions are groups of data that you can use to filter the whole dataset. The dimensions that are available depend on the underlying database. They display in the panel on the left of the grid. For example:

    • In a Sales database you might have dimensions such as Customers, Products, Sales Reps, Regions, Vendors and so on.

    • In an Inventory database you might have dimensions such as Supplier, Warehouse, Country, and so on. 

    Some dimensions have a subset of dimensions grouped underneath them, for example, the might have the Product Class and Product Group might be subsets of the Product dimension. 

    Click a dimension to filter the data in the grid and see a list the entities in that dimension. The dimension button turns blue to identify it as the currently selected dimension.

    For example, suppose you are viewing your Sales database and want to take a closer look at your customers, to see which customers generate the most sales revenue. When you click the Customer dimension, a list of customers displays in the grid.

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    Tip

    After you filter by one dimension and focus on some data, you can filter by another dimension. You can repeat this action to, in effect, filter by multiple dimensions and drill down further into your data.

    View filtered data in the grid

    When you filter the data by a dimension (and condition), the grid updates and looks and behaves different to the Summary view. The key characteristics are as follows:

    1. The selected dimensions displays in blue.

    2. Properties (dimension metadata, such as Name and Code) display as columns. If the data in the Code column is blue, it indicates a

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    Combining dimensions to slice and dice 

    You can segment and view data at a finer level or from a different perspective (i.e. 'slicing and dicing') in Phocas by combining dimensions.  

    Step 1. Select and focus on a dimension. Selecting without focusing results in the same information; however, focusing removes other data from view.  

    Step 2. Select a second dimension. The resulting records displayed will depend on your previous selections, e.g. if you select and focus on sales reps 'Fred' and 'Daisy', and then move to the 'Customer' dimension, only customers who have purchased from 'Fred' and 'Daisy' will appear. 

    • Dimensions that have selections will be indicated by numbers in brackets. 
    Insert excerptSelect and focus on dataSelect and focus on datanopaneltrue

    Example 

    'Which customers are buying items supplied by a particular vendor from sales rep Alan in the South East region?' This question can be answered by following the steps below: 

  • Select 'Sales Rep' dimension and choose 'Alan'. Focus. 
  • Select 'Vendor' dimension and choose any vendor. Focus.
  • Select 'Region' dimension and choose South East. Focus.  
    • Select 'Customer' dimension to view the results of your analysis. 
    You will see a list of customers in the grid, as shown below. These are the customers in the South East who are buying items from 'Alan' that came from your chosen vendor. Dimensions that have selections are indicated by numbers in brackets next to the dimension name. 
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    Default settings for dimensions 

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    When you first select a dimension and go into analysis view the data displayed will reflect the default settings for dimensions in that database. The row number is always the first column. The other columns are based on default settings, sorted by total in ascending order.

    Sales database defaults

    In a sales database, which is one of the most common databases in Phocas, the default columns are:

    The columns displayed will change as you select different periods, modes, properties and so on.

     

    Adding or changing dimensions

    Dimensions can be added or changed by an administrator.

     

    Info
    titleRelated articles
    Analysis view, Summary view, Select and focus on data

    1. You can select other properties to display or create your own custom property via the Properties menu.

    2. Measures (data values relating to dimensions) display as columns, for example the Total Revenue or Current column. By default, the data is sorted by the first measure column, in ascending order. You can then sort the data in other ways. You can change the measures and their format via the Measures menu.

    3. Cells that do not contain data are shaded blue.

    4. Negative figures display in red.

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    Tip

    See Work with the grid to learn how to sort data, freeze properties, view the record count and more.

    Remove a filter

    The process to remove a filter depends on they action you have taken:

    • If you filter by one dimension and then want to filter by another dimension, so long as you have not selected anything in the grid, you can simply click the other dimension. You can quickly switch between dimensions and the grid updates accordingly.

    • If you filter by a dimension and select rows in the grid, then select another dimension, a filter is applied to the first dimension and the number of selected rows displays on that dimension button. Click the X on the dimension button to remove the first filter.

    To completely reset the data, click the Reset button.

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