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Whether the Phocas Implementations team designs your databases or you do it yourself, as time goes on, you might want to modify those designs to meet your business’s needs. It's not unusual to go back and make changes, either to add new elements, delete things that are no longer needed or simply make some changes to the name or order of the items.

In Designer, you can take the following actions:

• Add (connect to) more data files

• Replace existing data files

• Unmap or delete items

• Transform data columns

• Customize the database components - For example, you can change the name of a dimension, change the format of a measure or rearrange the order in which items display. There are several customization options available. Expand the sections below for information.:

Rename an item

Rename dimensions, properties, measures, and streams, to give

them more meaningful titles. Be careful not to use any of the reserved words and characters.

Click the Edit button next to the item name, then enter a new title (name) and click Save.

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title Note about measure names and Rebates
In measures, if you are designing a source database for use in Rebates (the database that Rebates will interrogate), some characters must not be used in Measure names, as this can adversely affect rebate calculations. Measure names must only contain the following characters: "_abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz". Spaces cannot be used. Click the Edit button next to the item name, then enter a new title (name) and click Save. Image Removed

Reorder items

Change the order in which the dimensions, properties, measures, and streams display in their respective menus in Phocas. By default, items display in the order in which you map them

.

Click the item’s Move button, then drag and drop it in the new position.

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For example, in the image below, the Budget stream is being dragged from next to Sales across to the right of Orders. This sets it as the third stream in the list in the user's menu.

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Change the data type of an item

Change the data type of

dimensions, properties, measures,

streams

, and

date (in some circumstances)

sections. Changing the data type is particularly helpful for classifying your properties, as the data type can make a difference to the way the data can be

analyzed

and sorted in Phocas.

Click the Edit button next to the item name,

select the required data type from the Type dropdown list and click Save.

The available data types depend on the component:

• Text - The default data type for dimensions and properties.

• Number - The default data type for measures.

• Boolean - Available for properties only. See below for more information about Boolean property types.

• Date - See Map the date for more information.

• Paragraph - Available for properties only. Useful if you have a property containing a lot of text, such as a product description, and you want users to be able to view and export it in full. In the Phocas grid, the text is truncated to 100 characters, but users can click items to view the full text in a separate window.

Click Save.

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Group properties

Put properties into groups by prefixing the property name with the group name, a dash, and a right arrow (without spaces), like this: Name->

Click the Edit button next to the property name, then enter the group name prefix and click Save.

Grouping is handy when you have a large list of properties. For example, suppose you want to group the properties Street, Country, and Postcode into a group named Address. After you add the prefix Address-> to the name of each property, users will see these properties grouped in the Property menu in Phocas.

Click the Edit button next to the property name, then enter the group name prefix and click Save.

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Customize dimensions (hide the code, create groups, and include a group as a property)

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title Hide the code in dimensions
Set matrix mode column headings (known as captions in the options menu on the grid) to default to name only, so users only see the name for the selected dimension. As the code caption is unavailable, users don’t have the option of changing it, for example, to Name and code or just Code. In the Dimensions section, click the Edit button next to the dimension name, then select the Hide Code checkbox and click Save. Image Removed Info This feature doesn’t apply when you add levels to the grid (grid nesting). The code is not hidden when you view the nested grid. The Code property always displays in the nested grid because it’s required to link the nested rows together correctly.

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title Include a dimension group as a property
You can set Set a dimension as a property. This ‘dimension’ dimension property is different from and independent of the ‘transaction’ transaction properties that you map to the database, so they do not display in the regular Properties section in Designer. After mapping a dimension group (see section above), click the Edit button next to the dimension name, then select the required property from the Include as Property dropdown list and click Save. The newly created property will be named as per the dimension title.

Customize measures (change the format or create your own calculated measures)

Customize period types (set the period types and configure the moving period count

)

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title Configure the moving period count for each period type
You can dictate Set how many moments constitute a moving period (as used in Use Moving mode). On a Month period type, this is typically 12 (the default), which will ultimately display what many refer to as a 'moving annual total'. However, you can select any value. For example, if you select 3, it makes the moving mode display rolling quarters instead of years. For period types other than month, 0 (zero) moving periods is the default. Note that in Moving mode, 0 does not mean 'none'. It is more like a starting point, as Moving mode takes the number of moments in your active period, counts back that many 'moving' moments, and then adds those to each column. For example, a setting of 0 when using a period of the Last 7 days displays rolling seven 7 days but switching to a period of the Last 30 days displays rolling 30 days. In the Period Types window, click the More button next to a period type, use the arrows to select the moving period count and click Save.Image Removed Change the number of days to summarize The default number of days summarized in a database is 31. Sometimes you need a different number of days to be summarized, for example to: compare daily month-to-date with the daily month-to-date previous year, or compare a 3-month daily breakdown with the same period last year. In the Date section, click the Edit button at the top.Select the Day checkbox In the Period Types window, select the period type and click the More button. Unless it has been previously changed, the number of days to summarize will be set at the last 31 days. Image Removed Use the arrows to select a new number of days. This setting cannot be blank. If you select zero, th12121212is tells Phocas that all available days are to be summarized. This is not a common setting but it can be useful, for example, if you wanted to compare a daily month-to-date with a daily month-to-date four years ago. If you do select zero, the build will take longer than usual. Image Removed Click Save.
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set the moving period count and click Save. Image Added

Set a stream as Balance Brought Forward

Set a stream as Balance Brought Forward

to give the transactions an opening balance plus movements. This is typical in a Financial database, where the value in a General Ledger account for a selected month is effectively the sum of all prior transactions. It is also useful with Inventory Movements databases, which also typically have an opening stock 'as set by a stocktake' and adjustments in and out for receipts and dispatches.

Click the Edit button next to the stream name, then select the Balance Brought Forward checkbox and click Save.

Modify the general database options (customize activity filter labels, suppress empty dimensions and streams, and set the Retained Earnings account code)

The Options button on the top right of the Design screen (next to the Save button) gives you access to general database options.

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Customize activity filter labels

Customize the activity filter labels that appear in the Phocas grid. For example, in a Sales database, you might prefer the labels Sales and No Sales to Activity and No Activity, or in a Purchasing database you might want Purchases, No Purchases, and so on.

Click the Options button on the top right of the Design screen.

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Enter your synonyms into the respective boxes, and click Save.

Suppress empty dimensions and streams

Remove dimensions and streams from the front-end view of the database when they do not contain any data. The items remain in the database design but don't display for users when they open the database.

Select the Suppress empty dimensions and streams checkbox and click Save.

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Set the Retained Earnings account code

(financial databases only)

Set the Retained Earnings account code you want to use to calculate Retained Earnings for the Balance Sheet. When the database is being built, Designer uses the specified code to assign Retained Earnings to the correct place. If no code is specified, it creates its own code, called Retained Earnings. Only accounts within the Equity category will work.

Click the Options button on the top right of the Design screen.

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Enter a value in the Retained Earnings Code box, and click Save.

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