Enterprise Edition:Dimension Introduction
Dimensions help you to maintain your master data and your planning structures. Dimensions model your company in CoPlanner.
It is necessary to distinguish between OLAP Dimensions and Structure Dimensions. OLAP Dimensions include profit centres and cost centres (PC/CC) as well as product dimensions. Structure Dimensions include evaluation structures such as the income statement structure according to the aggregate cost method as well as dimensions that underlie your planning masks, such as the “Types of revenue” structure dimension in the Monthly Revenue planning mask. In the standard CoPlanner model, dimensions are available on the Model tab, which can be opened either on the ribbon or in the navigation structure.
Here you can manage your dimensions (e.g. creating a new product). The Dimension Manager allows you to create and manage structures in CoPlanner. It is used for OLAP Dimensions and Structure Dimensions. As the interface and the functions of the Dimension Manager are the same in all areas, The Dimension Manager will be described first.
A dimension generally has a hierarchical structure. All elements can be freely moved within this hierarchy, which may be arbitrarily deep anywhere. When you move an element within the hierarchy, you also change the associated values that are planned for the element.
Some dimensions, especially the evaluation dimensions (e.g. profit and loss statements, balance sheets, direct financial plan) have predefined values. You can change these values to suit your needs. The only limitation is that you cannot delete elements marked in yellow in which values are automatically entered during integrated planning. The remaining dimensions contain example elements which you can delete and replace with your own structures.
View: Elements and Functions
Ribbon
The symbols in the Ribbon have the following functions:
Context Menu
The context menu has the following functions:
Level selection
By clicking on the level selection, you can change the view mode to display more or fewer levels. The number in the level selection shows the number of hierarchical levels to be displayed.
Workspace
Here you can create and manage your dimension structure and your dimension elements.
Dimensionstructur and dimension elements
Dimension elements are created in the Workspace and must have a unique name. You can arrange your dimension element in any order, and you can create trees and structures to suit your needs. Nodes in the tree are marked with additional symbols:
,
. Click on the symbol to open or close lower levels of the tree.
Row header
The row header displays the status of the dimension element. The following statuses are possible:
| Pushbutton | Action |
|
Dimension element is locked and cannot be deleted. |
|
Dimension element was edited. |
|
Dimension element is marked for deletion and will be irrevocably deleted the next time you save. |
Dimension Attributes
To display dimension attributes, please activate the symbol “Display attribute details” 
in the toolbar. The colour of the button will change to amber.
Dimension attributes are properties of a particular element and can be changed at will. For example, the structure dimension “Types of Revenue” has an attribute for creating profit and loss statements that determines the dimension element of the profit and loss statement that is associated with the specific revenue type. The configuration in the example given above means that, during turnover planning, all values planned for Revenues From Merchandise in the profit and loss statement (total profit and loss statement structure in the figure) are transferred to Revenues.
| Hint The default program configuration contains a standard link which you can edit to suit your needs. |
Creating a New Dimension Element
To edit a dimension, the dimension must first be checked out on the server. When you check out a dimension, it is opened for your exclusive use. No other user can edit the dimension at the same time.
Elements are created in the Workspace of the tree structure, which can have as many levels as you wish. To create a new element, please use the “New element, same level” symbol or the “New element, lower level” 
symbol from the Ribbon.
| Input Select the dimension element “Types of Revenue” and click on the “New element, lower level” button. |
CoPlanner will create a new element under the “Types of Revenue” dimension element.
The new element is created at the top of the list below the selected dimension element. Because of the change in sequence, the Save button is displayed next to every subsequent element.
| Input Name the new element “Revenues from inland”. |
You can create several new elements at once by clicking on the “Create multiple elements” button.
Input Select the “Revenues from inland” dimension element and select the “Create multiple elements” button.
|
The following dialogue box appears:
In this dialogue you can enter the number of elements to be created and the level at which the new elements are to be created.
| Input Enter the number 2 in the “Count” field and select the option “Insert children” in the “Level” group. Confirm your settings by clicking “OK”.. |
CoPlanner will create three new elements in the “Revenues from inland” dimension element. The Save icon will be displayed in the row header until you click on the Save button.
Moving Dimension Elements
Created elements can be moved and nested by dragging and dropping. Select the dimension element’s icon with the left mouse button and, while holding down the mouse button, drag the dimension element to its target position.
| Input The element “Revenues from inland” will be dragged to the element “Revenues from merchandise”. |
Before you conclude the drag & drop operation, you can decide whether the elements should be inserted below the element “Revenues from merchandise” or on the same level as “Revenues from merchandise”.
| Hint If a red border appears around the “Revenues from merchandise” target element, the elements will be inserted one level below. |
| Hint EIf a red line appears above the “Revenues from merchandise” target element, the elements will be inserted on the same level. You can force this option by pressing the “Ctrl” key. |
Hint You can change the sequence within the same level and you can change levels by using the navigation arrows  on the Ribbon.
|
Multiple Selections Selecting multiple elements at the same time
Click on the first element and press the Shift key. While holding down the Shift key, click on the last element. All elements between the first and the last element will be selected.
Selecting non-consecutive elements
You can also select several non-consecutive elements and move them simultaneously. Hold down the Ctrl key while clicking on the elements you wish to select. All elements you click on will be highlighted.
| Hint For drag & drop operations, please use the “Display attribute details” view mode. |
Managing Large Dimensions
When managing large dimensions, you can use the option “Display dimension twice” 
. When you select this option, the dimension will be opened a second time in the same window. You can use this option in the case of large structures for performing operations such as moving an element from the end of the dimension to the beginning. To do so, scroll to the end of the dimension display on the right-hand side and drag and drop the desired element to its target position on the left-hand side of the display. After you release the mouse button, the element will be inserted at the desired point.
Deleting a dimension element
With the exception of locked dimension element (which are in use by the mathematical logic of the standard model), the root element (the topmost dimension element of a dimension), and the default dimension element (“Unassigned”), dimensions can be created and deleted at will.
Please select the dimension element you wish to delete and click the Delete button 
on the Ribbon.
| Input Select the dimension element “Element 1” and click on the Delete button. |
The following message box appears:
The Delete symbol appears in the row header of the selected element.
This element will be deleted the next time you click on the Save button.
| Hint Please note that this will delete both the selected dimension element and all the elements in the hierarchy below this element! |
If there is still data in the dimension element marked for deletion, the following message will appear:
“The record marked for deletion is being used as lookup in another table. Do you want to delete this record and all lookups that refer to it?”
If you confirm the deletion (by clicking “Yes”), the dimension element will be deleted along with all data records that contain a reference to this dimension element. It is therefore important to ensure that the data records in question are no longer needed. (For example, data records which belong to a plan that is no longer in use.) For more information, please consult your CoPlanner Administrator or PowerUser. If the attribute fields of other dimensions contain links to the dimension element marked for deletion, the following warning will be shown: “Deletion could not be completed due to a violation of the default rules in one or more data records. See the server log. The object “Types of revenue reduction” contains one of these values as the default value in a lookup column. In this case, the object “Types of revenue reduction” (see message) still contains a link to the dimension element marked for deletion. The dimension element cannot be removed until the reference in the dimension “Types of revenue reduction” has been changed to a different dimension element. In case of doubt or when encountering problems deleting dimension elements, please always consult your CoPlanner Administrator or PowerUser to make sure that you do not delete dimension element that are still needed.
Copy/Paste in the Dimension Manager
CoPlanner allows you to copy entire dimensions with all their attributes to and from Microsoft Excel.
| Hint The Copy/Paste function is unavailable except when the display shows only the attribute columns. |
You can select and copy individual columns, multi-column sections, and entire rows.
| Input Open the dimension “Other revenue and cost types” and click the Checkin/Checkout button.
Select this area and press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+C. |
The contents of the selected rows will be copied to the clipboard and can be pasted into other programs.
| Hint When copying data from Microsoft Excel to CoPlanner, the data will be imported non-structurally. This means that a list of element names will be imported one after the other independently of differences in structural level. |
