This post is part of the In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (Financial), how do I… series and of the wider In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, how do I… series which I am posting as I familiarise myself with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
In an earlier article of this series, on understanding the chart of accounts, I commented that Dynamics BC differed from some ERP systems by only having the GL account itself in the chart of accounts where other systems also include cost centres and other elements required for reporting.
Dynamics BC does allow for reporting on these other elements, but manages them through dimensions rather than the chart of accounts itself.
Microsoft themselves describe dimensions as:
Dimensions are values that categorize entries so you can track and analyze them on documents, such as sales orders. Dimensions can, for example, indicate the project or department an entry came from.
So, instead of setting up separate general ledger accounts for each department and project, you can use dimensions as a basis for analysis and avoid having to create a complicated chart of accounts.
There isn’t a single client I have worked with over the last 20 years who does not have a need for dimensions (or similar) as no-one reports only on the G/L account. Other values to be stored in dimensions would commonly be:
- Cost Centre
- Department
- Region
Dimensions can also be used to store non-financial analysis codes such as:
- Project
- Budget Holder
The above are just examples of some of the type of analysis codes I’ve seen in the past working with clients.
Dynamics BC allows financial postings to be filtered based on the GL account and on the dimension values selected against the posting. Over a few posts in this series, I am going to take a look at setting up and maintaining dimensions, setting defaults, combinations and priorities as well as viewing data posted with dimension values assigned to them.
In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, how do I…
In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (Finance), how do I…
In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (Finance), how do I… Understand Dimensions |
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