Dimensions

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Transactions

  • Dimension Entry
    Create Dimensions for a Project,
    Cost Centre, Departments and so on.

Inquiries and Reports

Maintenance

General rules

  • Set dimension mechanism in Company Setup.
  • Set default dimensions for relevant Items.
  • Assign documents (Journal Entries, Payments) to a particular dimension.
  • Submit Sales invoices using items assigned to dimensions.
  • Enter purchase invoices using items connected to a dimension.
  • Report a balance on a specific dimension; view all documents assigned to a dimension.
  • Profit and loss statements can be selected for the dimension, also, over several years if needed.
  • Currently, Dimension Summary doesn't allow to select a period.
  • Currently, you can only monitor the dimensions on the GL account level.
  • Currently, only the sales accounts and purchase accounts are stamped with the dimension in GL for the line values.

Usage Notes

  • Dimensions only uses the profit / loss accounts. Otherwise the results will be biased.
  • Purchase Orders Dimensions Assignment workaround is
    • In Purchases => Create a Purchase Order to the Supplier, there is no option to assign a Dimension, unless of course a Supplier's invoice is created and a dimension is selected when entering the GL Accounts for the COGS.
    • Update Supplier's detail assigning the preferred Dimension before creating that Purchase Order to the Supplier.
    • This must be done each time a change in Dimension assigned to a Supplier's Purchase Order is needed.
  • Truck Tolls example usage of Dimensions.

When not to use Dimensions

  • Dimensions are a pain, because there is nothing to enforce them and it's really easy to forget to set them or have something overriding the dimension without warning. An example where this would pertain is in connecting Credit Card Sales in a POS to a Bank Account. To reconcilate, just use a different account per terminal. Have one terminal and have a bank account specific to this terminal (as well has a bank account for "cheque") and it works really well.

Supplier Invoice usage

  • For stock items, the costs for the dimension is first taken during delivery (direct invoice).
  • When you do your delivery (or direct invoice) the delivery will result in the stock being taken from inventory and placed on the costs account.
  • If the dimension is chosen when creating the delivery (or direct invoice) the costs is also placed on the dimension. This can be seen by looking at the gl transaction.
  • The sales part for the dimension is first taken when invoicing.

Non profits example

  • Let each of your funds be a Dimension 1.
  • If you need projects, they can be Dimension 2 of the fund (for instance a specific grant to track in your Temporarily Restricted fund)
  • Ignore the date fields, and if you ever need to close, merge, or otherwise use up a fund, dimensions can be closed without being deleted.