How-ToFinance & Operations

How to Use Dimensions in Financial Reporting

Learn how to filter financial reports by dimension values, set up Analysis Views, and use dimension-based analysis in Business Central.

Stein Sæstad
8 min read

Dimensions in Business Central let you slice financial data by categories that go beyond the Chart of Accounts, departments, cost centers, projects, regions, and anything else your organisation tracks. Once dimensions are posted with transactions, you can filter reports and analysis views to see figures for any combination of dimension values.

This guide explains how dimensions feed into financial reporting, how to set up Analysis Views, and when to use each approach.

Prerequisites

Before using dimensions in reports, dimensions must be set up and assigned to transactions. If you have not done this yet:

  1. Search for Dimensions using Alt + Q to see existing dimensions.
  2. Search for General Ledger Setup to confirm which dimensions are set as Global Dimension 1 Code and Global Dimension 2 Code.

Global dimensions are available on all G/L entries and can be used in most standard reports without additional setup. Other dimensions are available through Analysis Views or dimension filters.

Filter Financial Reports by Dimension

Financial Reports (previously called Account Schedules) support dimension filtering directly on the report view.

  1. Search for Financial Reports using Alt + Q.
  2. Open an existing financial report or create a new one.
  3. Select Edit Financial Report to open the row and column setup.
  4. In the column layout, you can assign a Dimension Value Filter to individual columns, for example, showing one column per department.
  5. When viewing the report, select Dimensions in the filter area to apply dimension filters to the entire report.

Filtering at the report level applies to all rows. Column-level dimension filters are more granular and let you compare department figures side by side in the same report.

Set Up an Analysis View

An Analysis View pre-aggregates G/L entries by a combination of dimensions, making it faster to query large date ranges. This is useful when you need to run the same dimensional analysis repeatedly or when the live G/L query is slow.

  1. Search for Analysis View Card using Alt + Q.
  2. Select New.
  3. Enter a Code and Name.
  4. Set the Account Filter if you want to limit the view to specific G/L accounts.
  5. Select up to four dimensions in the Dimension 1 Code through Dimension 4 Code fields.
  6. Set the Date Compression, Day, Week, Month, or None controls how granular the aggregated data is.
  7. Enable Include Budgets if you want to compare actuals to budget in the view.
  8. Select Update Analysis View to run the initial aggregation.

After the initial update, the view stays current as long as Update on Posting is enabled. If this is off, you need to run Update Analysis View manually to pick up new entries.

Use the G/L Analysis by Dimension Report

The G/L Analysis by Dimension report is designed for ad-hoc dimensional analysis without a pre-configured financial report layout.

  1. Search for G/L Analysis by Dimension using Alt + Q.
  2. On the Request Page, select the Analysis View Code you want to use.
  3. Set the Date Filter, G/L Account Filter, and dimension filters.
  4. Choose how to display columns, by period, by dimension value, or by G/L account.
  5. Run the report.

This report is a quick way to answer ad-hoc questions, for example, total expenses for a specific department in Q3, without building a full financial report layout.

Dimension-Based Budgets

Business Central lets you create budgets that include dimension values, so you can compare actuals to budget at the department or project level.

  1. Search for G/L Budgets using Alt + Q.
  2. Open an existing budget or select New.
  3. Enter budget amounts per G/L account, period, and dimension value.
  4. In Financial Reports, add a column with Ledger Entry Type set to Budget and specify the Budget Name.

Budget entries support the same dimension filters as actuals. A financial report can show actuals, budget, and variance columns side by side, all filtered by the same dimension values.

Analysis Views vs Live Dimension Filtering

Both approaches let you report on dimension data, but they work differently.

Analysis ViewLive G/L Filter
SpeedFast, reads pre-aggregated dataSlower on large datasets
Setup requiredYes, define view, run updateNo, filter directly on the report
GranularityDepends on date compression settingFull transaction-level detail
Best forRecurring reports, large companiesAd-hoc queries, small datasets

For month-end reporting in a company with years of transaction history, Analysis Views are usually faster. For a quick one-off check, filtering directly in Financial Reports is simpler.

Dimension Setup Reference

If dimensions are not posting correctly, check the setup in Set Up Dimensions.

  1. Search for Dimensions using Alt + Q.
  2. Open a dimension to review its Dimension Values and any Allowed Values per account.
  3. Check Default Dimension settings on customer, vendor, or G/L account cards to see which values post automatically.

Mandatory dimensions configured on accounts ensure entries are never posted without the required dimension value, which keeps reporting data clean.

For a guide on setting up and assigning dimensions from scratch, see How to Set Up Dimensions in Business Central.