Attribute hierarchies are created for reporting purposes and provide a way to summarize members. An Attribute Hierarchy can be used as an alternative common chart of accounts hierarchy. You can also create report sets for Dynamic Reports based on an Attribute hierarchy.
Note:
Before creating an Attribute Hierarchy, you'll define attributes. Click here to learn more about how you can define attributes.
How to Setup Attribute Hierarchy?
To add an attribute hierarchy to a dimension, follow these steps:
Navigate to Maintenance > Hierarchy > Hierarchy Management.
In the Hierarchy Selection section, select Finance Hierarchies from the Type drop-down list, and select a Dimension.
Click Setup.
On the Financial Hierarchies Setup page, click Add.
Select the Hierarchy Type as Attribute Hierarchy from the drop-down menu.
Enter the Name and Description.
For Type, there are two types of attribute hierarchies you can define: Rollup based on Attributes and Rollup created manually.
Rollup based on Attributes: Automatically roll up all levels of your hierarchy based on defined attributes.
Rollup created manually: Define how you want the leaf-level members to roll up within the hierarchy. For example, you might want your company's subsidiaries to roll up based on the state they operate in versus a company account they are naturally associated with.
When you select Rollup created manually, the Leaf Level field appears. Select the leaf-level roll-up member.
For example, suppose you have an attribute hierarchy for a Product dimension. You want the hierarchy to roll up to an overall summary level called All Product Managers. Below is how the hierarchy might be structured:
Level 1 (Root Level): All Product Managers — The highest level summarizes all members.
Level 2 (Parent Level): Regions — Groups Product Managers based on the geographic regions they oversee.
Level 3 (Leaf Level): Product Manager — The most detailed level, representing individual Product Managers responsible for specific products. Reports can show summarized data at each level, from individual Product Managers up to regional and company-wide rollups.
In the Levels field, enter the number of levels you want the hierarchy to have and press Enter on your keyboard or click the Add Level button.
The highest level (or root) of a hierarchy is the hierarchy name. Provide level names for the levels you specify.
In this case, you would enter Regions for the parent level and ProductManager for the leaf level. The Level Name list box is populated with attributes defined on the Attribute page.
Click Save.
Once the Attribute Hierarchy is saved, the new Attribute Hierarchy can be viewed in the Hierarchy Management page under the Hierarchy Selection section, in the Hierarchy field drop-down list.
Note:
You can also edit and delete an attribute hierarchy. Remember that you can edit the attribute hierarchy ONLY if Used in Reporting is No.
FAQ
What is the end-to-end process of setting up and using Attributes and Attribute Hierarchies in Reports?
Attribute Hierarchies allow you to organize and analyze financial data using custom-defined attributes. The following steps outline how to define attributes, build an attribute hierarchy, map attribute data to main hierarchy members, and use it in reports.
Define Financial Attributes: Create a financial attribute (for example, State) and specify its values (for example, Texas, New York, Oregon). These values are later used to map the leaf-level members in the Main Hierarchy under the User Defined Attributes section.
Example: For a Location dimension, each office or distribution center can have a State attribute indicating where it is located.
To learn about creating an Attribute, click here.Add Attribute Hierarchy: Select Hierarchy Type as Attribute Hierarchy and Type as Rollup created manually, which allows you to create members for the Attribute Hierarchy in Hierarchy Management. To learn about creating an Attribute Hierarchy , click here.
Add Members to the Attribute Hierarchy: For the created Attribute Hierarchy, add a leaf level member that corresponds to the attribute values, such as Texas, New York, and Oregon. Refer to How to Add a Member to the Hierarchy? for detailed steps.
Link to Main Hierarchy Members: The attribute values defined and the members created in the attribute hierarchy can now be used in the User Defined Attributes section of any Main Hierarchy’s leaf-level members (for example, Location).
Example: Assign each site (Detroit, DC–Texas, DC–New York) its respective State attribute so reports can show totals by state.Add Attributes/Attribute Hierarchies in Cube Settings: The Attributes and Attribute Hierarchies must be mapped in Cube Settings to view the newly added attributes or hierarchies in Reports. Refer to How to Map or Unmap Finance Attributes? for mapping steps.
Use in Dynamic Reports: Once assigned, you can use these attributes in Dynamic Reports to filter or group data based on the attribute hierarchy. For example, filtering by State > Texas will return all locations mapped with that attribute value.