Use dimension values analyze a company's business operations and financial results from perspectives other than voucher number and account number; use dimension sets, set hierarchies, and set rules to ensure that dimension values are assigned correctly to transactions. Reports and statistics that use dimension values are correct and reflect the state of the company.

A dimension set consists of one dimension or a combination of dimensions that are linked together. A dimension set hierarchy is a specification of a dimension set that defines relationships between dimension values that are contained in the dimension set.

For example, if a dimension set consists of the dimensions Departmentand Cost center, several dimension set hierarchies that use dimension values of these two dimensions are created. One dimension set hierarchy might indicate that the Departmentdimension value Administration can only contain the Cost centerdimension value Finance. Because this dimension set hierarchy is set up and activated, an order processor can only select Finance as the cost center when entering a sales order for the Administration department.

The company's control of how transactions with dimensions are posted can be further restricted if dimension set rules are applied to the dimension set hierarchies. The rules enable you to specify how dimensions are posted to ledger accounts, within journals, and to other accounts and tables.

The following topics provide information about how you can use dimension sets, dimension hierarchies, and dimension set rules.