Setting the Order of Elements in a Dimension

TM1 lets you set the order of elements in a dimension to determine the index value for each element in a dimension. The first element in a dimension has an index value of 1, the second element has an index value of 2, and so on.

Set the order of elements in a dimension is an important feature because many TM1 functions (worksheet, rules, and TurboIntegrator) reference the element index values.

Note: If you change the order of elements in a dimension, any functions that reference element index values return new and possibly unexpected values.

Procedure

  1. Order the elements as you want them to appear in the dimension.

    You can use the sort options and drag-and-drop functionality of the Dimension Editor to alter the order of elements.

  2. Click the Set Dimension Order button.
  3. Click Dimension, Save.
    • When the sorting property of the dimension is set to Automatic, TM1 prompts you to change the sorting property to Manual.
    • When the sorting property of the dimension is set to Manual, TM1 inserts any elements you added to the dimension wherever you manually positioned them in the Dimension Editor.
  4. Click Yes to save the new dimension order and set the dimension sorting property to Manual.

    You can set the order of elements even when the Dimension Editor displays only a subset of all dimension elements. For example, if you have a large dimension, you might want to alter and set the order of just a few elements. Be aware that when you set the order of elements with just a subset of elements displayed in the Dimension Editor, the entire dimension is affected.

    The following example shows how setting the order of elements when working with a subset affects the entire dimension in Subset Editor.

    For simplicity, this sample dimension contains ten elements with single-letter names, but the concept illustrated in this example applies to larger, more complex dimensions.

    • a
    • b
    • c
    • d
    • e
    • f
    • g
    • h
    • i
  5. Now if you select the elements c, d, and g then click Edit, Keep, the Dimension Editor contains only the selected subset of elements.
  6. Now, you decide that you want to change the order of these three elements. You want d to be the first element, and c to be the last element.
  7. Now that the elements appear in the order you want, click Set Dimension Order Set Dimension Order button.

    The order of elements for the entire dimension is now set. If you look at the entire dimension, you see that it opens in Dimension Editor as follows.

    • i
    • a
    • b
    • d
    • g
    • c
    • e
    • f
    • h
    • i

    For the example, when you set the order of elements for a subset, the new order affects the entire dimension in the following way:

    • The subset of elements that was active when the element order was set appear with shaded icons.
    • The first subset element maintains its position in the dimension relative to its nearest predecessor.
    • In the example, element d is the first element in the subset when the order of elements was set.
    • Element b is the nearest predecessor, exclusive of subset elements, to d in the dimension, so d now follows b in the dimension structure.
    • The other subset elements appear in the dimension structure maintaining their position relative to the first element in the subset.