Defining inventory

The tree view at left defines the inventory available in the application. These items define the possible decisions, or results, that can be returned. Note that some applications may be configured to include more than one dimension hierarchy tree, displayed on separate tabs. The right pane displays properties, selections, and allocations for the selected item.

If the tree is too large to be visible, you can drag the right border to resize the panel.

  • Click the Add a new icon at the top of the tree to add dimension items.
  • Click the Expand all or Collapse all icons to show or hide items.
  • Right-click individual items in the tree to display a context menu that allows you to perform various tasks such as adding, renaming, moving, and duplicating items:
    • To move an item, select Move up or Move down from the context menu, or select Move... and select the new location from the drop-down list.
    • To reuse an existing item, select Add / Modify from the context menu, click Add an existing, and choose the item you want to reuse.
    • To specify one or more field, text, or model outputs to be returned with an item, select Return with from the context menu. Return fields are extremely useful in tailoring recommendations to specific cases, or providing additional information that may be useful in processing the result. The dialog allows you to set the type of data the return field contains (string, integer, or real, for example), change the name of return fields, set a default value to override a dimension's default, specify a member value, or remove return fields. Note that the default value field is always enabled (the field can be used for any member that does not have a member-specific value).
    • To dynamically allocate items from a table to a dimension member, select Enable dynamic allocation from the context menu. This option is only available for members with no children. A special icon is displayed beside any members in the tree that have dynamic allocation enabled.

If the application includes more than one dimension hierarchy element, they will be included on separate tabs. The tab order you specified when you opened the application is important. Hierarchy members of previous tabs can be referred to in rules within subsequent tabs, but references cannot be made to subsequent tabs. For example, rules on a second and third tab can refer to hierarchy members in the first tab, but rules on the first tab cannot refer to members on the second or third tabs (and rules on the second tab cannot refer to members on the third tab).

Importing and exporting dimension tree items

You can export dimension tree information to an external file, and import for reuse as needed. For example, this would allow you to restore the items used in a previous version of the tree. Dimensions are imported from the top-most level down. For example you can import campaigns, including any child offers. But you cannot import only offers within an existing campaign. For example, you can import inventory items.

  • To export the current tree, click the Export icon displayed just above the tree, then specify a folder and filename.
  • To import dimension items, click the Import icon, and specify an XML file containing the items you want to import. This should be a file exported from a compatible application that uses dimension types matching the current project (such as customers and offers, claims and actions, etc.). Attempting to manually edit the XML source is not recommended.

Imported dimensions are added to the current tree. If the file contains more dimension levels than the current project allows, you can choose to import only the levels that are allowed. Dimensions that cannot be imported are listed in gray to indicate this.

Name restrictions for dimension tree items

The following three characters cannot be used in dimension member names: > < &