Concept: Linked Accounts
A linked account uses data stored in 1 or more accounts from cube or modeled sheets to populate general ledger, custom, cube standard accounts. In cube sheets, you can add links to general ledger and custom cube-entered accounts. Use the account
Type
setting, Link
, to add links to accounts.Think of your instance as several models. Account links are 1 way to connect the data between models. Example: You have a personnel model contained in a modeled sheet. You have a revenue model contained in a cube sheet. You can consider all of your general ledger accounts another model.
How Linked Accounts Work
Although Link
is part of the Type
setting, it doesn't change the type of the account, which remains periodic or cumulative.
The
target account
is the account that pulls in the data from the other account. You set the link in the target account.The
source account
is the account that has the data in a cube or modeled sheet. The source account must be a cube or modeled account. Once you link an account, your team enters the data in the source account, not the target account.You can link an account to a maximum of 10 source accounts. When you need to link to more than 10 source accounts, open a support case.
Use Cases for Linked Accounts
Goal | Example |
|---|---|
Calculate and plan general ledger data with dimensions, metrics, and other drivers in a modeled or cube sheet. You still want the data roll up to a general ledger total. | The data of a personnel modeled sheet drives salary expenses per individual employee. Create a general ledger salary account as a child of the general ledger Expense account. Link the child account to the salary generated in the modeled sheet. The salary expense rolls up to the general ledger Expense total with all the other expenses. See Example: Linked Accounts for Expenses. |
Pivot data from a modeled or cube sheet to present clean and clear totals. | A personnel modeled sheet displays the salary of each employee per location dimension. Pivot that data in a cube sheet to display the total salary expense per location without showing the employees. See Example: Linked Accounts for Expenses
|
Plan with multiple dimensions and use only some of those dimensions in another account. | A cube sheet plans revenue by product, location, customer, and more. The general ledger needs the revenue by product category. Create a general ledger revenue account for each product category and link each account to the dimension-filtered revenue of the cube. See Example: Linked Accounts for Dimensions and Revenue. |
Create intuitive formulas using general ledger account codes with the dimensions from the model or cube sheets. | Link general ledger accounts to cube and modeled accounts. In formulas, reference the general ledger account codes instead of referencing the long and unintuitive account codes of modeled and cube accounts. Then, you can add the dimensions. Example: Linked Accounts for Dimensions and Revenue. |
Plan with custom dimensions, while keeping a simple general ledger hierarchy that more closely mirrors your ERP system. | Link several expense accounts from 2 personnel modeled sheets into a single general ledger expense account. To simplify a complex account structure down to a single general ledger account, apply the Spend Category custom dimension values to each linked account. See Example: Multi-Source Linked Accounts with Applied Dimensions. |