In FDMEE the mapping functionality is a fundamental purpose of the tool. Member mappings act as the middle man between Source members and Target members within a given dimension. A simple example of this would be if your general ledger Source Account “300999” (Sales Returns) needs to load to account “300995” (Returns) in your EPM application. The mapping process will point the source account 300999 to the Target account 300995. Some mapping requirements are simpler than others, and with the more complex mapping requirements, Multi-Dimension mapping may come into play.
Before we get into the specifics of Multi-Dimension mapping, let’s review the 5 different mapping types. It is important to know that there is a precedence to the 5 types. The mapping types in precedence order are:
- Explicit
- Between
- In
- Multi-Dimension
- Like
This precedence means that if you have any overlap in your mapping it would take the Explicit mapping first, over the Like mapping for that given member. For example, if Account 300999 was explicitly mapped to 300995, it would ignore your Like mapping when processing that Source Account, if you had a rule for all your 3009* Source Accounts mapped to 300900. This is important to keep in mind whenever you are having to use more than one mapping type within a given dimension.
Multi-Dimension mapping is very useful when there are two or more Source value conditions that need to be met in order to determine the Target member. The Source Account 300100 for Department 3020 may need to map to Target Account 300100, but the Source Account 300100 for Department 3050 may need to map to Target Account 300200. This is where Multi-Dimension mapping comes into play in FDMEE, and does not require any scripts to be created.
To create Multi-Dimension mapping, it is found in the same place the other mapping types are. If FDMEE is open, navigate to Workflow -> Data Load Mapping -> Pick a Dimension -> Multi Dimension Tab.
In our instance we are going to edit the Account dimension mapping. To add a new mapping, click the green Add icon.
Our first example is an Explicit condition. A Rule Name and Target Value are required fields to fill. My Rule Name is MD5034 and my Target Value is account 106400. Rule Name labels could come into play, so it is important to be mindful of that. See Important Note below!! Click on the green Add icon to add a dimension line, select the dimensions and the Source values for those dimensions. For our account dimension we are explicitly mapping Account 106350 and District 7395 to our Target value. Any data that is coming in at Account 106350 and District 7395 value combination, will be mapped to the Target Account 106400. Click OK when you are completed.
To add another mapping click the green Add icon again. Now we are adding a mapping using the Like condition for the District dimension. We are still using the Explicit mapping for Account 106350, but we are now using Like mapping for the District using the ‘*’ wildcard to capture all Districts. Any combination of District and Account 106350, will be mapped to our Target Account 106350.
Important Note: FDMEE uses alphanumeric precedence based on Rule Name when applying mapping to your source file. Our first Explicit example will get processed before our Like example based on its Rule Name. This is key, because if we had the Rule Names switched around, our Explicit mapping for District 7395 would get processed in our Like mapping, and get mapped to the wrong Target Account.
Another example of Like mapping where we are not capturing all Districts, rather only those that start with ‘86’.
Dimensions can be used more than once in a single Multi Dimension mapping. In this case if it is a District that starts with ‘11’ OR ‘71’ OR ‘75’ with the Source Account 775980, then map to Target Account 775985.
Finally, let’s take a look at our results in the Data Load Workbench. If we find our first 2 examples from above, our Explicit and Like example, you will notice that only Source District 7395 with Source Account 106350 got mapped to Target Account 106400. All other Source Districts with Source Account 106350 got mapped to Target Account 106350. Our other examples also got included in the Workbench below.