About Alternate Units of Measurement
Alternate units of measurement (AUM) are used as conversion factors, such as weight, volume, or currency. This enables various base units to be converted into AUMs. You can sum and calculate across the items in a dataset.
For example, if the base unit of measurement in a dataset is quantity or pallets, AUMs can convert numbers to kilos or turnover. This enables you to forecast in units other than those included in the dataset and supports the use of compatible numbers across the organization.
Multiplying the base units in the forecast by a conversion factor produces AUM columns. You can manipulate the AUM columns in the same way that you manipulate the corresponding base unit columns, provided that AUMs are deployed to all underlying cells.
There are two types of AUMs:
- Simple AUM (not time-phased)
- AUM (time-phased)
We recommend AUMs for unit conversions that do not change over time. These are the benefits of using AUMs:
- Handles efficiently and performs better
- Does not use , which is a long-running task
- You can edit the AUM in the DMP grid in Favorite Views
- You can use the AUM in calculated measures
The other type of AUM is time-phased. This means that you have several values in some time periods. Advanced AUMs are helpful for advanced pricelist models and difficult to set up. Use the process to insert the AUM factors into a dataset. This process runs for a long time. It also uses the grid to manually edit the factors, but you cannot edit them in the favorite view:
- AUMs are defined at the version level and shared between all datasets in a version. You can view and manipulate AUMs only on pivot sheets.
- AUMs are defined or imported from the standard M3 DMP menu screens. If ODBC is used, you must install it as a prerequisite.
- After you import AUMs, you must deploy the conversion factors to the structure by using the AUM Deploy functionality. This functionality consists of dialog boxes for defining, importing, editing, and deploying AUMs.