How does the analysis work?

The global analysis facility is a very simple yet powerful tool. It allows you to enter analysis codes against different types of data to classify it. The SunSystems reporting and inquiry tools allow you to use these analysis codes to extract and sort, and report on this data.

You can use global analysis to analyze many different types of information in SunSystems, both static data and the various types of financial and order fulfilment transactions.

You can define up to 100 different types of analysis and these are referred to as 'analysis dimensions'. For each dimension you can define an unlimited number of 'analysis codes'.

You can then assign selected analysis dimensions to the different types of analyzable data, up to ten dimensions to each type of data. Then, when you enter one of these types of data, the system prompts you to enter the appropriate analysis codes.

For example, if you are defining a new customer you may be asked to enter a sales area code, whereas if you are entering an expense journal you might be asked to enter an employee code and a cost centre code.

If you require more detailed analysis, you can use Extended Analysis, depending on your serialization. These are extension fields added to analysis codes which are optional and user definable so that you can store and use extra attributes on analysis codes. It allows you to store additional information directly on an analysis code, where the analysis code represents a particular static data item.

In addition, you can build analysis hierarchies to divide the analysis codes for a dimension into logical groups. This provides a second, higher level of analysis for reporting purposes. The flexibility of grouping codes in a hierarchy is that the analysis codes within a group do not need to be in sequential number ranges.

The SunSystems inquiry and reporting facilities allow you to extract and report on information using the analysis codes. For example, if you have entered employee codes on particular expense account postings, you could extract all of the postings for a particular employee to produce an employee expenses analysis report.