Linking dimensions to data sources

Often, you will import data broken down dimensions — for example, employee data from your Payroll / HRIS system, or department expenses in Accounting / ERP systems, and more.

When you link a data item that has dimensions to a variable, Causal will not breakdown the variable until you link a Causal dimension to the data source explicitly.

You can either do this:

• From a model: by clicking on the Dimensions button on a data-connected variable and adding/selecting a dimension to breakdown by. This will automatically create the dimension in Causal, and link it to the data source.

• From a data source: by first adding a data source that has dimensions. Then, on the data homepage of your Causal account, open the data source, and navigate to the Dimensions tab. This will open an interface where you can link to an existing Causal dimension, or link to a new Causal dimension.

Once a data source is linked to a dimension

• The dimension items will be kept in sync automatically whenever you refresh your data source.
  • If you add new items in the data source, they will be added to the Causal dimension as well. If you remove items in the data source, they will not be removed - they will just be unlocked in Causal.
  • You can also see a full history of your data <> dimension sync in the data sync history - see more here.
• Any dimension items coming from your data source are "linked". You can change the name of the dimension item in Causal, and the link will not be broken.