Use this glossary to learn more about Cube’s data structure, key concepts, and terminology.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

A

Account

Account is one of the default Top-level dimensions that organizes data from your source systems. The Account Top-level dimension typically includes your General Ledger transactions, formulas, and operational information.

Actuals

Cube stores data from your source system as actuals under the Scenario Top-level dimension, along with budget and forecasting scenarios. This data from your source system is automatically write-protected with the actuals setting to keep your Cube data accurate.

Add-on

Use the Cube spreadsheet add-on to work with your Cube data in your preferred spreadsheet. Use Add-on in Google Sheets or Excel. Learn how to download the Add-on.

Analyze

Learn more about your data using the analyze section of the Cube spreadsheet add-on to drill down on a value or validate your table.

API

An API is a set of protocols that allow software systems to integrate and communicate with one another. Cube uses a secure API that connects to your source systems and mirrors your source data within Cube so you can use data from multiple sources in your financial planning.

Learn about Cube's compliance and security policies or about using our API.

Attributes

Attributes are additional metadata associated with each transaction or row in your spreadsheet. Set attributes automatically using a detailed source system integration or on demand when publishing data to Cube using the Cube spreadsheet add-on. View attributes by drilling into a value to see detailed transactions or rows.

Audit trail

See a summary of changes with the mini audit trail in the Cube spreadsheet add-on. Use the audit trail in the Cube web portal to view all changes to your data, including the event type, when it occurred, who made the change, and additional in-depth details. Use

B

Block

Block is a write protection setting available to Scenarios Top-level dimensions. When a scenario is blocked, team members can't publish changes to your Cube data.

Budget

Plan for expected expenses and use those in your financial planning by organizing your budgets under the Scenario dimension.

Build

The Cube spreadsheet add-on pulls data from Cube into your spreadsheet using the dimensions in a range's rows and columns. Choose a pre-built range, create one from scratch, or open a template in the add-on’s build section.

C

Chart of Accounts (COA)

Define your Chart of Accounts structure under the Account, Department, and other dimensions in the Cube web portal. Organize and map the hierarchy so child accounts roll up to the appropriate parent account and appear in the correct order.

Cube value

A Cube value refers to the data stored in your Cube after all mappings, translations, and calculations occur. This value is what you fetch or publish when using the Cube spreadsheet add-on. A Cube value can be a single value or a rollup of multiple values.

Cubify

You likely already have a package or a template you use for financial reporting. You can Cubify or update this package or template to match Cube dimension names for easy fetching and publishing with the Cube spreadsheet add-on.

D

Dashboards

Build and save dashboards of charts and KPIs in the Cube web portal to display your Cube data visually.

Data exporter

Download your Cube data as a CSV or Excel file from the Cube web portal using the data exporter.

Data table

A data table is the main container to mirror data from your source system. All integrations with source systems and all flat file uploads use a data table to organize the incoming data.

Department

Define your organization's structure in your Department Top-level dimension and enable slicing and dicing your data at the department level.

Dimension

Cube organizes your data into a flexible hierarchy of dimensions or categories:

Top-level dimensions are the main organizational structure of your data. Your Cube can contain up to eight top-level dimensions, set up by our team when we build your Cube. These dimensions appear as tabs across the top of the dimensions section in the Cube web portal.
Parent dimensions are the next level down in the dimensions hierarchy. Parent dimensions have one or more child dimensions and hold data that rolls up from these children.
Child dimensions are the lowest level in the dimensions hierarchy and store data as values. Child dimension values are line items or transactions mirrored and mapped from your source system, calculated from a formula, or published from the Cube spreadsheet add-on.

Drilldown

View the transactions and their attributes that make up a value by drilling down on a cell using the Cube spreadsheet add-on.

E

F

Fetch

Fetch or pull a set of data from Cube to your spreadsheet using the add-on to define the dimensions as rows, columns, and filters.

Flat file

A flat file is a CSV that contains a data table of records, transactions, or other data in a format Cube will recognize. Flat files can be routinely uploaded into Cube via the data tables area in the Cube web portal when a direct integration isn't available.

Formulas

Automate calculations in Cube by saving commonly used formulas as a part of your data hierarchy. These formulas will recalculate whenever changes are made to your data, and the values can be fetched to your spreadsheet using the Cube spreadsheet add-on.

G

General Ledger (GL)

Cube mirrors your General Ledger's accounting and transactional data, including defined attributes. We typically do this using your Chart of Accounts.

H

Hierarchy

Cube data is flexibly structured to align with your reporting and analytics needs. We do this by organizing your data into an OLAP cube using a hierarchy of dimensions or a structure of data categories.

Your data hierarchy consists of categories and sub-categories referred to as Top-level dimensions, parent dimensions, and child dimensions.

Oftentimes, this structure matches your source system, but ultimately, you can define this.

I

Import

Periodically resync your connection with your third-party source system and pull in any new data using the import action in the Cube web portal.

Inputs

Manage your source data and dimension hierarchy in the inputs section of the Cube web portal.

J

K

L

Library

Use your Cube Library in the portal to share reports, files, links, and prebuilt spreadsheets with team members. These files can be static or ready to refresh by fetching data with the Cube spreadsheet add-on.

M

Mapping

Mapping matches the source system data structure to Cube's structure through a one-to-one or a many-to-one relationship. During imports, Cube uses this mapping to determine where the values should be stored and does not save any data for unmapped relationships. Keeping your Cube data healthy relies on routinely performing mapping maintenance.

Multi-currency

Cube supports applying exchange rates to transactions received in foreign currencies for integrations with QuickBooks Online, Xero, and Netsuite.

N

O

OLAP cube

Our company name, Cube, refers to the multi-dimensional data storage system called an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube. Data in an OLAP cube is organized into dimensions or categories, and values are stored in the cross-sections of dimensions.

Outputs

View the audit trail, share files, and export data in the outputs section of the Cube web portal.

P

Publish

The publish action in the Cube spreadsheet add-on pushes data from your spreadsheet to Cube. This action changes or adds new Cube values stored in the cloud.

Permissions

Use the permission settings in the team section of the Cube web portal to control what data your team members have access to and which actions they can take.

Permission group

A team member account's permission group (Admin, Finance, or Business) provides or restricts that user's available actions in the Cube web portal or the Cube spreadsheet add-on.

Q

R

Range

Use ranges in the Cube spreadsheet add-on to fetch or publish data from your spreadsheet. Define the dimensions that make up the rows, columns, and filters to build your range.

Reports

Cubify an existing report or create a new one using your Cube dimensions for faster reporting. Save these reports as templates in the Cube spreadsheet add-on, and they will appear in the creator's reports section of the Cube web portal.

Streamline work with your team and ensure consistency in reporting by sharing reports with other Cube users.

Rollup logic

The selection made in the rollup logic section of the formula builder determines the order of operations for your calculation.

Rollup value

Rollup values differ from Cube values because they are summary values determined by summarizing child dimensions or performing calculations. We do not store these values in our database. They are calculated upon request, just in time.

S

Scenario

Create, analyze, duplicate, and merge versions of your financial data using actuals, budgets, and forecasts in the Scenario Top-level dimension.

Source data

Cube mirrors data from ERP, CRM, HRIS, Spreadsheets, or other sources connected or published to Cube. This source data is not changed when publishing using the Cube software add-on.

Splits

Depending on data mappings, a Cube value may contain multiple consolidated transactions. Use the drilldown action in the Cube software add-on to split the value and view these transactions and their associated attributes.

T

Team members

Team members are the Cube users from your company. Add or remove users and manage their permissions in the team section of the Cube web portal.

Templates

Build templates in the Cube spreadsheet add-on using your Cube dimensions or Cubifying the rows and columns of existing reports. Save templates to the add-on and the portal to generate reports quickly.

Time

The Time Top-level dimension appears in every Cube hierarchy and allows you to slice and dice by the financial period most relevant to your company.

Time Rollup

The time rollup is a dimension setting for all parent dimensions in the Account Top-level dimension. This setting determines how the child dimension values are summarized at quarter- and year-end.

Transactions

Transactions are the individual line items representing an event, journal entry, or data point within a source system. Transactions have values and may have other associated metadata or attributes.

U

V

Validate

Use the validate action in the Cube spreadsheet add-on to check your table's rows and columns before pushing or pulling data from Cube. Cube looks for an exact match to dimension names, so validating will help you catch human errors or typos.

Use validation when Cubifying an existing report to quickly find the rows and columns that need to be updated to match your Cube dimensions.

W

Web portal

Cube’s web-based tool allows team members to:

visualize data using dashboards,
maintain dimensions, mapping, source data, and currencies,
audit changes,
use or share files and templates,
and manage team permissions and settings.

Learn more about using the Cube web portal.

Write protection

Use write protection settings on actuals, budget, and forecast scenarios to block changes or only allow updates by your source system.

X

Y

Z

A