Analytics dimensions: what security really costs IT
Chargeback says who pays; an analytics dimension says what the spend is for: security, cloud, licences. How to use it in the IT budget.
To the question “who pays for this licence?”, chargeback tools answer without hesitating. But to the question “how much does cyber security cost us, all suppliers combined?”, we often have no answer.
Analytics dimensions bring that second reading. Each dimension is one way of classifying lines, with its own values: what the money pays for, the part of IT it serves, why it is spent. A new workspace starts with four of them, all optional.
The mechanics in KANAP
Dimensions and their values
Head to Master data > Analytics dimensions. A bar at the top lists the dimensions; click one to see its values. A new workspace comes with four recommended dimensions, each with values and a one-sentence description:
- Cost pool, the default dimension: what the money pays for (Hardware, Software, External labor, Outside services…).
- IT tower: the part of IT the spend serves (Compute, Network, End user, Application, Security and compliance…).
- Purpose: why the money is spent (Replacement, Capacity, Productivity, Security, Compliance, Business growth).
- Priority: Mandatory, High, Medium or Low.
Cost pools and IT towers follow the TBM (Technology Business Management) model. Rename, reorder or disable what does not fit. A workspace created earlier adds them with Recommended dimensions. New creates a dimension of your own, and New value adds a value to the selected one.
Five to ten broad values per dimension are usually enough. Past twenty, the dimension tries to answer too many questions: split it in two. The description is mostly for your colleagues: “Contractors and consultants billed for their time” reads better than “Ext.”
Classifying a line
In the Properties panel of a budget line, each dimension has its own field, for example Cost pool or IT tower. Pick a value, or leave it empty for “Unassigned”. The value applies to the whole line, across every fiscal year.
A line holds one value per dimension: Software on Cost pool and Application on IT tower at the same time. Each dimension answers one question, and the report crosses them.
Two points to keep in mind:
- No impact on allocations, and none on formal accounting. The paying company, the account and the allocation drivers do not move. Analytics dimensions are for reporting only.
- Departments and dimensions are not in the same league. Departments are formal organisational units with precise allocation drivers. Analytics dimensions are informal, optional classifications with no allocation overhead.
To retire a value or a dimension, disable it: lines keep their value and past reports stay accurate. Deleting is possible, after a confirmation that counts the lines that lose their value.
In the budget lines list, each dimension has its own optional column. It sweeps every line of a value at a glance: “Which lines are External labor?”.
The Budget by analytics dimension report
The report lives under Reporting > Analytics dimensions.
- Line type: all lines, OPEX or CAPEX.
- Dimension: the dimension to group on, Cost pool to start with.
- Single year: pie or horizontal bar chart, your choice.
- Multi-year range: a line chart, one line per value.
- Metric: any budget column you show (budget, revision, actuals, expected landing).
- Exclude values: to focus on a subset.
- Outputs: summary table, CSV export of the table, PNG of the chart, full PDF.
In the 2026 fiscal year, external labor alone takes 54% of the OPEX budget. Software follows at 26%, then outside services at 11%.
In the multi-year view, the report becomes a trend tool. One line takes off, another fades, and the decision is discussed on facts.
“Unassigned” is a valid state. Values are optional, and a line without one simply shows up on that line of the report.
Hidden costs
The pie surfaces what the “top 10” lines hide. The value that grew too big to be honest. Two values that describe almost the same thing and would be better merged. The Capacity purpose that starts at zero in 2025, a trace of a line that appeared along the way. Or HR, on the Business domain dimension, moving from 468,500 EUR to 574,570 EUR in one year (+23%), while the OPEX budget grows by 13%.
This is also where the two readings cross. Security and compliance, on IT tower, accounts for 8% of the OPEX budget. The chargeback report says which subsidiary carries it. The CIO then holds a short, verifiable sentence in a budget review: here is what we spend, what for, and who pays.
What about CAPEX?
Dimensions apply to OPEX and CAPEX lines alike, unless you set one to a single type. An investment project therefore reads with the vocabulary of recurring spend, and the two envelopes stay comparable.
That is the point of a shared nomenclature: the question “how much does security cost?” is asked the same way about a recurring licence and about an equipment project.
Where to start
- Review the four recommended dimensions and rename or disable the values you do not need.
- Classify the ten heaviest lines first. The report becomes useful at that step.
- Leave the rest as “Unassigned”, then classify as you go.
- Cross the report with the chargeback reports: who pays on one side, what for on the other.
- Re-run the report at every budget review. Split a value that is too broad, merge two that are too fine.
Analytics dimensions complement the allocation of IT costs (see IT cost chargeback: who pays what, and why) and give you the visibility you need to prepare, analyse and defend your budget.