Cube Configuration

Scenario Types and Cube Dimensions

Updated February 26, 2026

Scenario Types group scenarios that share common dimensions, properties, and calculations. They are the mechanism for horizontal extensibility — the ability to use different dimensions (or different levels of detail within a dimension) per financial process within a single cube. This guide covers Scenario Type configuration, scenario member properties, dimension assignment, and how horizontal extensibility works in practice.

Available Scenario Types

OneStream provides a fixed set of Scenario Types defined by the ScenarioTypeId enum. Each scenario member is assigned to exactly one Scenario Type.

ScenarioTypeId	Value	Typical Use
Actual	0	Financial close, actual results
Budget	1	Annual budget cycle
Flash	2	Flash estimates, quick forecasts
Forecast	3	Rolling or periodic forecasts
FXModel	4	FX modeling and constant-currency analysis
History	5	Historical data loads
Model	6	Financial modeling
Plan	7	Strategic or long-range planning
Tax	8	Tax provision scenarios
Variance	9	Variance analysis
Administration	10	Administrative and control scenarios
Control	11	Process control scenarios
LongTerm	12	Long-term planning
Operational	13	Operational planning
Sustainability	14	ESG and sustainability reporting
Target	15	Target setting
ScenarioType1–ScenarioType8	101–108	Custom types — use for any purpose

ℹ️Info

Scenario Type names are predefined and cannot be changed, but the name is irrelevant — no default behavior is tied to the name. A scenario assigned to the "Tax" Scenario Type does not automatically perform tax calculations. Any Scenario Type can be used for any purpose. Choose based on what makes logical sense for your application.

Scenario Member Properties

Each scenario member has properties organized into several categories. These are configured at Application > Cube > Dimensions > Scenario Dimensions on the Member Properties tab.

Security

Security settings control access to the scenario member:

ReadDataGroup — Users in this group can read data for this scenario
ReadAndWriteDataGroup — Users in this group can read and write data for this scenario

Both can be set via the ellipsis button to select from available security groups.

Workflow Settings

Property	Description
UseInWorkflow	Whether this scenario participates in the Workflow submit/approve cycle
WorkflowTrackingFrequency	Granularity of Workflow tracking: AllTimePeriods, Range, Year, HalfYear, Quarter, Month, Week
WorkflowTime	The specific time period for Workflow tracking
WorkflowStartTime	First period in the Workflow range
WorkflowEndTime	Last period in the Workflow range
NumberOfNoInputPeriodsPerWorkflowUnit	Number of periods at the start of each Workflow unit that are locked from input. Used for forecast scenarios where actuals are seeded into closed periods.

Settings

Property	Description
ScenarioType	The Scenario Type this member belongs to (Actual, Budget, Forecast, etc.)
InputFrequency (Vary By Year)	Data entry granularity: Monthly, Weekly, Quarterly, Yearly. Can vary by year.
DefaultView	Periodic or YTD — controls how calculations and member formulas process data
RetainNextPeriodDataUsingDefaultView	True = changing a prior period's value updates subsequent periods to stay consistent. False = subsequent periods retain their values.
InputViewForAdjustments	Periodic or YTD — how adjustment data is entered
UseInputViewForAdjInCalculations	Whether calculations use the adjustment input view
NoDataZeroViewForAdjustments	Periodic or YTD — how zero/no-data cells are interpreted for adjustments
NoDataZeroViewForNonAdjustments	Periodic or YTD — how zero/no-data cells are interpreted for non-adjustment data
ConsolidationView	Determines whether data can be input into the Aggregation consolidation member

FX Rates

Property	Description
UseCubeFXSettings	True = inherit the cube's default FX rate configuration. False = override with scenario-specific settings.
RateType for Revenues and Expenses	AverageRate, OpeningRate, ClosingRate, or HistoricalRate (only when UseCubeFXSettings = False)
RateType for Assets and Liabilities	AverageRate, OpeningRate, ClosingRate, or HistoricalRate (only when UseCubeFXSettings = False)
RuleType for Revenues and Expenses	Direct or Periodic (only when UseCubeFXSettings = False)
RuleType for Assets and Liabilities	Direct or Periodic (only when UseCubeFXSettings = False)
ConstantYearForFXRates	Translate using rates from a specific year instead of the current period's rates

Setting UseCubeFXSettings = False is common for forecast and constant-currency scenarios where you need different translation behavior than the cube default. For example, translating a forecast at budget rates requires pointing to the budget year's rates via ConstantYearForFXRates or using a Business Rule with the StandardUsingBRsForFxRates translation algorithm.

Hybrid Source Data

Hybrid scenarios allow data to be copied or shared between scenarios for defined periods.

Property	Description
DataBindingType	ShareDataFromSourceScenario (read-only share), CopyInputDataFromSourceScenario (physical copy of base-level data), or CopyInputDataFromBusinessRule (copy via a Finance Business Rule)
SourceScenario or BusinessRule	The source scenario member or Business Rule name

Hybrid scenarios are commonly used to seed forecast scenarios with actual data for closed periods. For example, Forecast_Working can share data from Actual — when actuals are loaded and calculated, the forecast automatically reflects them without a separate copy step.

Custom Settings

Free-form key-value pairs that can be read by Business Rules at runtime. Useful for storing scenario-specific configuration without hardcoding values in rule code.

Scenario Naming Conventions

A consistent naming convention makes it easier to manage scenarios, especially when an application has many forecast cycles:

plaintext

1PlanFrequency_PlanDuration_PlanningType
2
3Examples:
4Budget                    — Annual budget (single scenario, reused yearly)
5Forecast_Working          — Active forecast workspace
6Forecast_M1 – Forecast_M12 — Monthly forecast snapshots
7LRP_5Year                 — Five-year long-range plan
8Actual                    — Financial close actuals

Guidelines:

Reuse scenarios that do not span multiple years — set WorkflowTrackingFrequency to "All Time Periods" so the same scenario works for any year
Create year-specific scenarios only for multi-year plans where year-over-year comparison matters
Keep names short — they appear in POV strings, reports, and Cube Views

Cube Dimensions Tab

The Cube Dimensions tab is where you assign dimension instances to each Scenario Type. This is the configuration point for horizontal extensibility.

Key Rules

Entity and Scenario dimensions can only be assigned in the (Default) Scenario Type. They are grayed out at the Scenario Type level because they do not adhere to extensible dimensionality — all Scenario Types share the same Entity and Scenario dimensions.
All other dimension types (Account, Flow, UD1–UD8) can vary by Scenario Type. Each Scenario Type can point to a different dimension instance for these types.
When a new cube is created, the (Default) option is set to RootXXXDim for all dimension types. At the Scenario Type level, all non-Entity/Scenario dimensions default to (UseDefault).

Recommended Configuration

💡Tip

Assign dimensions explicitly per Scenario Type, even if they are the same dimension across all types. This is the recommended configuration because it enables future changes to one Scenario Type without affecting the others.

The recommended setup:

In the (Default) Scenario Type: assign only Entity and Scenario dimension types. Leave all other dimension types at the Root dimension.
For each active Scenario Type: assign specific dimensions for Account, Flow, and all UD types. Use the Root dimension for unused UD types (e.g., RootUD4Dim if UD4 is not needed for this Scenario Type).
For inactive Scenario Types: leave unchanged until they are ready to be activated.

⚠️Warning

If you leave a Scenario Type's dimensions at (UseDefault) and later change the (Default), all Scenario Types using (UseDefault) change too. This cascading effect can unintentionally alter dimension assignments for scenarios that already have data. Explicit assignment per Scenario Type avoids this risk entirely.

Root Dimensions as Stubs

For dimension types not used by a particular Scenario Type, assign the Root dimension (e.g., RootUD5Dim). This is a single-member dimension that acts as a placeholder. It keeps the dimension slot active in the cube structure without adding any overhead, and it means you can add a real dimension later by simply pointing the Scenario Type to a new dimension instance. For the in-depth treatment of stub dimensions and the one-time Root-to-specific upgrade limitation, see Dimension Library and Inheritance. For member naming rules, see Dimension Naming and Assignment.

Horizontal Extensibility

Horizontal extensibility lets different Scenario Types within the same cube use different dimensions. This is powerful because it means Actual, Budget, and Forecast can each have the right level of detail without inflating every scenario's Data Unit size.

How It Works

Each Scenario Type points to its own set of dimension instances. When data is queried or calculated for a scenario, the engine uses the dimensions assigned to that scenario's Scenario Type.

diagramHorizontal Extensibility — Dimensions by Scenario Type

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Example: Actual vs. Budget Dimensions

Dimension Type	Actual	Budget	Forecast
Entity	LegalEntity	LegalEntity	LegalEntity
Scenario	Scenarios	Scenarios	Scenarios
Account	SummaryAccounts	DetailAccounts	DetailAccounts
Flow	Flows	Flows	Flows
UD1	ProductFamily	ProductType	Product
UD2	RootUD2Dim	CostCenter	RootUD2Dim
UD3	RootUD3Dim	Department	Department
UD4–UD8	RootUD4–8Dim	RootUD4–8Dim	RootUD4–8Dim

In this example:

Actual uses summary-level accounts and a single product dimension — just enough for consolidation and reporting
Budget uses detailed accounts with driver accounts, cost centers, and departments — the granularity needed for bottom-up planning
Forecast uses detailed accounts and departments but not cost centers — a middle ground between Actual and Budget

When Horizontal Extensibility Works

Horizontal extensibility works well when:

All scenarios share the same entity structure — the organizational hierarchy is consistent across processes
Different processes need different reporting detail — Actual needs less granularity than Budget
You want to minimize Data Unit size per scenario — each Scenario Type only includes the dimensions it actually uses