Using OneStream to Track Inflation and Related Metrics

Hi everyone,

I’m interested in learning how other organizations are leveraging OneStream to track inflation and other account-related metrics. Currently, our approach involves using the Account dimension to explicitly separate inflation impacts for specific expense categories. For example:

• FOOD_BEV – Food & Beverage Expense
• INFL_FOOD_BEV – Inflation related to Food & Beverage Expense

These inflation rates are externally calculated and loaded via XFD uploads. To support different reporting views, we load the data into three separate accounts:

• _PER – Monthly
• _QTR – Quarterly
• _ANN – Annual

We also use a view dynamic account without a suffix, which adjusts based on the selected view.

Exploring Alternative Approaches

I’m considering whether using a User Defined (UD) dimension might offer more flexibility. For instance:

• Keep the account as FOOD_BEV
• Use the UD to switch between metrics like:
  • "Dollars" (actuals/estimate)
  • "Inflation" (loaded via XFD)
  • "Per Guest" (dynamically calculated)
  • "Pricing" (potentially another loaded or calculated metric)

This method could streamline the structure and allow for more dynamic reporting, especially if inflation rates are only loaded monthly and calculated for QTD/YTD using weighted averages.

Open to Ideas

I’d love to hear how others are handling similar use cases. Are you using UD dimensions for this type of analysis? Are there better ways to structure inflation tracking in OneStream?

Thanks in advance for sharing your insights!

— Jeremy Morgan