Dimensions and custom fields let you push additional categorization and data from Alvys into Sage Intacct on every exported bill and invoice. This article explains how to configure both.
What Are Dimensions?
A dimension in Sage Intacct is a classification system used to organize, sort, and report on your company information in meaningful ways. Think of a dimension as a tag with a set of values related to transactions and entries. Every transaction can be tagged with multiple dimension values to help you identify the transaction and report on it. This approach allows you to slice financial data across multiple business segments such as location, department, or class without complicating your chart of accounts. When you add a new dimension value, all existing account codes automatically become available to it, eliminating the need to manually create hundreds of new accounts. Sage Intacct provides a set of standard dimensions right out of the box, ready to be enabled, and you can use them as is, or repurpose them to your specific business needs.
Setting Up Dimensions in Sage Intacct
Follow these steps to configure a dimension value in Sage Intacct:
Navigate to the relevant dimension module. For example, go to Company > Setup> then Locations for locations, Company > Setup> then Departments for departments, or Reports > Setup then Dimensions to manage all dimension types.
Click Add to begin creating a new dimension value.
Enter a unique ID for the dimension value. We recommend choosing this ID carefully, as it cannot be changed after creation.
Enter a Name for the dimension value. Unlike the ID, the name can be updated later if needed.
Optionally provide a Description or other relevant details depending on the dimension type. For locations, you may also configure a primary Contact with address details that appear on invoices and forms.
To build a parent-child hierarchy, specify a Parent to nest the new value under an existing one. Leave it blank if the value should sit at the top level.
Set the Status: Active allows transactions to post against the value. Active Non-Posting, which is available for Department, Location, Class, Customer, Vendor, and Project dimensions, makes the value available for reporting and roll-ups but prevents alvys from posting transactions directly to it.
Click Save. The dimension value will now appear in your list and become available for tagging on transactions throughout the system.
Repeat these steps for each additional value you need.
Supported Dimension Types in the Alvys Integration
The Alvys integration supports the following Sage Intacct dimension types:
Location represents a geographic or operational site such as a terminal, branch, or office.
Department maps to a department or cost center such as Operations, Dispatch, or Maintenance.
Class serves as a classification tag for additional reporting segments.
Customer is used for tracking revenue and receivables.
Vendor is used for tracking expenses and payables.
Employee is used for tagging labor-related transactions.
Project is used for tracking costs and revenue by project.
Item is used for categorizing line-level transactions by product or service.
Asset is used for capital expenditure tracking and requires a Fixed Assets Management subscription.
Contract is used for revenue recognition and billing and requires a Contracts subscription.
Warehouse is used for inventory and stock-related transactions and requires an Inventory subscription.
⚠️ Custom Dimensions are not supported
When a dimension is mapped, Alvys automatically populates the corresponding dimension value on every exported bill or invoice based on the Alvys field you select.
Alvys Fields for Dimension Mapping
Each dimension is mapped to one Alvys field. The available Alvys fields are:
Subsidiary: The Alvys subsidiary associated with the transaction.
Fleet: The fleet assigned to the load or trip.
Driver fleet: The driver assigned fleet is used to determine he fleet mappings for driver bills
Load Fleet: N.B For fleet dimension mapping, the load Fleet set, is used to decide which dimension is used for the customer invoice as well as the external carrier bill .
Office: The load office associated with the transaction.
Driver: The driver assigned to the trip.
Truck: The truck assigned to the trip.
Trailer: The trailer assigned to the trip.
Contractor Type: The contractor type of the driver (e.g., Company Driver, Owner Operator).
The Dimension Mappings Table
The dimension mappings table shows two (2) columns:
Sage Field : The dimension name from Sage Intacct. Required dimensions are marked with a red "Required" badge. If a dimension is required on transactions linked to your GL accounts in Sage, you must map it in Alvys. Otherwise, exports will fail with validation errors.
Alvys Field : “Add Mapping” dropdown to select which Alvys field maps to this dimension.
Select the appropriate Alvys field from the dropdown for each dimension.
💡 For example, if your Sage "Location" dimension represents terminal locations, you might map it to the Alvys Office field so that every exported transaction is tagged with the correct office/terminal.
Default Dimension Value vs Specific Dimension Mapping
When you map a dimension to an Alvys field, you can configure how individual values are matched between the two systems. The mapping panel provides two levels of control.
Default Value
The Default value acts as a fallback. When Alvys exports a bill or invoice and the Alvys field value for that transaction does not have a specific mapping configured, the system applies the selected Default value as the Sage dimension value. This ensures that every exported transaction is tagged with a valid dimension value even if you have not explicitly mapped every possible Alvys value. If a dimension is marked as Required in Sage, you should always set a Default value to prevent export failures. If no Default is set and no specific mapping exists for a given Alvys value, the system will attempt to pass the Alvys value through as is, which may cause validation errors in Sage if the value does not match an existing dimension value in your Sage environment.
Specific Value Mappings
Specific Value Mappings let you define exact one to one matches between individual Alvys values and Sage dimension values. For example, if your Sage "Location" dimension is mapped to the Alvys Office field, you could set a specific mapping so that the Alvys Brokerage office always exports as the Sage location "Boston", while the Alvys Inc office exports as "San Diego Terminal". Any office that does not have a specific mapping will fall back to the Default value you configured.
Mapping Dimension Values
After selecting an Alvys field for a dimension, you can map individual values between the two systems.
To map values:
In the dimension mappings table, click the Map Values button next to the dimension.
A mapping panel opens with two columns:
Sage Values: The dimension values from your Sage Intacct environment.
Alvys Values: The corresponding values from the Alvys field you selected.
Match each Sage value to the appropriate Alvys value.
After mapping values, the Map Values button updates to show how many values are mapped (e.g., "3 Value(s)") so you can quickly see which dimensions have value mappings configured.
Custom Field Mappings
Custom fields in Sage Intacct are user-defined fields added to standard Sage objects. The Alvys integration can populate these custom fields with data from Alvys on every exported transaction.
Custom fields are supported on four (4) Sage objects:
AR Invoice (header-level): Custom fields on the invoice header.
AR Invoice Item (line-item-level): Custom fields on individual invoice line items.
AP Bill (header-level) : Custom fields on the bill header.
AP Bill Item (line-item-level): Custom fields on individual bill line items.
What Is an Object Type?
In Sage Intacct, an object is a standard data entity that represents a core business record such as a customer, vendor, AR invoice, AP bill, employee, or item. When you create a custom field, the first step in the wizard is selecting which object the field will belong to. This determines where the field appears in the system. For example, selecting the AR Invoice object means the custom field will appear on invoice header pages, while selecting the AP Bill Item object means it will appear on individual bill line items.
How to Create a Custom Field in Sage Intacct
Custom fields are created through a guided wizard. The steps are as follows:
Depending on your subscription, navigate to either Platform Services > All > Object Customization or Customization Services > All > Object Customization and click Add next to Custom Fields.
Select the Object to which you want to add the custom field from the dropdown list and click Next. This is where you choose the object type, for example AR Invoice, AP Bill, AR Invoice Item, or AP Bill Item.
Select the Data Type for your custom field and click Next. The data type determines what kind of information the field will accept.
Only the following data types are supported by the Alvys integration:
Date: Date values.
Currency: Monetary amounts.
Number: Numeric values.
Text: Short text strings (up to the character limit defined in Sage Intacct).
Text Area: Longer text content.
Do not select these unsupported types, as they cannot be mapped to Alvys: Picklist, Picklist (multi-select), Checkbox, Email, Percent, Sequence, URL, or Password. Unsupported custom field types will not appear in the mapping interface.
⚠️ You cannot change the data type of a custom field after it is created, so choose carefully.
Enter a Label for the field. This is the text that will appear next to the field in the user interface. Sage Intacct will auto-suggest a Field ID based on the label. The Field ID is used by APIs and cannot contain spaces.
Define any additional field characteristics based on the data type you selected, such as field length, decimal places, default values, or picklist values, and click Next.
Configure Deployment Options and click Done. Deployment options include:
Whether the field is required, meaning users must enter a value before the record can be saved.
The section and tab where the field should appear on the page. You can add it to an existing section or create a new one.
Available Alvys Fields for Custom Field Mapping
Alvys provides built-in fields organized into seven groups that can be mapped to Sage custom fields:
Load Fields
Carrier Invoice Number: The carrier's invoice number on the load.
Subsidiary: The Alvys subsidiary that owns the load.
PO Number: The purchase order number on the load.
Order Number: The Alvys order number.
BOL Number: The bill of lading number.
Office: The office associated with the load.
Fleet: The fleet associated with the load.
Equipment: The equipment type on the load.
Commodity: The commodity being transported.
Weight: The total weight of the shipment.
Volume: The volume of the shipment.
Invoiced Date: The date the load was invoiced.
Created Date: The date the load was created in Alvys.
Customer Fields
Net Payment Terms: The customer's payment terms.
Miles: The total miles for the customer's load.
Sales Agent: The sales agent associated with the customer.
Dispatch Fields
Total Miles: The total miles for the dispatched trip.
Loaded Miles: The loaded (revenue) miles.
Empty Miles: The empty (deadhead) miles.
Dispatched By: The user who dispatched the load.
Dispatched Date: The date the load was dispatched.
Shipper Fields
Name: The shipper's company name.
Address: The shipper's street address.
City: The shipper's city.
State: The shipper's state.
Country: The shipper's country.
Pickup Date: The scheduled pickup date.
Consignee Fields
Name: The consignee's company name.
Address: The consignee's street address.
City: The consignee's city.
State: The consignee's state.
Country: The consignee's country.
Delivery Date: The scheduled delivery date.
Equipment Fields
Truck: The truck number or ID assigned to the load.
Trailer: The trailer number or ID assigned to the load.
Driver Fields
Primary: The primary driver's name.
Secondary: The secondary (team) driver's name.
Fleet: The driver's assigned fleet.
Custom References
Custom references are user-defined fields that allow you to capture and store company-specific data on key entities within Alvys. If your Alvys environment includes custom references, these appear alongside the standard fields in the Alvys Field dropdown when configuring Sage Intacct custom field mappings. However, not all custom reference types are available for mapping. The Sage Intacct integration supports only the following two custom reference types:
Custom Load References : Custom references that have been configured to apply to the Load entity. These appear in the Alvys Field dropdown grouped under the "Custom Load Reference" heading, and their values are resolved from the load context at the time of export to Sage.
Custom Trip References: Custom references that have been configured to apply to the Trip entity. These appear grouped under the "Custom Trip Reference" heading, and their values are resolved from the trip context at export time.
Where to Create Custom References in Alvys
Custom references are managed from the Settings area of the application. To create or edit them, navigate to Settings > Custom References. This page is organized into six tabs, one for each supported entity type: Loads, Trips, Stops, Drivers, Trucks, and Trailers.
From this page, you can:
Click New Reference to create a new custom reference.
Assign a name and optional description to the reference.
Select a field type (Text, Date etc.).
Configure visibility by choosing whether to include the reference within Alvys (internal views) and whether to show it on documents (external views).
The Custom Field Mappings Table
The custom field mappings table displays seven columns:
Sage Field: The custom field name in Sage Intacct.
Code: The Sage field code (internal identifier).
Object: Which Sage object the field belongs to (AR Invoice, AR Invoice Item, AP Bill, or AP Bill Item).
ID: The Sage field ID.
Type: The data type (Date, Currency, Number, Text, or Text Area).
Chars: The maximum character length for text fields.
Alvys Field: A dropdown to select which Alvys field maps to this custom field. Fields are grouped by category (Load, Customer, Dispatch, Shipper, Consignee, Equipment, Driver) in the dropdown.
To map a custom field, find it in the table and select the appropriate Alvys field from the dropdown in the last column. Only type-compatible Alvys fields will appear in the dropdown.
Configuring Custom Field Mappings: During Setup vs. After Setup
During Setup (Step 5: Advanced Settings)
Custom field mappings are configured during Step 5 of the setup wizard. At this stage:
Alvys retrieves the available custom fields from your Sage Intacct environment.
You select which Alvys field maps to each Sage custom field.
Mappings are saved as part of the initial integration configuration.
After Setup (Custom Fields Tab)
To modify custom field mappings after the initial setup:
Go to Settings → Connections → Sage Intacct.
Click the integration for your subsidiary.
Select the Dimension and Custom Fields tab.
The same custom field mapping interface used during setup is available here.
💡 Changes take effect on the next transaction export. Previously exported transactions are not retroactively updated.
Best Practices
Map required dimensions first. If any dimensions are marked as required in Sage (shown with a red "Required" badge), map these before enabling syncing. Unmapped required dimensions will cause export failures.
Complete value mappings for required dimensions. Even after mapping the Alvys field, make sure every possible Alvys value has a corresponding Sage dimension value, especially for required dimensions.
Start with header-level custom fields. Header-level custom fields (on AR Invoice and AP Bill) are simpler to configure than line-item-level fields. Map these first to verify the data flows correctly.
Use the character limit column. When mapping text fields, check the "Chars" column to ensure the Alvys field value will not exceed the maximum length. If it does, the value will be truncated.
Export a single transaction. After configuring dimensions and custom fields, export one test transaction and verify the values appear correctly in Sage before bulk exporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the main benefit of using Sage Intacct dimensions instead of modifying my chart of accounts? A: Dimensions allow you to tag, slice, and report on financial data across business segments (like location, fleet, or driver) without overcomplicating your chart of accounts. When you add a new dimension value, all existing account codes automatically become available to it.
Q: Can I use Custom Dimensions with the Alvys integration? A: No. Custom Dimensions are not supported. The integration only supports standard Sage Intacct dimension types (e.g., Location, Department, Class, Customer, Vendor, Employee, Project, Item, Asset, Contract, and Warehouse).
Q: What does the "Active Non-Posting" status mean for a dimension value? A: This status makes the dimension value available for financial reporting and roll-ups within Sage Intacct, but it prevents Alvys from posting transactions directly to it.
Q: What is the difference between a Default Value and a Specific Value Mapping? A: A Specific Value Mapping creates an exact one-to-one match between an individual Alvys value and a Sage dimension value (e.g., mapping the Alvys "Brokerage" office specifically to the Sage location "Boston"). The Default Value acts as a fallback; if an Alvys field value does not have a specific mapping, the system applies this default to prevent export errors.
Q: What happens if a dimension has a red "Required" badge in the mapping table? A: This means the dimension is required by your GL accounts in Sage. You must map it in Alvys and ideally set a Default Value fallback, otherwise your transaction exports will fail with validation errors.
Q: Which Sage Intacct object types support custom fields in this integration? A: Custom fields are supported on four specific object types; AR Invoice (Header-level), AR Invoice Item (Line-item-level), AP Bill (Header-level) and AP Bill Item (Line-item-level).
Q: What data types are supported when creating custom fields for Alvys mapping? A: The integration only supports Date, Currency, Number, Text, and Text Area data types. Unsupported types such as Picklists, Multi-select Picklists, Checkboxes, Emails, Percentages, Sequences, URLs, or Passwords, will not show up in the Alvys mapping interface.
Q: Which Alvys Custom References can I map to Sage Intacct? A: While Alvys allows custom references across six entities, the Sage Intacct integration only supports two: Custom Load References and Custom Trip References.
Q: If I update a custom field mapping today, will it update my past invoices in Sage? A: No. Mapping changes only take effect on future transaction exports. Previously exported transactions are never retroactively updated.
Q: Why should I pay attention to the "Chars" column in the Custom Field Mappings table? A: The "Chars" column indicates the maximum character length permitted by Sage Intacct for that specific text field. If the data exported from Alvys exceeds this limit, the value will be truncated when it arrives in Sage.
Next Steps
⏭️ Once you have completed all prerequisites, proceed to the next article: 5️⃣Sage Intacct: Transaction Export and Modification to learn how bills and invoices are exported, modified, and reversed.
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