Create custom units
This topic only applies to version 16.5 Update 32 and earlier.
For later versions see Custom units of measurement.
Custom units are defined specifically for one variable. Open the variable for editing in either the single variable editor or the Variable Edit window - see Edit variables.
In either case, click the ellipsis button in the Units selection field/column:
The Unit Definition window will be displayed. Select the Custom option in the Select Unit field. When you select this, all of the input fields will become active and you can enter your own values.
When you have finished editing click OK in the dialog to save and apply the changes, or click Cancel at any time to throw away your edits.
Use the Is Currency Unit check box to specify whether the new unit is a currency-type unit.
Methods settings
Select a timescale consolidation method. For information about the available options see Timescale consolidation methods.
Select an aggregation method. The available methods are: Sum, Maximum, Minimum, Average, WeightedAverage, NonzeroAverage.
Select a back-allocation method. The available methods are: NoSplit, EvenSplit and WeightedSplit.
Imperial settings
In the Imperial Settings section, specify factors for conversion between unit scales. The screenshot below shows an example. Since the Medium scale is the base, 1 is set as the medium-scale conversion factor. One unit on the Medium scale contains 1000 individual units, thus the small-scale conversion factor is 1000. And one unit on the Large scale contains 1000 units on the Medium scale, thus the large-scale conversion factor is 0.001.
The Display Label section contains labels for the unit at different scales. Planning Space uses the convention of 'M' for thousand and 'MM' for million.
Note: There is a limit of 15 characters for the label strings. (This can be overridden if the variables configuration is directly edited in the database, however the UI editor will truncate any labels longer than 15 characters.)
Metric settings
In the Metric Settings section, you specify the factors for conversion between the Imperial and Metric systems. The screenshot below shows an example of oil volume conversion. One barrel is 0.1589873 m3, thus the conversion factor for the Medium scale, from 1000 barrels to 1000 m3, is 0.1589873. This conversion factor must be multiplied by small- and large-scale factors (1000 and 0.001), which gives conversion factors of 158.9873 and 0.0001589873.
Finally, the Metric labels for the unit are inserted as: m3, E3m3 and E6m3.
Click OK to save and apply the changes.