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Metric and Measure Dependencies

The dependency structure of your financial model describes which entities feed into which. Understanding dependencies helps you:

  • Predict the downstream impact of an overlay before running the forecast
  • Identify which Measures are the true "levers" for a given outcome
  • Troubleshoot unexpected changes in a Metric's forecast values

Upstream dependencies: What feeds into a given Metric? For example, Gross Margin depends on Gross Profit, which depends on Revenue and COGS.

Downstream impact: What does a change to a Measure affect? For example, changing Subscription Revenue will flow through to Gross Profit → Gross Margin → Net Revenue Retention (if applicable).

Dependencies are not only metric formulas. A measure forecast with the Roll forward or Derived strategy depends on the measures in its definition — Capex feeds PP&E, so a capex adjustment flows through to the balance-sheet line even though both are measures.

Two things worth knowing about cross-period definitions:

  • The same input can appear at two points in time — Depreciation = PP&E − previous-period PP&E is one dependency read at two times, not two dependencies.
  • Definitions may loop across periods: PP&E accumulates depreciation, and depreciation is computed from last period's PP&E. That loop is legal because it steps back one period each time around. A loop where every step is in the same period is rejected when you save.

You can ask the Galdera assistant to trace dependencies for any Metric or Measure — it will show you the full chain upstream and downstream.