One diagram, several readings
A label classifies an element — a node, a flow, a value. That is what lets you filter, colour and compose a legend. And when a group of labels is declared as a dimension, it does far more: the same diagram carries several sets of figures — 2015 to 2022, North and South, business-as-usual and sufficiency — and you switch between them in one click, without changing file.
Try it right now
Three models shipped with the application, labelled and filterable.
Free group or dimension: the distinction that matters
A free group is not combinatorial: its labels coexist on the same drawing. "Upstream", "Processing", "Downstream" colour and filter a diagram that stays whole. One element can even carry several labels of the group, and so appear under two filters at once.
A dimension is combinatorial: the diagram shows one slice at a time. Year × Territory means one value per combination, and a selector that changes every value in the diagram at once. This is exactly what a drawing tool cannot do: there, a second year is a second file.
| Free group | Data dimension | |
|---|---|---|
| What it classifies | Nodes or flows | Values |
| On screen | Labels coexist on the same drawing | One slice at a time, you switch |
| Used for | Filtering, colouring, legends, grouping a reading | Years, territories, scenarios, products — crossed freely |
| Example | Upstream / Processing / Downstream | 2015…2022 × North / South |
A checkbox moves a group from one to the other. From dimension to free group the conversion is lossless; the other way round, whatever was not broken down is poured into an "Unassigned" label created for the occasion.
Applying labels without a thousand clicks
On a single element, a dedicated tab ticks the labels; on a multiple selection, it edits the whole batch at once. For large models, a selector builds the selection on its own — by element type, by label group — and the selection accumulates across types. And like the rest, all of it can be declared in the workbook too: one row per group, with its labels, its long names and its palette.
What labels do next
Colour and filter. Every label carries a colour; the diagram can colour flows by their label and hide, in one click, everything outside a category. Standard palettes apply to a whole group at once.
Compose the legend. The legend regenerates from the current groups and labels, then behaves like any graphical element: orientation, width, font, background, border. The order of groups, and of labels within a group, is set by hand.
Appear on screen. Each group picks its own form: a single choice, several checkboxes, or — for a dimension — a selector placed in the top bar, within immediate reach during a presentation, or even a sequence that plays the labels one after another with an adjustable delay. A slideshow of the years with nothing to prepare.
Write the captions. A node can display the long name of its label instead of its own, or combine both in a template — handy for reading a diagram along a nomenclature without renaming anything.
Carry units. A group of flow labels can distinguish the nature of the values — tonnes, m³, tCO₂, euros — with the matching scale. That is what lets a material balance and a monetary balance live in the same model.
And the computation
Dimensions are not mere decoration: reconciliation works slice by slice. Each year, each scenario is a system of equations in its own right, solved on the same structure. That is what makes a time series maintainable: the structure is written once.
Going further
Creating and editing a label group belongs to the MFASankey Production edition; filtering and navigating stay open to everyone, including in a published diagram (see pricing). The exercises are inside the application: Help → Tutorials → Labels and hierarchies.
See also hierarchies, which do not classify but replace: aggregating means showing the parent in place of its children.