Configure hierarchy calculations

Who can use this feature?

Hierarchy calculations allow you to reference and transform data across hierarchical structures (parent / child records). Hierarchy calculations apply to the account and opportunity* objects.

*You must have Opportunity Management to leverage the opportunity object.

Suggested uses

Aggregate your key metrics—such as renewal orders or user activity—from subsidiary or child accounts up through parent accounts and entire account hierarchies. Unlike hierarchy roll-ups, hierarchy calculations have expanded calculation types and offer control for the filters of the accounts targeted.

  • Renewal date: Imagine you have a parent account representing a company, and child accounts representing individual products. The renewal date is stored at the child (product) level, but your segmentation and analysis typically rely on data at the parent (company) level. With hierarchy calculations, you can now create a new attribute—such as the minimum or maximum renewal date—from the product-level data and roll it up to the parent account. This attribute allows you to display key renewal timelines at the company level, enabling more actionable account insights.
  • Count of children in poor health: Let's say you want to identify parent accounts (e.g., companies) that have multiple products (child accounts) in poor health. Instead of manually reviewing each product account, use a hierarchy calculation to automate this process. By creating a new attribute that dynamically counts the number of child accounts in poor health, you can then filter by that attribute on the parent account—for example, create a segment of all companies with more than three products in poor health. This data point enables you to proactively target at-risk customers at the company level, without diving into each product individually.
  • Strategic planning: Use AVG to calculate the average opportunity size across subsidiaries or product lines to guide resource allocation or prioritization.

Types of aggregations

Examples include:

  1. SUM: Add the values in a numerical attribute of the same object type. Date attributes are not supported for this calculation.
    • Ex: Calculate the total Contract ARR for all child accounts where account type is Product
  2. COUNT: Count the number of associated object records that meet a specific criteria.
    • Ex: Count the number of child accounts in poor health
  3. AVG: Average the values in a numerical attribute on an associated object.
    • Calculate the average ARR across all child accounts in poor health
  4. MIN: Find the minimum value of a numeric or date attribute across the same object type.
    • Ex: Calculate the first (MIN) renewal date
  5. MAX: Find the maximum value of a numeric or date attribute across associated objects.
    • Calculate the last (MAX) renewal date
  6. REFERENCE*: Look up the value of an attribute.
    • Look up Customer Success Manager on the parent account so it can be referenced on the child account

*See additional use cases for REFERENCE calculations.

Create a hierarchy calculation

Build hierarchy calculations by defining the following:

  • Segment to receive the new field (destination)
  • Calculation type
  • Associated object whose field you want to apply the calculation
  • Filter for the associated object (source)

Example

Your hierarchy is made up of Company > Products. You want to count the number of:

  • product accounts in poor health 
    = Source (accounts that provide the values)

     
  • under each company account with status paying
    = Destination (accounts where you want to see the final calculated result)

Hierarchy calculation (attribute) set up:

Result:⬇

The attribute will only be available to add for accounts that have a non-zero value for a hierarchy calculation. Hierarchy calculations are processed once per day in the nightly Totango run.

Steps

You can create up to 50 hierarchy calculations.

  1. From Settings, expand Data Management > Data Modeler.
  2. From the Account Information tab, click +Add Account Attribute.
  3. Click Hierarchy Calculations.
  4. Configure properties for the attribute:
    • Display name: Add a name for the attribute.
    • Description: Include a short description about what this attribute is used for.
    • Dimension: Choose the dimension for categorization purposes. Not editable after it's saved if it's used in health.
    • Visibility: Choose to make this attribute hidden.
  5. Choose your destination segment:
    • From the list of segments in the global folder, refine filters to determine where you want the calculated value to appear. For example, if you want the value to show on the parent account, create a segment that includes all paying company parents.
  6. Define the calculation logic to perform on the newly created attribute. Options include:
    • Sum
    • Count
    • Average
    • Minimum
    • Maximum
    • Reference
  7. Choose your source object:
    • Accounts (Child or Parent)
    • Opportunities
  8. [Optional] Choose filters to determine where the source values will come from. Any accounts meeting the criteria you set will be used to pull values for the aggregation. If Opportunities is the source object, only attributes in the Opportunity dimension are available.

  9. Select the attribute to aggregate across the hierarchy. If Opportunities is the source object, only attributes in the Opportunity dimension are available to reference.

  10. Select the attribute to aggregate across the hierarchy. For example, contract value, success manager, renewal date, etc.
  11. Click Create Attribute. (Once you save, you cannot edit the calculation properties.)

Once saved, you can use this attribute in segments, reports, and account profiles (profile header or value metrics).

Hierarchy calculations are processed once per day in the nightly Totango run.

Edit a hierarchy calculation

You can edit display name, description, dimension, and visibility of the attribute, but the remaining properties are disabled after creation and cannot be adjusted. 

Additional use cases

Hierarchy calculations additionally support the following:

  1. Reference-up ⬆: Reference child account values to parent account
  2. Collections ⊞: Calculate on collection attributes, including reference-up

Use case: Reference-up ⬆

Reference child account or collection values at the parent account level, resulting in a concatenated string of unique values.

Scenario: My Regional accounts (child) each have a Site reference (text attribute). I want to surface those Site values on the Corporate accounts (parent). In this example, I have four Regional accounts—each with their own Site values.

Hierarchy Calculation configuration:

  • Name: Child Sites
  • Target object: Accounts (Child or Parent); filtered by Account Type = Corporate
  • Calculation Type: Reference
  • Reference direction: Up
  • Reference object: Accounts (Child or Parent)
  • Reference value: Site

Result: The Corporate account (parent) displays three corresponding Child Sites values (text)—one for each unique Regional account (child). In this example, two of the child accounts had the same Site value; the system does not display duplicate values.

Use case: Collections ⊞

Perform calculations on collection attributes.

Scenario: My accounts each have associated Subscriptions (a custom collection). I want to count how many subscriptions have an expiration date before 2025. In this example, there are two subscriptions total, but only one meets the filter criteria.

Hierarchy Calculation configuration:

  • Name: Child Subscription Count
  • Target object: Accounts (Child or Parent); filtered by Account Type = Product
  • Calculation Type: Count
  • Associated object: Collections
  • Associated collection: Subscriptions (e.g., count the rows / number of subscriptions)

  • Associated filter*: Subscription Expiration Date before 2025

    *Filter options become available after choosing the associated collection. 

Result: The account displays a Child Subscription Count of 1 (numeric).

Hierarchy calculations are processed once per day in the nightly Totango run.

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