Overview
This article describes advanced link features, how it benefits modeling, and how to use them.
What is an advanced link function?
An advanced link acts similarly to a link (outlined here: Link), but, instead, connects one group to another group and uses variable names to match a variable from one group to the other. In other words, the advanced link automatically searches for a variable name within one group to see if it matches a variable in the current group. If it is able to find a match, it automatically accumulates the data into the new group. This is similar to the MATCH function you may be familiar with. To exemplify this, let's take a look at Logica itself.
In this example, we have two groups. The "Link" group and the "Super" group (the names of the groups will not affect the advanced link functionality). In their current state, there are no links and only the "Link" group contains data.
Traditionally, you would have to manually link each and every variable to the correct variable in the "Super" group in order to populate the new group. The traditional way can be seen below.
How to use the advanced link function?
With advanced links, this process can be done for you. All you have to do is link the "Link" group to the "Super" group.
As you can see, the single advanced link between groups was able to automatically accumulate all of the data into the new group. Notice that the two "Cash" accounts in the "Link" group were added up in the "Cash" account in the "Super" group. This is a default behavior that can be changed in the Advanced settings. This feature can also be extended and will automatically be applied to child groups. In the below example, a "Cash" variable and an "Equity" variable were placed into a child group. The "Super" group's values were unchanged, but if they were populated, they would show a increase or decrease in the "Super" group.
This feature applies to all child, grandchild, etc. groups within the "Link" group.