---
url: /technical/sequence-references.md
description: 'When to use: Cumulation calculations, Rolling Balances (e.g.'
---

# SEQUENCE References

**When to use:**
Cumulation calculations, Rolling Balances (e.g. in a Balance Sheet), Averaging multiple months or time elements.

**Description:**
The sequence function alters the provided Direct Reference by a specified number of positions along a specified hierarchy and dimension.

#### Syntax

```vb
SEQUENCE("DimName", "HierarchyName", PositionalChangeNumber, ["Direct Reference"])
```

#### Simple Example

Commonly in a Balance Sheet we want to cumulate the movements of monthly transactions into a rolling balance across accounts. Assuming we have a measures dimension with a Default hierarchy as follows:

* Closing Balance
  * Opening Balance
  * Movement

Commonly in a Balance Sheet we want to cumulate the movements of monthly transactions into a rolling balance across accounts. Assuming we have a measures dimension with a Default hierarchy as follows:

Restrict to `"Opening Balance"`

```vb
SEQUENCE("Time", "Month List", -1, ["Closing Balance"])
```

#### Complex Example

Sometimes we may want to calculate the average of the last three months balances to create a rolling average.

Assuming we have a Profit and Loss model and we are populating the Forecast with Actuals up until the current month and then from there we want to take a rolling 3 month average and apply a modification % to that value monthly.

Restrict to: `"Amount"` from the Measures dimension and `"Forecast"` from the Scenario dimension

This will take the previous 3 months and then average them and multiply the result by a modifier %.

```vb
(
SEQUENCE("Time", "Month List", -1, ["Amount"])+
SEQUENCE("Time", "Month List", -2, ["Amount"])+
SEQUENCE("Time", "Month List", -3, ["Amount"])
) / 3 * (1+["Modifier %"])
```

If the `"Modifier %"` is -10% for the month being calculated it will take the last 3 months average and reduce that by 10%.