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Example of a star schema; the central table is the fact table. In data warehousing, a fact table consists of the measurements, metrics or facts of a business process. It is located at the center of a star schema or a snowflake schema surrounded by dimension tables. Where multiple fact tables are used, these are arranged as a fact constellation ...
Fact_Sales is the fact table and there are three dimension tables Dim_Date, Dim_Store and Dim_Product. Each dimension table has a primary key on its Id column, relating to one of the columns (viewed as rows in the example schema) of the Fact_Sales table's three-column (compound) primary key (Date_Id, Store_Id, Product_Id).
Usually dimension tables do not reference other dimensions via foreign keys. When this happens, the referenced dimension is called an outrigger dimension. Outrigger dimensions should be considered a data warehouse anti-pattern: it is considered a better practice to use some fact tables that relate the two dimensions. [9]
The third step in the design process is to define the dimensions of the model. The dimensions must be defined within the grain from the second step of the 4-step process. Dimensions are the foundation of the fact table, and is where the data for the fact table is collected. Typically dimensions are nouns like date, store, inventory etc.
The snowflake schema is represented by centralized fact tables which are connected to multiple dimensions. "Snowflaking" is a method of normalizing the dimension tables in a star schema. When it is completely normalized along all the dimension tables, the resultant structure resembles a snowflake with the fact table in the middle. The principle ...
The integrated data are then moved to yet another database, often called the data warehouse database, where the data is arranged into hierarchical groups, often called dimensions, and into facts and aggregate facts. The combination of facts and dimensions is sometimes called a star schema. The access layer helps users retrieve data. [5]
A fact is represented by a box that displays the fact name along with the measure names. Small circles represent the dimensions, which are linked to the fact by straight lines (see Figure 1). A dimensional attribute is a property, with a finite domain, of a dimension. Like dimensions, a dimensional attribute is represented by a circle.
When facts are aggregated, it is either done by eliminating dimensionality or by associating the facts with a rolled up dimension. Rolled up dimensions should be shrunken versions of the dimensions associated with the granular base facts. This way, the aggregated dimension tables should conform to the base dimension tables. [2]