Defining Data Warehouse Structures

Data Warehouse Data Sources Staging Area Data Marts End User Data Access

Data Extract, Transform, and Load Data Access

Data Warehouse Structures Overview

Data Warehouse

OLAP
End User Data Access

Data Marts

The Star Schema

Employee_Dim
EmployeeKey EmployeeID ...

Time_Dim
TimeKey TheDate ...

Sales_Fact
TimeKey EmployeeKey ProductKey CustomerKey ShipperKey Sales Amount Unit Sales ...

Product_Dim
ProductKey ProductID ...

Shipper_Dim
ShipperKey ShipperID ...

Customer_Dim
CustomerKey CustomerID ...

Describing Dimensions

Describing Business Entities Containing Attributes That Provide Context to Numeric Data Presenting Data Organized into Hierarchies

Identifying Primary Keys

Primary Keys

Identify Uniqueness Are the Dimension Columns Referenced in the Fact Table

product_dim_key product_id_app

Two Candidates

Application Keys (app suffix) Are Source Data Values That Identify Uniqueness Surrogate Keys (key suffix) Are System-generated Integers That Identify Uniqueness

Defining Hierarchies
Understanding Benefits of Hierarchies

Allow end users to view data at different levels of summarization Provide drill down / drill up paths of analysis Drill Down Drill Up

Implementing Hierarchies

Denormalized star schema dimensions

Normalized snowflake dimensions

Snowflaked Dimension Tables

Defines Hierarchies by Using Multiple Dimension Tables

Is More Normalized than a Single Table Dimension

Describing Fact Tables

Sales Data By Product, Customer, and Order Date

Inventory Data By Inventory Date, Product, and Warehouse

Identifying Fact Table Components

Dimension Tables
customer_dim
201 ALFI Alfreds customer_key product_key time_key quantity_sales amount_sales 201 25 134 400 10,789

Sales_fact Table
Foreign Keys Measures

product_dim
25 123 Chai

time_dim
134 1/1/2000

The grain of the sales_fact table is defined by the lowest level of detail stored in each dimension associated with the fact table The grain of the sales_fact table is sales data by customer ID, product ID, and order date

Defining Foreign Keys

FOREIGN KEY Constraint
time_dim_key product_key customer_key order_date_key

FOREIGN KEY Constraint

customer_dim_key

FOREIGN KEY Constraint

product_dim_key

Physically implement the relationship between FK columns of the fact table and PKs of dimension tables Enforce referential integrity between the dimension tables and the fact table

Relational Schemas and OLAP

Data Warehouse

OLAP
End User Data Access

Data Marts

OLAP Database Components

Numeric Measures

Data values or facts that users analyze

Dimensions

Business categories that provide context to numeric measures

Sourced from columns in star schema dimensions Members are organized into hierarchies Combine dimensions and measures into one conceptual model

Cubes

Logical storage medium for an OLAP database

Relational Dimensions vs. OLAP Dimensions

REGION West East STATE CA OR MA NY REGION West West East East

REGION West CA OR East MA NY

OLAP

Relational

OLAP Dimension Fundamentals

Year

Time Dimension Table

Year
1999
1999

Quarter Month
Q1 Q1 Jan Feb

Quarter

Month

RELATIONAL

OLAP

Dimension Family Relationships

Drinks is the Parent of Tea and Coffee Tea and Coffee are Children of Drinks Tea and Columbian are Descendants of Drinks

Drinks Tea Lemon Earl Grey Coffee Columbian

Tea and Drinks are Ancestors of Earl Grey

Tea and Coffee are Siblings Lemon and Columbian are Cousins All are dimension Members

Cube Measures

Are the Numeric Values of Principal Interest Correspond to a Fact Tables Facts (or Measures) Intersect All Dimensions at All Levels Are Aggregated at All Levels of Detail

Form a Dimension

The Cube

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2002 Ave Units

Sales Net Sales Units Price Dollars Measures Dimension

Grapes Cherries Melons Apples

Querying a Cube

Q1

1000

Q2
Q3 Grapes Cherries Melons Apples Ave Sales Net Sales Units Units Price Dollars Measures Dimension

Q4

Defining a Cube Slice

Q1

Q2
Q3

Q4
Ave Units Sales Units

Net Sales Price Dollars

Grapes Cherries Melons Apples

Measures Dimension