Fact
Table
The centralized table
in a star schema is called as FACT table. A fact table typically has two types
of columns: those that contain facts and those that are foreign keys to
dimension tables. The primary key of a fact table is usually a composite key
that is made up of all of its foreign keys.
In the example fig 1.6 "Sales Dollar" is a
fact(measure) and it can be added across several dimensions. Fact tables store
different types of measures like additive, non additive and semi additive measures.
Measure
Types
• Additive - Measures that can be added across all
dimensions.
• Non Additive - Measures that cannot be added across all
dimensions.
• Semi Additive - Measures that can be added across few
dimensions and not with others.
A fact table might contain either detail level facts or
facts that have been aggregated (fact tables that contain aggregated facts are
often instead called summary tables).
In the real world, it is possible to have a fact table that
contains no measures or facts. These tables are called as Factless Fact tables.
Steps
in designing Fact Table
• Identify a business process for analysis (like sales).
• Identify measures or facts (sales dollar).
• Identify dimensions for facts (product dimension, location
dimension, time dimension, organization dimension).
• List the columns that describe each dimension.(region
name, branch name, region name).
• Determine the lowest level of summary in a fact table (sales
dollar).
for a product in a year within a location sold or serviced
by an employee
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