Dimensions

The dimension space is where all common dimensions are loaded. Common dimensions are those that are used in multiple fact spaces, such as Item, Customer, and Facility. Packages with the necessary variables and source tables from the source space are imported in the dimension space.

These objects are found in the dimension space:

• Hierarchies

  One hierarchy is created for each common dimension. A level key is defined which is a concatenation of all the primary key fields, separated by a dash (-).

• Scripted Sources

  The scripted sources populate the hierarchies. In general, each hierarchy has one UPSERT, which handles inserts and updates to the main source table, and an UPDATE script against the hierarchy, which handles changes to attributes that are sourced from different tables.

One package is created for each fact space that contains only the common dimensions that are needed by the models in the fact.