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In your example, are you counting inspections per room? Inspections per hotel? Let's assume the latter. Let's say that your fact table contains one row per hotel inspected per day. Say a given row points to the hotel ("Hotel Dimension") to which it belongs and the day ("Time...

The data elements you mention, QuestionID, ToleranceLevel, AvailableScore, DebitsPerFailure, sound more like dimensions than facts. Are you trying to count something, like failed accounts for instance, and report those counts by these dimensions? If so, each instance of a QuestionID, for...

The problem with metadata repositories that are integrated with modeling tools is that they are model repositories. That is, they are designed to store data models. What this means is that, in most cases, you will have to be creative in finding work-arounds for such things as data transformation...

The key fact about multidimensional OLAP tools is that the database engine is proprietary. This means that the only way to get at the data stored in a multidimensional database is through the database vendor's OLAP tool. This makes it difficult to develop ad hoc queries and extracts for data...

Point well taken, gg. We are dealing with broad generalities here and trying not to write whole chapters on the subject. Like most of us, I also have to work for a living. That leaves less time than I would like to devote to forums like this one. I will try to be more specific and give examples...

Whether you permit end users to create tables on the data warehouse or they export the data to some other platform for further processing, the impact is the same, with one exception. Over time, some of these user tables will tend to become "permanent". Users other than the ones who...

Of all the players in the OLAP market, none has been there longer than Cognos. This is a product line that began as a desktop suite and eventually metamorphosed into the client/server world. There is no more easy to use suite of end user reporting products. It is largely for this reason that...

Dimensional modeling is a powerful tool and databases based on star joins can be powerful data structures. However, the usefulness of the dimensional model is limited to database design, whether as an analog representation of a dimensional database or as a star or snowflake schema. While these...

Ah, now we are getting to the heart of the matter. A "subject area model" ala SASMAN, as you seem to understand it, sort of encapsulates a number of entities in each of a collection of "superentities" that we shall call "subject areas". This is the impression I get...

Perhaps you didn't read my rejoinder to SASMAN. The ERD that is the subject area model to which I refer is of the variety sometimes referred to as a logical model or business model by those who are trained as DBAs, instead of the off the top of the head database design usually dubbed an ERD by...

An outfit called DCI (<A HREF="http://www.dci.com" TARGET="_new">www.dci.com</A>) produces a number of conferences that cover recent developments in technology. They have already produced several conferences on Data Warehouseing. It might be worth your while to check out their web site. If there...

A few points, Sasman. <br> <br> You have surmised correctly that I am talking about a high level ERD. What I am talking about is not what you have described as a "subject area model". I believe that we both agree that a star schema can be characterized as a radically denormalised relational...

There is a simple answer to bironman's question and jnicho02 hit it pretty much on the head. Basically, a data warehouse is a database containing data integrated from a number of data sources. OLAP is one way to read the data.<br> <br> There are many advocates of "three tier architecture" for a...

SASMAN, <br> <br> I couldn't agree more strongly about the ERD, although some experts would say that it is not necessary. There is a lot of debate about how detailed this model should be, and whether it should lead to a normalized database design, or whether it should become the basis for...

Have any of you attempted to import or access metadata from an outside repository and display it by launching access to it from within Impromptu and/ or Powerplay. I understand that this can be accomplished through a macro within Impromptu, but Powerplay has no such capability. Is there a way to...

For a more complete discussion, see Ralph Kimball, "The Data Warehouse Toolkit". Bear in mind that Kimball's is not the only voice when it comes to decision support database design. <br> <br> You may get the impression from reading Kimball that a star schema is always the best approach to...

Has anyone encountered unexpected behavior in WarehouseArchitect 6.1? I evaluated a beta release and reported an intermittent condition The gist of it is that when you delete a fact from the hierarchy and subsequently consolidate the model into the MetaWorks repository, the extracts contain all...

Do you mean surrogate keys? You might want to be more specific about what you want to know.