Dimensional Modelling

Attendees of this one-day course will learn the tried and tested Kimball techniques for designing robust dimensional models to support enterprise decision making. Students will gain an in-depth understanding of dimensional modelling that they can apply directly to their workplace projects.

Chris Kearns (UK Regional Manager) conducts a brief interview with Sam Riggs (Managing Consultant) to discuss Dimensional Modelling, what is it, why we still need it, and how Altis can help organisations learn this key skill.

What is Dimensional Modelling?

Excellence in dimensional modelling remains the keystone of a well-designed data warehouse/business intelligence system, regardless of your architecture.

The word “Kimball” is synonymous with dimensional modelling. The Data Warehouse Toolkit (Kimball/Ross, 2013) established an extensive portfolio of dimensional techniques and vocabulary, including conformed dimensions, slowly changing dimensions, junk dimensions, mini-dimensions, bridge tables, periodic and accumulating snapshot fact tables, and the list goes on.

Course Outline

- What is Dimensional Modelling and why do we do it.
- Dimensional modelling introduction:
  - Dimensions
  - Facts
  - Granularity
  - Star Schema
  - Subject Areas
  - Surrogate Keys
  - Conformed Dimensions
  - Bus Matrix
  - Snowflake Schema
- Kimball’s 4 Steps to Dimensional Modelling
- Retail Sales Case Study:
  - Walkthrough the business requirements as a team.
  - Work in small teams to develop dimensional model(s) to satisfy the business requirements.
  - Come together to critique the dimensional models as a team.
- Dimensional modelling advanced (as time permits):
  - Types of Fact Tables: Transactional, Accumulating Snapshot, Periodic Snapshot, Factless
  - Bridge Tables
  - Types of Dimensions: Slowly Changing Dimensions Types 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), Date Dimensions, Time Dimension, Degenerate Dimension, Junk Dimension, Role Playing Dimension, Outrigger Dimension, Mini Dimension
  - Supertype and Subtype Schemas

Course Prerequisites

- Have a basic understanding of database design principles such as tables and how they are joined.
- This course is appropriate for anyone involved in the dimensional modelling process.

Pricing & Logistics

- Please contact your local regional office for pricing.
- Training delivered at your offices or remotely via online delivery.
- Capped at 15 attendees to ensure maximum personal attention.
- Training can be customised to suit your needs.
- We can also provide follow-on consulting to help students develop their first best-practice Power BI reports/dashboards. This can be an effective way to help students successfully transition from the classroom to the real world.