factless fact tables, and architected data marts continue to be discussed in data
warehouse design workshops around the globe. The original concepts have
been embellished and enhanced by new and complementary techniques. We
decided to publish a second edition of Kimball’s seminal work because we felt
that it would be useful to pull together our collective thoughts on dimensional
modeling under a single cover. We have each focused exclusively on decision
support and data warehousing for over two decades. We hope to share the
dimensional modeling patterns that have emerged repeatedly during the
course of our data warehousing careers. This book is loaded with specific,
practical design recommendations based on real-world scenarios.
The goal of this book is to provide a one-stop shop for dimensional modeling
techniques. True to its title, it is a toolkit of dimensional design principles and
techniques. We will address the needs of those just getting started in dimen-
sional data warehousing, and we will describe advanced concepts for those of
you who have been at this a while. We believe that this book stands alone in its
depth of coverage on the topic of dimensional modeling.
Intended Audience
This book is intended for data warehouse designers, implementers, and man-
agers. In addition, business analysts who are active participants in a ware-
house initiative will find the content useful.
Even if you’re not directly responsible for the dimensional model, we believe
that it is important for all members of a warehouse project team to be comfort-
able with dimensional modeling concepts. The dimensional model has an
impact on most aspects of a warehouse implementation, beginning with the
translation of business requirements, through data staging, and finally, to the
unveiling of a data warehouse through analytic applications. Due to the broad
implications, you need to be conversant in dimensional modeling regardless
whether you are responsible primarily for project management, business
analysis, data architecture, database design, data staging, analytic applica-
tions, or education and support. We’ve written this book so that it is accessible
to a broad audience.
For those of you who have read the first edition of this book, some of the famil-
iar case studies will reappear in this edition; however, they have been updated
significantly and fleshed out with richer content. We have developed vignettes
for new industries, including health care, telecommunications, and electronic
commerce. In addition, we have introduced more horizontal, cross-industry
case studies for business functions such as human resources, accounting, pro-
curement, and customer relationship management.
Introduction
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