Relational vs. dimensional data marts

Relational vs. dimensional data marts

Does a data warehouse design have to be relational vs. a dimensional design in a data mart?

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You said "in a data mart". I don't know if you have a data warehouse to go along with that data mart or not.

The last layer in a data warehouse architecture should usually be dimensional because it more greatly facilitates end-user access with its built-in relationships. Some data marts are very specialized, however. Some may not be for true end-user ad-hoc query analysis and therefore the requirements may dictate a different, and sometimes a very particular type, of design. Some support packaged applications.

If you have a single data warehouse/mart only, then you will likely have both relational and dimensional structures in it because it is difficult to jump from many source environments directly to dimensional.

This was first published in August 2003

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