OLAP Using ASP.NET - Introduction to OLAP Architecture
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The following figure depicts some of the tables and relations that exist in the Northwind sample database provided by Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000:
The following figure depicts how part of the Northwind database could look when converted to OLAP (Start Schema):
The central table in the schema is the fact table. Fact tables contain numeric data, such as zip codes, and additive data such as the total costs of freight for all beverages.
By themselves, numeric facts do not have much meaning. For instance, the number 206 by itself does not mean much. However, it takes on more meaning if you know that it represents an area code or the number of dishwashers sold yesterday. In a star schema, dimension tables contain the descriptive text that gives meaning to the numbers. Keep in mind that most analyzes involve time, which makes time itself a key dimension.
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