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What is a fact table and what is a dimension table?
A fact table records events or measurements, such as each sale line with quantity and amount. A dimension table describes the things involved, such as the product, customer, store or date. Facts are what you add up, dimensions are how you slice them.
Example: a sales fact table has one row per order line, with keys pointing to product, customer and date, and numeric columns such as quantity and revenue. The product dimension holds name, category and supplier.
Good habits:
- Decide the grain of a fact table, meaning what one row represents, and keep it consistent.
- Give dimensions stable keys.
- Include a proper date dimension for fiscal periods and holidays.
Getting the grain right avoids double-counting, one of the most common causes of wrong totals.
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