Q : What is Cube ?
A cube is a set of related measures and
dimensions that is used to analyze data. A Cube is the primary
storage mechanism for SSAS data. It consists of at least one fact table and
many dimension tables. The rows in these tables have a key relationship to each
other.
Q : What is fact table ?
A fact table is the center table surrounded by a dimension
tables. All the dimension tables directly or indirectly connected with the fact
table.
A fact table contains foreign keys to relate the rows in the
fact table to the dimension table rows and facts. Facts are key performance
indicators, for example net sales dollar, net sales unit, etc. Facts are
usually numeric and additive.
Q : What is a dimension table ?
Dimension table consists of one or more source tables.
Dimension tables have three types of columns. The first is the original primary
key for each row. The second is a new primary key (Or surrogate key) for each
row. This key is used to guarantee uniqueness, because the original data could
come from multiple sources. The third is a column for each attribute that describes
each dimensional value.
