Data Modeling and Schema Design for Analytics
Chapter 1: Foundations of Analytical Architecture
Operational vs Analytical Workloads
Row-Oriented vs Columnar Storage
The Role of Denormalization
Hands-on Practical: Analyzing Query Plans
Chapter 2: Dimensional Modeling Core
The Grain of Data
Fact Tables Fundamentals
Dimension Tables Structure
Star Schema Architecture
Snowflake Schema Variations
Hands-on Practical: Designing a Star Schema
Chapter 3: Advanced Dimension Handling
Surrogate Keys vs Natural Keys
Slowly Changing Dimensions Type 1
Slowly Changing Dimensions Type 2
Date and Time Dimensions
Role-Playing Dimensions
Hands-on Practical: Implementing SCD Type 2
Chapter 4: Complex Fact Table Patterns
Transactional Fact Tables
Periodic Snapshot Fact Tables
Accumulating Snapshot Fact Tables
Factless Fact Tables
Hands-on Practical: Building an Accumulating Snapshot
Chapter 5: Physical Design and Optimization
Partitioning Strategies
Clustering and Sorting Keys
Nested Data Structures
One Big Table OBT Methodology
Hands-on Practical: Optimization Tuning
Snowflake Schema Variations
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- The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Definitive Guide to Dimensional Modeling, Ralph Kimball, Margy Ross, 2013 (Wiley) - This foundational text systematically introduces dimensional modeling, detailing the Star and Snowflake schemas, their design trade-offs, and practical implementation strategies for analytical databases.
- Database System Concepts, Avi Silberschatz, Henry F. Korth, S. Sudarshan, 2019 (McGraw-Hill) - This comprehensive textbook provides fundamental principles of database systems, including detailed explanations of normalization (like 3NF), which is crucial for understanding the structural differences of Snowflake schemas.
- Fundamentals of Data Engineering: Planning and Building Robust Data Systems, Joe Reis, Matt Housley, 2022 (O'Reilly Media) - This modern guide to data engineering discusses schema design in the context of contemporary data architectures, including the performance and storage implications of different modeling choices in cloud data warehouses.
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