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
Hands-on Practical: Implementing SCD Type 2
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- The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Definitive Guide to Dimensional Modeling, Ralph Kimball, Margy Ross, 2013 (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) - This book is a primary resource for dimensional modeling, providing detailed guidance on Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCDs), including Type 2 schema design, implementation considerations, and querying strategies.
- Implementing Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCDs), Sasha Lionheart, 2023 (Snowflake Builders Blog) - Provides practical examples and common patterns for implementing SCDs, including Type 2, within a modern cloud data warehouse environment using SQL.
- Fundamentals of Database Systems, Ramez Elmasri, Shamkant B. Navathe, 2021 (Pearson) - A comprehensive textbook covering database system concepts, relational data modeling, SQL, and schema design principles.
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