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
Surrogate Keys vs Natural Keys
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- The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Definitive Guide to Dimensional Modeling, Ralph Kimball, Margy Ross, 2013 (Wiley) - This authoritative guide to dimensional modeling comprehensively explains the necessity and implementation of surrogate keys for slowly changing dimensions, data integration, and performance optimization in analytical data warehouses.
- Database System Concepts, Avi Silberschatz, Henry F. Korth, S. Sudarshan, 2019 (McGraw-Hill) - A widely recognized textbook that covers fundamental database design principles, including primary keys, foreign keys, and the role of natural identifiers in operational database systems, providing context for their transformation in analytical environments.
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