Scribd
Upload
122 views9 pages

GL/KK Dimension and Fact Job Aid: Dimensional Data Model

The document provides an explanation of dimensional data modeling and how it is used to build analyses in GL/KK Subject Areas. Dimensional modeling separates data into facts and dimensions, with facts holding quantitative data and dimensions providing descriptive attributes. Fact tables contain numeric values and foreign keys, while dimension tables have fewer records but more descriptive attributes. A star schema associates dimension tables with a central fact table through foreign keys to support business intelligence queries. Subject areas contain dimensions and facts to represent organizational information, with common dimensions like Time and specific dimensions and facts tables for areas like General Ledger.

Uploaded by

xyzfds
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
122 views9 pages

GL/KK Dimension and Fact Job Aid: Dimensional Data Model

The document provides an explanation of dimensional data modeling and how it is used to build analyses in GL/KK Subject Areas. Dimensional modeling separates data into facts and dimensions, with facts holding quantitative data and dimensions providing descriptive attributes. Fact tables contain numeric values and foreign keys, while dimension tables have fewer records but more descriptive attributes. A star schema associates dimension tables with a central fact table through foreign keys to support business intelligence queries. Subject areas contain dimensions and facts to represent organizational information, with common dimensions like Time and specific dimensions and facts tables for areas like General Ledger.

Uploaded by

xyzfds
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 9

GL/KK Dimension and Fact Job Aid

The purpose of this job aid is to provide an explanation of dimensional data modeling and of using
dimensions and facts to build analyses within the GL/KK Subject Areas.

Dimensional Data Model


The dimensional model is comprised of a fact table and many dimensional tables and is used for
calculating summarized data. Since Business Intelligence reports are used in measuring the facts
(aggregates) across various dimensions, dimensional data modeling is the preferred modeling technique
in a BI environment.

STARS - OBI data model is based on Dimensional Modeling. The underlying database tables are
separated as Fact Tables and Dimension Tables. The dimension tables are joined to fact tables with
specific keys. This is usually called Star Schema.

The star schema separates business process data into facts, which hold the measurable, quantitative
data about a business, and dimensions which are descriptive attributes related to fact data.

Examples of fact data include budget amount, expense amount, transaction amount etc.

Related dimension attribute examples include department, fund, SID, time etc.

Fact Tables:

Fact tables record measurements or metrics for a specific event. Fact tables generally consist of numeric
values and foreign keys to dimensional data where descriptive information is kept. Fact tables are
designed to a low level of uniform detail (referred to as "granularity" or "grain"), meaning facts can
record events at a very atomic level. This can result in the accumulation of a large number of records in
a fact table over time. Fact tables are generally assigned a surrogate key to ensure each row can be
uniquely identified.

Dimension Tables:

Dimension tables have a relatively small number of records compared to fact tables, but each record
may have a very large number of attributes to describe the fact data. Dimensions can define a wide
variety of characteristics, but some of the most common attributes defined by dimension tables include
–

 Time

 Employee

 Department

1
GL/KK Dimension and Fact Job Aid

Dimension tables are generally assigned a surrogate primary key, usually a single-column integer data
type, mapped to the combination of dimension attributes that form the natural key.

Star Schema:

Star schemas are optimized for querying large data sets and are used in data warehouses and data marts
to support OLAP cubes, business intelligence analytic applications, and ad hoc queries.

Within the data warehouse or data mart, a dimension table is associated with a fact table by using a
foreign key relationship. The dimension table has a single primary key that uniquely identifies each
member record (row). The fact table contains the primary key of each associated dimension table as a
foreign key. Combined, these foreign keys form a multi-part composite primary key that uniquely
identifies each member record in the fact table.

The Fact Table name in STARS - OBI Subject Areas is usually preceded with the name FACT. This is done
to distinguish the Fact tables from the Dimension Tables.

In the example provided below, the underlying Dimension Tables in this Subject Area are joined to the
Fact table to form the star schema.

2
GL/KK Dimension and Fact Job Aid

Using Dimensions and Facts in Subject Areas to create an Analysis

Subject Area:

A subject area contains folders; attribute columns (Dimensions) and measure columns (Facts) that
represent information about the areas of an organization's business or about groups of users within an
organization. Subject areas usually have names that correspond to the types of information that they
contain, such as Financials - GL Budget and Expenses, Financials - Budgetary Control – Expense,
Financials - AP Voucher Accounting, etc.

3
GL/KK Dimension and Fact Job Aid

There are common Dimensions Tables across Financial Subject Areas such as Time, Ledger and
Chartfields. These common Dimensions are followed by Subject Area specific Dimensions such as GL
Details, AP Details, AR and Fixed Assets Details. There are FACT Tables across specific Subject Areas.

Financial Subject Areas

General Ledger Subject Areas

The general ledger is the master set of accounts that summarize the sub-ledger transactions. It is used
to create financial statements and reports. The General Ledger Subject Areas are the master subject
areas that have the information posted to them from different sources (Sub-Ledgers) like Accounts
Payable, Accounts Receivable, Purchasing etc.,

There are two subject Areas in STARS that represent the General Ledger module in CORE-CT.
 Financials – GL Budget and Expenses Subject Area
 Financials - GL Detail Transactions Subject Area

If you want to create a summarized report that shows the amounts posted to different Ledgers and
expenditures by Account codes, then you need to use the Financials – GL Budget and Expenses
Subject Area. Similarly if you want to create a report that displays the detailed Journal ID related
information use the Financials - GL Detail Transactions Subject Area.

4
GL/KK Dimension and Fact Job Aid

Using Dimensions and Facts to create an analysis:

These objects in the left pane are based on database tables in the backend and the data model behind
these subject area tables is dimensional modeling.

The tables listed from Time, Ledger and Business Unit through Resource Category are the Dimension
Tables in this subject area.

There is one Fact table for this Subject Area and it is called Facts – Actuals. The Fact Table name in
STARS subject areas is usually preceded with the name FACT. This is done to distinguish the Fact tables
from the Dimension Tables.

Here is an example of a Financials – GL Budget and Expenses Subject Area analysis:

5
GL/KK Dimension and Fact Job Aid

Criteria Tab
Selected Columns

Selected Filters

6
GL/KK Dimension and Fact Job Aid

Results Tab

On the General Ledger Dashboard – Overview Page the delivered reports include:

 Total Expenditure Trend


 Expenditure by Category
 Agencies by Expenditure

Commitment Control and Budget Subject Areas


The Budgetary Control subject areas are targeted at executives managing overall budgets and senior
level managers managing budgets by Departments, funds, programs, projects and accounts. Reports
created from the commitment Control Subject areas provide key analysis pertaining to expense budgets
including budget amounts, encumbrances, Pre-Encumbrances and expenditures.

There are two Subject Areas in STARS that represent the Commitment Control Module in CORE-CT:

7
GL/KK Dimension and Fact Job Aid

 Financials - Budgetary Control - Expense


 Financials - Budgetary Control - Detail Transactions

The Financials - Budgetary Control – Expense Subject Area is used to report on Key Performance
Indicators pertaining to budgets including budget amounts, amounts Carried forward, budget
adjustments and Funds Available by budget period, Budget Ledger and different Chartfields.

This is a summary level subject area that includes all the metrics related to expense budgets including
budget amounts, funds available, variances, Encumbrances, Pre-Encumbrances, expenditures, Spending,
and counts of budgets overspent. Where applicable, metrics are for Budget Period, Fiscal Year, Fiscal
Quarter, Fiscal Period, To-Date (ITD, YTD, QTD), and Ago (Budget Period Ago, Year Ago, Quarter Ago,
Period Ago).

The Financials - Budgetary Control – Detail Transactions Subject Area provides detail level data that
includes the budget transaction details to provide key analysis pertaining to budget transactions.

This Subject Area is designed to provide key analysis pertaining to Encumbrances transactions, Pre-
Encumbrances transactions, other transactions and expenditure transactions as well as cross-drills to
requisition details, purchase order details, fixed asset details, accounts payable details and accounts
receivable details. The details listed are at the least granular level (e.g., the Journal ID, Journal Date etc.)

8
GL/KK Dimension and Fact Job Aid

You might also like