| Schema Design |
| Star Schema |
Central fact table surrounded by denormalised dimension tables |
| Snowflake Schema |
Normalised dimensions linked to other dimensions in a hierarchy |
| Fact Tables |
Quantitative measures and foreign keys at the grain of analysis |
| Dimension Tables |
Descriptive attributes used for slicing and dicing the facts |
| Relationship Mechanics |
| Relationships |
Joins between tables that propagate filters during evaluation |
| Cardinality |
One-to-many, many-to-one, or many-to-many between tables |
| Cross-Filter Direction |
Single or both directions for filter propagation across joins |
| Role-Playing Dimensions |
One physical dimension reused with multiple active relationships |