* Select the business process
- Combine understanding of business and available data
- Start with the most impact – answer most pressing questions and data readily available
* Declare the grain of the business process
- Select the most atomic information captured by a business process; data cannot be subdivided further
- Provides maximum flexibility for constraint and rollup
* Choose dimensions that apply to each fact table row
- Careful grain statement determines the dimensions
- Add dimensions that naturally take on one value
* Identify the numeric facts that populate each fact table row
- Facts must be “true to the grain”
- Store computed values (e.g. gross profit) to avoid erroneous calculations – “views” could also work