Chapter 4. Dimensional Queries

A dimensional query is a query in a dimensional data warehouse that joins the fact table and the dimension tables on one or more surrogate keys. This chapter teaches you the dimensional query pattern and how to apply it to the three most common query types: aggregation, specific, and inside out.

Aggregate queries aggregate individual facts, for example, by adding up measure values. In a specific query you query the facts of a specific dimension value. While most queries specify one or more dimensions as the selection criteria (constraints), an inside out query’s criteria are measure values. Understanding these three most common query types allows you to apply dimensional queries to other query types.