Date Dimension in 30 Minutes or Less
Steve Wake
Consultant, RevGen Partners
President, Denver SQL Server User Group
What is a Date Dimension?
• Dimension to track dates (usually by day)• Can track multiple calendars (Gregorian,
Julian, Fiscal)• Time should be in separate Dimension (if
needed)• One row per date/day
Why Date Dimension?
• Most reporting is done by date/time• Track Holidays and other significant dates• Do date calculations in SQL once• Date/Time period comparisons• Generate for years/decades easily
What to Include in the Date_DIM?• Date as Integer for PK to make reload not break links
(20130806)• Date in multiple formats (“08/06/2013”, “Tuesday,
August 6, 2013”, etc.)• Multiple parts (Month, Day, Year, Month Text, Day
Text, etc.)• Holiday indicator (domestic/international/religious)• Gregorian/Julian/Fiscal Calendars• Calculated measures (Day # in week, Day # in month,
Day # in year, Week # in month, Week # in year, etc.)
Demo
• Date_DIM script
Summary
• What & Why of Date Dimensions• Date Dimension Benefits• What to Include in Date Dimension
September 20, 2014 on the University of Denver campus!
Multiple tracks of sessionsSpeakers from across the countryGreat SponsorsLots of PrizesAll of this for FREE!
Register @ denversqlsaturday.com
Pre-Cons! This year we are offering all day pre-cons on Friday, September 19th at Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church
• Getting Started with Biml by Tim Mitchell & Reeves Smith• Murder They Wrote by Jason Brimhall & Wayne Sheffield• A Day of High Availability and Disaster Recovery by Ryan Adams
Details and links to register for pre-cons @ denversqlsaturday.com
organized by volunteers from Denver SQL Server User Group (denversql.org)
