Warehouse Architecture Two dominant views Kimball’s Multidimensional Model (MD) Inmon’s Corporate Information Factory (CIF) Both utilize dimension modeling Both emphasize enterprise level integration of data March 2004 91.4904 Ron McFadyen

Warehouse Architecture Kimball’s Dimensional Model (simplified) Bus Architecture is the cornerstone Warehouse is built on dimensional modeling principles Staging area is used to maintain and build conformed dimensions and facts Dimensional Models Staging Area ETL ETL Detailed atomic data and summary data March 2004 91.4904 Ron McFadyen

Warehouse Architecture Inmon’s CIF (simplified) A warehouse is built with atomic data and is based on normalized structures. Data marts are fed from the normalized data warehouse End-users can access the data warehouse and the data marts Data marts may be star schemas or other structures Data Marts Normalized Data Warehouse ETL ETL Summary data Detailed atomic data March 2004 91.4904 Ron McFadyen