Types Of Fact

Till now, we have already discussed about types of dimension. So lets move to another concept in dimensional modelling, i.e, FACT . A fact is a  measure or metrics of business process. In simple words, a fact is a focus of interest for the decision making process. Facts are summarized historical and numerical data.

Types Of Fact :

Basically , there are three types of fact :

1. Additive Facts
2. Semi-Additive Facts
3. Non Additive Facts

1. Additive facts :

The most flexible and useful facts are additive facts.Additive facts are those specific class of fact measures which can be aggregated across all dimension and their hierarchy
For e.g : lets consider sales figures…one may tend to add sales across all quareters to avail the yearly sales..hence this is an example of Additive measure

2. Semi-Additive Facts:

These are those specific class of fact measures which can be aggregated across all dimension and their hierarchy except the time dimension
For e.g – Daily balances fact can be summed up through the customers dimension but not through the time dimension.

3. Non Additive Facts :

These are those specific class of fact measures which cannot be aggreagated across all/any dimension and their hierarchy
For e.g – Aggregation of percentage or dates is an Ideal example of non-additive measures.