Summary
In this chapter we discussed the overriding goals for DW/BI systems and the fundamental concepts of dimensional modeling. The Kimball DW/BI architecture and several alternatives were compared. We closed out the chapter by identifying common misunderstandings that some still hold about dimensional modeling, despite its widespread acceptance across the industry, and challenged you to think dimensionally beyond data modeling. In the next chapter, you get a turbocharged tour of dimensional modeling patterns and techniques, and then begin putting these concepts into action in your first case study in Chapter 3.