I did a webinar on dimensional modeling today at PragmaticWorks.com. You can watch the webinar there once they have the video uploaded. You can also download the slides from the video here.

In this webinar I covered the ten rules of Dimensional modeling from the Kimball group. Here are those rules:

1: Load detailed atomic data into dimensional structures

2: Structure dimensional models around business processes

3: Ensure that every fact table has an associated date dimension table

4: Ensure that all facts in a single fact table are at the same grain or level of detail

5: Resolve many-to-many relationships in fact tables

6: Resolve many-to-one relationships in dimension tables

7: Store report labels and filter domain values in dimension tables.

8: Make certain that dimension tables use a surrogate key

9: Create conformed dimensions to integrate data across the enterprise.

10: Continuously balance requirements and realities to deliver a DW/BI solution that’s accepted by business users and that supports their decision-making.

You can find more details here.