Dimension attributes
A dimension attribute is a column in a dimension table. Each attribute describes a level of summary within a dimension hierarchy.
The dimension elements define the hierarchical relationships within
a dimension table. The dimension attributes describe the dimension
elements in terms that are familiar to users. The following figure
shows the dimension elements and corresponding attributes of the Account dimension.
Figure 1. Attributes that correspond to the
dimension elements
Because dimension attributes describe the items in a dimension,
they are most useful when they are text.
Tip: Sometimes
during the design process, it is unclear whether a numeric data field
from a production data source is a measured fact or an attribute.
Generally, if the numeric data field is a measurement that changes
each time you sample it, the field is a fact. If field is a discretely
valued description of something that is more or less constant, it
is a dimension attribute.