Does numeric Visit ID go in a fact table?

[BI Consultant]

I'm new to dimensional modeling, and need help understanding an entry to a fact table. I have an Fact table called "Ship_Arrival_Fact", and a fact row gets one entry each time a ship visits a channel (i.e. each time there's one visit). I need a Visit ID to identify each visitation, but I guess the Visit ID field won't go in any dimension. It's a numeric, but is not additive, that is, it's just an ID like 1234. From Kimball DW toolkit, I understand all fact table entries should be measurements.

Please advise where to place this Visit ID.

Thanks in advance!

[ohmycamote]

Look at Factless Fact Tables - that might help you with your problem.

[BoxesAndLines]

It is a degenerate dimension. Put it in the fact table. If it were character, the answer would be the same.

[LAndrews]

I'll echo what BoxesAndLines said - treat it as a degenerate dimension.

Since it is an ID, you may want to convert it to a chararacter string as well - some BI tools will assume that all numeric fields are measures and automatically try and summarize the column.

[nutjob_29]

Its a degenrate dimension.. it can be placed in fact table.. there is no corresponding dimension table of attributes associated with it..

[BI Consultant]

Thanks for all the replies! I guess I'll place it in the fact table and treat it as a degenerate dimension.

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