Vendor Dimension

[BIDW]

Guys I have a Vendor Dimension. The Business has a requirement to include the Category of the Vendor. For E.G. A single Vendor could be supplying Printing Equipment as well as Software. Basically one Vendor could be part of multiple categories. How do you handle such a situation. Do you modify the grain of the dimension table. I am not sure if thats a good idea. Thanks.

[ngalemmo]

Make category its own dimension and build a vendor/category bridge table. It is a classic multivalued dimension.

[BIDW]

Thank You!

That solves my problem.

[BIDW]

Thanks. Since I am doing the bridge design for the first time I need more guidance. I understand that Vendor Category is a straight forward dimension but I am not sure how to create the bridge table. I have seen some examples where the bridge table has a group key. A little guidance in slightly more detail is highly appreciated.

[ngalemmo]

I would not use a group key in this case. Just vendor key and category key should be sufficient. You consider groups if the population of the bridge is unbounded (such as diagnosis related to a doctor visit fact table) and size is an issue. In this case it is bound by the number of vendors. It is also an easier bridge to build.

[BIDW]

Thank You!! You are absolutely right the number of Vendors is finite, data would grow but not that much. In a Health Care setting there could be several combinations of diagnosis for each patient and it becomes difficult to predict. Thanks for this insight. You Guys are doing a great job.

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