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What is the difference between a key attribute and non-key attribute within an Dimension?

ArunRaaman 1,001 Reputation points
2021-03-03T23:12:49.65+00:00

Hello There, I have been trying understand attribute properties, and couldn't understand what are key attributes and non-key attributes and the relationship between as described in the MS SSAS documentation. Please find the word document attached to this email in which I elaborated my concerns with links to source. Thank you for your giving your valuable time.[73958-key-attributesnon-key-attributes.pdf][1] [1]: /api/attachments/73958-key-attributesnon-key-attributes.pdf?platform=QnA

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  1. Lukas Yu -MSFT 5,826 Reputation points
    2021-03-04T08:53:47.77+00:00

    Hi,

    What is Name, AttributeKey and AttributeName? How are they different from KeyColumn,
    and NameColumn?

    In this context, the "Name","Key" is the same as the KeyColumn and NameColumn of this attribute your are setting order on. The "AttributeKey" and "AttributeName" are used, when you want to order this attribute by some other attributes' KeyColumn or NameColumn.

    How would you understand the following highlighted statement?

    You could consider the dimension much like a relational table, and key attribute is able to be compared to a primary key which should be identical, and Non-Key Attribute which could is allowed to have same data for different rows.
    For example, in a Customer dimension, customer's ID should be key attribute that is identical. Customer's nationality is normally non-key attribute, which is allowed to be duplicated.

    Each dimension contains a key attribute. The key attribute is the attribute in a dimension that identifies the columns in the dimension main table that are used in foreign key relationships to the fact table. Typically, the key attribute represents the primary key column or columns in the dimension table.

    Hope this helps.
    Lukas

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