Deploying Factless Fact Tables in 10G

Hello - We are trying to deploy the same factless fact tables we used for OWB 9i to 10G and we are receiving validation errors saying that every cube must have a measure. We do not want to create a null column just to get around something that worked fine in a previous version of the tool, and we have quite a few factless fact tables in our model.
Are there any thoughts on this?
Thanks,
Kristi

Hi,
I already face that kind of fact table, but in the same time, i needed to count the number of intersection between dimensions or sum, so i used a one measure, that always takes 1 as value, that did the trick.
Regards

Similar Messages

Bridge table or factless fact table?

Hello,
I have a model a bit different that I've worked with in OBIEE (10), and I can't make it work. I have 1 fact table and two dimensions, joined this way in the physical layer:
Fact Table >- Dim Person -< Dim Address
The join between Fact Table and Dim Person is 1:N and the join between Person and Address is also 1:N, for example one person can have many addresses.
I have searched in forum, internet, etc. how to model this in the BMM, but I can't find the same model as an example. I have found similar models solved with a bridge table, but the model is a bit different (Fact Table -< Dim Person >- Dim Address), so it won't help.
I have tried many things, but the option that I thought it's more logic, is treating Dim Address as a factless fact table. However, when I choose in a report a fact from the real Fact Table, the person ID and the address, the fact was treated as null. What I expect is that the fact table should be repeated for every address that the person has. So, if the fact is 3 for one person, and the person has 4 addresses, the result should be 4 lines with the value 3 in each of them.
Can I make Dim Address be a factless fact table in the BMM? Should I include the Dim Address in the LTS of a single logical table? Is Dim Person a bridge table??
I hope you can help me with this one, thanks!

I'm not sure how much info you need to show on the reports, but you can try creating 2 separate logic schemas with alias tables.
1) Create alias table for fact and Dim Person and join them
2) Create another alias for fact (Fact1) and Address (always thinking that the perdon ID is also in the Address table) and join them.
Try to make your report between fact1 and address (in this case you can't put detail of the person,but you can make another report showing the persona information using the first schema.
J.

Factless fact tables????

Hi gurus,
Anybody please tell me about factless fact tables? in what are all the scenarios we can use it? Can we create Infocube without key figures?
Thanks,
Karthik T

Hi Karthik,
Please go through this....
A "factless" fact table is generally one which records instances of
time-bound relationships, rather than capturing transaction amounts. The
example usually given by Kimball is a fact table which records the
instances of students, professors, and classrooms reserved for specific
classes at a college. In this case, the "key figure" is simply a binary
switch indicating the truth of a relationship expressed by the
characteristics in the dimension tables (the "zero", or false, instances
are not stored.)
Look at the delivered BW Headcount / Employee Action cube, 0PA_C01, for a
rough facsimile of the "factless fact table." To implement such a thing in
BW, you still need a key figure -- usually an integer (quantity) holding
the value 1 (at the most granular level of detail,) indicating that a
relationship expressed in the dimension characteristics is true. You can
populate a cube like this by reading information from master data tables in
your update rules, with your datasource driving off your most granular
master data table. Again, see the delivered datasources and update rules
for the 0PA_C01 cube to see how SAP does it.
Assign pts if helpfull
Thanks,
Sujeet

"Factless" fact table join warning

We have a physical fact table that only contains keys for a given day in order to track changes to Employment history over time. The compensation "facts" are contained in a dimension that is joined to the factless physical table in the logical layer. I use the factless fact as the table source and inner join it to the dimension to create the logical fact source. This seems to be working fine, but is creating a warning when I check consistency: "There are physical table sources mapped in Logical Table Source [...] that are not used in any column mappings or expressions." Is there a better way to model this in the logical layer that this warning is trying to alert me to?
Thanks!

Thank you,
The error does go away when I insert into the logical fact table the key from the factless physical table. The error is gone whether or not I define the physical column as the Logical fact table key. Will defining it as a logical key change anything?
I am curious as to why it would want me to include a field in the fact table that will never be used in the presentation layer. Is the warning mainly for accidental inclusion of physical tables that aren't used?
Thank you for the response. Nice blog by the way.

Error VLD-0917 (unknown error) while deploying FACT table

Hi,
I keep getting this error while trying to deploy a FACT table:
VLD-0917: An unknown error occured while generating <fact table name>.
An unknown error occurred while generating <fact table name>. Error details: java.lang.NullPointerException.
Do yo know what can it be? This fact table was linked to a Dimension that I modified (added one more level to its hierarchy). Since I did this change, the fact table cannot be validated.
This happens to all fact tables that use this dimension. I created a new cube with the new definition of the dimension and had no trouble at all. I disassociate the dimension from existing cubes and they validate OK. What could be happening?
I would appreciate any help you could provide.
Regards,
--oswaldo.
[osantos]

Hi,
I realized that I'm getting this error for all fact tables. I cannot deploy any of them. What could be happening? I have a dimension that is linked to all facts which I changed recently: had to redefine its default hierarchy as a value-based one. I don't know if this affected my cubes.
Any idea what might be happening here?
Best Regards,
--oswaldo.
[osantos]

Can date be included in the fact table as a measure?

Dear All,
I have to migrate a database form relational model to dimensional model. It a kind of human resource database. I don't know what MEASURES should I keep in the fact table. There are only dates, like date the employee joined the institution and the date he will leave. Most of the other fields are non-numeric. well date is also non-numeric but we can calculate the duration the employee worked from these dates.
What do you suggest?

I'd be careful about adding a "measure" of duration worked (be it days, months, years - doesn't matter). Causes lots of churn. For example, if you choose a measure of "duration_worked_in_days" - every single row in the fact table would be obsoleted every single day....
What types of questions do you expect the fact table to answer?
I'm working on a HR mart right now, and my fact data is around pay rates (not actual pay), i.e. annual salary, hourly salary, etc. My records also have two "date" dims - effective start date and effective end date. Meaning if my annual salary is $50 a year between 1/1/2008 and 12/31/2008, that's what the row shows. When (or if) I get a pay raise (/cut), the "current" record gets end dated, and a new record inserted.
When you say that a fact table "must" contain measure columns - I assume you're using the actual OWB fact / dimension objects, vs. just tables? Very common in a HR data warehouse to have a "factless" fact table.
Hope this helps,
Scott

Answers on factless facts

Hi,
How does OBIEE, Answers in particular, cope with factless fact tables? The related dimensions would be linked to that factless fact in the pysical and BMM tier, but the factless fact would not be shown in the subject area.
When an user selects two or more dimensions linked through this factless fact, how would BI Server generate the query?
Is it recommended to have a least a dummy measure in that fact?
Thank you!

Hy,
I have an example here :
http://gerardnico.com/wiki/dat/obiee/bi_server/design/obiee_densification_design_preservation_dimension
I don't use a factless fact table but a densification process.
The techniques used are the same as it's based on the fact vertical partitioning.
http://gerardnico.com/wiki/dat/obiee/bi_server/design/fact_table/obiee_fact-based_partitioning_outer_joins
And you can see the two queries and the full outer join issued.
Success
Nico
And thanks Stijn (I didn't know the implict fact)

IMPLICIT FACT & FACTLESS FACT

Hello Gurus
Can anybody please explain what is implicit fact and for what is it used for .
And also
Can anybody please explain Fact Less Fact and for what it is used for .

follow this,
1. open administration tool
2. go to help
3. click on Search tab
4. type Implicit Fact
5. only one topic you'll findin the results.. plz read it and let me know your doubts on that..
coming to your next question...
Factless Factohhh, got these links after googling..
http://www.geekinterview.com/question_details/31538
http://dylanwan.wordpress.com/bi-and-olap-glossary/factless-fact-table/
http://www.allinterview.com/showanswers/36017.html

NQS ERROR:14025 NO FACT TABLE EXISTS -after migrating from 10g to 11g

NQS ERROR:14025 NO FACT TABLE EXISTS AT THE REQUESTED LEVEL OF DETAIL in all the reports after migrating from 10g to 11g ...
then we applied the patch (One-off Patch for Bug: 11850704) for the error <<NQS ERROR:14025 NO FACT TABLE EXISTS AT THE REQUESTED LEVEL OF DETAIL>>
But after applying the above the above patch we are still getting the same error.
but in the above patch instructions file - Post deployment instructions to create the Variable
Post Install Instructions:
- To revert to the 10g navigator behavior for handling conforming dimensions,
you must set the following session variable via an init block in the RPD:
NO_FORCE_TO_DETAIL_BIN=1
The default value for the above variable is 0.
- Restart all servers (Admin Server and all Managed Server(s))
but we didn’t find the process to create the specified variable and Initialization block in the RPD
Can you please suggest us how to go further.
Our questions are:

Hi
Refer the below thread.
obiee 11g non-conforming dimensions and nQSError 14025
Might be help you/
Thanks,
satya

Mapping dimension table to fact table in admin tool 10g

Hi
I have a criteria when it is run uses fact 1 as fact table and gives result, and when I add new column to this criteria an extra dimension(dim1) gets added to query backend and fact 1 changes to fact2.
The problem I am facing over here is both should result same amount for records. but due to new column from dim1 and new fact table fact2the amount varies and inaccruate results have come.
When I have checked the sources for Fact in logical layer i can find these facts(fact1,fact2) where fact 1 is not mapped with dim 1 and fact 2 is mapped with dim1.
Will mapping dim1 to fact1 will solve my problem.. And what would be the steps to add/map dim1 to fact1.
Please suggest.

I just checked back the setting and here are the changed details again.
I have a criteria where when it is run, the backend query is formed with f1 fact table.
And for the same criteria when I add a column c1, the backedn query is formed with f2 fact table and f1 is no more here and one new dimension d1 consisting c1 is getting added.
In both the cases results are different..the expected thing is same results.
Note:
d1 is connected to f2 checked in physical diagram
d1 is not connected to f1 checked in physical diagram.
when I checked the connection between three table in physical diagram. Only d1 and f2 are connected and f1 is not connected to either of table. How to go about this issue.
Please suggest.

Self join with fact table in Obie 10G

I am a newbie to obiee.I have a development requirement as follows-
I need to find supervisors designation with the existing star RPD design. explanation is below
                                                    DIM_Designation(Desig_Wid)
                                                  |(Row_wid)
                                                  |
DIM_EMPLOYEE--------WORKER_FACT------------DIM_Supervisor
(Row_Wid)-----------------(Employee_Wid)
                                  (Supervisor_Wid)------------(Row_Wid)
3 dimension is joined to fact to get employee, his supervisor and designation of employee. now i want to get the supervisor's designation? how is it possible? already employee and supervisor dimension is same W_employee_d table joined with fact as alias DIM_EMPLOYEE and DIM_SUPERVISOR. how to do self join with fact to get supervisor's designation. i do not have any supervisor_desig_wid in fact table. any help is deeply appreciated.

Yes,Duplicate the fact table create a primary key on the newly fact table alias dimension table.So you can ur data modelling as usual.

LTS of fact table in obiee 10g

Hi
In LTS for the fact table, I want to set the level to the lowest level of the dimension
How to achieve this.
Please suggest.

Hi,
To set the LTS level first you need to have the dimension hierarchy for that table, after that double click the LTS >> click on Content Tab >> there in level drop down you can select which level you want assign. so now select the lowest level from the drop down and save.
Mark if Helpful/correct.
Thanks

OBIEE 10g: Problem on fact table mapping

Hi to everyone,
i have this situation:
1) i have 2 fact tables in phisical model (FHRCTR and HCTOT) this two table is the same in the FK columns.
2) the structure is: FHRCTR[month_fk, transaction_type, measure A], HCTOT[month_fk, measure B]. 'transaction_type' is an attribute of the table not dimension.
3) i have created a logical fact table with this two tables for source.
4) each field of logical table is mapped on the corrispetive field on the both phisical table, except for 'transaction_type' column having as source only FHRCTR table.
5) i've created a report with follow colums: month_fk, transaction_type, measure_A, measure_B
The problem is: if i create the report with the columns in point 5, the measure_B returns null values and the measure_A have a correct value.
Insteed if i create a report without 'transaction_type' column the value of Measure_B and Measure_A are correct.
I remind you that: 'transaction_type' in the logical fact table is mapped only on the FHRCTR table because on HCTOT it doesn't exist.
Can you help me to solve this issue?
Thanks

832596 wrote:
Can you help me to solve this issue?
ThanksI guess when you set some aggregation rule for 'transaction_type' in a repository then all will be ok (for examplу - min). But you'll get results that you don't expect.

Load fact table with null dimension keys

Dear All,
We have OWB 10g R2 and ROLAP star schema. In our source system some rows don’t have all attributes populated with values (null value), and this empty attributes are dimension (business) keys in star schema. Is it possible to load fact table with such rows (some dimension keys are null) in the OWB mappings? We use cube operator in mappings.
Thanks And Regards
Miran

The dimension should have a row indicating UNKNOWN, this will have a business key outside of the normal range e.g. -999999.
In the mapping the missing business keys can then be NVL'd to -999999.
Cheers
Si

How do I use Derived Table to dynamically choose fact table

How do I use the Derived Table functionality to dynamically choose a fact table?
I am using BO XI R2 querying against Genesys Datamart kept in Oracle 10g. The datamart contains aggregated fact tables at different levels (no_agg, hour, day, week, etc...) I would like to build my universe so that if the end user chooses a parameter to view reports at daily granularity, then the daily fact table is used; choose hourly granularity, then hourly fact table is used, etc....
I tried using dynamic SQL in Oracle Syntax, but Business Obljects Universe didn't like that type of coding.
The tables look something like this:
O_LOB1_NO_AGG o
inner join V_LOB1_NO_AGG v on o.object_id = v.object_id
inner join T_LOB1_NO_AGG t on v.timekey = t.timekey
Likewise, in the 'hour', 'day', 'week', etc... fact tables, the Primary Key to Foreign Key names and relationships are the same. And the columns in each O_, V_, T_ fact table is the same, or very similar (just aggregated at different levels of time).
I was thinking of going a different route and using aggregate aware; but there are many Lines of Business (20+) and multiple time dimensions (7) and I believe aggregate aware would require me to place all relevant tables in the Universe as separate objects, which would create a large Universe with multiple table objects, and not be maintenance-friendly. I also was going to dynamically choose Line of Business (LOB) in the derived tables, based on the end user choosing a parameter for LOB, but that is out-of-scope for my current question. But that information sort of points you down the train of thought I am travelling. Thanks for any help you can provide!

You can create a derived table containing a union like the following:
select a,b,c from DailyFacts where (@prompt('View'....) = 'Daily' and (<rest of your where conditions here if necessary>)
union
(select a,b,c from MonthlyFacts where (@prompt('View'....) = 'Monthly' and (<rest of your where conditions here if necessary>))
union
(select a,b,c from YearlyFacts where (@prompt('View'....) = 'Yearly' and (<rest of your where conditions here if necessary>))
I assume that you are familiar with the @prompt syntax
Regards,
Stratos

Deploying Factless Fact Tables in 10G

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