Factless fact tables????

Question

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

Answer 1

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