Injecting data into a star schema from a flat staging table

Question

I'm trying to work out a best approach for getting data from a very flat staging table and then loading it into a star schema - I take a row from a table with for example 50 different attributes about a person and then load these into a host of different tables, including linking tables.
One of the attibutes in the staging table will be an instruction to either insert the person and their new data, or update a person and some component of their data or maybe even to terminate a persons records.
I plan to use PL/SQL but I'm not sure on the best approach.
The staging table data will be loaded every 10 minutes and will contain about 300 updates.
I'm not sure if I should just select the staging records into a cursor then insert into the various tables?
Has anyone got any working examples based on a similar experience?
I can provide a working example if required.

Answer 1

The database has some elements that make SQL a tad harder to use?
For example:
CREATE TABLE staging
(person_id NUMBER(10) NOT NULL ,
title VARCHAR2(15) NULL ,
initials VARCHAR2(5) NULL ,
forename VARCHAR2(30) NULL ,
middle_name VARCHAR2(30) NULL ,
surname VARCHAR2(50) NULL,
dial_number VARCHAR2(30) NULL,
Is_Contactable     CHAR(1) NULL);
INSERT INTO staging
(person_id, title, initials, forename, middle_name, surname, dial_number)
VALUES ('12345', 'Mr', 'NULL', 'Joe', NULL, 'Bloggs', '0117512345','Y')
CREATE TABLE person
(person_id NUMBER(10) NOT NULL ,
title VARCHAR2(15) NULL ,
initials VARCHAR2(5) NULL ,
forename VARCHAR2(30) NULL ,
middle_name VARCHAR2(30) NULL ,
surname VARCHAR2(50) NULL);
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX XPKPerson ON Person
(Person_ID ASC);
ALTER TABLE Person
ADD CONSTRAINT XPKPerson PRIMARY KEY (Person_ID);
CREATE TABLE person_comm
(person_id NUMBER(10) NOT NULL ,
comm_type_id NUMBER(10) NOT NULL ,
comm_id NUMBER(10) NOT NULL );
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX XPKPerson_Comm ON Person_Comm
(Person_ID ASC,Comm_Type_ID ASC,Comm_ID ASC);
ALTER TABLE Person_Comm
ADD CONSTRAINT XPKPerson_Comm PRIMARY KEY (Person_ID,Comm_Type_ID,Comm_ID);
CREATE TABLE person_comm_preference
(person_id NUMBER(10) NOT NULL ,
comm_type_id NUMBER(10) NOT NULL
Is_Contactable     CHAR(1) NULL);
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX XPKPerson_Comm_Preference ON Person_Comm_Preference
(Person_ID ASC,Comm_Type_ID ASC);
ALTER TABLE Person_Comm_Preference
ADD CONSTRAINT XPKPerson_Comm_Preference PRIMARY KEY (Person_ID,Comm_Type_ID);
CREATE TABLE comm_type
comm_type_id NUMBER(10) NOT NULL ,
NAME VARCHAR2(25) NULL ,
description VARCHAR2(100) NULL ,
comm_table_name VARCHAR2(50) NULL);
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX XPKComm_Type ON Comm_Type
(Comm_Type_ID ASC);
ALTER TABLE Comm_Type
ADD CONSTRAINT XPKComm_Type PRIMARY KEY (Comm_Type_ID);
insert into comm_type (comm_type_id, NAME, description, comm_table_name) values ('23456','HOME PHONE','Home Phone Number','PHONE');
CREATE TABLE phone
(phone_id NUMBER(10) NOT NULL ,
dial_number VARCHAR2(30) NULL);
Take the record from Staging then update:
'person'
'Person_Comm_Preference' Based on a comm_type of 'HOME_PHONE'
'person_comm' Derived from 'Person' and 'Person_Comm_Preference'
Then update 'Phone' with the number based on a link derived from 'Phone' which is made up of Person_Comm Primary_Key where 'Comm_ID' (part of that composite key)
relates to the Phone table Primary_Key which is Phone_ID.
Does you head hurt as much as mine?