During the design phase, you identify the business processes
that you want to model, then identify the grain, dimensions, and measures
of that business process.
Step 1: Identify business process requirements
Select the business process for which the dimensional model
will be designed. Based on the selection, the requirements for the
business process are gathered. A business process require more than
one dimensional model.
Step 2: Identify the grain
Identify the granularity of each fact table and business
process. During this process, you identify the fact table types and
the preliminary candidates for dimensions and measures.
Step 3: Identify the dimensions
After you have determined the grain of your model, you
identify the dimensions that are true to that grain. You create columns,
hierarchies, and cases for snowflaking.
Step 4: Identify the measures
During this step of the dimensional model design cycle,
you identify the measures and the type of measures that are included
in the dimensional model.