A dimension framework is the collection of reference dimensions in an extract, transform, and load (ETL) catalog. Dimensional framework is used for providing information when merging data and delivering dimension data to data marts. A reference dimension contains hierarchies and lookups, which provide common definition for business dimensions. The hierarchies give a specific view of a business dimension and can have multiple levels while the lookups give single-level views.
A dimension build describes a single business dimension and delivers data to the data mart.
The hierarchies get data from the tables in the operational data source. The attributes are used for filtering the dimensions in reports. There are hierarchies for some special dimensions such as state, severity, and priority. The sources for these special dimensions are just the value attributes, not independent entities in the operational data store. The hierarchies get the distinct values from the tables in the operational data store and generate a surrogate key for each record before delivering the data to the target table.