Naming standards for dimensional modeling

Question

I am working on my first dimensional modeling assignment for a Data Warehouse project using Kimball's approach. As I prepare my model and think about physical objects, I wonder what is the recommended naming scheme for database objects. We're going to use Oracle, and we don't really have any standards at present. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

You can take some ideas from the Oracle BI Applications Data Model. Log in to your Oracle support account and look for this document: Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse Data Model Reference Version 7.9.6.3 (Doc ID 1325948.1)

These are some of the naming conventions included:

PREFIX

W_ = Warehouse

SUFFIX

_A = Aggregate

_D = Dimension

_DH = Dimension Hierarchy

_DHS = Staging for Dimension Hierarchy

_DS = Staging for Dimension

_F = Fact

_FS = Staging for Fact

_H = Helper

_MD = Mini Dimension

_TMP = Pre-staging temporary table

For example: Sales fact table would be W_Sales_F

This document from northwestern university has useful tips for naming columns, such as using prime, qualifier and class words (e.g. STUDENT_FIRST_NAME)

The kimball group's design tip #71 contains general guidelines for naming conventions

For example, a sales analyst would be interested in Sales numbers, but it turns out that this Sales number is really Sales_Commissionable_Amount, which is different from Sales_Gross_Amount and Sales_Net_Amount.