What is Multi-Dimensional Data Model?

A multidimensional model views data in the form of a data-cube. A data cube enables data to be modeled and viewed in multiple dimensions. It is defined by dimensions and facts.

The dimensions are the perspectives or entities concerning which an organization keeps records. For example, a shop may create a sales data warehouse to keep records of the store's sales for the dimension time, item, and location. These dimensions allow the save to keep track of things, for example, monthly sales of items and the locations at which the items were sold. Each dimension has a table related to it, called a dimensional table, which describes the dimension further. For example, a dimensional table for an item may contain the attributes item_name, brand, and type.

A multidimensional data model is organized around a central theme, for example, sales. This theme is represented by a fact table. Facts are numerical measures. The fact table contains the names of the facts or measures of the related dimensional tables.

Consider the data of a shop for items sold per quarter in the city of Delhi. The data is shown in the table. In this 2D representation, the sales for Delhi are shown for the time dimension (organized in quarters) and the item dimension (classified according to the types of an item sold). The fact or measure displayed in rupee_sold (in thousands).

Now, if we want to view the sales data with a third dimension, For example, suppose the data according to time and item, as well as the location is considered for the cities Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Delhi. These 3D data are shown in the table. The 3D data of the table are represented as a series of 2D tables.