**Facts are the money spent, [[Dimensions]] are where and when.** Facts and dimensions both look like columns in a table, and they are, but they carry a different purpose. Facts are the raw, usually numeric data. These are the things that retain meaning when you roll them up in a summary. Some facts are *additive*, meaning it makes sense to add them (e.g. SALES), and some facts are *not additive* (e.g. OUTSIDE_TEMPERATURE). Dimensions are the data associated with the facts that give them meaning. These are things like times, locations, people, or object attributes (e.g. Project Status). These often (always?) come from [[Master Data]]. Typically there are many fewer rows in dimensions tables than there are in fact tables. # Examples - Mint Financial Data - Facts - transaction amount - Dimensions - vendor, account, date - Phone - Facts - number of calls made, data used - Dimensions - phone numbers called, dates, account number **** ## Source - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_warehouse) ## Related - [[Star Schema]]