Charlotte Foust
cfoust at infostatsystems.com
Mon Feb 9 10:59:12 CST 2004
Unfortunately, sometimes you have to deal with a hybrid, particularly if the client is governmental. Charlotte Foust -----Original Message----- From: Arthur Fuller [mailto:artful at rogers.com] Sent: Friday, February 06, 2004 8:36 PM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: RE: [AccessD] Re: DatePart Question Hear, hear! There is IMO a large distinction between OLTP and OLAP apps, and what works in the former cannot be assumed to work in the latter. And vice-versa. Data-entry and modification should never be confused with data-analysis, and asking a single database to do both is IMO stupid or lazy or both. Arthur -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of Charlotte Foust Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2004 5:38 PM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: RE: [AccessD] Re: DatePart Question The essential difference is that the date dimension table is generally used in data warehouse applications, not in regular data entry databases. They can be useful in the latter for reporting purposes only, but you can get by nicely if you've never had to slice and dice very large tables based on a bunch of date criteria. Note that fact tables in a datawarehouse are usually not normalized in the same way as regular database tables either (they are commonly 1NF), so dimension tables give you flexibility that it's hard to get any other way. Data warehousing may be slightly off-topic, but only because Access developers don't have to deal with it very often. I have, so I can appreciate both sides of the discussion. Charlotte Foust --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.564 / Virus Database: 356 - Release Date: 1/19/2004 _______________________________________________ AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com