Multidimensional Model
A multidimensional model is a data modeling technique used primarily in data warehousing and business intelligence to organize data into dimensions and facts for analytical querying. It structures data in a way that supports efficient aggregation, slicing, and dicing across multiple business perspectives, often implemented as star schemas or snowflake schemas in relational databases or as cubes in OLAP systems. This model enables users to analyze data from various angles, such as time, geography, or product categories, to derive insights for decision-making.
Developers should learn and use multidimensional modeling when building data warehouses, business intelligence platforms, or analytical applications that require complex reporting and ad-hoc querying. It is essential for scenarios involving large volumes of transactional data that need to be summarized and analyzed across dimensions like sales by region over time or customer behavior by demographic. This approach improves query performance and simplifies data analysis compared to normalized relational models, making it a core skill in data engineering and analytics roles.