Mini Case for the Assignment in Module 3

The assignment in module 3 gives you the opportunity to apply most of the concepts

from module 3 and some of the concepts from module 2. Since the assignment is closely based

on the practice problems in module 3, you should attempt the mini case study for the practice

problems and then review the solution details.

This mini case study contains two data sources with sample data along with a statement

of business needs. Using the data sources and business needs, you will specify a dimensional

model with dimensions, measures, and grain, create a schema design for the data warehouse that

integrates the data sources, identify summarizability problems in the design, and populate data

warehouse tables from sample rows in the data sources.

Data Sources
Fitness Unlimited is a leading provider of exercise centers with a variety of fitness

programs and membership options. Fitness Unlimited maintains a retail database to track sales of

services and merchandise. In the ERD for the retail database (Figure 1), a sale contains a heading

(Sale) with sales date and a collection of merchandise recorded in the M-N relationship

Contains. Service purchases are recorded in the ServPurchase entity type with 1-M relationships

from ServiceCategory and Member. Typical services are lessons, premium equipment usage, and

social events. The MemTypeOf relationship is optional for members because guest members can

use a fitness center and purchase merchandise and services on a short term basis without having

a paid membership. Tables with sample rows are shown after Figure 1.
12/10/2019 Module 3 Assignment Page 2

Franchise MemberType
FranchId MemTypeId
FranchRegion MemTypeName
FranchPostalCode MemTypePrice
FranchModelType

MemTypeOf

Member
FranchiseOf MmbrId Sale
MmbrName
ServiceCategory SoldTo SaleId
MmbrZip
SaleDate
ServCatId MmbrEmail
ServCatName MmbrDate
ServCatPrice
Qty
Contains

ServPurchase ServMember
ServPurchId
Merchandise
ServCatOf
ServPurchDate MerchId
MerchName
MerchPrice
MerchType

Figure 1: ERD for Retail Fitness Database

Franchise
FranchId FranchRegion FranchPostalCode FranchModelType
F1 Northwest 98011 Full
F2 Mountain 80111 Medium
F3 Central 45236 Limited

MemberType
MemTypeId MemTypeName MemTypePrice
M1 Platinum $1,000
M2 Gold $800
M3 Value $300

ServiceCategory
ServCatId ServCatName ServCatPrice
SC1 Ball machine $15
SC2 Private lesson $75
SC3 Adult class $150
SC4 Child class $125
12/10/2019 Module 3 Assignment Page 3

Merchandise
MerchId MerchName MerchPrice MerchType
MC1 Wilson balls $3 Balls
MC2 Wilson racket $200 Racket
MC3 Adidas shoes $100 Shoes
MC4 Racket stringing $40 Racket

Member
MmbrId MmbrName MmbrZip MemTypeId MmbrDate FranchId MmbrEmail
1111 Joe 98011 M1 1-Feb-2009 F1 joe@serv1.com
2222 Mary 80112 M2 1-Jan-2010 F2 mary@serv2.com
3333 Sue 45327 M3 3-Mar-2011 F3 sue@serv3.com
4444 George 45236 F3 george@serv4.com

Sale
SaleId SaleDate MmbrId
1111 10-Feb-2013 1111
2222 13-Feb-2013 2222
3333 13-Feb-2013 2222
4444 14-Feb-2013 3333

Contains
MerchId SaleId Qty
MC1 1111 2
MC2 1111 1
MC4 2222 1
MC3 3333 1
MC4 4444 1

ServicePurchase
ServPurchId ServPurchDate MmbrId PassCatId
1111 13-Feb-2013 1111 SC1
2222 14-Feb-2013 2222 SC2
4444 15-Feb-2013 4444 SC3

Franchises also sell special events to corporate and other organizations. Since special

event promotions and sales are not standard among franchises, spreadsheets are typically used to

track special events. The franchise sales database was never extended to accommodate special

event sales. The Special Events Worksheet shows a typical format for tracking special event

sales by a franchise. Most franchises use a similar spreadsheet.

12/10/2019 Module 3 Assignment Page 4

Special Events Worksheet

Corporate Corporate Customer Name Event Type Event Name Event Date Amount
Customer Id And Location Code
CC1 First Data, Greenwood Village L-A Adult Social 13-Feb-2013 $1,000
CC2 DU Tennis, Denver L-B Pioneer Social 14-Feb-2013 $500
CC3 Creek High School, Greenwood L-C Team Practice 21-Feb-2013 $200
Village

Data Source Size Estimates

To compute grain size, you should use these estimates about cardinalities of tables and

unique values of some columns.

 Franchise rows: 350

 Franchise postal codes: 200

 MemberType rows: 10

 Merchandise rows: 500

 MerchType values: 30

 ServCategory rows: 20

 Member rows: 50,000

 Member zip codes: 500

 Sale rows: 150,000 per year

 Contains rows: 450,000 per year

 ServicePurchase rows: 100,000 rows per year

 SpecialEvents Worksheet rows: 300 per year per franchise with 200 franchises using this

spreadsheet

 150 unique customers per special event worksheet

Business Needs
The data warehouse should support analysis of merchandise sales and service purchases

by franchise, merchandise or service type, and customer over time. For merchandise, sales
12/10/2019 Module 3 Assignment Page 5

amount is computed as quantity times selling price. For services purchases, each unit sale is

recorded separately so only the service price at the time of purchase is recorded. For customer,

merchandise sales should be tracked by zip code, membership date, and member type. For

franchise, merchandise sales should be tracked by franchise region, postal code, and model type.

The corporate sales office wants a high level of flexibility for sales analysis. For data

mining analysis, they need detail by individual customer, product or service, and franchise, and

date. For typical reporting applications, they need detail by customer location, franchise location,

and product or service type, and week.

Problems
You should design a star schema (or variation) to support revenue analysis. You should

pay close attention to the grain of the fact table, the major part of the star schema diagram. As

part of the design, you should identify all relevant dimensions with hierarchies specified. In your

documentation, you should identify summarizability problems in your star schema and indicate

mapping from data sources into tables.

You should populate your data warehouse tables based on the data in the operational

tables and spreadsheet. You do not need to insert the data into your tables. You can just show

table listings in your solution document. Your sample rows should include all revenue events in

the range February 10, 2013 to February 21, 2013.

1. You should identify dimensions, map dimensions to data sources, and specify dimension

hierarchies. For each dimension, you should identify its data sources and attributes in each

data source. For hierarchical dimensions, you should indicate the levels from broad to

narrow.

2. You should specify measures, related data sources, and measure aggregation properties.
12/10/2019 Module 3 Assignment Page 6

3. Identify the grain in your dimensional design using the business needs as a guideline. You

should then indicate relative storage requirements for the grain using the statistics for the data

sources. Using the cardinality estimates provided, you should determine either the fact table

size or sparsity and then compute the unknown grain size variable. For example, you should

compute sparsity if the fact table size is given.

4. Extend your analysis to design a star schema (or variation) to support inventory analysis. For

each table, you should define the table name, primary key, and columns. You do not need to

write complete CREATE TABLE statements.

5. Identify summarizability potential problems in your star schema and indicate preferred

resolutions of the summarizability problems. For incomplete dimension-fact relationships,

you should also indicate if columns in a dimension table allow null values.

6. You should populate your data warehouse tables based on the data in the sample tables and

spreadsheet. You do not need to write SQL INSERT statements or insert data into database

tables. You can just show table listings in your solution. You should indicate mappings from

data sources into tables. For example, a mapping may involve generating new primary key

values for a data warehouse table or using a default value for a missing value.

Solution Quality
Quality is rather subjective in data warehouse designs, but some elements are less
subjective. I suggest that you address these quality items in the appropriate part of your solution.

 Schema pattern: You should use a recognized schema pattern: star, constellation, or
snowflake schema.

 Fact table selection: You should study fact table selection in the solution for the practice mini
case for inspiration. Typically, the fact table combines a two level solution in a source
schema into a single fact table. For example, an order heading and order detail are usually
12/10/2019 Module 3 Assignment Page 7

combined into a fact table recording the order details with dimension relationships to capture
the order heading.

 Missing data in populated tables: You should ensure that your populated tables include all
revenue events shown in both data sources. The best check on your schema design is to map
sample rows from the data sources to the data warehouses.

 Simplicity: Typically, a data warehouse schema design simplifies the schemas of the
underlying data sources. Simplification can involve combining some elements of data
sources in decisions about dimensions and fact tables.

Grading
The assessment method for this assignment is peer review. Each problem has an equal
grade.

Submission
You need to submit 6 documents to the peer review for module 3 assignment. Each
document contains a full solution for the problem. You should neatly format your documents so
that it can be easily graded. Please write the problem number at the top of the page.