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A Daily Lexicon of Trustworthy Data

005·14

grain

/ɡreɪn/ - n.

1 [colloq.] The question 'what does one row mean?', asked far too late and answered by whoever wrote the query.Keep. Punchy.This is the problem.

Working definition

2. The precise level of detail represented by a single row in a fact table; the first and most consequential modeling decision.

Promoted

See also

additive measureA number the dashboard sums across every dimension, including the two where summing it means nothing.
dimensional modelingDeciding what the business measures and what it measures by, then discovering nobody agrees on either.
fact tableThe one table everyone trusts, named for a property no one has verified.