Figure 1-3, Nontransactional and Transactional Data Format

This figure compares the nontransactional and transactional data format.

The figure shows two tables. The table on the left is in nontransactional format. The table on the right shows the same data but in transactional format.

The nontransactional format table has columns that are named for the attributes: ID, age, gender, and income. There is one row for each record. The first record has data values of ID = 1, age = 25, gender = M, and income = 30 K.

The transactional format table has columns: ID, attribute, and value. A record has as many rows as there are instances of an attribute. Row 1 contains ID = 1, attribute = age, value = 25. Row 2 has ID = 1, attribute = gender, and value = M. Row 3 had ID = 1, attribute = income, value = 30K.

Note that in transactional format, all data values must be specified as the single data type NUMBER. This results from binning all values.