User Extensible Columns

Predefined facts and dimensions are provided with a set of user extensible columns that are used to extend the existing entities. These columns include the following:

• User Defined Field: Resides on the dimension tables in the star schemas. In general, all the dimensions consist of a minimum of ten UDF columns. These columns can be utilized to store additional information from the source systems.

• User Defined Measure: Supports the storage of implementation-specific measures that are not provided in the out-of-the-box facts.

• User Defined Degenerate Dimension: Reside directly on the fact. They store the dimension attributes that do not fit into a particular dimension, but are required for analytical purposes.

• User Defined Foreign Key Dimensions: Empty foreign key attributes not associated with the out-of-the-box dimensions. They allow you to reuse an existing dimension or to create a custom dimension and build a reference in the fact.

• User Defined Dimension: Empty dimensions that are delivered along with the star schemas in Oracle Utilities Analytics Warehouse.

In addition to utilizing these extensible columns, you can create custom facts and dimensions to achieve their additional analytic requirements.