Conformed Dimension in Obiee

The best definition about Conformed dimension is that it is dimension which is consistent across the whole business and can be linked with all the facts to which it relates .The best example is the Date Dimension because its attributes (day, week, month, quarter, year, etc.) have the same meaning across all the facts. The month January will be the same for all the departments in an organization. Unless there are some departments that operate on a different fiscal calendar to the rest of the organization  we can consider date dimension as conformed.

• Conformed dimensions should be defined at the most granular level so that each record in these tables corresponds to a single record in the fact able.
• Data should never be defined for a specific function or department. Good data is one, which is widely shareable and conformed dimensions help in doing that.
• Conformed dimension ensures that the facts and measures are the same across all facts and data marts so that reporting is consistent.
• A conformed dimension is important because it allows to Drill Across. i.e linking of two different fact tables with same granularity.

All dimensions in your warehouse need to be conformed to get the exact power of a Data warehouse. Below are some of the  commonly used  Conformed Dimensions:

Customer

Product

Date/Time

Employee

Account

Region /Territory

Vendor