My first Publication Agile-Data-Warehouse-Design-eBook | Page 93

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Chapter 3
Answers like these would lead you to attributes such as CUSTOMER TYPE and
PRODUCT TYPE (if you didn’t already have them). Table 3-1 illustrates other
7W-inspired questions and example answers for customer and products.
Table 3-1
Example 7W
attribute questions
and answers
BEAM✲ M ODELER Q UESTION S TAKEHOLDER A NSWERS
Who else is associated with a customer? Primary Contact, Spouse, Sponsor,
Decision Maker, Owner (Parent
Company), Referrer
Who is associated with a product? Manufacturer, Distributor, Supplier,
Marketer, Promoter, Product
Manager, Inventor, Designer,
Developer, Author
What dates (whens) are important to know
about a customer? Birth Date, Graduation Date, First
Purchase Date, Last Purchase
Date, Renewal Date
What milestone dates (whens) are there for
a product? Launch Date, Arrival of First
Competitor, Patent Expiration Date,
Discontinued Date
Where are customers? Headquarters, Sales Region, Work
Address, Home Address, Nearest
Branch
What geographic (where) information
describes a product or service? Country of Origin, Manufacturing
Plant, Language, Market, Voltage
Are there any single-valued quantities (how
many) that describe or group customers? Life Time Value, Loyalty Score,
Current Balance, Number of
Employees, Number of Dependents
What quantities (how many) describe
products? Weight, Size, Capacity, List Price
Why or how do customers become
customers? Channel, Prospect Source, Referral
When stakeholders give you examples (such as “Consumer” or “Business”)
instead of a suitable attribute name (Customer Type) try adding these examples to
the dimension table in a new column against their matching members and then
ask what that column should be called.