The dimension diagram is a stereotype of the entity relationship diagram and can contain dimensions and hierarchies as container nodes. They display the dimension levels and hierarchy levels with compartments for identification, display, and sort attributes. The dimension precedences are depicted as edges between the levels.
You can use the established MID modeling tool to create a Dimension Diagram.
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Definition
A dimension diagram is a stereotype of the entity relationship diagram and can contain dimensions and hierarchies as container nodes. They display the dimension levels and hierarchy levels with compartments for identification, display, and sort attributes. The dimension precedences are depicted as edges between the levels.
The icon is of a diagram with dimensions.
Use
You can use the dimension diagram to model a submodel of the conceptual schema. You can portray the dimensions and hierarchies as container nodes and the hierarchy and dimension precedence as edges.
Dimension Diagram Elements
Nodes
The following model elements can be shown as nodes in dimension diagrams:
| Icon | Element | Description |
|---|---|---|
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Dimension | A dimension forms a quasi hierarchy of its contained dimension elements that is modeled using dimension precedences. Every level can have more than one super dimension level in this quasi hierarchy. A complete and correct dimension has precisely one bottom-most dimension level. |
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Dimension Level | A dimension level in a dimension contains identifier, display and sort attributes. In a complete model, the dimension level is linked with a dimension set of the entity relationship model. |
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Hierarchy | A hierarchy in a dimension forms a simple hierarchy; each level in the hierarchy can only have one sublevel. A complete and correct hierarchy contains one hierarchy level that represents the bottom-most dimension level in the dimension. The simple hierarchy is implemented as a list of hierarchy levels. In the list of a correct and complete hierarchy, the top-most level is the first element in the list, followed by a sublevel, then right through to the bottom-most level which is the last element in the list. |
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Hierarchy Levels | A hierarchy level represents a dimension level and shows the content, redundant of its dimension attributes. You can edit a hierarchy level as a precedence of its dimension level in diagrams. This means that e.g. dimension attributes are actually created in the dimension level and shown in the hierarchy level. Dimension precedences that are shown between hierarchy levels actually run between their dimension levels. A link between a hierarchy and dimension entity or view is also stored at the dimension level. |
Edges
Edges depict relationships between dimension levels in dimension diagrams.
| Icon | Element | Description |
|---|---|---|
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Dimension Precedence | A dimension precedence is a hierarchy relationship between two dimension levels. It belongs to the sublevel and references the super level. |
Dimension Diagram Example
