How granularity affects the size of the database
The granularity of the fact table also determines how much storage space the database requires.
- Product by day by region
- Product by month by region
The size of a database that has a granularity of product by day by region would be much greater than a database with a granularity of product by month by region. The database contains records for every transaction made each day as opposed to a monthly summation of the transactions. You must carefully determine the granularity of your fact table because too fine a granularity could result in an astronomically large database. Conversely, too coarse a granularity could mean the data is not detailed enough for users to perform meaningful queries against the database.