Hi,

I have a table which contains all the transaction details for which I am trying to create a CUBE... The explanation below in brackets is only for clarity about each field. Kindly note that I am using the following table as my fact table. Let's call it tblFact:

This table contains fields like transaction date, Product (which is sold), Product Family (to which the Product Belongs), Brand (of the product), Qty sold, Unit Price (at which each unit was sold), and some other fields.

I have created a Product dimension based on tblFact. I don't know if this is a good idea or not Is it okay and am I on the right track or should I base my Product Dimension on some other table (say tblProducts and then in the Cube editor link tblProducts with tblFact based on the ProductID field? Please guide.

Now coming to my last question:
Currently I am also creating my Time Dimension based on tblFact. Is this also a wrong approach?
1. Should I instead create the Time Dimension based on a different table (say tblTime) and again link up tblTime and tblFact in the Cube editor?

2. if yes, then how do I create tblTime from tblFact in a manner that it only contains all the transaction dates

3. Assuming that I should take the tblTime approach, then should this table (tblTime) also contain the ProductID - representing the Product which was sold for each date in tblTime?

I realize that this is a lenghty post but reply and more importantly guidance from the experienced users will be greatly appreciated becuase I have recently started learning/playing around on the OLAP side of things and I know that this is the time that I get my foundations correct otherwise I'll end up getting used to some bad practice and will
find it difficult to change my approach to cube designing later down the road.

So many thanks in advance and I eagerly look forward to reply from someone.