Star Schema The Complete Reference

CHAPTER 10Recursive Hierarchies and Bridges

Recursive hierarchies in real-world data pose one of the most perplexing challenges for dimensional designers. This chapter explores two ways to model this kind of hierarchy. One is simple and safe but is limited in its capabilities. The other is powerful and flexible but also easy to misuse and difficult to manage. Choosing between these options requires fully understanding the implications of both.

A recursive hierarchy is a set of relationships among instances of the same kind of object or entity. In a corporate organizational structure, one department may report to another department, which in turn reports to still another department. Systems of describing geographic regions can also be recursive, ...