Slowly Changing Dimensions Type 2 Behavior

It looks like you're discussing the different attribute behaviors for managing Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD) in an OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) system. Each behavior is a way to track and manage changes in dimensional attributes over time. Here's a breakdown of the listed attribute behaviors:

1. Surrogate Key:
• The surrogate key is a system-generated unique identifier used to reference a record version. It's typically an incrementing number or sequence, not tied to any business value, ensuring that each version of a record has a unique key. This key is often used to link back to the fact table.
2. Natural Key:
• This is the real-world or business identifier (such as a customer ID or product code) that uniquely identifies a record across different versions. The natural key remains constant across all versions, even if the attribute values change over time.
3. Overwrite on Change:
• When an attribute's value changes, the existing record version is updated with the new value. Only the latest record is maintained, overwriting any previous data for that record.
• This is often used for dimensions where only the current data is relevant, and historical tracking is not necessary.
4. Add Row on Change:
• When an attribute's value changes, a new record version is created, and the old version remains. This is commonly used for tracking historical changes in dimension attributes. Each change creates a new record to preserve history.
5. Current Record Flag:
• This attribute indicates the current version of a record. Typically, it’s a flag that is set to 1 for the current version and 0 for older versions. This flag helps to identify the latest version of a record and is useful when querying the most recent data.
6. Starting Timestamp:
• This timestamp indicates the beginning of the valid period for a record version. It helps to track when the record version became active and valid for use in reporting or analysis.
7. Ending Timestamp:
• The ending timestamp marks when a record version became invalid or was replaced by another version. This allows you to determine the time period during which a specific record version was valid.

Each of these behaviors serves a specific purpose depending on how you want to track changes over time in your OLAP data model, and they help in maintaining historical accuracy or simplifying current-state analysis.