Astera Data Stack
Version 9
Version 9
  • Welcome to Astera Data Stack Documentation
  • Release Notes
    • Astera 9.0 - Release Notes
  • Setting Up
    • System Requirements
    • Product Architecture
    • Installing Client and Server Applications
    • Connecting to a Astera Server using Lean Client
    • How to Connect to a Different Astera Server from the Lean Client
    • How to Set up a Server Certificate (.pfx) File in a New Environment
    • How to Build a Cluster Database and Create a Repository
    • How to Login from Lean Client
    • Licensing Model in Astera 9
    • User Roles and Access Control
    • Offline Activation of Astera Data Stack
  • Dataflows
    • Sources
      • Data Providers and File Formats Supported in Astera Data Stack
      • Setting Up Sources
      • Excel Workbook Source
      • COBOL File Source
      • Database Table Source
      • Delimited File Source
      • File System Items Source
      • Fixed Length File Source
      • Email Source
      • Report Source
      • SQL Query Source
      • XML/JSON File Source
      • PDF Form Source
    • Transformations
      • Introducing Transformations
      • Aggregate Transformation
      • Constant Value Transformation
      • Denormalize Transformation
      • Distinct Transformation
      • Expression Transformation
      • Filter Transformation
      • Join Transformation
      • List Lookup Transformation
      • Merge Transformation
      • Normalize Transformation
      • Passthru Transformation
      • Reconcile Transformation
      • Route Transformation
      • Sequence Generator
      • Sort Transformation
      • Sources as Transformations
      • Subflow Transformation
      • Switch Transformation
      • Tree Join Transformation
      • Tree Transform
      • Union Transformation
      • Data Cleanse Transformation
      • File Lookup Transformation
      • SQL Statement Lookup
      • Database Lookup
    • Destinations
      • Setting Up Destinations
      • Database Table Destination
      • Delimited File Destination
      • Excel Workbook Destination
      • Fixed Length File Destination
      • SQL Statement Destination
      • XML File Destination
    • Data Logging and Profiling
      • Creating Data Profile
      • Creating Field Profile
      • Data Quality Mode
      • Using Data Quality Rules in Astera
      • Record Level Log
    • Database Write Strategies
      • Data Driven
      • Source Diff Processor
      • Database Diff Processor
      • Dimension Loader - Database Write
    • Text Processors
      • Delimited Parser
      • Delimited Serializer
      • Language Parser
      • Fixed Length Parser
      • Fixed Length Serializer
      • XML/JSON Parser
      • XML JSON Serializer
    • Visualizations
      • Basic Plots
      • Distribution Plots
  • Workflows
    • What are Workflows?
    • Creating Workflows in Astera
    • Decision Task
    • EDI Acknowledgment Task
    • File System Task
    • File Transfer Task
    • OR Task
    • Run Dataflow Task
    • Run Program Task
    • Run SQL File Task
    • Run SQL Script Task
    • Run Workflow Task
    • Send Mail Task
    • Workflows with a Dynamic Destination Path
    • Customizing Workflows With Parameters
    • GPG-Integrated File Decryption in Astera
  • Subflows
    • Using Subflows in Astera
  • DATA MODEL
    • Creating a Data Warehousing Project
    • Data Models
      • Introducing Data Models
      • Opening a New Data Model
      • Data Modeler - UI Walkthrough
      • Reverse Engineering an Existing Database
      • Creating a Data Model from Scratch
      • General Entity Properties
      • Creating and Editing Relationships
      • Forward Engineering
      • Verifying a Data Model
    • Dimensional Modelling
      • Introducing Dimensional Models
      • Converting a Data Model to a Dimensional Model
      • Fact Entities
      • Dimension Entities
      • Date and Time Dimension
      • Verifying a Dimensional Model
    • Documentation
      • Generating Technical and Business Documentation for Data Models
      • Lineage and Impact Analysis
    • Deployment and Usage
      • Deploying a Data Model
      • Validate Metadata and Data Integrity
      • Using Astera Data Models in ETL Pipelines
      • Connecting an Astera Data Model to a Third Party Visualization Tool
  • Functions
    • Introducing Function Transformations
    • Custom Functions
    • Logical
      • Coalesce (Any value1, Any value2)
      • IsNotNull (AnyValue)
      • IsRealNumber (AnyValue)
      • IsValidSqlDate (Date)
      • IsDate (AnyValue)
      • If (Boolean)
      • If (DateTime)
      • If (Double)
      • Exists
      • If (Int64)
      • If (String)
      • IsDate (str, strformat)
      • IsInteger (AnyValue)
      • IsNullOrWhitespace (StringValue)
      • IsNullorEmpty (StringValue)
      • IsNull (AnyValue)
      • IsNumeric (AnyValue)
    • Conversion
      • GetDateComponents (DateWithOffset)
      • ParseDate (Formats, Str)
      • GetDateComponents (Date)
      • HexToInteger (Any Value)
      • ToInteger (Any value)
      • ToDecimal (Any value)
      • ToReal (Any value)
      • ToDate (String dateStr)
      • TryParseDate (String, UnknownDate)
      • ToString (Any value)
      • ToString (DateValue)
      • ToString (Any data, String format)
    • Math
      • Abs (Double)
      • Abs (Decimal)
      • Ceiling (Real)
      • Ceiling(Decimal)
      • Floor (Decimal)
      • Floor (Real)
      • Max (Decimal)
      • Max (Date)
      • Min (Decimal)
      • Min (Date)
      • Max (Real)
      • Max (Integer)
      • Min (Real)
      • Pow (BaseExponent)
      • Min (Integer)
      • RandomReal (Int)
      • Round (Real)
      • Round (Real Integer)
      • Round (Decimal Integer)
      • Round (Decimal)
    • Financial
      • DDB
      • FV
      • IPmt
      • IPmt (FV)
      • Pmt
      • Pmt (FV)
      • PPmt
      • PPmt (FV)
      • PV (FV)
      • Rate
      • Rate (FV)
      • SLN
      • SYD
    • String
      • Center (String)
      • Chr (IntAscii)
      • Asc (String)
      • AddCDATAEnvelope
      • Concatenate (String)
      • ContainsAnyChar (String)
      • Contains (String)
      • Compact (String)
      • Find (Int64)
      • EndsWith (String)
      • FindIntStart (Int32)
      • Extract (String)
      • GetFindCount (Int64)
      • FindLast (Int64)
      • GetDigits (String)
      • GetLineFeed
      • Insert (String)
      • IsAlpha
      • GetToken
      • IndexOf
      • IsBlank
      • IsLower
      • IsUpper
      • IsSubstringOf
      • Length (String)
      • LeftOf (String)
      • Left (String)
      • IsValidName
      • Mid (String)
      • PadLeft
      • Mid (String Chars)
      • LSplit (String)
      • PadRight
      • ReplaceAllSpecialCharsWithSpace
      • RemoveChars (String str, StringCharsToRemove)
      • ReplaceLast
      • RightAlign
      • Reverse
      • Right (String)
      • RSplit (String)
      • SplitStringMultipleRecords
      • SplitStringMultipleRecords (2 Separators)
      • SplitString (3 separators)
      • SplitString
      • SplitStringMultipleRecords (3 Separators)
      • Trim
      • SubString (NoOfChars)
      • StripHtml
      • Trim (Start)
      • TrimExtraMiddleSpace
      • TrimEnd
      • PascalCaseWithSpace (String str)
      • Trim (String str)
      • ToLower(String str)
      • ToProper(String str)
      • ToUpper (String str)
      • Substring (String str, Integer startAt)
      • StartsWith (String str, String value)
      • RemoveAt (String str, Integer startAt, Integer noofChars)
      • Proper (String str)
      • Repeat (String str, Integer count)
      • ReplaceAll (String str, String lookFor, String replaceWith)
      • ReplaceFirst (String str, String lookFor, String replaceWith)
      • RightOf (String str, String lookFor)
      • RemoveChars (String str, String charsToRemove)
      • SplitString (String str, String separator1, String separator2)
    • Date Time
      • AddMinutes (DateTime)
      • AddDays (DateTimeOffset)
      • AddDays (DateTime)
      • AddHours (DateTime)
      • AddSeconds (DateTime)
      • AddMonths (DateTime)
      • AddMonths (DateTimeOffset)
      • AddMinutes (DateTimeOffset)
      • AddSeconds (DateTimeOffset)
      • AddYears (DateTimeOffset)
      • AddYears (DateTime)
      • Age (DateTime)
      • Age (DateTimeOffset)
      • CharToSeconds (Str)
      • DateDifferenceDays (DateTimeOffset)
      • DateDifferenceDays (DateTime)
      • DateDifferenceHours (DateTimeOffset)
      • DateDifferenceHours (DateTime)
      • DateDifferenceMonths (DateTimeOffset)
      • DateDifferenceMonths (DateTime)
      • DatePart (DateTimeOffset)
      • DatePart (DateTime)
      • DateDifferenceYears (DateTimeOffset)
      • DateDifferenceYears (DateTime)
      • Month (DateTime)
      • Month (DateTimeOffset)
      • Now
      • Quarter (DateTime)
      • Quarter (DateTimeOffset)
      • Second (DateTime)
      • Second (DateTimeOffset)
      • SecondsToChar (String)
      • TimeToInteger (DateTime)
      • TimeToInteger (DateTimeOffset)
      • ToDate Date (DateTime)
      • ToDate DateTime (DateTime)
      • ToDateString (DateTime)
      • ToDateTimeOffset-Date (DateTimeOffset)
      • ToDate DateTime (DateTimeOffset)
      • ToDateString (DateTimeOffset)
      • Today
      • ToLocal (DateTime)
      • ToJulianDate (DateTime)
      • ToJulianDayNumber (DateTime)
      • ToTicks (Date dateTime)
      • ToTicks (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • ToUnixEpoc (Date dateTime)
      • ToUtc (Date dateTime)
      • UnixTimeStampToDateTime (Real unixTimeStamp)
      • UtcNow ()
      • Week (Date dateTime)
      • Week (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • Year (Date dateTime)
      • Year (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • DateToJulian (Date dateTime, Integer length)
      • DateTimeOffsetUtcNow ()
      • DateTimeOffsetNow ()
      • Day (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • Day (Date dateTime)
      • DayOfWeekStr (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • DayOfWeek (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • DayOfWeek (Date dateTime)
      • DateToJulian (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime, Integer length)
      • DayOfWeekStr (Date dateTime)
      • FromJulianDate (Real julianDate)
      • DayOfYear (Date dateTime)
      • DaysInMonth(Integer year, Integer month)
      • DayOfYear (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • FromUnixEpoc
      • FromJulianDayNumber (Integer julianDayNumber)
      • FromTicksUtc(Integer ticks)
      • FromTicksLocal(Integer ticks)
      • Hour (Date dateTime)
      • Hour (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • Minute (Date dateTime)
      • JulianToDate (String julianDate)
      • Minute (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • DateToIntegerYYYYMMDD (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • DateToIntegerYYYYMMDD (Date dateTime)
    • Files
      • AppendTextToFile (String filePath, String text)
      • CopyFile (String sourceFilePath, String destFilePath, Boolean overWrite)
      • CreateDateTime (String filePath)
      • DeleteFile (String filePath)
      • DirectoryExists (String filePath)
      • FileExists (String filePath)
      • FileLength (String filePath)
      • FileLineCount (String filePath)
      • GetDirectory (String filePath)
      • GetEDIFileMetaData (String filePath)
      • GetExcelWorksheets (String excelFilePath)
      • GetFileExtension (String filePath)
      • GetFileInfo (String filePath)
      • GetFileName (String filePath)
      • GetFileNameWithoutExtension (String filePath)
      • LastUpdateDateTime (String filePath)
      • MoveFile (String filePath, String newDirectory)
      • ReadFileBytes (String filePath)
      • ReadFileFirstLine (String filePath)
      • ReadFileText (String filePath)
      • ReadFileText (String filePath, String codePage)
      • WriteBytesToFile (String filePath, ByteArray bytes)
      • WriteTextToFile (String filePath, String text)
    • Date Time With Offset
      • ToDateTimeOffsetFromDateTime (dateTime String)
      • ToUtc (DateTimeWithOffset)
      • ToDateTimeOffsetFromDateTime
      • ToDateTimeOffset (String dateTimeOffsetStr)
      • ToDateTimeFromDateTimeOffset
    • GUID
      • NewGuid
    • Encoding
      • ToBytes
      • FromBytes
      • UrlEncode
      • UrlDecode
    • Regular Expressions
      • ReplaceRegEx
      • ReplaceRegEx (Integer StartAt)
    • TimeSpan
      • Minutes
      • Hours
      • Days
      • Milliseconds
    • Matching
      • Soundex
      • DoubleMetaphone
      • RefinedSoundex
  • Report Model
    • User Guide
      • Report Model Tutorial
    • Report Model Interface
      • Report Options
      • Report Browser
      • Data Regions in Report Models
      • Region Properties Panel
      • Pattern Properties
      • Field Properties Panel
    • Use Cases
      • Applying Pattern to Line
      • Auto Creating Data Regions and Fields
      • Auto Parsing
      • Connecting to Cloud Storage
      • Creating Multi Column Data Regions
      • Defining Region End Type as Specific Text and Regular Expression
      • Defining the Start Position of Data Fields
      • Floating Patterns and Floating Fields
      • How To Work With PDF Scaling Factor in a Report Model
      • Line Count
      • Pattern Count
      • Pattern is a Regular Expression
      • Using Comma Separated Values to Define Start Position
    • Auto Generate Layout (Beta)
      • Setting Up AGL in Astera
      • UI Walkthrough Auto Generation of Layout, Fields and Table
      • Using Auto Generation Layout, Auto Create Fields, and Auto Create Table (Beta)
    • Exporting Options
      • Exporting a Report Model
      • Exporting Report Model to A Dataflow
    • Miscellaneous
      • Importing Monarch Models
      • Microsoft Word and Rich Text Format Support
      • Working With Problematic PDF Files
  • API Flows
    • API Consumption
      • Consume
        • REST Connection
        • Making API Calls with the REST Client Object in Astera
        • REST API Browser
        • Method Operations
        • Pagination
      • Authorize
        • Open APIs - Configuration Details
        • Authorizing Facebook APIs in Astera
        • Authorizing Astera's Server APIs
        • Authorizing Avaza APIs in Astera
        • Authorizing Square API in Astera
        • Authorizing ActiveCampaign API in Astera
        • Authorizing QuickBooks’ API in Astera
        • Accessing Astera's Server APIs Through a Third Party Tool
        • Astera's Server API Documentation
  • Project Management
    • Project Management
      • Deployment
      • Server Monitoring and Job Management
      • Connecting to Source Control
      • Astera Project and Project Explorer
    • Job Scheduling
      • Scheduling Jobs on the Server
      • Job Monitor
  • Use Cases
    • End-to-End Use Cases
      • Data Integration
        • Using Astera Data Stack to Create and Orchestrate an ETL Process for Partner Onboarding
      • Data Warehousing
        • Building a Data Warehouse - A Step By Step Approach
      • Data Extraction
        • Reusing The Extraction Template for Similar Layout Files
  • Connectors
    • Setting Up IBM DB2/iSeries Connectivity in Astera
    • Connecting to SAP HANA Database
    • Connecting to MariaDB Database
    • Connecting to Salesforce Database
    • Connecting to Salesforce - Legacy Database
    • Connecting to Vertica Database
    • Connecting to Snowflake Database
    • Connecting to Amazon Redshift Database
    • Connecting to Amazon Aurora Database
    • Connecting to Google Cloud SQL in Astera
    • Connecting to MySQL Database
    • Connecting to PostgreSQL in Astera
    • Connecting to Netezza Database
    • Connecting to Oracle Database
    • Connecting to Microsoft Azure Databases
    • Connecting to Amazon RDS Databases
  • Miscellaneous
    • Using Dynamic Layout Template Mapping in Astera
    • Synonym Dictionary File
    • SmartMatch Feature
    • Role Based Access Control in Astera
    • Updating Your License in Astera
    • Using Output Variables in Astera
    • Connection Vault
    • Safe Mode
    • Using the Data Source Browser in Astera
    • Pushdown Mode
    • Cloud Deployment
      • Deploying Astera on Microsoft Azure Cloud
      • Deploying Astera on Oracle Cloud
      • Deploying Astera on Amazon Web Services
    • Context Information
  • Best Practices
    • Overview of Cardinality in Data Modeling
    • Cardinality Errors FAQs
    • Astera Best Practices - Dataflows
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  1. DATA MODEL
  2. Dimensional Modelling

Date and Time Dimension

PreviousDimension EntitiesNextVerifying a Dimensional Model

Last updated 1 year ago

Date and time dimensions can be used in a dimensional model to analyze and report data more efficiently.

The Date Dimension table has date-specific attributes that include day, date, weeks, quarter, months, fiscal period, national holiday indicators, quarter, and year.

The Time Dimension table has time-specific attributes that include hour formats, minute of the day, seconds of hour, quarter hour, and am or pm.

Note: Both lists are not exhaustive.

How to Use Date and Time Dimensions

This is how you can access and use Date and Time dimensions in Astera Data Stack:

  • To get the Date Dimension object on the data model, go to Toolbox > Data Model > Date Dimension and drag-and-drop it onto the data model designer.

  • To get the Time Dimension object on the data model, go to Toolbox > Data Model > Time Dimension and drag-and-drop it onto the data model designer.

You cannot make any modifications in the Date and Time dimension objects. If you right-click on a Date Dimension or Time Dimension object and open its properties, you would see that the Entity Properties options have been disabled for the objects.

The next screen is the Layout Builder, where you can view the entity layout and its specifications. All other options are set to default and cannot be modified.

Next is the Data Model Entity Indexes screen, where you’ll find a list of predefined indexes. Rest of the options for indexes are disabled.

At this point, we can create relationships between the fact entity and the newly added date and time dimensions respectively, and then forward engineer the data model for the date and time dimension tables to be reflected in the target database.

To fill the date and time dimension objects with data, follow the steps below:

  • To fill a Date Dimension table – Right-click on the Date Dimension object and select the Fill Date Dimension Table option. Astera Data Stack would automatically fill values in the provided database table.

  • To fill a Time Dimension table – Right-click on the Time Dimension object and select the Fill Time Dimension Table option. Astera Data Stack would automatically fill values in the provided database table.

Replacing Date/Time Elements with Date/Time Dimension Relationships:

A Date/Time field within the Fact entity can be replaced with the Date/Time Dimension Relationship, as follows:

  1. Right-click the Date/Time field you want to replace with Date/Time Relationship and select ‘Replace with Date Dimension Relationship’ or Replace with Time Dimension Relationship’ option from the menu.

  1. A Date or Time Dimension entity will be created, and a relationship will be created between the newly created Date/Time dimension and the fact table.

Notice that the Date/Time Field that was replaced with the Date/Time Dimension relationship has been marked as a foreign key that refers to the newly created Date/Time Dimension.

This concludes our discussion on using date and time dimensions in Astera Data Stack.

To learn more about Forward Engineering, click .

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