What is a snowflake schema?

< 1 min read

Snowflake schema is a data model where dimension tables are further normalized into sub-dimension tables.
Instead of one Product table, it splits into Product → Category → Brand tables.
So dimensions connect to other dimensions before reaching the fact table.
In one project, Location was separated into City, State, and Country tables.
It reduces data redundancy and saves storage space.
But it creates more joins, so dashboards run slower than star schema.
Queries become harder for business users to understand.
BI tools also need more relationship handling and calculations.
So it’s used mainly when data consistency is more important than performance.

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