thinQmaster Virtual testing partner Adaptive practice exams that find your weak spots and drill them. Every answer explained. From $69
Enroll

thinQmaster

Find your exam

Five questions free, before you decide.

Step 1 · choose a vendor

In one of our camps? Your practice exams come with the tuition — they are on your study page already.

Data & Analytics · Intermediate

Role-Playing Dimension

A single physical dimension referenced several times by a fact table in different roles, such as Date as Order Date and Ship Date.

Definition

In SQL, the dimension is joined several times with aliases. In Power BI, only one relationship between two tables can be active, so you either use USERELATIONSHIP in measures or import the dimension once per role.

Example

FactSales has OrderDateKey, ShipDateKey and DueDateKey, all referencing DimDate.

Exam tip

In Power BI, role-playing dimensions mean inactive relationships plus USERELATIONSHIP, or duplicated date tables.

Related terms