Slowly Changing Dimensions

In this lesson, we’ll explain the concept of slowly changing dimensions and the different approaches to dealing with them. Then we’ll show you how to create a data flow in Azure Synapse Pipelines to update slowly changing dimensions. Even if you’re not particularly interested in how to handle slowly changing dimensions, the demos in this lesson will give you a good idea of how to create data flows in either Azure Synapse Pipelines or Azure Data Factory since they both use the same interface.

Learning Objectives

• Understand various methods for handling slowly changing dimensions in databases
• Create a data flow in Azure Synapse Pipelines that updates slowly changing dimensions in a database table

Intended Audience

• Anyone who would like to learn about slowly changing dimensions in databases
• Anyone who needs to know how to create data flows in Azure Synapse Analytics Pipelines and Azure Data Factory

Prerequisites

• Some knowledge of Azure Synapse Analytics, specifically dedicated SQL pools and Synapse Pipelines (take Introduction to Azure Synapse Analytics if you’re not familiar with this Microsoft service)
• Experience with SQL (not mandatory)

Resources

The GitHub repo for this lesson can be found here.