Inferred Dimension in DWH

While loading fact records, a dimension record may not yet be ready. One solution is to generate a surrogate key with null for all the other attributes. This should technically be called an inferred member, but is often called an inferred dimension. It is also known Early coming Fact or Late coming dimension. These all are different names of same scenario.

These are the dimension table type to handle late data, in a scenario where a fact table is loaded before the references are available in the dimension table. In such a case, to respect referential integrity, a new record having NULL for all dimension attributes can be created in the dimension table which the fact table can infer. This new row can be updated when dimension data is available.