Automate Your Business’s Digital Memory-Building

The article discusses the importance of capturing historical data changes over time, also known as a slowly changing dimension (SCD) or type 1 SCD implementation. It explains how current-state tables typically only reflect the latest truths and don't retain previous attribute values. This can lead to frustration for analysts who need to answer questions about past events and trends. The author then introduces Fivetran's new "History Mode" feature, which turns type 1 SCD implementations into type 2 by creating a new row for any changed values. This effectively transforms the data warehouse into a time machine, allowing users to see how attributes have changed over time and providing valuable contextual information for analysis. The author argues that building safeguards against data transience is crucial for businesses in an increasingly unpredictable world, as it enables more reliable and comprehensive aggregation of data for logistics, monitoring, machine learning, and analytics purposes.