Introduction to Attribute Discretization

This article introduces attribute discretization in Analysis Services, and extends the examination of the dimensional model that we began in Dimensional Model Components: Dimensions Parts I and II. Here, we will introduce attribute discretization, focusing upon the purpose and benefits of this capability, which, as we shall see, affords us a means of creating a manageable number of groups of attribute values that are separated by distinct boundaries. In this way, discretization (or “bucketization”) allows us to group contiguous values into sets of discrete values.