Textual Facts

Although fact tables primarily contain numeric measures, sometimes a fact or measure may have a textual value associated with a specific business event.

Consider the fact table for an Employee Swipe Card log. While an individual card swipe does not generate a numeric quantity to sum, it does produce a specific textual result for that exact moment in time.

swipe_date	swipe_time	employee_name	card_reader_location	swipe_status
Jan 1	08:00	Alice	Front Door	Granted
Jan 1	08:05	Bob	Front Door	Denied
Jan 1	08:06	Bob	Front Door	Granted

Here, the swipe_status column is a textual fact because it captures the discrete outcome of a specific event. While you cannot sum this column, it can still be analyzed by counting the occurrences (for example, counting the total number of Granted or Denied swipes).

💡 Textual Fact or Dimension?

The key distinction is what the text value describes. If it describes the outcome or state of a specific business event, it can be modeled as a textual fact. If it describes an entity itself and provides descriptive context for filtering or grouping, it belongs in a dimension table instead.