Star schema

Set up a star schema plan

A plan starts from the schema you want to model, usually your silver schema. The setup dialog captures where the star tables go, which platform they target, how they are named, and whether AI should propose the design.

In the app: Data Model › Schemas › your source schema › Star Schema tab › New Plan

[screenshot]
The Create Star Schema Plan dialog with the destination schema, Target Platform, Naming fields, and "Run AI Analysis" selected.

Before you start

  • The Star Schema feature must be on for your organization. See Star schema designer overview.
  • Decide where the star tables go. You can pick an existing schema or have Kenseme create a new one.
  • AI analysis counts toward your organization’s AI usage.

Fill in the plan

  1. Open the source schema and click the Star Schema tab. It lists existing plans under Star Schema Plans.
  2. Click New Plan. The Create Star Schema Plan dialog opens.
  3. Complete the fields. See Plan fields below.
  4. Under How would you like to populate the plan?, choose:
    • Run AI Analysis (the default) to have AI propose the dimensions and facts.
    • Start with empty plan to add every item yourself.
  5. Click Analyze Schema (AI) or Create Plan (empty).

If you chose a new destination schema, a toast confirms Destination schema '<name>' created.

Plan fields

Field What to enter Required
Plan Name A name, for example Sales Star Schema. The plan’s Pipeline gets the same name. Yes
Source Schema Filled in with the schema you opened. You can’t change it, now or later. —
Destination Schema Where the star tables are created. Pick an existing schema, or switch on Create new and type a name (for example Gold - Sales Warehouse). Yes
Target Platform SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Databricks, Snowflake, or Fabric Warehouse. A new destination schema is created on this platform. Yes
Dim Prefix Default Dim. —
Fact Prefix Default Fact. —
Bridge Prefix for bridge tables. Default Bridge. —
Key Suffix Suffix for surrogate keys. Default Key. —
Table Casing PascalCase, snake_case, camelCase, or UPPERCASE. Also used for column names. —
Surrogate Keys: Add to all tables On by default. Adds a surrogate key column to every table. —
AI Guidance (optional) Plain-language context about the business. See the tip below. No

Tip: Good AI guidance names the business process, the dimensions people slice by, and anything that needs history. For example: “Retail sales. Track by product, store, customer, date. Customer addresses change — need point-in-time history.”

While the analysis runs

The dialog shows Designing your star schema…. On a large source schema, Kenseme splits the work by subject area and shows each area’s progress (Analyzing subject area 2 of 5) with a status icon per area.

You can click Close: the analysis keeps running in the background, and the plan shows an Analyzing… badge in the plan list until it finishes.

Warning: Keep the dialog open until the review step appears. The review step exists only in this dialog. If you close it, the plan opens later as an empty dashboard, and the AI’s design is not added to it.

🚩 TODO: Confirm whether there is a way to reach the review step for a design that finished after the dialog was closed. The source shows none; the only paths appear to be deleting the plan and starting again, or adding items by hand.

If the analysis fails

  • If every subject area fails, the dialog returns to the first step with an AI analysis failed alert. It lists each reason with the subject areas it affected. The plan itself was created, so you can:
    • Click Retry failed areas to re-run only the areas that didn’t succeed.
    • Click Retry analysis to start over.
    • Close the dialog and delete the plan from the list.
  • If only some areas fail, you still get a design to review, with a Design completed with errors warning and a Retry failed areas button. See Review the AI’s design.

Where you land

Change plan settings later

On the plan dashboard, click Edit Plan Settings. You can change the name, add a Description (optional), change the naming fields, and edit the AI guidance.

  • The source schema, target platform, and Surrogate Keys setting are fixed after creation.
  • The destination schema is fixed once the plan has a Pipeline.
  • Changing prefixes, the suffix, or casing doesn’t rename anything that already exists. Kenseme warns you how many existing items keep their names. New names apply only to items built afterwards.

Click Save Changes. If saving produces warnings, they are listed in a Plan settings saved with warnings dialog.

The plan list

Each plan on the Star Schema tab shows its name, source → destination, n/m items complete with a progress bar, and when it was last updated. Badges show Analyzing… or Building… while background work runs. Click Continue (or View once every item is complete) to open it, or the delete icon to delete it after confirming.