What is the Purpose of an Alias Table?

An Alias table (Alias) is a physical table with the type of Alias. Physical aliases can be mapped to physical tables, stored procedures, and select statements. An alias table can be a reference to any of these table source types.


Alias Tables can be an important part of designing a physical layer. Here are some of the main reasons to create an alias table:
-To rename physical tables allowing them to be easily identified in the business model layer.
-By renaming you can impose a form of ordering on the tables shown in the physical layer.
-To reuse an existing table more than once in your physical layer (without having to import it several times)
-To set up multiple alias tables, each with different keys, names, or joins
-To help you design sophisticated star or snowflake structures in the business model layer. Alias tables are critical in the process of converting ER Schemas to Dimensional Schemas.

You need to create aliases to
-Eliminate physical joins that cross dimensions.
-Eliminate circular joins.