title: Handling nulls in Datawarehouse
body: <p>I'd like to ask your input on what the best practice is for handling null or empty data values when it pertains to data warehousing and SSIS/SSAS.</p>
  
  <p>I have several fact and dimension tables that contain null values in different rows.</p>
  
  <p>Specifics:</p>
  
  <p><strong>1)</strong> What is the best way to handle null date/times values? Should I make a 'default' row in my time or date dimensions and point SSIS to the default row when there is a null found?</p>
  
  <p><strong>2)</strong> What is the best way to handle nulls/empty values inside of dimension data. Ex: I have some rows in an 'Accounts' dimensions that have empty (not NULL) values in the Account Name column. Should I convert these empty or null values inside the column to a specific default value?</p>
  
  <p><strong>3)</strong> Similar to point 1 above - What should I do if I end up with a Facttable row that has no record in one of the dimension columns? Do I need default dimension records for each dimension in case this happens?</p>
  
  <p><strong>4)</strong> Any suggestion or tips in regards to how to handle these operation in Sql server integration services (SSIS)? Best data flow configurations or best transformation objects to use would be helpful.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks :-)</p>