What is the purpose of surrogate key?

What is the purpose of surrogate key in data warehouse?

Surrogate keys essentially buffer the data warehouse from the operational environment by making it immune to any operational changes.

What is a surrogate primary key and when is it used?

A surrogate key is any column or set of columns that can be declared as the primary key instead of a "real" or natural key. Sometimes there can be several natural keys that could be declared as the primary key, and these are all called candidate keys. So a surrogate is a candidate key.

In which case should you use a surrogate key?

Top 3 Reasons to Always use Surrogate Keys in Data WarehousingSlow Changing Dimensions. It is often a requirement to track historical values of dimension records. ... Changing Source Systems. Using natural keys tightly ties a data warehouse's integrity to the stability of the source system. ... Performance.