Business users often request year-to-date (YTD) values in a fact table. It is hard to argue against a single request, but YTD requests can easily morph into “YTD at the close of the fiscal period” or “fiscal period to date.” A more reliable, extensible way to handle these assorted requests is to calculate the YTD metrics in the BI applications or OLAP cube rather than storing YTD facts in the fact table.