Time Intelligence and Date Tables with numerous dates in tables

[DebbieE]

 of all, Ive juse done a course where it says time intelligence will only work on a Date table because of contiguous dates. Ive been using time intelligence on dates without a date table. Am I doing it wrong YEARTODATE etc etc ?

Also, if you use a date table, what if you have lots of dates in your tables. Orderdate, ModifiedDate etc etc and you need to connect every date up to your date table. I dont want multiple date tables so how would this work.

Another gripe, people say that having a date table is best but It feels wrong to me to have to go to the date table when you just want to work with say OrderDate from your Orders table. Is having a date table better than using the date time hierarchy under all the dates?

[LivioLanzo]

Hi @DebbieE

that is right, time intelligence requires a contiguous range of dates. It is considered a best practice to have a date table and it is actually a cornerstone of dimensional modeling. 

You do not need to create multiple date tables in your case, you can create inactive relationships