VIN data performance

[markp201]

Has anyone worked with the 17-character VIN in their dimensional model.

We broke it up into 3 pieces:

Positions	Distinct values
1-6	21,588
7-11	207,482
12-17	1,470,040

We currently have a start but would it better to snowflake the dimension?

VIN
%VIN
%VIN01_06
%VIN07_11
%VIN12_17

VIN01_06
%VIN01_06
VIN01_06

etc..

When is snow-flaking a good design decision?