Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 1
From User Requirements
to Conceptual Design in
Data Warehouse Design
A Survey
Matteo Golfarelli
DEIS - University of Bologna, Italy
ABSTRACT
Conceptual design and requirement analysis are two of the key steps within the data warehouse design
process. They are to a great extent responsible for the success of a data warehouse project since, during
these two phases, the expressivity of the multidimensional schemata is completely defined. This chapter
proposes a survey of the literature related to these design steps and points out pros and cons of the
different techniques in order to help the reader to identify crucial choices and possible solutions more
consciously. Particular attention will be devoted to emphasizing the relationships between the two steps
describing how they can be jointly used fruitfully.
INTRODUCTION
orders) and can be monitored through measures and
dimensions. Measures are numerical KPIs (e.g.,
quantity of product sold, price of the products, etc.),
and dimensions represent the context for analyzing
these measures (e.g., time, customer, product, etc.).
Owing to their specificities, the development of
DWs is particularly complex and requires ad-hoc
methodologies and an appropriate life-cycle.
Conceptual design and requirement analysis are
two of the key steps within the DW design process.
While they were partially neglected in the first era
of data warehousing, they have received greater
attention in the last ten years.
Data Warehouse (DW) systems are used by deci-
sion makers to analyze the status and the develop-
ment of an organization. DWs are based on large
amounts of data integrated from heterogeneous
sources into multidimensional schemata which
are optimized for data access in a way that comes
natural to human analysts. Generally speaking,
a multidimensional schema is made up of facts,
measures and dimensions. Facts are a focus of in-
terest for the decision-making process (e.g. sales,
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