Data warehouse schema design (Thesis Univ. Münster) (Q2762928)

The dissertation addresses problems concerning schema design for Data Warehouses (DW). The author conceives the DW design as a classical database design with the relational database as the target model.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEIn chapter 2 the necessary background is collected, i.e. relational databases and DW terminology. A DW is understood as a multidimensional database. Chapter 3 reviews methods for database and DW design. Their goals are identified and extended by the recent ones, based on the notions of the third Multidimensional Normal Form (3MNF) and update-independence. The DW design method outlined in this chapter reflects these goals. It distinguishes between conceptual and logical DW design. Physical schema design is neglected in the thesis.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEA conceptual DW design is investigated in chapter 4. The conceptual design process is subdivided into a phase of requirement analysis and specification and a conceptual schema design phase. Then it is proved that DW schemata designed according to the design method are guaranteed to satisfy the 3MNF.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEChapter 5 describes a transformation process that starts with a set of schemes in 3MNF and produces a set of view definitions that constitute an update-independent DW.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEChapter 6 presents a summary of the main results and a discussion of open questions and suggestions for possible future research.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEThe thesis is presented on a high formal level with clear and logical style. It provides new results, particularly a novel multidimensional data model, three novel multidimensional normal forms, and a generalization of self-maintainability in terms of query and update independence. Also the DW design method on the conceptual level is new. We can recommend the thesis to everybody who is interested in a more formal viewing DW than the practice does it.