A Web-oriented approach to manage multidimensional models through XML schemas and XSLT

Abstract

Multidimensional (MD) modeling is the foundation of data warehouses, MD databases, and OLAP applications. In the last years, there have been some proposals to represent MD properties at the conceptual level. In this paper, we present how to manage the representation, manipulation, and presentation of MD models on the web by means of extensible Style sheet Language Transformations (XSLT). First, we use extensible Markup Language (XML) to consider main MD modeling properties at the conceptual level. Next, an XML Schema allows us to generate valid XML documents that represent MD models. Finally, we provide XSLT style sheets that allow us to automatically generate HTML pages from XML documents, thereby supporting different presentations of the same MD model easily. A CASE tool that gives support to all theoretical issues presented in the paper has been developed. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2002.