MDA-based approach for NoSQL databases modelling

Abstract

It is widely accepted today that relational systems are not appropriate to handle Big Data. This has led to a new category of databases commonly known as NoSQL databases that were created in response to the needs for better scalability, higher flexibility and faster data access. These systems have proven their efficiency to store and query Big Data. Unfortunately, only few works have presented approaches to implement conceptual models describing Big Data in NoSQL systems. This paper proposes an automatic MDA-based approach that provides a set of transformations, formalized with the QVT language, to translate UML conceptual models into NoSQL models. In our approach, we build an intermediate logical model compatible with column, document and graph oriented systems. The advantage of using a unified logical model is that this model remains stable, even though the NoSQL system evolves over time which simplifies the transformation process and saves developers efforts and time.