A procedure of conversion of relational into multidimensional database schema

Abstract

It is universally recognized that operational information systems lean on the relational model and datawarehouses on the multidimensional model. The phrase On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) means summarizing, consolidating, viewing, and synthesizing data according to multiple dimensions. The process of modeling data warehouse may start from operational system's database. It may be helpful to convert a relational database schema into a multidimensional database schema in order to discover dimensions that are hidden in a relational database. However, only a few efforts have been done investigating the conversion of relational into multidimensional database schema. This paper proposes the general procedure of such a conversion. The procedure can be partly automated because some decisions of attribute type must be made during conversion.