Multidimensional models meet the semantic web: defining and reasoning on OWL-DL ontologies for OLAP

Abstract

Data warehouses use a multidimensional model. Based on this model, OLAP cubes enable users to analyze data. For correct OLAP analysis, multidimensional models should be checked. In particular, these models should ensure summarizability. Checking multidimensional models and their summarizability is complex and error-prone. To perform this task, formal reasoning is appropriate. In this paper, we propose and illustrate an approach to represent a multidimensional model as an OWL-DL ontology, and reason on this ontology to check the multidimensional model and its summarizability. Beyond the reasoning capabilities of description logic, representing multidimensional models as OWL-DL ontologies is a means to move multidimensional modeling to the semantic Web. To illustrate this, we investigate the complementarities between our approach and the RDF Data Cube vocabulary, and suggest how they could be combined.