language: en

A Foundation for Multi-Dimensional Databases

Marc Gyssens
Department WNI University of Limburg (LUC)
B-3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium.
gyssens@charlie.luc.ac.be
Laks V.S. Lakshmanan
Department of Computer Science Concordia University
Montreal, Quebec H3G 1M8, Canada
laks@cs.concordia.ca

Abstract We present a multi-dimensional database model, which we believe can serve as a conceptual model for On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP)-based applications. Apart from providing the functionalities necessary for OLAP-based applications, the main feature of the model we propose is a clear separation between structural aspects and the contents. This separation of concerns allows us to define data manipulation languages in a reasonably simple, transparent way. In particular, we show that the data cube operator can be expressed easily. Concretely, we define an algebra and a calculus and show them to be equivalent. We conclude by comparing our approach to related work. The conceptual multi-dimensional database model developed here is orthogonal to its implementa tion, which is not a subject of the present paper.

1 Introduction