A Set of QVT Relations to Assure the Correctness of Data Warehouses by Using Multidimensional Normal Forms

It is widely accepted that a requirement analysis phase is necessary to develop data warehouses (DWs) which adequately represent the information needs of DW users. Moreover, since the DW integrates the information provided by data sources, it is also crucial to take these sources into account throughout the development process to obtain a consistent representation. In this paper, we use multidimensional normal forms to define a set of Query/View/Transformation (QVT) relations to assure that the DW designed from user requirements agrees with the available data sources that will populate the DW. Thus, we propose a hybrid approach to develop DWs, i.e., we firstly obtain the conceptual schema of the DW from user requirements and then we verify and enforce its correctness against data sources by using a set of QVT relations based on multidimensional normal forms.