Skip to main content

Towards a Formal Validation of ETL Patterns Behaviour

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Model and Data Engineering (MEDI 2016)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 9893))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 669 Accesses

Abstract

The development of ETL systems has been the target of many research efforts to support its development and implementation. In the last few years, we presented a pattern-oriented approach to develop these systems. Basically, patterns are comprised by a set of abstract components that can be configured to enable its instantiation for specific scenarios. Even when using high-level components, the ETL systems are very specific processes that represent complex data requirements and transformation routines. Several operational requirements need to be configured and system correctness is hard to validate, which can result in several implementation problems. In this paper, a set of formal specifications in Alloy is presented to express the structural constraints and behaviour of a slowly changing dimension pattern. Then, specific physical models can be generated based on formal specifications and constraints defined in an Alloy model, helping to ensure the correctness of the configuration provided.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Van der Aalst, W.M.P., ter Hofstede, A.H.M., Kiepuszewski, B., Barros, A.P.: Workflow patterns. Distrib. Parallel Databases. 14, 5–51 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Anastasakis, K., Bordbar, B., Georg, G., Ray, I.: On challenges of model transformation from UML to alloy. Softw. Syst. Model. 9, 69–86 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Appleton, B.: Patterns and Software: Essential Concepts and Terminology. Object Mag. Online, p. 1 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Akkaoui, Z., Zimànyi, E., Mazón, J.-N., Trujillo, J.: A model-driven framework for ETL process development. In: Proceedings of ACM 14th International Workshop Data Warehousing OLAP, pp. 45–52 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Biggerstaff, T.J.: A perspective of generative reuse. Ann. Softw. Eng. 5, 169–226 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Büttner, F., Egea, M., Cabot, J., Gogolla, M.: Verification of ATL transformations using transformation models and model finders. In: Aoki, T., Taguchi, K. (eds.) ICFEM 2012. LNCS (LNAI and LNBI), vol. 7635, pp. 198–213. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  7. Cunha, A., Garis, A., Riesco, D.: Translating between alloy specifications and UML class diagrams annotated with OCL. Softw. Syst. Model. 14, 5–25 (2013)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  8. Gabriel, R.P.: Patterns of Software Tales from the Software Community. Architecture, p. 239. Oxford University Press, New York (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Jackson, D.: Software Abstractions: Logic, Language, and Analysis. MIT Press, Cambridge (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Kimball, R., Caserta, J.: The Data Warehouse ETL Toolkit: Practical Techniques for Extracting, Cleaning, Conforming, and Delivering Data. Wiley, Hoboken (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Köppen, V., Brüggemann, B., Berendt, B.: Designing data integration: the ETL pattern approach. Eur. J. Inform. Prof. XII, 49–55 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Kuhlmann, M., Gogolla, M.: From UML and OCL to relational logic and back. In: France, R.B., Kazmeier, J., Breu, R., Atkinson, C. (eds.) MODELS 2012. LNCS (LNAI and LNBI), vol. 7590, pp. 415–431. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  13. Macedo, N., Cunha, A.: Least-change bidirectional model transformation with QVT-R and ATL. Softw. Syst. Model. 15(3), 783–810 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Muñoz, L., Mazón, J.N., Trujillo, J.: A family of experiments to validate measures for UML activity diagrams of ETL processes in data warehouses. Inf. Softw. Technol. 52, 1188–1203 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Santos, V., Belo, O.: No need to type slowly changing dimensions. In: Proceedings of IADIS International Conference Information Systems 2011, Avila, Spain, 11–13 March 2011

    Google Scholar 

  16. Sommerville, I.: Software Engineering, 7th edn. Addison Wesley, Pearson (2004)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  17. Vassiliadis, P., Simitsis, A., Georgantas, P., Terrovitis, M.: A framework for the design of ETL scenarios. In: Eder, J., Missikoff, M. (eds.) CAiSE 2003. LNCS, vol. 2681, pp. 520–535. Springer, Heidelberg (2003)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  18. Wilkinson, K., Simitsis, A., Castellanos, M., Dayal, U.: Leveraging business process models for ETL design. In: Parsons, J., Saeki, M., Shoval, P., Woo, C., Wand, Y. (eds.) ER 2010. LNCS (LNAI and LNBI), vol. 6412, pp. 15–30. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013. Our thanks to Alcino Cunha, from HASLab R&D Centre, for the comments and suggestions he did during the preparation of this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Orlando Belo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Oliveira, B., Belo, O., Macedo, N. (2016). Towards a Formal Validation of ETL Patterns Behaviour. In: Bellatreche, L., Pastor, Ó., Almendros Jiménez, J., Aït-Ameur, Y. (eds) Model and Data Engineering. MEDI 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9893. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45547-1_13

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45547-1_13

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-45546-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-45547-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics