17,230 research outputs found
Extending Conceptual Schemas with Business Process Information
The specification of business processes is becoming a more and more critical aspect for organizations. Such processes are specified as workflow models expressing the logical precedence among the different business activities (i.e., the units of work). Typically, workflow models are managed through specific subsystems, called workflow management systems, to ensure a consistent behavior of the applications with respect to the organization business process. However, for small organizations and/or simple business processes, the complexity and capabilities of these dedicated workflow engines may be overwhelming. In this paper, we therefore, advocate for a different and lightweight approach, consisting in the integration of the business process specification within the system conceptual schema. We show how a workflow-extended conceptual schema can be automatically obtained, which serves both to enforce the organization business process and to manage all its relevant domain data in a unified way. This extended model can be directly processed with current CASE tools, for instance, to generate an implementation of the system (including its business process) in any technological platform
SODA: Generating SQL for Business Users
The purpose of data warehouses is to enable business analysts to make better
decisions. Over the years the technology has matured and data warehouses have
become extremely successful. As a consequence, more and more data has been
added to the data warehouses and their schemas have become increasingly
complex. These systems still work great in order to generate pre-canned
reports. However, with their current complexity, they tend to be a poor match
for non tech-savvy business analysts who need answers to ad-hoc queries that
were not anticipated. This paper describes the design, implementation, and
experience of the SODA system (Search over DAta Warehouse). SODA bridges the
gap between the business needs of analysts and the technical complexity of
current data warehouses. SODA enables a Google-like search experience for data
warehouses by taking keyword queries of business users and automatically
generating executable SQL. The key idea is to use a graph pattern matching
algorithm that uses the metadata model of the data warehouse. Our results with
real data from a global player in the financial services industry show that
SODA produces queries with high precision and recall, and makes it much easier
for business users to interactively explore highly-complex data warehouses.Comment: VLDB201
A Call to Arms: Revisiting Database Design
Good database design is crucial to obtain a sound, consistent database, and -
in turn - good database design methodologies are the best way to achieve the
right design. These methodologies are taught to most Computer Science
undergraduates, as part of any Introduction to Database class. They can be
considered part of the "canon", and indeed, the overall approach to database
design has been unchanged for years. Moreover, none of the major database
research assessments identify database design as a strategic research
direction.
Should we conclude that database design is a solved problem?
Our thesis is that database design remains a critical unsolved problem.
Hence, it should be the subject of more research. Our starting point is the
observation that traditional database design is not used in practice - and if
it were used it would result in designs that are not well adapted to current
environments. In short, database design has failed to keep up with the times.
In this paper, we put forth arguments to support our viewpoint, analyze the
root causes of this situation and suggest some avenues of research.Comment: Removed spurious column break. Nothing else was change
A Shared Ontology Approach to Semantic Representation of BIM Data
Architecture, engineering, construction and facility management (AEC-FM) projects involve a large number of participants that must exchange information and combine their knowledge for successful completion of a project. Currently, most of the AEC-FM domains store their information about a project in text documents or use XML, relational, or object-oriented formats that make information integration difficult. The AEC-FM industry is not taking advantage of the full potential of the Semantic Web for streamlining sharing, connecting, and combining information from different domains. The Semantic Web is designed to solve the information integration problem by creating a web of structured and connected data that can be processed by machines. It allows combining information from different sources with different underlying schemas distributed over the Internet. In the Semantic Web, all data instances and data schema are stored in a graph data store, which makes it easy to merge data from different sources. This paper presents a shared ontology approach to semantic representation of building information. The semantic representation of building information facilitates finding and integrating building information distributed in several knowledge bases. A case study demonstrates the development of a semantic based building design knowledge base
Change Mining in Adaptive Process Management Systems
The wide-spread adoption of process-aware information systems has resulted in a bulk of computerized information about real-world processes. This data can be utilized for process performance analysis as well as for process improvement. In this context process mining offers promising perspectives. So far, existing mining techniques have been applied to operational processes, i.e., knowledge is extracted from execution logs (process discovery), or execution logs are compared with some a-priori process model (conformance checking). However, execution logs only constitute one kind of data gathered during process enactment. In particular, adaptive processes provide additional information about process changes (e.g., ad-hoc changes of single process instances) which can be used to enable organizational learning. In this paper we present an approach for mining change logs in adaptive process management systems. The change process discovered through process mining provides an aggregated overview of all changes that happened so far. This, in turn, can serve as basis for all kinds of process improvement actions, e.g., it may trigger process redesign or better control mechanisms
UK utility data integration: overcoming schematic heterogeneity
In this paper we discuss syntactic, semantic and schematic issues which inhibit the integration of utility data in the UK. We then focus on the techniques employed within the VISTA project to overcome schematic heterogeneity. A Global
Schema based architecture is employed. Although automated approaches to Global Schema definition were attempted
the heterogeneities of the sector were too great. A manual approach to Global Schema definition was employed. The
techniques used to define and subsequently map source utility data models to this schema are discussed in detail. In order to ensure a coherent integrated model, sub and cross domain validation issues are then highlighted. Finally the proposed framework and data flow for schematic integration is introduced
A framework for utility data integration in the UK
In this paper we investigate various factors which prevent utility knowledge from being
fully exploited and suggest that integration techniques can be applied to improve the
quality of utility records. The paper suggests a framework which supports knowledge
and data integration. The framework supports utility integration at two levels: the
schema and data level. Schema level integration ensures that a single, integrated geospatial
data set is available for utility enquiries. Data level integration improves utility data
quality by reducing inconsistency, duplication and conflicts. Moreover, the framework
is designed to preserve autonomy and distribution of utility data. The ultimate aim of
the research is to produce an integrated representation of underground utility infrastructure
in order to gain more accurate knowledge of the buried services. It is hoped that
this approach will enable us to understand various problems associated with utility data,
and to suggest some potential techniques for resolving them
- …