The GOLD model: An Object Oriented multidimensional data model for multidimensional databases

There has recently been an increased interest in multidimensional databases (MDB) and On-line Analytical Processing (OLAP) scenarios. OLAP systems impose different requirements than On-line Transactional Processing (OLTP) systems, and therefore, different data models and implementation methods are required for each type of system. There have been several different multidimensional data models proposed recently. However, there are certain key issues in multidimensional modeling, such as derived measures, derived dimension attributes and the additivity on fact attributes along dimensions, that are not considered by these proposals. To the best of our knowledge, our Object Oriented multidimensional data model (OOMD, renamed GOLD) is the only one based on the Object Oriented (OO) paradigm. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to introduce the GOLD model ([7], and extended in [8]), as an OO multidimensional data model in which all the above-mentioned issues are taken into consideration. Since the GOLD model is based on the OO paradigm, data functionality and behavior are easily considered.