http://hdl.handle.net/2117/3572 Thu, 23 May 2013 11:00:04 GMT 2013-05-23T11:00:04Z webmaster.bupc@upc.edu Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Servei de Biblioteques i Documentació no http://hdl.handle.net/2117/16928 Title: EU-Rent as an artifact-centric process model: technical report Authors: Estañol Lamarca, Montserrat; Queralt Calafat, Anna; Sancho Samsó, María Ribera; Teniente López, Ernest Abstract: Business process modeling using an artifact-centric approach has raised a significant interest over the last few years. This approach is usually stated in terms of the BALSA framework which defi nes the four dimensions of an artifact-centric business process model: Business Artifacts, Lifecycles, Services and Associations. One of the research challenges in this area is looking for diff erent diagrams to represent these dimensions. Bearing this in mind, this technical report shows how various UML diagrams can be used to represent all the elements in the BALSA framework by applying them to the EU-Rent case study. Thu, 15 Nov 2012 11:21:28 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2117/16928 2012-11-15T11:21:28Z Estañol Lamarca, Montserrat; Queralt Calafat, Anna; Sancho Samsó, María Ribera; Teniente López, Ernest no business artifacts, BALSA framework, business process modeling, UML Business process modeling using an artifact-centric approach has raised a significant interest over the last few years. This approach is usually stated in terms of the BALSA framework which defi nes the four dimensions of an artifact-centric business process model: Business Artifacts, Lifecycles, Services and Associations. One of the research challenges in this area is looking for diff erent diagrams to represent these dimensions. Bearing this in mind, this technical report shows how various UML diagrams can be used to represent all the elements in the BALSA framework by applying them to the EU-Rent case study. http://hdl.handle.net/2117/16746 Title: Validation of schema mappings with nested queries Authors: Rull Fort, Guillem; Farré Tost, Carles; Teniente López, Ernest; Urpí Tubella, Antoni Abstract: With the emergence of the Web and the wide use of XML for representing data, the ability to map not only flat relational but also nested data has become crucial. The design of schema mappings is a semi-automatic process. A human designer is needed to guide the process, choose among mapping candidates, and successively refine the mapping. The designer needs a way to figure out whether the mapping is what was intended. Our approach to mapping validation allows the designer to check whether the mapping satisfies certain desirable properties. In this paper, we focus on the validation of mappings between nested relational schemas, in which the mapping assertions are either inclusions or equalities of nested queries. We focus on the nested relational setting since most XML’s Document Type Definitions (DTDs) can be represented in this model. We perform the validation by reasoning on the schemas and mapping definition. We take into account the integrity constraints defined on both the source and target schema. Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:36:56 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2117/16746 2012-10-17T14:36:56Z Rull Fort, Guillem; Farré Tost, Carles; Teniente López, Ernest; Urpí Tubella, Antoni no Schema mapping, Nested relational model, Nested query, Query equality, Query inclusion, Validation With the emergence of the Web and the wide use of XML for representing data, the ability to map not only flat relational but also nested data has become crucial. The design of schema mappings is a semi-automatic process. A human designer is needed to guide the process, choose among mapping candidates, and successively refine the mapping. The designer needs a way to figure out whether the mapping is what was intended. Our approach to mapping validation allows the designer to check whether the mapping satisfies certain desirable properties. In this paper, we focus on the validation of mappings between nested relational schemas, in which the mapping assertions are either inclusions or equalities of nested queries. We focus on the nested relational setting since most XML’s Document Type Definitions (DTDs) can be represented in this model. We perform the validation by reasoning on the schemas and mapping definition. We take into account the integrity constraints defined on both the source and target schema. http://hdl.handle.net/2117/12827 Title: On the meanings of subsetting, specialization and redefinition in UML Authors: Costal Costa, Dolors; Gómez Seoane, Cristina; Guizzardi, Giancarlo Abstract: UML 2 has improved the expressiveness of the language with respect to associations in several manners. A significant one has been the introduction of the association redefinition concept. Association subsetting and association specialization have been included in UML since its earliest versions and share some relevant features with association redefinition. These similarities among the three constructs make it frequently difficult, especially to novice users, to: decide which one of these concepts is the best suited to model a particular situation; systematically justify their modelling choices. In this report, we present a preliminary empirical investigation on these constructs using as a benchmark a catalogue of model examples produced by different authors which can be considered experts in the conceptual modelling field. Tue, 28 Jun 2011 07:27:31 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2117/12827 2011-06-28T07:27:31Z Costal Costa, Dolors; Gómez Seoane, Cristina; Guizzardi, Giancarlo no UML 2 has improved the expressiveness of the language with respect to associations in several manners. A significant one has been the introduction of the association redefinition concept. Association subsetting and association specialization have been included in UML since its earliest versions and share some relevant features with association redefinition. These similarities among the three constructs make it frequently difficult, especially to novice users, to: decide which one of these concepts is the best suited to model a particular situation; systematically justify their modelling choices. In this report, we present a preliminary empirical investigation on these constructs using as a benchmark a catalogue of model examples produced by different authors which can be considered experts in the conceptual modelling field. http://hdl.handle.net/2117/12369 Title: Development of the conceptual schema of the osTicket system by applying TDCM Authors: Tort Pugibet, Albert Abstract: This document reports a case study application of Test-Driven Conceptual Modeling (TDCM) in the reverse engineering development of the conceptual schema of a well-known, open-source and widely-used online support system called osTicket. Thu, 14 Apr 2011 14:53:50 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2117/12369 2011-04-14T14:53:50Z Tort Pugibet, Albert no This document reports a case study application of Test-Driven Conceptual Modeling (TDCM) in the reverse engineering development of the conceptual schema of a well-known, open-source and widely-used online support system called osTicket. http://hdl.handle.net/2117/11196 Title: Development of the conceptual schema of a bowling game system by applying TDCM Authors: Tort Pugibet, Albert Abstract: We report a case study application of Test-Driven Conceptual Modeling (TDCM) in the development of the conceptual schema of a bowling game system, which has been used in the literature to describe in practice the use of Test-Driven Development (TDD) in the programming field. Tue, 25 Jan 2011 12:27:47 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2117/11196 2011-01-25T12:27:47Z Tort Pugibet, Albert no We report a case study application of Test-Driven Conceptual Modeling (TDCM) in the development of the conceptual schema of a bowling game system, which has been used in the literature to describe in practice the use of Test-Driven Development (TDD) in the programming field. http://hdl.handle.net/2117/9991 Title: GEM: requirement-driven generation of ETL and multidimensional conceptual designs Authors: Romero Moral, Óscar; Simitsis, Alkis; Abelló Gamazo, Alberto Abstract: At the early stages of a data warehouse design project, the main objective is to collect the business requirements and needs, and translate them into an appropriate conceptual, multidimensional design. Typically, this task is performed manually, through a series of interviews involving two different parties: the business analysts and technical designers. Producing an appropriate conceptual design is an errorprone task that undergoes several rounds of reconciliation and redesigning, until the business needs are satisfied. It is of great importance for the business of an enterprise to facilitate and automate such a process. The goal of our research is to provide designers with a semi-automatic means for producing conceptual multidimensional designs and also, conceptual representation of the extract-transform-load (ETL)processes that orchestrate the data flow from the operational sources to the data warehouse constructs. In particular, we describe a method that combines information about the data sources along with the business requirements, for validating and completing –if necessary– these requirements, producing a multidimensional design, and identifying the ETL operations needed. We present our method in terms of the TPC-DS benchmark and show its applicability and usefulness. Description: Technical Report Tue, 26 Oct 2010 10:16:24 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2117/9991 2010-10-26T10:16:24Z Romero Moral, Óscar; Simitsis, Alkis; Abelló Gamazo, Alberto no DW, ETL, Multidimensional design, Conceptual Design At the early stages of a data warehouse design project, the main objective is to collect the business requirements and needs, and translate them into an appropriate conceptual, multidimensional design. Typically, this task is performed manually, through a series of interviews involving two different parties: the business analysts and technical designers. Producing an appropriate conceptual design is an errorprone task that undergoes several rounds of reconciliation and redesigning, until the business needs are satisfied. It is of great importance for the business of an enterprise to facilitate and automate such a process. The goal of our research is to provide designers with a semi-automatic means for producing conceptual multidimensional designs and also, conceptual representation of the extract-transform-load (ETL)processes that orchestrate the data flow from the operational sources to the data warehouse constructs. In particular, we describe a method that combines information about the data sources along with the business requirements, for validating and completing –if necessary– these requirements, producing a multidimensional design, and identifying the ETL operations needed. We present our method in terms of the TPC-DS benchmark and show its applicability and usefulness. http://hdl.handle.net/2117/9652 Title: On the semantics of redefinition, specialization and subsetting of associations in UML (extended version) Authors: Costal Costa, Dolors; Gómez Seoane, Cristina; Nieto Soler, Pilar Abstract: The definition of the exact meaning of conceptual modeling concepts is considered a relevant issue since it enhances their effective and appropriate use by designers and facilitates the automatic processing of the models where they are included. Three related concepts that permit to improve the definition of an association in UML and which still lack of a formal semantic definition are: association redefinition, association specialization and association subsetting. This paper formalizes their semantics and points out the similarities and differences that exist among them. The formalization we propose is based on the meta-modelling approach and a semantic domain composed of a set of basic UML concepts and OCL expressions, which have a previous formal definition in the literature and which are well-understood. Wed, 13 Oct 2010 09:02:24 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2117/9652 2010-10-13T09:02:24Z Costal Costa, Dolors; Gómez Seoane, Cristina; Nieto Soler, Pilar no Association redefinition, Association specialization, Association subsetting, Unified Modelling Language The definition of the exact meaning of conceptual modeling concepts is considered a relevant issue since it enhances their effective and appropriate use by designers and facilitates the automatic processing of the models where they are included. Three related concepts that permit to improve the definition of an association in UML and which still lack of a formal semantic definition are: association redefinition, association specialization and association subsetting. This paper formalizes their semantics and points out the similarities and differences that exist among them. The formalization we propose is based on the meta-modelling approach and a semantic domain composed of a set of basic UML concepts and OCL expressions, which have a previous formal definition in the literature and which are well-understood. http://hdl.handle.net/2117/6738 Title: A schema-only approach to validate XML schema mappings Authors: Rull Fort, Guillem; Farré Tost, Carles; Teniente López, Ernest; Urpí Tubella, Antoni Abstract: Since the emergence of the Web, the ability to map XML data between different data sources has become crucial. Defining a mapping is however not a fully automatic process. The designer needs to figure out whether the mapping is what was intended. Our approach to this validation consists of defining and checking certain desirable properties of mappings. We translate the XML schemas and the mapping into first-order logic formalism and apply a reasoning mechanism to check the desirable properties automatically, without assuming any particular instantiation of the schemas. Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:13:46 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2117/6738 2010-03-22T10:13:46Z Rull Fort, Guillem; Farré Tost, Carles; Teniente López, Ernest; Urpí Tubella, Antoni no Since the emergence of the Web, the ability to map XML data between different data sources has become crucial. Defining a mapping is however not a fully automatic process. The designer needs to figure out whether the mapping is what was intended. Our approach to this validation consists of defining and checking certain desirable properties of mappings. We translate the XML schemas and the mapping into first-order logic formalism and apply a reasoning mechanism to check the desirable properties automatically, without assuming any particular instantiation of the schemas. http://hdl.handle.net/2117/6734 Title: Testing Termination of Query Satisfiability Checking on Expressive Database Schemas Authors: Rull Fort, Guillem; Farré Tost, Carles; Teniente López, Ernest; Urpí Tubella, Antoni Abstract: A query is satisfiable if there is at least one consistent instance of the database in which it has a non-empty answer. Defining queries on a database schema and checking their satisfiability can help the database designer to be sure whether the produced database schema is what was intended. The formulation of such queries may easily require the use of some arithmetic comparisons or negated expressions. Unfortunately, checking the satisfiability of this class of queries on a database schema that most likely have some integrity constraints (e.g., keys, foreign keys, Boolean checks) is, in general, undecidable. However, although the problem is undecidable for such a class of schemas and queries, it may not be so for a particular query satisfiability check. In this paper, we propose to perform a termination test as a previous step to query satisfiability checking. If positive, the termination test guarantees that the corresponding query satisfiability check will terminate. We assume the CQC method is the underlying query satisfiability checking method; to the best of our knowledge, it is the only method of this kind able to deal with schemas and queries as expressive as the ones we consider. Mon, 22 Mar 2010 08:58:03 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2117/6734 2010-03-22T08:58:03Z Rull Fort, Guillem; Farré Tost, Carles; Teniente López, Ernest; Urpí Tubella, Antoni no A query is satisfiable if there is at least one consistent instance of the database in which it has a non-empty answer. Defining queries on a database schema and checking their satisfiability can help the database designer to be sure whether the produced database schema is what was intended. The formulation of such queries may easily require the use of some arithmetic comparisons or negated expressions. Unfortunately, checking the satisfiability of this class of queries on a database schema that most likely have some integrity constraints (e.g., keys, foreign keys, Boolean checks) is, in general, undecidable. However, although the problem is undecidable for such a class of schemas and queries, it may not be so for a particular query satisfiability check. In this paper, we propose to perform a termination test as a previous step to query satisfiability checking. If positive, the termination test guarantees that the corresponding query satisfiability check will terminate. We assume the CQC method is the underlying query satisfiability checking method; to the best of our knowledge, it is the only method of this kind able to deal with schemas and queries as expressive as the ones we consider. http://hdl.handle.net/2117/6289 Title: Testing the osCommerce conceptual schema by using CSTL Authors: Tort Pugibet, Albert Abstract: Conceptual schemas are software artifacts and consequently, they can also be tested. Testing conceptual schemas has some similarities with testing software programs but there are also important differences. Our work is addressed to explore the use of testing in the conceptual modeling activity. We developed CSTL (Conceptual Schema Testing Language), a language for writing automated tests of executable conceptual schemas. In this report, we present this language in detail and we show example results of using CSTL to test the conceptual schema of a real-world information system, the osCommerce system. Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:33:51 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2117/6289 2010-02-03T12:33:51Z Tort Pugibet, Albert no Conceptual schemas are software artifacts and consequently, they can also be tested. Testing conceptual schemas has some similarities with testing software programs but there are also important differences. Our work is addressed to explore the use of testing in the conceptual modeling activity. We developed CSTL (Conceptual Schema Testing Language), a language for writing automated tests of executable conceptual schemas. In this report, we present this language in detail and we show example results of using CSTL to test the conceptual schema of a real-world information system, the osCommerce system. http://hdl.handle.net/2117/6130 Title: A basic set of test cases for a fragment of the osCommerce conceptual schema Authors: Tort Pugibet, Albert Abstract: In the information systems development field, most research efforts has been devoted to code testing. But nowadays, most work in conceptual modeling assumes that conceptual schemas are executable and, consequently, they can also be tested. Testing a conceptual schema contributes to its validation early in the development, during the requirements engineering phase. Conceptual schemas are the “general knowledge that an information system needs to know”. We use UML/OCL modeling languages to explicitly represent conceptual schemas. In contrast with a sequence of lines of code, conceptual schemas are represented by a set of conceptual elements (entity types, relationship types, integrity constraints, events, etc.). Therefore, there are important differences between testing code and testing conceptual schemas. Fri, 08 Jan 2010 08:56:34 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2117/6130 2010-01-08T08:56:34Z Tort Pugibet, Albert no In the information systems development field, most research efforts has been devoted to code testing. But nowadays, most work in conceptual modeling assumes that conceptual schemas are executable and, consequently, they can also be tested. Testing a conceptual schema contributes to its validation early in the development, during the requirements engineering phase. Conceptual schemas are the “general knowledge that an information system needs to know”. We use UML/OCL modeling languages to explicitly represent conceptual schemas. In contrast with a sequence of lines of code, conceptual schemas are represented by a set of conceptual elements (entity types, relationship types, integrity constraints, events, etc.). Therefore, there are important differences between testing code and testing conceptual schemas.