A meta language for mdx queries in e log business
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This document discusses a meta-language for MDX queries used in the eLog business intelligence solution. It describes eLog and its use by over 140 companies for business communication processes. The meta-language allows less skilled users to intuitively define new indicators and aggregates without MDX complexity. It uses XML schemas to conceptualize data and a standalone MDXGenerator library to syntactically and semantically verify queries against the OLAP server and generate optimized MDX. Caching and a cube selection algorithm improve performance.
![Cube Selection
Given
• S(C,D) schema
• C the set containing all the cubes
• D the set of all dimensions
• Q the query derived from the pivot table configuration,
• L the set of all the distinct levels belonging to at least one
dimension contained in the set D
we define
• QL’ the query that involves the non empty set L’ of hierarchical
levels of dimensions, where L’ L and CL[l] the not empty subset
of C containing the cubes where the dimension of the level l L is
used.
• |c| the number of dimensions in the cube c
• co the cube containing all the levels with lowest granularity.
Laura Po
"A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ameta-languageformdxqueriesinelogbusiness2-130506110002-phpapp01/85/A-meta-language-for-mdx-queries-in-e-log-business-26-320.jpg)
A meta language for mdx queries in e log business
- 1. 28th IEEE International Conference on Data Engineering (ICDE) Washington, DC, USA, April 1-5, 2012 A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution Sonia Bergamaschi*, Matteo Interlandi*, Mario Longo°, Laura Po*, Maurizio Vincini* *Department of Computer Engineering University of Modena & Reggio Emilia °eBilling S.p.A.
- 2. eLog • eLog, a business intelligence solution re-designed and upgraded jointly with the database group of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and eBilling • eBilling - an Italian SME supplier of solutions for the design, production and automation of documentary processes for top Italian companies. • Over 140 medium and large companies • Sky, Mediaset, H3G, Tim Brazil • In a period of 18 months 150 millions mail pieces = 1 TB of data Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 3. BCPortal • The BCPortal® framework core consists of several modules for generating, delivering, managing company business communications. Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 4. eLog Client eLog Service Provider FRONT END BACK END Document generation system Document Reception System Document Formatting System Document Delivery System Shipment Processing & Delivery System • KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) • SLAs (Service Level Agreements). Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 5. Toward a multidimensional approach transactional system multidimensional system • MDX is very powerful and effective but unfeasible for unskilled users semi-static reporting: an intermediate approach between static reporting and OLAP eLog - the new version the decision maker - is autonomous in the process of creating, managing and sharing new analysis - can intuitively define new indicators and aggregate functions Meta-language Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 6. Key features • Simple GUI - all the complexities are masked by the underlying system. • Data conceptualization - a set of XSD schemas (for defining mapping between cube attributes and visualized attributes) decouple the GUI and the OLAP server • Modular and reusable software – MDXGenerator is a stand-alone java library, OLAP engine independent. Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 7. GUI Save and load functionalities Predefined and custom attributes Laura Po 4 quadrants the user fills with attributes in order to create the desired query "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 8. Data Conceptualization • Each pivot configuration is codified in a set of XML files that will be the input of the MDXGenerator component. • Each XML configuration conforms to an high level conceptualization implemented in a XML Schema (XSD) • 9 XSD schemas, each of which models a particular part of the pivot configuration. Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 9. MDX Generator • A standalone library that provides functionalities for automatic multidimensional queries generation starting from a XML pivot configuration. • It is also responsible for • the syntactic verification of the pivot configuration • the semantic correctness of the MDX expression Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 10. Syntactic verification • syntactic verification of the pivot configuration • the input is verified to be syntactically well formed, • it is divided in subsections of interest and parsed, • six different structures are filled with the elements extracted from the pivot configuration • Data Cubes • Data Attributes • 4 structure, one for each quadrant. Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 11. Semantic correctness • semantic correctness of the MDX expression • For every custom attribute, it performs on-the-fly translation of the meta-language expression into MDX. • It verifies that the elements contained in the configuration can be mapped into the data schema on the OLAP server. Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 12. MDX query • MDXGenerator starts the composition of the final query: a java object containing strings for each section of the MDX query SELECT It is filled wrapping the information from the 6 structures with MDX language constructs FROM WHERE It contains a list of cubes – then, the Cube Selection algorithm choses the best cube and consequently reassembles the query Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 13. Meta-language & custom attributes definition • a simplified version of the MDX language both in semantics and syntax • the requirements were defined by eBilling after an analysis conducted on the KPIs. • multiple versions of the meta-language for the different localizations The main features are: • a list of functions to combine and manage attributes values; • the hierarchy management, to create new members inside a hierarchy or new hierarchies embracing a subset of members in a hierarchy Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 14. Number, Constant, MDX Entity, Expression • Number • Constant - any sequence of characters and (potentially) numbers • MDX Entity - any member belonging to a dimension inside a cube • Expression can be of three types: • Arithmetic Expression arithmetic operators (“+”, “-”, “*”, “/”) • Comparison Expression relational operators (“ >”, “ <”, “ =”, “ >=”, “ <=” “ <>”) • Logic Expression logic operands separated by “AND”, “OR”, “XOR” and “NOT” operators. Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 15. Functions • The functions that have been implemented in order to combine and manage values within the measures (and dimensions) are the following: • format, if, concat, contains, current, previous, following • create hierarchy Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 16. Example This Dimensional Fact Model represents the monitoring activity of the SLA related to some mail pieces, called missives. Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 17. Example – new member inside a hierarchy • Query : for the first and the second quarter of each year, compute for every client and for the cities of Naples and Rome, the number of missives in SLA and the total number of missives that are both in SLA and out SLA. Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 18. Define a new custom attribute XML file Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 19. Define the pivot configuration • Query : for the first and the second quarter of each year, compute for every client and for the cities of Naples and Rome, the number of missives in SLA and the total number of missives that are both in SLA and out SLA. MDXquery Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 20. Moreover… To improve time-performance: • Cache – MDXGenerator • Already parsed configurations are stored in a cache • If a pivot configuration is stored in memory, the data can be retrieved directly from the cache, thus decreasing the query generation time • Cube Selection • The Cube selection is an algorithm that chooses among all the cubes contained in the pivot configuration the optimal one for the execution of the query • The algorithm has been designed to be as general as possible and completely independent on the input cubes. Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 21. Test • 15 typical queries from a minimum of 3 dimensions to a maximum of 8 different dimensions (a typical pivot analysis) • 8.974.662 facts (related to 8 months of eLog’s data production) Btree index for the foreign keys on the fact table • concurrent access for up to 25 users Exploiting the cache outperforms by 7 times the performance of the MDXGenerator Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 22. Conclusion • New version of eLog: the business intelligence solution of eBilling for document management traceability, optimization and analysis. transactional system multidimensional system Data model conceptualization: XSD schemas MDX Generator – a stand alone library Customized attributes – Meta-language Cache (pivot configurations) Cube Selection algorithm Laura Po } } middle layer between the framework and the OLAP engine optimization of the query "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 23. Future Work • To extend the compliance of MDX language also for Microsoft SQL Server (so far, it is compliant with Mondrian system). • More experiments on the use of the eLog system on customer data. • To investigate how MDXGenerator can be enhanced to improve the query rewriting for optimizing the query processing Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 24. Thanks for your attention • Contacts: • just type «Laura Po» at Google.com • laura.po@unimore.it • DBGROUP • www.dbgroup.unimo.it • Ebilling • www.ebilling.it • Download this presentation: • http://www.dbgroup.unimo.it/~po/pubs.html • or http://db.tt/1aJsuTJo Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 25. Cube Selection • The query object created by the MDXGenerator contains in the FROM field all the cubes that might be used. • The Cube selection is an algorithm that chooses among all the cubes contained in the pivot configuration the optimal one for the execution of the query • The algorithm has been designed to be as general as possible and completely independent on the input cubes. • it is not mandatory that the input cubes share the same semantic structure • in eLog each of the input cubes takes into consideration different portion of the schema containing data at different granularity Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 26. Cube Selection Given • S(C,D) schema • C the set containing all the cubes • D the set of all dimensions • Q the query derived from the pivot table configuration, • L the set of all the distinct levels belonging to at least one dimension contained in the set D we define • QL’ the query that involves the non empty set L’ of hierarchical levels of dimensions, where L’ L and CL[l] the not empty subset of C containing the cubes where the dimension of the level l L is used. • |c| the number of dimensions in the cube c • co the cube containing all the levels with lowest granularity. Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"
- 27. Semantic correctness • semantic correctness of the MDX expression • For every custom attribute, it performs on-the-fly translation of the meta-language expression into MDX. • During the meta-language translation, the solve order sequence is automatically defined following the position in the quadrant, chosen by the user • It verifies that the elements contained in the configuration can be mapped into the data schema on the OLAP server. Laura Po "A meta-language for MDX queries in eLog Business Solution"