1. Future Directions in DOLAP Research - DOLAP 04 Panel -
Matteo Golfarelli
DEIS – University of Bologna
DOLAP 04

2. Let new applications drive our research!
My point of view…
Ten years of research in DWing and OLAP converged to define the structure of DW systems (architectures, models, design, algorithms, etc.)
These results have been absorbed by vendors to form a wide set of off-the-shelf software solutions
Users are now asking for new tools capable of handling new applications and requirements
Let new applications drive our research!

3. Considering new applications
Broaden the idea of DWing …
Not only multidimensional data….
Not only extracted in batch mode and analyzed ONLINE by an expert user
…without renouncing to its basic concepts
-“…Repository (data & metadata) that contains integrated, cleansed, and reconciled data from disparate sources for decision support applications….”
Information retrieval is not DWing!
Identify new applications
Collaborate with researchers and users in different fields (e.g. economics, life sciences, etc.)
Keep (present and future) technology advances into account

4. New applications and challenges I
Data stream related applications
OLAP on data streams
Mining on data streams
Alerting on data streams
Challenges
Architectural issues: adding a real-time integrator and a main-memory DBMS
Physical issues: Structures and indexing techniques for real-time OLAP
Operational issues: mining algorithms, real-time ETL

5. New applications and challenges II
KPI related applications
Simulations and WHAT IF analysis on complex KPI graph
Mining KPI patterns
Alerting on KPI
BPM
Challenges
Architectural issues: reactive module for handling right-time updates, Alerting and KPI monitor
Design issues: methodologies and models for designing data and processes
Interface issues: Consider new paradigms for information delivery
Operational issues: right-time ETL

6. New applications and challenges III
DW in life sciences
Proteins and genome DWs
Mining on proteins and genome DWs
Challenges
Architectural issues: Distributed/federated DWs or P2P DWs
Interface issues: Complex outputs showing structural protein and genoma relationships
Operational issues: ETL on non-relational, strongly heterogeneous DB

7. New applications and challenges IV
Complex Data Types applications
Spatial DWs
Web data DW …
Challenges
Design issues: modeling complex data
Operational issues: tracing data sources on the web …

8. Conclusions
Classic DW applications and related issues have been almost completely explored, but…
… the DWing germ infected the users that are asking for new applications
A lot of work is still necessary in the DW field if we accept to broaden the idea of DWing