Converting XML Data to UML Diagrams For Conceptual Data Integration

The demand for data integration is rapidly becoming larger as more and more information sources appear in modern enterprises. In many situations a logical (rather than physical) integration of data is preferable since some data is inherently not suited for storing in a physically integrated data warehouse. Previous web-based data integration efforts have focused almost exclusively on the logical level of data models, creating a need for techniques focused on the conceptual level. Extensible Markup Language (XML) is fast becoming the new standard for data representation and exchange on the World Wide Web, e.g., in B2B e-commerce, making it necessary for data analysis tools to handle XML data as well as traditional data formats.. This paper presents algorithms for automatically constructing UML diagrams from XML data and shows how to use the diagrams for the conceptual design of (virtual) Data Warehouses based on web data. Unlike earlier work, the focus of this paper is the support of On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) systems based on web data.